Hungarian History

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Hungarian History

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I am Szántai Gábor, the founder of the Hungarian History Movement – the largest English-language digital initiative sharing authentic Hungarian history with the global diaspora. Welcome to the official Facebook hub of the Hungarian History Movement – the world's largest English-language initiative dedicated to preserving and sharing authentic Hungarian history. This page is the heart of our global

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12/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history...
It happened on 12 August 1920:
The Hungarian military aid arrived in Skierniewice, near Warsaw, and the Poles started a counter-offensive in the Polish-Bolshevik war.

The "Polonia" military aid was a Hungarian diplomatic and military operation during the Polish-Soviet War between 1919 and 1921, during which Poland received a significant amount of ammunition, weapons, and other military equipment by rail through Hungary and from Hungary.

There was no official name for the operations; "Polonia" was the name of some of the railway trains used for the transports.

The idea for the operation came from a Hungarian intelligence officer in Vienna, Taróczy Nándor. The first phase of the operation was to ensure that Austrian, French, Italian, British, and Hungarian military supplies could reach Poland, bypassing Czechoslovakia, which was at odds with the Poles.

In the second phase, the supply of ammunition was cut off due to the hostility of the workers' and communist movements, so that only Hungarian ammunition could reach the fighting Poles.

With the help of this military aid, the Second Republic of Poland was able to preserve the independent statehood and territorial integrity it had so recently won against Soviet Russia and the communist movements in Europe. It was also able to prevent the Red Army from later occupying Berlin and Vienna.

Additional information:
General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, a member of the State Defense Council, estimated in July 1920 that by mid-August the Polish Army would run out of ammunition. Had the Poles been forced to rely solely on their own resources at the crucial moment of the struggle near Warsaw Polish soldiers would have had nothing with which to fire at the Bolsheviks. The fate of Poland would then have been sealed.

Fortunately, events took a different turn, and on August 12, 1920, a long-awaited train carrying ammunition from Manfred Weiss’s factory in Budapest arrived in Skierniewice. The Poles swiftly unloaded 22 million rounds and delivered the much-needed ammunition to the sectors of the front where it was most desperately lacking.

In total, the Hungarians sent over 100 million rifle cartridges to Poland. Poland was to pay for them later with coal.

General Tadeusz Rozwadowski, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army during the Battle of Warsaw, commented on the matter at the time in a conversation with Colonel József Takách-Tolvay of the Hungarian military mission in Poland: “You were the only nation that truly wanted to help us; the support from the French came only after great pressure, and even then—what kind of support was it? The English were making arrangements against Poland with the Lithuanians and the Germans, the latter in turn plotting with the Czechs.”

Sources: Magyar történelem-közösség and
Andrzej Twarog

12/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
12 August 1687: The Battle of Nagyharsány, a disastrous Ottoman defeat, also called the „second” Battle of Mohács.

It is referred to like this because the left wing of the Christian army, where the brave Bavarian troops stood, was only 17 kilometers away from the battlefield of Mohács, where Sultan Suleiman had fought that famous battle against King Lajos II of Hungary in 1526.
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Duke V. Charles of Lotharingia led the main army southward along the right bank of the Danube River, towards the Bridge of Eszék (Osiek) on the Dráva River. Miksa (Maximilian) Emmanuel was the leader of the troops marching southward between the Danube and the Tisza Rivers Region.

The units of Louis of Baden, the „Türkenlouis” were among them as well. The two armies joined each other along the Danube River, they had about 50,000 men. There were Austrians, Bavarians, Croatian, and Hungarian troops alike. As for the Hungarians, their number was about 15,000 men.

The units of Grand Vizier Szári (the Blond) Suleiman were deployed before them at Eszék (Osiek). The Christian Imperial generals realized that it would be su***de to march along the Bridge of Eszék, which was eight kilometers long.

That’s why they would have liked to coax the Ottomans out from their well-fortified trenches. Finally, they succeeded in doing so, and Suleiman, trusting in the superior numbers of his army (60,000 men), marched out of Eszék (Osiek) and crossed the Dráva River. Then, he began to follow the Imperial troops.
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11/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history...
The Concealed Secrets of Mohács – based on Botlik Richárd's recently released book "Eltitkolt Mohács"

500 years ago (Aug 4, 1526), a document was issued in Vienna that your history textbooks won't mention.

