Hungary was originally settled by Asiatic invaders, Atilla the Hun, being one of the more notable.  Eventually, like the Vikings and Bretons, they settled into their European home and developed a cultural identity.  In the case of Hungary its language remained different from the Slavic and Romance languages that surrounded it and kept much of its tribal flair. In 1001 St. Stephen brought Hungary into the Holy Roman See (whose reliquary hand, one of Hungary's most prized relics, is seen below).  For the next six hundred years Hungary vacillated between one and four states adjoining the Holy Roman Empire.  In the 17th century after the Hapsburg Empire had expelled an invading Ottoman army out of Europe (and out of Hungary), The Hapsburg Monarchy “liberated” Hungary into the Austrian Empire , which had taken shape out of the detritus of the Holy Roman Empire.

The reliqued hand of St. Stephen, sacrosanct to many Hungarians (www.catholic-forum.com)
 

Hungary 1848

 Hungary's time under the Hapsburg monarchy was punctuated by sporadic independence movements, all of which were put down until the final dissolution of the Austrian Empire at the end of World War I.  The most notable revolution was in 1848.  Lajos Kossuth, a liberal and Hungarian Diet radical, led a revolt calling for an independent Hungarian nation.  Austria was stunned (one is reminded of the Latin phrase:  “Let others make war; you, happy Austria, make marriages! To others Mars gives countries, to you Venus." (www.hungary.com/corvinus/lib/lazar/zar10.htm) In essence, the Austrian Empire never was a true warring empire but one that merged and combined states through wedding ceremonies).  The Russian Empire was forced to charge over the Urals and pacify Hungary (giving a reason for the gauche Prince Orlofsky to be in Vienna in Strauss’s operetta Die Fleidermaus).  The revolt however increased Hungarian influence in the Austrian Empire, but it was not until the Prussian confederation's defeat of the Hapsburgs in 1866 that resulted in Hungary's elevation to co-imperial status:  the Austro-Hugarian Empire though had been (re)born.

Speaking of Opera...The Budapest Opera House interior, one of the Hapsburg Empire's relics, from www.gotohungary.com)
 
 
 

(from History Today, March 2000, Expanded ASAP).

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