Hungary History

After WWI the country lost more than two thirds of its territory – the attempt to make up for this loss drew Hungary into WWII on the Axis side. The Germans occupied the country in 1944 when hundreds of thousands Jews were deported to Auschwitz. Liberated in 1945by the Soviet army, the Communists took control over the government in 1947.

In October 1989 the Republic of Hungary was proclaimed after 40 years of Communist rule. The last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.

The attempt to turn the country’s economy into a market economy actually resulted in an initial decline in living standards, but recently Hungary has been growing economically with falls in unemployment and increases in GDP per capita as a result. It became a member of the NATO in 1999 and joined the EU in 2004.

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