The city of Budapest was officially created on 17 November 1873 from a merger of the three

neighboring cities of Pest, Buda and Óbuda. Smaller towns on the outskirts of the original city were
amalgamated into Greater Budapest in 1950. The origins of Budapest can be traced to Celts who
occupied the plains of Hungary in the 4th century BC. The area was later conquered by the Roman
Empire, which established the fortress and town of Aquincum on the site of today's Budapest around
AD 100. The Romans were expelled in the 5th century by the Huns, who were challenged by various
tribes during the next several centuries. The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin started at
the end of the 9th century, and the Kingdom of Hungary was established at the end of the 11th
century.

From around 1300 to the incorporation of 1873, Buda was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary for
five periods of less than a century each.

Prehistory and Roman era

Main articles: Hungarian prehistory and Aquincum

The first town, built by Celts in the first century BC, occupied about 30 hectares along the slopes of
Gellért Hill. Archaeological finds suggest that it may have been a densely populated settlement with a
separate district of craftsmen[1] (potteries and bronze foundries). It may have been a trading centre
as well, as coins coming from different regions would indicate. The town was occupied by the
Romans at the beginning of the Christian era. Its inhabitants moved to the Danube plains to a city
retaining the Celtic name (Aquincum) in the first century AD. In AD 106, the city became the capital
of the Roman province of Pannonia Inferior. The headquarters of the governor and significant
military force were stationed here, and its population numbered about 20,000. It was frequently
involved in wars on the border of the Roman Empire (formed by the Danube River).

Middle Ages

Main article: Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages

The Romans pulled out of the Hungarian plains in the 5th century AD to be succeeded by the Huns
after fierce warfare. Upon the fragmentation of the Huns that resulted from the death of Attila the
Hun, Germanic tribes (such as the Lombards) and the Avars occupied the area during the second Age
of Migrations. The Avar Khaganate dominated Pannonia between the 6th and 9th centuries.

From 829, Pannonia became part of Bulgaria following the collapse of the Avar Khaganate and a
defeat of the forces of the Holy Roman Empire under Louis the Pious at the hands of a Bulgarian
army under Omurtag. The Bulgarians built two frontier fortresses, Buda and Pest, on opposing sides
of the Danube River.[2] While other tribes spread across the entire Carpathian basin, the clan of
Árpád settled down on Csepel Island, a large island in the Danube, and formed a shelter for the
settlers who started agricultural works in what is the south part of Budapest today. It was under the
Árpád dynasty that Hungary became a Christian state, ruled first from Esztergom and later from
Székesfehérvár.
After the Bulgarian–Hungarian Wars, Buda and Pest started to develop economically in the 12th
century, largely due to the French, Walloon and German settlers who migrated there and worked
and traded under royal protection along the banks of the Danube. Both towns were devastated
during the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241–42[3] and subsequently rebuilt by colonists from
Germany, who renamed Buda "Ofen" ("furnace"), after its numerous lime kilns. The name for Pest,
which has a Slavic origin, also means "furnace".

Renaissance

Main articles: Buda Castle and Ottoman Hungary

During the 14th century, the Angevin kings of Hungary (who were of French origin) established Buda
as the royal seat of centralized power. They built a succession of palaces on the Várhegy (Castle Hill)
and reached their zenith of power and prestige during the Renaissance under "Good King" Matthias
Corvinus (Hunyadi Mátyás), who reigned from 1458 to 1490. Along with his Italian-born wife, Queen
Beatrice of Naples, he presided over a golden age of prosperity and arts patronage.

Hungary's catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Mohács in 1526 against the Turks led by Suleiman the
Magnificent paved the way for the Ottoman occupation of Hungary. Suleiman's Siege of Buda (1541)
was part of the Little War in Hungary between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire. Three years
after the Battle of Vienna in 1683, a pan-European multinational army besieged Buda Castle in the
Battle of Buda (1686) for six weeks, finally recapturing it on the 12th attempt with heavy losses on
both sides.

18th century

Main article: History of Hungary 1700-1919

During the 18th century, under the rule of Charles VI, Maria Theresia and her son Joseph II, Budapest
was an insignificant provincial town. Vienna controlled the foreign affairs, defense, tariffs, and other
functions of the government of the kingdom of Hungary. A mostly formal Diet, customarily called
together every three years in Pozsony (Bratislava), ruled what was called "Royal Hungary".

