The National Archives of Hungary (Budapest, 2006)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL ARCHIVES OF NATIONAL COLLECTION - The Archives of Military History Budapest by Jolán Szijj

BY JOLÁN SZIJJ THE ARCHIVES OF MILITARY HISTORY, BUDAPEST T

he history of Hungarian archives started in the Middle Ages. King Béla III ordered the introduction of the use of written records in the field of administration of the royal court in 1181. It became more and more used in royal court offices, chancellery and courts of justice , during the 13

th century. Hungary used to belong to the Danubian monarchy from the beginning of 16

th century, it did not have an independent statehood.. The most important decisions in connection with the life of the country orginated in Vienna and these documents were kept there. Besides forming the Royal Court War Council - the so-called Hofkriegsrat for managing military affairs and which was developed by King Ferdinand I in 1556, the archives for collecting documents were also established. Separating the activity of archives from the activity of official services became necessary after several decades. On the proposal of Duke Jenő Savoyai, Emperor Joseph I appointed the first archivist in the person of Bernhard Rosenbaum on 4

th April 1711. We can mention the history of military archives since then, which operated upon the order of 23

rd March 1801 by Emperor Francis and the name of which was Kriegsarchiv - the Archives of Military History. Its task was to evaluate the documents in the framework of military science as well as collecting and organizing the new materials for the archives. These military archives were suitable to collect, hold and systematize the new archives. This situation was not changed even by The Compromise of 1867 since there were no independent Hungarian military affairs in the dualistic state. So forming the Hungarian army as a part of the military force of the Monarchy was not followed by a corresponding forming of the archives of military history Only when the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed in October 1918 and when the independent and autonomous Hungary was born as a result of the bourgeois revolution- it was only then that it became possible for it to be established. The organic precedents, that is, the antecedents of the military archives could be found in the Ministry of Defence and was later reorganized under the name of Hungarian Ministry of War at the beginning of November 1918. During