The Eighth Tribe, 1976 (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1976-01-01 / 1. szám
January, 1976 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 3 Editor’s Note: With this issue The EIGHTH TRIBE begins publication of the History of the Hungarian Nation. All references in this presentation apply to Hungary as it was prior to the Trianon Treaty in 1918. THE HISTORY OF THE HUNGARIAN NATION Origin and Settlement of the Magyars The scene of Hungarian life for over ten centuries has been the fertile basin surrounded by the Carpathian Range. As has often been noted by geographers, this closed-in territory duly influenced the creation of a unified state. The Carpathian Mountain System outlines the basin of the Tisza River in a semicircle, which the French geographer Himly called “the Magyar system.” The great arc of the Carpathians, extending to a length of almost a thousand miles, circumvallates the Hungarian lowlands like a natural fortified wall. For those approaching from the east this is the first great obstacle rising out of the plains. Only twice were its mountain ramparts effectually pierced: in 1241 by the Mongols and in 1849 by the Czar’s armies, but in the latter case the defending Hungarian forces were engaged elsewhere hy the invasion of Austrian troops. The area of this mountain-walled basin is about 135,000 square miles forming a hydrographic unit. Its drainage system centers around the Danube into which all but two insignificant waters empty inside the Basin itself. Within the Carpathian Basin itself, one may define certain transitions, rather than separate regions of different character. Only Transylvania may be treated as a distinct entity within the larger one. On the other hand, the narrow strip on the north, known today as Slovakia, can hardly be termed such a closed territory, especially as it is divided by several ranges, its valleys running from north to south toward the center of the Carpathian drainage system. Geographers, emphasizing the unity of this system, point out that the products of the different regions supplement one another, the agricultural products of the lowlands and the mining and timber of the surrounding mountains, for instance; also that intensive agriculture on the plain cannot be pursued without irrigation, which, in turn, would be hardly possible without the storage possibilities of Suhcarpathian Ruthenia. Previous to the Migration of Peoples, two great empires, the Chinese and the Roman, ruled on the extreme edges of the enormous Eurasian continent. Separated by immeasurable distances, roaming hordes of “barbarians” inhabited the infinite, unknown wastes between them. The Great Wall of China and the Roman Limes were erected against them, the latter following the course of the Rhine and Danube Rivers. The western portion of what is Hungary today, known as Transdanubia (Pannonia in Latin), was a well organized province of the Roman Empire. Of its numerous towns and cities the significance of Aquincum, on the northern outskirts of Budapest, is proved hy its excavated ruins. Several Transdanubian cities are built on the site of former Roman settlements, yet no real continuity can de detected, though, as relics of Roman rule, graves, roads, and ruins abound. In the east, around Transylvania, the Roman emperor Trajan annihilated the state of the Dacians in the early second century. There too, Roman rule was established; but Dacia could not match Pannonia, either in importance or in intensity of Roman influence. As a matter of record, Dacia protruded from the defence line and was connected with the Roman Empire only by a narrow corridor. In 271 A.D. the emperor Aurelian evacuated all Roman subjects from the province, and thus all conditions of Roman life ceased to exist there. About the time of Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, the France of our time, the Chinese in the east defeated the powerful Asiatic empire of the Huns, who consequently were compelled to turn westward across the great plains toward Europe. At the end of the 4th century they reached the Volga River and forced the different Teutonic races against the Roman Limes. The latter soon gave way, and the migration of peoples, surging westward in ever stronger waves, definitely transformed the status quo of ethnic relations. Three distinct waves of this great migration may be distinguished. First came the Germanic peoples, who adopted Christianity and founded a long line of new states. These were under pressure from the east hy the so-called Turkic peoples: first came the tribes comprising the Hun Empire, followed by the Avars, who likewise centered their rule in the Carpathian Basin. At the same time a third wave discernible, that of the Slavic peoples, who moved cautiously, in rather small groups. The Slavs were not primarily creators of political bodies of their own: they were not a military, much less a conquering race. Their
