Itt-Ott, 1976 (9. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1976 / 4. szám
TŐffiTIÉEMILMPMK Mike Kovács (Saxonburg, Pa): A SCENARIO IN HUNGARIAN HISTORY I came to Portland this summer with the intent of learning to speak Hungarian. However, in addition to this I also enrolled in the course taught by Ludányi András, "The History of Hungary and Rumania." On the final examination there was a question that read, "The historian Gyula Szekfíí saw in the Turkish occupation the origin of all the subsequent misfortunes of the Hungarian nation. Do you think he is correct in his assessment? Why or why not? (In answering the question, reflect on the special characteristics of the Turkish expansion and its consequences for the demography, society, economy and culture of the respective areas.)" When studying for this question I came upon some speculation (though quite rational speculation at that) that I feel is very interesting. What path would the destiny of the Magyar people have foHowed had the Turkish occupation not taken place ? In attempting to answer this question, it is important to take a look at the characteristic of Turkish occupation that was of the greatest negative consequence to Hungary. This was of course the drastic blow that the overall population suffered. The Turks were known for their wholesale slaughter of the population in a particular area, their deportation of large numbers of people into slavery, and the creation of conditions allowing a further reduction of the population. (This was mainly the breakout of a TB epidemic.) Here are a few statistics to illustrate this point. In the year 1490 the total population of Hungary was four million, however at the end of the 16th century there were only two and a half million people remaining. Another example is the county of Somogy. At the end of the 15th century, there were 11, 000 households in this area, by the year 1646 only 1, 239 remained, and in the year 1671 there were just 106 left. This is a very important point in speculating on this topic, if not the most important. At the end of the 15th century the population of Hungary was comparable to that of any of the western European powers,, had not the populace of Hungary been so devastated by the Turks, surely its population would today equal that of France or Germany. If so, the Magyars would be the prominent race in the Carpathian Basin ind. Erdély. Likewise, the minorities would not have come into Hungary to fill the "population vacuum" created. This point is important because these minorities in Hungary hindered, to a certain extent, the struggle to get loose from the grip that the Habsburgé had on the country. And this brings up the question of the Habsburgs. It is obvious that the only reason the Habsburgs were able to get an effective hold on the throne of Hungary (and to keep it for so long) was because of the havoc the Turks wrought. Zápolyai János had no easy task in dealing with the Turks and the Habsburgs at the same time. It is even more interesting to speculate on what events might have taken place had not the Habsburgs shaped Hungary's history for the next 400 years. The reign of Mátyás I is known as the zenith of Hungarian power. Mátyás did more to bring the people of the Hungarian kingdom together than had any of his predecessors; also, Hungarian culture was truly beginning to flourish. (The personal library of Mátyás, the CORVINA, was known throughout Europe.) The intervention of the Turkish occupation certainly did much to contain the continuation of this growth. And in addition to this I personally feel that the period of Habsburg hegemony was the most destructive thing ever to happen to Hungary. Would Hungary have been subject to the loss of the bulk of its population and land mass in 1918 if the Habsburgs had never had control of the throne? In all probability, Hungary would have had nothing to do with the first world war. 9
