J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary. Presented to the XXII. International Congress for the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 4. (Budapest, 1970)

ESSAYS-LECTURES - J. Antall: Absolutism and Liberalism in Health Policy in Hungary (in English)

ABSOLUTISM AND LIBERALISM IN HEALTH POLICY IN HUNGARY by JÓZSEF ANTALL ENLIGHTENED ABSOLUTISM AND PUBLIC HEALTH "pastern European development had run paralle lÿ with or slightly behind the ' general line of European progress, but the turn of the 15th and I6th centuries mercilessly separated the two. Western Europe, entering into a symbiosis with the oceans and the overseas countries, set out on the course of a unique —capitalistic—development, entered centuries of increasing prosperity, while Eastern Europe got stuck, fell under the influence of opposite, retracting forces. Following the closing up which characterized the age of the Hungarian Angevins, and the renaissance of Matthias Corvinus, intertwined with Italian culture, the period of the Turkish wars and the fights of the Estates for independence against the Habsburgs (1526 — 1711) meant a fateful loss for Hungary. The features of feudalism were conserved for centuries, industry lagged behind, commerce did not develop, the leading role of the nobility remained, and the development of the bourgeoisie was stopped. Instead of enjoying the fruits of overseas conquest, the lot of the peoples of Eastern Europe was to feel the consequences of surrender. They fell under the sway of economically and socially less developed states (the Ottoman Empire etc.), and sank into the position of the "back poultryrun". The endless wars led to immense losses in the number of the population. According to estimates the number of the Hungarians was about five millions at the end of the 15th century, not less than the population of many developed, Western European states, but by the beginning of the 18th century it was hardly three millions. This demographic factor became decisive both from an economic and from a national point of view. It led to large-scale colonization, to the establishment of new settlements, and so the historical circumstances of the nationality question, which led to so much national strife in Hungary, were born. In areas lacking capital and the resources of the bourgeoisie it was by necessity that only reforms started by the state could facilitate development. It cannot be denied that in Hungary the first important measures in the direction of modernization and bourgeois development were adopted in the 18th century, in the period of Habsburg absolutism, which opposed the national aspirations of the Hungarians. This is especially valid for the second half of the rule of Queen Maria Theresa (from the seventeen-sixties onwards), and for the reign of Joseph II (1780—1790), which is regarded as the period of enlightened absolutism, or Josephinism. The organization of health administration and the laying down 147