While King Louis II was begging for help against the Turks, his brother-in-law Habsburg Ferdinand was busy hiring Croatian troops—not to send to Mohács, but to keep them stationed at the border. For Austria's protection. With Austrian money.

When the Croatian Ban promised 11,000 men to the king, only about 1,000 showed up. The rest stayed home, watching from a distance as Hungary collapsed. One Croatian lord, Frangepán Kristóf, even called the defeat a "useful blow" in a private letter.

Ferdinand's order? If Louis (who was famously broke) could reimburse him for the Croatian salaries, he might consider releasing the troops. Spoiler: he didn't.

Meanwhile, the king's body lay in a swamp for weeks. The identification was carried out not by Hungarian nobles who knew him personally, but by a Bohemian chamberlain and a minor Győr official. All the top Hungarian lords were safely in Pozsony—and none dared to go down to Mohács to verify the body.

Why? Because whoever identified the king would be a witness. And witnesses in a succession war for TWO kingdoms (Hungary & Bohemia) had a short life expectancy.

The chamberlain who found the body? Ulrich Czettritz—the queen's personal bodyguard. He was sent to "look after" Louis before the battle. After identifying the body, he was executed. "A painful death," according to contemporary chronicler Szerémi. No one likes to cite that source.

Oh, and the Czechs elected Ferdinand as their king on Oct 23—before they even officially knew Louis was dead. The identification report only arrived in Pozsony that same day. But royal elections aren't organized overnight, are they?

Two candidates fought for the crown: Szapolyai and Ferdinand. Both played their games. One of them played it colder.

The Battle of Mohács wasn't lost on the battlefield. It was lost in the weeks after.

Mainstream historians don't like talking about this. But the documents are there. In Vienna. In Warsaw. In the margins of the official story.

500 years. And the truth still stings.

(Based on the research of Botlik Richárd.)

11/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history, we commemorate the death of Hunyadi János, who died on this day in 1456 from a plague that broke out after his great victory in the Battle of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade).

Hunyadi's remains were buried in the Árpád-era St. Mihály Cathedral in Gyulafehérvár. But his tomb was repeatedly disturbed by Turkish, Crimean Tatar, and Wallachian marauders in the 17th century, during the tragic twists and turns of Transylvanian history.

With the death of Hunyadi János, one of the greatest generals, who devoted almost his entire life, fortune, and political and military talent to the defense of the southern border against the Turks, passed away. It is also a historical fact that the triumph of Nándorfehérvár is a highlight in our military history, of which we can be justly proud.

For more than two hundred years, there was no example of a Hungarian army defeating the Ottoman army led by the Sultan or forcing it to retreat.

Picture: Hunyadi's tombstone in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia)

10/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
10 August 1664: The disgraceful Treaty of Vasvár

On my page, there are several articles about this year's events, and in my opinion, the Habsburgs should not have sabotaged the efforts of Zrínyi Miklós, who tried to liberate Hungary and Croatia.

The entire conflict stems from this: the liberation of Hungary was not in the Habsburgs' interest before the siege of Vienna. Zrínyi would have had German and French help, and with their combined efforts, Hungary and Croatia would have become sovereign states like before.

In order to understand the age of anti-Habsburg struggles in Hungary, we must start with the shameful peace signed at Vasvár, after the victorious battle of Szentgotthárd.

It embittered Zrínyi Miklós / Nikola Zrinski (1620-1664), who soon died in a hunting accident. This triggered the Wesselényi Conspiracy and caused the ex*****on of Zrínyi Péter among other people; it alienated the Croatians and the Hungarians, and it led to the rebel "kuruc" uprisings.

Think of the father of Thököly Imre, who was deprived by the greedy Viennese Court; think how the young Thököly (married to Zrínyi Ilona) turned against the Habsburgs; how he let the Ottomans march up to the gate of Vienna in 1683;

Then just watch how the Habsburgs "liberated" Hungary from the Ottomans, and how they were challenged by the War of Independence of Prince Rákóczi Ferenc between 1703 and 1711...

And all of this happened because of the Peace of Vasvár.

