Budapest City Guide Directory / Index
travel & city information guide for business and tourist visitors to Budapest
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Appraisal & Overview
The area now known as Budapest was first documental in AD89 as Aquincim a Roman town. The region was often referred to as Obuda. Some Historian but not all believe that the settllment on the other side of the Danube known as 'Pest' had Turkish origins. In the 9th century Slavic and Asian Maygars settled in the region and these migrants are thought to be the ancestral origins of Hungarian culture. In the 14th century Buda was designated the Hungarian capital until it and Pest were occupied by the Ottoman empire in 1541.
In the 17th century the Buda & Pest cities were reclaimed by the Austrian based Hapsburg's and they were merged in 1849 along with the nearby region of Obuda as Budapest though this arrangement was for political reasons not officially formalised until 1867.
At the end of WW1 around 65% of the Hungary's territory had been annexed top other countries and many displaced people moved to Budapest. The politics of Hungary and its relationship with Germany in the 1930's were complicated its efforts to protect its independence without alienating Hitler failed when the Nazis invaded Hungary. It is thought that 100,000 Jews in Budapest were killed by the Nazis during WW2. The city was badly damaged by UK & US air attacks towards the end of WW2 and by the advancing Soviet Red Army liberated the city from the Nazis by installing a pro-Stalinist regime.
In 1956 an attempt to breakaway from domination by Moscow by a more independently minded Hungarian government was thwarted as its appeals for help to Western Europe fell on deaf ears. Some com mentors have argued that the failure of the west to go to Hungary's aid underpinned the oppression of Stalinism and effectively sanctioned subsequent Soviet behaviour in Berlin and Prague.
After the fall of communism in 1989 Budapest and Hungary prospered economically and in 2004 it became a member of the European Union which opened the city up to tourists.It has however seen a serious downturn in its economy since late 2008 which has been ameliorated in part by loans from the International Monetary Fund. At the same time the country has seen the extreme right gain more support in eu elections than the socialists.