19th century

Main articles: Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and Austria-Hungary

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

In the first decades of the following century, Pest became the center of the Reform movement led by
Count Széchenyi, whose vision of progress was embodied in the construction of the Lánchíd (Chain
Bridge). This became the first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, which had until then, relied
strictly on pontoon bridges or barges and ferries.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was part of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. With
the leadership of Lajos Kossuth (1802–94) and the "people's rights-liberals" dominated parliament,
Sándor Petőfi (1823–49), also a renowned poet, and his fellow revolutionaries began to plot downfall
of the Habsburgs in Budapest at the Café Pilvax (which exists to this day in central Pest). From here,
they planned and mobilized crowds on the streets of Pest, leading to the steps of the National
Museum where Petőfi recited his moving "National Poem" which roused up the crowds and gave a
push start of emotions to the people, creating passion for the revolution, similar to the French
revolution before. After the civil war of fighting for independence ended in defeat for the
Hungarians, Habsburg repression was epitomized by the newly built Citadella on top of Gellért Hill,
built to frighten the citizens with its cannons and large garrison of soldiers overlooking the entire city.

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 made allowance for the dual monarchy of Austria-
Hungary, known in German as k.u.k. (based on German for "Emperor and King"). The twin cities
underwent rapid growth and expansion, and finally formally merged. In 1870, under Prime Minister
Gyula Andrássy, the Metropolitan Board of Public Works (modeled on the London Metropolitan
Board of Works) was created to develop more stringent standards for construction and a long-term
plan for the city.[4] Pest was extensively rebuilt based on the model of Paris, with the main artery:
Nagykörút (Great Boulevard) and Andrássy Avenue which lead to Heroes' Square and a great park
with fountains and lakes. Budapest's millennial anniversary celebrations of the settlement of the
Magyars in the region in 1896 brought a fresh rush of construction and development, including the
opening of the first line of the Budapest Metro under Andrassy Avenue. The Heroes' Square and
Vajdahunyad Castle, located at end of Andrássy Avenue are just two perfect examples of the
monumental scale and style that influenced the period. New suburbs were created to make room
and house the rapidly growing and financially expanding population, which by now was
predominantly Magyar, although there developed a sizable German as well as a Jewish community
due to immigration to the city. In texts from around that period, Budapest was commonly rendered
as "Buda-Pesth" (or "Budapesth") in English.[5][6]

By the end of the 19th century, Budapest had become one of the cultural centers of Europe.[7] It also
became one of the most important centres of the Aromanian diaspora during the 19th century along
with Vienna, with the Aromanian population of both cities being one of the first ones to develop a
strictly Aromanian identity.[8]

20th century

Main articles: Hungary during World War II, People's Republic of Hungary, and Hungarian Revolution
of 1956

View of the city in 1915

At the beginning of the 20th century the cultural efflorescence and sparkling energy of abundance
and well-being of Budapest rivaled that of Vienna[citation needed] and its café society that of
Paris[citation needed], a belle époque extinguished by World War I. In the aftermath of World War I
which had led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, half of the Hungarian population was
cut away from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon and made part of surrounding nations. In 1918–19,
Budapest was shaken by two revolutions: the Aster Revolution brought about the Hungarian
Democratic Republic, which was followed by the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a short-lived Communist
regime led by Béla Kun, followed by two years of White Terror. The Hungarian–Romanian War of
1919 ended with the Romanian occupation of parts of Hungary proper, including Budapest in August
1919, and the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary, led by Miklós Horthy, the self-appointed
regent for the exiled King Karl IV (see the conflict of Charles IV with Miklós Horthy). His domain and
regency was characterized by gala balls as well as hunger marches by the poor, of nationalism and
anti-Semitism by inheritance, again inherited by joining the wrong side (the Nazis), who promised the
sweet reward of re-joining of the Hungarian nation as a whole in the post-Trianon era. Yet Horthy
was considered a moderate compared to the fascist Arrow Cross Party, whose power grew as World
War II raged across Europe.

Bathers at Széchenyi thermal bath, 1930

Bathers in Budapest, 1938

Anticipating and knowing about Horthy's communication with the Allies and possible defection from
the Axis alliance in 1944, the Nazis staged “Operation Panzerfaust”, a coup against Horthy, and
installed an Arrow Cross government under Ferenc Szálasi to make allowance for the unobstructed
massacre of the Jews of Budapest.