10/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
🇭🇺⚔🇹🇷 The Battle of Palást (9-10 August 1552)

📜Here is my dramatized writing about this battle, based on the ballad of Tinódi Lantos Sebestyén (1510-1556):

👳"Hádim Ali, the Gelded, Pasha of Buda Castle, was deep in his thoughts, stroking his long beard, which was turning slowly white. He was quite satisfied. His mission was to cut the two infidel countries, Royal Hungary and Transylvania, apart from each other to prevent their unification.

☪️⚔🔥His army, albeit suffering painful losses at Drégely Castle, was penetrating deep into the northern lands of the Christians.
So far, he has taken all the smaller forts of Nógrád County, and his raiders were plundering lands that had never seen Ottoman blades until now."

👉️🏹⚔🛡‼️🇪🇺These were the fights that saved Europe.
Hungarian history claims its proper place and recognition on the pages of general history. 🇭🇺 📣📢📡🌐

09/08/2026

Today in 🇭🇺 Hungarian history:
🏰☠️9 August 1600 The mutiny of the Walloon mercenaries in Pápa castle was put down

⚔This incident took place during the devastating 15-Year War and ended with a terrible mass ex*****on.

🗡💰There were 3,000 foreign mercenaries in Pápa, 1,500 of them were Walloon soldiers. They haven`t got their pay for a half year and they were demanding it in vain. The Emperor was due to pay them 60,000 gold and they had been waiting for it for half a year already.

🏰The castle’s captain was Maróthy Mihály and his two officers were Slakovics Farkas and Bakács Sándor but they had only a few Hungarian and German soldiers with them. Maróthy had desperately asked for help to pay the mercenaries but he received only promises that the money might be paid in installments, some months later.

🚩The Walloons’ leaders were called Finn and La Motte. They rioted on 1 June and disarmed both the German and the Hungarian guards, including their own captain, Maróthy Mihály.

🔥🏘Shortly after, they began to loot the city systematically and collected all the valuables into a building. Then, to make things worse, they sent envoys to the Turks of Fehérvár Castle. They offered to cede them Pápa castle if they paid their 60,000 (or 100,000) gold Forints which had not been paid by the Habsburgs.

🇹🇷👳Pasha of Bosnia, Dervis Hassan supported this offer as well as the Sultan and Grand Vizier Ibrahim. Yet, even they were having difficulties raising this huge amount of cash in such a short time.

🐴💣They were late and it has been decisive. The Habsburg Military Council reacted quickly to this threat and General Adolf Schwarzenberg moved to Pápa from Győr, with a quite small unit. They tried to blow up the gate with the explosive called „petarda” on 10 June but it proved unsuccessful.

⚔The General returned in mid-July with several thousand soldiers and besieged Pápa Castle. As the Walloons knew that they would have no mercy in case of getting captured, they were defending the fort very persistently so the siege lasted for a month. The mercenaries of La Motte have caused great losses with their sallies. During such a charge out, General Schwarzenberg got a lethal wound on 29 July.

🐴His position was taken over by Nádasdy Ferenc for a short time, he was elected by the officers of the army in unison. The new commander, Melchior von Redern arrived on 8 August so Nádasdy resigned but he was appointed as the leader of the cavalry.

😫The Walloons were starving and attempted to escape from the fort on 9 August but they were discovered and the Hungarian Hussars and the German cavalry rode after them, killing most of them.

🐴🗡It was mainly the riders of Nádasdy and Seifrid von Kollonitsch who caught up with the runners at the ruined abbey of Leveld (Városlőd). Those who could not hide were slaughtered or captured.

🏃There were 200-600 of them who could cut themselves out and could flee to Fehérvár Castle where they were employed by the Turks. They caused serious problems for the Habsburg Military Council even next year.

👉The captured mercenaries were tortured in the most hideous ways, mostly impalement was the common procedure. According to the chronicle of Istvánffy, the terrible tortures were carried out by the Walloon troops who had remained loyal to the Habsburgs.

❗After this horrible incident, there were no more cases during the Ottoman wars when foreign mercenaries would try to cede the castle to the enemy, though.

🏴Poor Captain Maróthy was freed but he could not have enjoyed his freedom for long. After a few weeks, he was traveling from Győr to Pápa and the raiding Crimean Tatars attacked him and he got wounded. He was taken to Sárvár Castle where he died shortly after.

