As part of my reading this summer, I am trying to digest Paul Lendvai's 500+ page The Hungarians--certainly more detail than I will need to have at my fingertips, but worthwhile reading nevertheless. I discovered that the Carpathian Basin has been populated for several thousand years BCE: invaders from the east and west were attracted to the good soil, minerals, and rivers. There is archaeological evidence of Neanderthals, Celts, Romans, Huns, Goths, Germans, Magyars, Turks,--all before the first millennium. After the Great Migrations various clans and chieftains were finally consolidated by King Stephen (St. Stephen) in 1000 CE--and thus began the nation of Hungary which has been invaded, conquered and reconquered, enlarged, annexed, and reapportioned multiple times. The Ottoman Turks had their turn in the 1500s, the Habsburgs in the 1700s [how come in high school social studies, we learned to spell this dynasty as Hapsburgs??] Even in the 20th century, the two World Wars reconfigured the boundaries of Hungary and determined who was in charge. Sadly, the people have suffered from the Nazis and Stalin regimes, but now in the last 25+ years are reveling in their new liberties. It will be a joy to be part of their 'standing tall and breathing freely.' Meanwhile I am struggling to learn some Hungarian phrases. More about this language in my next post. --Monica Weis SSJ
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