Before World War II, approximately 200,000 Jews lived in Budapest, making it the center of
Hungarian Jewish cultural life.[9] In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Budapest was a safe haven for
Jewish refugees. Before the war some 5,000 refugees, primarily from Germany and Austria, arrived in
Budapest. With the beginning of deportations of Jews from Slovakia in March 1942, as many as 8,000
Slovak Jewish refugees also settled in Budapest. Hungary was allied with Nazi Germany. Despite
discriminatory legislation against the Jews and widespread antisemitism, the Jewish community of
Budapest was relatively secure until the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 (Operation
Margarethe). With the occupation, the Germans ordered the establishment of a Jewish council in
Budapest and severely restricted Jewish life. Apartments occupied by Jews were confiscated.
Hundreds of Jews were rounded up and interned in the Kistarcsa transit camp (originally established
by Hungarian authorities), 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Budapest. Between April and July 1944, the
Germans and Hungarians deported Jews from the Hungarian provinces. By the end of July, the Jews
in Budapest were virtually the only Jews remaining in Hungary. They were not immediately
ghettoized. Instead, in June 1944, Hungarian authorities ordered the Jews into over 2,000 designated
buildings scattered throughout the city. The buildings were marked with Stars of David. About 25,000
Jews from the suburbs of Budapest were rounded up and transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau
extermination camp. Hungarian authorities suspended the deportations in July 1944, sparing the
remaining Jews of Budapest, at least temporarily. Many Jews searched for places of hiding or for
protection. They were aided by foreign diplomats like Nuncio Angelo Rotta, Raoul Wallenberg,
Giorgio Perlasca, Carl Lutz, Friedrich Born, Harald Feller, Angel Sanz Briz and George Mandel-
Mantello who organized false papers and safe houses for them. These actions saved tens of
thousands of Jews.

In October 1944, Germany orchestrated a coup and installed a new Hungarian government
dominated by the fascist Arrow Cross Party under Ferenc Szálasi. The remaining Jews of Budapest
were again in grave danger. The Arrow Cross instituted a reign of terror in Budapest and hundreds of
Jews were shot. Jews were also drafted for brutal forced labor. On November 8, 1944, the Arrow
Cross militia concentrated more than 70,000 Jews—men, women, and children—in the Ujlaki
brickyards in Obuda, and from there forced them to march on foot to camps in Austria. Thousands
were shot and thousands more died as a result of starvation or exposure to the bitter cold. The
prisoners who survived the death march reached Austria in late December 1944. There, the Germans
took them to various concentration camps, especially Dachau in southern Germany and Mauthausen
in northern Austria, and to Vienna, where they were employed in the construction of fortifications
around the city. In November 1944, the Arrow Cross ordered the remaining Jews in Budapest into a
closed ghetto. Jews who did not have protective papers issued by a neutral power were to move to
the ghetto by early December. Between December 1944 and the end of January 1945, the Arrow
Cross took Jews from the ghetto in nightly razzias, as well as deserters from the Hungarian army or
political enemies, shot them along the banks of the Danube and threw their bodies into the river.
Soviet forces captured Budapest on February 13, 1945. More than 100,000 Jews remained in the city
at time of capture.[9]

The city suffered extensive damage at the end of the second World War.

Upon retreating, the Germans also blew up all the Danube bridges as a way of hampering the
progress of the Communist Red Army of the Soviets. A two-month-long siege of Budapest reduced
the entire city, but mostly the Castle District to rubble, as it was assigned to the mostly Hungarian
army with German leadership to defend and to "hold back". Most roofs in Budapest were blown in by
Soviet bombs, walls blown in by Soviet tanks. The occupants sought shelter in cellars and ate dead
horsemeat found in the streets just to survive.[citation needed]

After 1945 free elections were held, in which many parties (among them the Smallholders, the Social
Democrats, and the Communists) were voted into Parliament. Due to Soviet pressure the
government coalition, led by the Social Democrats, accepted the small Communist Party into the
coalition.[citation needed] By the next election, most of the former government MEPs were entered
into the Communist Party. In the election of 1949, the party, with Soviet backup resources, used the
flaw in the so-called 'blue-ticket' election system, from which this election got its name, to have its
voters transported in trucks to all voting offices, where with reproduced and collected blue tickets
they could vote away from their home address district.[citation needed]

Hungarians march through the streets of Budapest during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Communists gained power while the Soviet Army propped up the Hungarian state. Under their
auspices, the former Arrow Cross torture chambers in the prisons filled up with their opponents.
[citation needed] Arrests, beatings or summary executions were used as a standard tool by the
Secret Police, who employed an extensive net of informants.[citation needed] Random arrests
without charge were commonly initiated by regime informants, some of these abductees were never
heard from again.[citation needed] By this time the administration was composed predominantly of
hardline communists or careerists, who made up the Soviet-accepted controllers of wealth and
power.[citation needed] Materials were routinely confiscated from the Hungarian populace and
taken to the USSR for "War Repairs".[citation needed] These administrators' actions were rewarded
with position and favour.[citation needed] In Budapest this administrative approach was paired with
aggressive industrialisation, militarisation, collectivisation and politicisation of the economy.[citation
needed] Factories, chimneys, bridges, and railways were rapidly constructed. Workers during rest
time were often subjected to Soviet propaganda and had to practice self-criticism in public meetings,
negatively appraising their own performance.[citation needed] Rákosi's government was one of the
most dictatorial and most exploitative of the Warsaw Pact countries.[citation needed]

