March 15th and Hungarian Identity: thoughts from an outsider

“West County DUBLIN in 0ctober 1956 would seem an unlikely hotbed of indignation at the Russian response to the Hungarian uprising of that same year. I can still feel the rage at what I saw on our Sunday newspaper that morning. Unfortunate Budapest civilians lay scattered inside and outside trolley cars. 

For this 6 year-old, black and white photography deepened the horror of pooling blood and scattered body parts. I imagined each one falling under invading hails of arrogant hostility. One man in particular was spread eagled on a trolley stairway. Someone’s father, brother, husband, who had dodged World War2 a few years earlier, pulled me in to a deep, deep indignation. He has me still witnessing today to the world’s ongoing cries for justice around countless such scenes.

My revulsion as I knelt on a kitchen chair over those images recurs again and again. With each newscast, in the many images that pepper countless war zones in our media today, I recall once more my own loss of innocence in October ’56.”

The above quote is excerpted from a piece written by my father. I remember him recounting this story to me after my first trip to Hungary. It’s stayed fresh in my mind since.

Over the years I’ve struggled to comprehend the Hungarian psyche. The more I research Hungarian history, language and politics, the more I find myself lost in a whirlpool of complex realities. It’s likely I’ll never peel back the onion-like layers of Magyar identity. And I accept that. Every nation has a complicated and tumultuous past and being a crossroads between east and west, Hungary has undoubtedly had its share of character building misfortune.

After my first visit in 2005 I had so many questions about Hungary. As I remember, my wife was even quite annoyed with my constant curiosity. Knowing next to nothing besides a bit of Austro-Hungarian Empire history, I was fascinated by the unique language and origins of this culture I was now married into.

I read about the 9th century migration of the Seven Magyar Tribes led by Árpád into the Carpathian Basin, the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary by St.  István in 1000 AD, and the eventual Ottoman occupation over much of the country from 1541 to 1699.

During the Ottoman Turk rule, portions of Hungary were also governed by rivals King Ferdinand of Austria and the Hungarian King János Szapolyai. The Habsburgs were indifferent to the Magyar struggle and uninterested in ousting the Ottomans, while the Hungarians were obviously adamant about expelling their occupiers. This led to a period of instability and constant conflict that weakened both the population and culture of the ethnic Magyars.

By 1686 the Hungarians, along with an international force, began reclaiming the rest of Hungary from the Turks. The Ottomans were decisively defeated in the second battle of Buda in 1686 and in the second Battle of Mohacs in 1687. Hungary was once again in western hands.

What followed, however, was yet another repressive regime under the Habsburgs. With the Turks gone, the opportunistic Austrians began seizing property.  King Leopold I governed his “Royal Hungary” from Vienna, and while Hungary wasn’t officially part of the Austrian Empire, it was ruled as though it were. Hungarian frustration grew, and 1703 marked the start of an eight year period of uprisings under the leadership of Ferenc Rákóczi. The revolts were predictably quelled and another period of political turmoil ensued, with Hungarians pushing for reforms while Austria approved and revoked such revisions with impunity.

In 1848, as revolution sparked in Paris and Vienna, Lajos Kossuth publicly demanded the passing of the March Laws and the formation of an independent Hungarian state. And on March 15th 1848 the revolution began in Pest. The revolt gained steam and by April 1849 the country was fully under Hungarian control. But the Habsburgs skillfully recruited the Croatian army under Jelačić to attack from the south. And while the Croats were defeated, the Habsburgs also partnered with the Russians, who attacked from the north and ultimately extinguished Hungarian hopes for independence.

Kossuth escaped into present day Bulgaria, but 13 generals known as the “13 Martyrs of Arad” were handed over to the Austrians and executed on October 6, 1849 in Arad (now a city in Transylvania). It’s said that Austrian officers clinked their beer mugs together and drank in celebration of the Hungarians defeat.  Today, it’s still considered bad manners in Hungary to toast with beer.