Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Department of Modern and Contemporary Hungarian History
- Code
- BMI-KET-326
- Title
- History of Modern Hungary
- Usual semester
- Spring
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- en
- Learning outcomes
- Knowledge: Students will acquire a comprehensive understanding of the major political and social transformations that took place in Hungary throughout the 20th century. They will gain insight into the dynamics of regime change, the functioning of different political systems, and their impact on society and the economy. Skills: Students will develop analytical skills through the examination of complex historical processes and their social consequences. They will learn to interpret political, social, and economic phenomena from a comparative perspective and to identify continuities and ruptures across different regimes. Attitude: The course fosters openness and sensitivity toward diverse historical experiences and political viewpoints. It promotes a reflective attitude toward historical memory, national identity, and the challenges of interpreting the past in a broader European context. Autonomy and Responsibility: Students will enhance their capacity for independent learning and critical thinking. The course supports the development of autonomous judgment and responsible engagement with political and historical issues relevant to both Hungarian and European societies. The purpose of the lecture is to provide an insight into the history of Hungary from the dualism era to the regime change at the end of the 20th century. The weekly lectures not only reviews the political history, but also the main economic, social and cultural changes.
- Course content
- Class 1 — Introduction February 12, 2025 Class 2 — Austria-Hungary: multi-national state, political structure, economic development February 19, 2025 Class 3 — Budapest – a metropolis for Hungary: society, architecture, urban design February 26, 2025 Class 4 — Independent Hungary in the making: military defeat, revolutions, disintegration March 3, 2025 Class 5 — Interwar Hungary: politics, society, economy, foreign policy March 10, 2025 Class 6 — The Second World War: „territorial revision”, belligerency, Holocaust March 17, 2025 Class 7 — The sovietization of Hungary Class 8 — Building Socialism in the cities and in the countyside Class 9 — The Revolution of 1956 and its aftermath Class 10 — Illusions and realities of “Goulash Communism” Class 11 — Socialism in decay and the collapse Class 12 — City Walk – The City Park and its vicinity: an urban area for residence, recreation and political manifestations (1800 to 2000) Consequences of the 1848 revolution and war of independence. The creation of bourgeois Hungary. The main features of the system of dualism. The crisis and dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The political, economic and social consequences of World War I. Economic and social consolidation in the 1920s. The effects of the world crisis in Hungary. The Revision and the Second World War. Major post-war changes, 1945-1949. The Stalinist dictatorship and the 1956 revolution and freedom fight. The main characteristics of the Kádár system. Collapse of socialism and the period of regime change.
- Assessment method
- oral exam
- Bibliography
- • Kontler, László: Millennium in Central Europe: A history of Hungary. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 279–324. • Lukacs, John: Budapest 1900: A Historical Portrait of a City and Its Culture. Budapest, Grove Atlantic, 1990. Romsics, Ignác: Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Budapest, Corvina – Osiris, 1999. Pp. 79–126. • Kontler, László: Millennium in Central Europe: A History of Hungary. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 325–364. • Zeidler, Miklós: Ideas on Territorial Revision in Hungary 1920–1945. Boulder – Wayne, Social Science Monographs – Center for Hungarian Studies and Publications, 2007. Pp. 443. Pp. 255–291. • Romsics, Ignác: Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Budapest, Corvina – Osiris, 1999. Pp. 204–216. • Romsics, Ignác: Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Budapest, Corvina – Osiris, 1999. Pp. 267–293. • Apor, Balázs: Communist Leader Cults in Eastern Europe: Concepts and Recent Debates In: Cultic Revelations. Cult Personalities and Phenomena. Ed. by Anssi Halmesvirta. Jyväskylä,, Historietti Oy, 2011. Pp. 37–62. • Pittaway, Mark: The Workers’ State: Industrial Labor and the Making of Socialist Hungary, 1944–1958. Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012. Pp. 144–173. • Varga, Zsuzsanna: Three Waves of Collectivization in One Country. In: Countryside and Communism in Eastern Europe: Perceptions, Attitudes, Propaganda. Ed by Sorin Radu, Cosmin Budeanca. Berlin, LIT Verlag, 2016. Pp. 258–294. • Rainer, János M.: The Sixteen-Point program and Demonstrations in its Suppport. In: 1956: The Hungarian Revolution and War for Independence. Ed by Lee Congdon, Béla K. Király, Károly Nagy. New York, Columbia University Press, 2006. Pp. 243–262. • From Demonstrations to Revolution. In: The 1956 Hungarian revolution: A History in Documents. Ed by Csaba Békés, Malcolm Byrne, János M. Rainer. Budapest, CEU Press, 2002. Pp. 191–216. • Rainer, János M.: The Sixties in Hungary – Some Historical and Political Approaches. In: Muddling Through in the Long 1960s. Ideas and Everyday Life in High Politics and Lower Classes of Communist Hungary. Ed. by György Péteri. Trondheim, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2005. Pp. 2–26. • Péteri, György: Consumer and Consumerism Under State Socialism: Demand-side Abundance and Its Discontents in Hungary During the Long 1960s. In: Overwhelmed by Overflows? How People and Organizations Create and Manage Excess. Ed. by Orvar Löfgren, Barbara Czarniawska. Lund, Lund University Press, 2019. Pp. 12–43. • Tőkés, Rudolf L.: Hungary’s Negotiated Revolution. Economic Reform, Social Change and Political Succession, 1957–1990. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. 253–304. • Kontler, László: Millennium in Central Europe: A History of Hungary. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 455–492. 1956: The Hungarian Revolution and War for Independence. (eds. Lee Congdon, Béla K. Király, Károly Nagy) New York, Columbia University Press, 2006. Kontler, László: A history of Hungary: millennium in Central Europe . New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Romsics, Ignác: Hungary in the Twentieth Century. Budapest, Corvina – Osiris, 1999. Tőkés, Rudolf L.: Hungary's Negotiated Revolution. Economic Reform, Social Change and Political Succession, 1957-1990. Cambridge, CUP, 1996.