Newly built apartments in 1970

The political situation was centred on advancing the interest of those informal factions, which had
their primary focus on well-being.[citation needed] In this situation, Imre Nagy was elected as next
Prime Minister. He had gained widespread popularity by distributing land to farmers, and the
support of the elite by practicing self-criticism and completing party programs, even when it
conflicted with his proposals.[citation needed] He moved to create a multiparty system, winning the
support of the MEP majority.[citation needed] He declared Hungarian sovereignty and self-
governance, its departure from the Warsaw Pact and its willingness to co-operate with all countries.
During this time, the CIA-sponsored Radio Free Europe broadcast effective methods of urban
combat, including constructing barricades and producing explosives.[citation needed] In Budapest,
peaceful protests demanding Soviet withdrawal, free press, freedom of expression and free
elections, were organized by university students, professors and intellectuals. The Soviet Minister for
War Issues ordered the brigades to move into the city. In response to this action, the protesters set
up defenses. When the tanks and elite forces opened fire on the mass protest situated in front of the
Parliament buildings, they caused a national uprising overnight. There were examples of long-
stationed Soviet soldiers refusing to accept the authority of their officers and defecting to the
revolutionary forces.[citation needed]

The Soviets were eventually defeated and all surviving units were ordered to return to army bases in
the countryside. Imre Nagy declared Hungary neutral, stated he was working to cooperate with all
willing countries, and declared free elections, parties were founded or reopened in the city. The USA
declared that the neutrality of the small country did not affect the World Powers.[citation needed]
The Soviet Union, which feared NATO deployment, took this as a permission to invade Hungary.
[citation needed] In reality the USA wanted to ensure Hungary was not invaded by retaining its
neutral position.[citation needed] Soviet units were ordered to invade, along with the militaries of
the surrounding nationalities of the Warsaw Pact, with which Hungary already had a strained history.
[citation needed] On November 4, the Warsaw Pact forces launched their attack. Imre Nagy fled to
the Yugoslavian Embassy, and refused to take responsibility for ordering resistance. He was promised
free passage to the border by the next leader, but was arrested by Soviet troops and later put on trial
in secret.[10]

People in front of Keleti railway station, 1985

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed, the Soviets, rather than appointing a Hungarian
hardliner or a Soviet general, gave a chance to János Kádár, a former kidnapped minister of the
revolution.[citation needed] He defeated the remaining rebel forces, then embarked on cautious
reforms to create a "Goulash Communism"[citation needed] that differentiated Hungary from its
Warsaw Pact neighbors. Due to the co-operative efforts of Kádár and huge loans taken from the
West to offset the failing economy, Hungary became the favorite Communist state of the West by
the late 1970s.[citation needed] A decade later, the city was the center of opposition activity, rallies,
printing and selling of unauthorized material and secret-service surveillance. In addition the talks
between opposition and government representatives (dubbed the "Round Table Consultations")
were held there.[citation needed] Finally, the majority of the multi-sided regime decided to step over
Gorbachev's line and open the borders (the first official break of the Iron Curtain), declared Hungary
a Republic on October 23, 1989 then issued free elections.[citation needed] While communism was
toppled in Berlin and Prague, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was simply voted out of power
in Hungary, initiating a peaceful transition from one political system to another.[citation needed]
Hungarians simply refer to all that has happened since then as "after the System-change".

After 1989

Main article: Politics of Hungary

The revolutions of 1989 brought with them the end of Soviet occupation of Hungary, which meant
the end of Communism in Hungary. Budapest succeeded in taking advantage of new economic
possibilities and pursuing development more efficiently than the other parts of the country. Upon the
shutdown of Socialist industrial plants, plenty of new workplaces were generated, especially on the
fields of service and trade industries. In the Budapest area, unemployment is the lowest, and average
income per capita is the highest.

The local government law legislated after the transition provided new rights or licenses for the
districts of Budapest, like the right to own and finance the community public services should they
want and decide the density and micro-layout of area types that are defined by the Metropolitan
Government. Local minority governments had also sprang forth, active mainly on cultural fields.