☪️🐴In the meantime, the army of Grand Vizier Ibrahim got into motion and crossed the Száva River on 10 August. According to contemporary sources, „the remaining 160 Walloon soldiers (fighting on the Ottomans' side) all died at the fourth siege at the Gate of Palota (in Várpalota), on the 19th day of Saint Michael`s month (September), they were valiant warriors, none of them surrendered.”
📜The story is based on the research of Szibler Gábor and the Arcanum.

Below, you can see pictures of Pápa Castle...
👉️🏹⚔🛡‼️🇪🇺These were the fights that saved Europe.
Hungarian history claims its proper place and recognition on the pages of general history. 📣📢📡🌐

09/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
9 August 1587 Nádasdy and Zrínyi's victory at Kacorlak...

The combined forces of the Sanjaks (Ottoman regions) of the southern Trans-Danubian Region attacked the area of Kanizsa Castle in August. Bey Kara of Koppány met Bey Sejszüfár (Sásvár) of Szigetvár on 8 August in Szigetvár Castle, along with the beys of Mohács and Pécs Castle.

They decided to launch an attack with 5,000 riders around Letenye and Lendva on 13 August. Zrínyi György (or in Croatian, Juraj Zrinski) received intelligence about this plan, so he summoned the soldiers of the neighboring castles and summoned Batthyány Boldizsár, Nádasdy Ferenc, and Huszár Péter, the Captain of Pápa as well.

Meanwhile, the Turks were destroying the area undisturbed, killing the garrison of Lendva, who were the only ones who tried to resist them. Their heroic death gained time for the Christian forces.

Zrínyi, to cut the road of withdrawal towards Szigetvár Castle (now in the Turks’ hands), had the bridges of the Zala River destroyed and hid 3,000 soldiers around Kacorlak-Gelse, and placed 3,000 troops in reinforcement. It was a typical trap played on the 1,000-mile-long Military Borderland. The Turks often used it, too.
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Picture: Nádasdy Ferenc, the "Black Strong Bey"

08/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
On 6 August 1272, King István V, a very special monarch, died: he was the young “corex” (co-king) who ruled the country with his father, King Béla IV - not with complete peace, of course.

István V was born in 1239, the firstborn son of our epochal King Béla IV and a Byzantine princess, and reigned as King of Hungary between 1270 and 1272. In Hungarian historiography, he is a contradictory figure: on the one hand, he appears as an ungrateful, power-hungry son, and on the other, as a valiant soldier and a talented ruler with good organisational skills.

According to Szabados György, the simultaneous, divided reigns of Béla IV and his son demonstrated a complete separation of sovereign power, which had not been evident during the previously “popular” father-son, or ruler-hereditary, rivalries.

This was something new: István minted money, appointed a nobleman to the rank of Palatine (the second-highest aristocrat, who was allowed to govern in the king’s absence), and pursued an independent foreign policy.

Read my full article here: (in comments)

08/08/2026

Today in Hungarian history:
8 August 1526 The fall of Újlak castle...

I've improved my article on the history of Újlak castle with a few details about its siege in 1526 and added many new pictures.

Újlak (Croatian: Ilok) literally means “new dwelling place” in the Hungarian language and it used to be a frontier castle in southern Hungary during the Ottoman wars. It can be found in the easternmost corner of Croatia, on a hill overlooking the Danube River. It is in the Tarcal mountains and is famous for its wine.
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Újlak had 10,000 inhabitants in the 14th century and thus it belonged to the biggest towns of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the famous siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) in 1456, Saint Giovanni da Capestrano (Kapisztrán János), the greatest hero of the siege next to Hunyadi János, died in Újlak during the same year. We can see his chapel next to the castle.
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Újlaki Miklós was the Ban (Duke) of All Slavonia from 1457-63, and his son, Lőrinc was a Duke of Syrmia (Szerémség) from 1477 to 1524. The king of Hungary took the castle into his possession from the Újlaki family and the king’s troops moved into the castle in 1494, led by Lord Drágffy.

It was in Újlak, too, where Tomori Pál was elected as the Archbishop of Kalocsa. He was the General of King Lajos (Louis) II who advised the king of the seemingly good idea of destroying Suleiman’s army one by one at Mohács in 1526.

He knew that they would not have a chance in an open battle if the Sultan could unite his army. Unfortunately, Suleiman had already united his army so Tomori paid with his life for the poor recon reports he received. But before the Battle of Mohács, Újlak had to be taken by the enemy…

Read more about Újlak and its siege on my page: (in comments)

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