HSK. Hungarian Studies Review Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1-2 (Spring-Fall, 2001) Special Volume: Hungary: 1001-2001 A Millennial Retrospection Essays on thousand years of Hungarian history and Hungarian survival by: Laszlo Veszpremy, Zoltan Kosztolnyik, Geza Palffy, Janos Barta, Peter Pastor, and Bela Bodo with an introduction and a postscript by: N. F. Dreisziger HUNGARIAN STUDIES REVIEW HUNGARIAN STUDIES NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA SZECHENYI LIBRARY VOL. 28, NOS. 1-2 (SPRING-FALL 2001) EDITORS GEORGE BISZTRAY N.F. DREISZIGER University of Toronto Royal Military College of Canada EDITORIAL ADVISERS OLIVER BOTAR GEZA JESZENSZKY University of Manitoba Budapest and Washington ILONA KOVACS MARIA KRISZTINKOVICH National Szechenyi Library Vancouver, B.C. BARNABAS A. RACZ ISTVAN MONOK Eastern Michigan U. National Szechenyi Library AGATHA SCHWARTZ THOMAS SAKMYSTER University of Ottawa University of Cincinnati THOMAS SPIRA S.B. VARDY U.P.E.I. Duquesne University SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER EVA TOMORY Toronto Correspondence should be addressed to: The Editors, Hungarian Studies Review, University of Toronto, 1 Spadina Cres. Rm. 104, Toronto, ON Canada M5S 1A1 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Articles appearing in the HSR are indexed in: HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS and, AMERICA: HISTORY AND LIFE. Copyright © (2001) the Hungarian Studies Review. ISSN 0713-8083 (replacing 0317-204X) The Hungarian Studies Review is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the publication of articles and book reviews relating to Hungary and Hungarians. Since its launching in 1974, the Review has been a forum for the scholarly discussion of issues in Hungarian history, politics and cultural affairs. Subscriptions are $12.00 per annum. Membership in the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada includes a subscription to the journal. For further informa- tion, visit our web-pages: www.hungarianstudies.org and www.ccsp.sfu.ca/calj.hsr Statements and opinions expressed in the HSR are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal's editors. Desk-top typesetting by N.F. Dreisziger. Printed^ in Hungary. Distributed by the National Szechenyi Library: Budavari Palota, F Eptilet, 1827 Budapest, Hungary. Special Volume: Hungary 1001-2001: A Millennial Retrospection Essays on thousand years of Hungarian history and Hungarian survival by: Laszlo Veszpremy, Zoltan Kosztolnyik, Geza Palffy, Janos Barta, Peter Pastor, and Bela Bodo with an introduction and a postscript by N. F. Dreisziger Forthcoming in out next volume: (vol. XXIX, spring-fall 2002) Women and Hungary Part II edited by Agatha Schwartz Essays in Twentieth Century Politics, Education, History and Literature by Katalin Fabian Andrea Peto s Agnes Huszar Vardy Maria Palasik Agatha Schwartz and Lee Congdon (plus book reviews) CONTENTS Thousand Years of Hungarian Survival: An Introduction 1 Medieval Hungary 4 The Ottoman Era 8 The Habsburg Era 14 The First World War and the Treaty of Trianon 28 The Second World War and its Aftermath 36 The Threat of Demographic Decline 46 Notes 55 N. F. DREISZIGER Hungary's Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century 73 Consequences 80 Conclusions 85 Notes 88 LASZLO VESZPREMY Dynastic Intrigues and Domestic Realities during the Reigns of Andrew I and Bela I 93 The Reign of Andrew I 95 The Reign of Bela I 100 Conclusions 102 Notes (and a note on sources) 103 Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK The Impact of the Ottoman Rule on Hungary 109 The Consequences of the Battle at Mohacs 110 Hungary as a Battleground: The Impact of Warfare .... 112 Economic and Other Losses 119 Changes in the Demographic and Ethnic Map 121 Hungary and Europe 124 Notes 125 GEZA PALFFY Contents (continued) Habsburg Rule in Hungary in the Eighteenth Century 133 Conditions in Post-Ottoman Hungary 136 Recovery from Ottoman Rule 138 Hardships of Life in 18lh Century Hungary 141 Habsburg Policies Promoting Progress 142 Habsburg Policies Causing Conflict 148 Hungary's Return to Europe 157 Notes 158 JANOS BARTA Hungary in World War I: The End of Historic Hungary 163 Miscalculations and Disasters 166 The War's Impact on Hungary 169 Defeat and its Consequences 177 Notes 178 PETER PASTOR Progress or National Suicide: the Single-Child Family in Hungarian Political Thought, 1840-1945 185 The Controversy over Contraception before 1914 186 The Egyke Debate between the Wars 187 The Egyke in Modern Scientific Discourse 195 The Source of the Egyke as a Cultural Concept 197 The Debate's Outcome 202 Notes ; 204 BELA BODO Hungarian Survival — in Hungary and Beyond the Borders: A Postscript 209 Survival in the Neighbouring States 210 Survival in the Diaspora 222 Survival in Hungary: Conclusions 227 Notes 230 N. F. DREISZIGER Our Contributors 237 Preface Historians usually date the existence of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary from the coronation of Stephen I a millennium ago. Because it is not certain whether this event took place in the year 1000 or 1001 (some medieval chronicles give Christmas of 1000 as the date, while others refer to January of 1001) we feel that we have the perfect excuse to celebrate this anniversary in both 2000 and 2001. Our commemorative activities in 2000 consisted of two feats. One was the publication of another special volume of our journal (vol. XXVII). It had the title Thousand Years of Hungarian Thought and offered translations into English of the writings of two dozen of Hun- gary's prominent statesmen and thinkers, starting with King Stephen I and ending with several prominent twentieth-century figures. The other event that we had undertaken was the organization of a conference: "Hungary Through the Centuries: A Millennial Retrospection." The meeting was held on September 22-23 at the University of Toronto, on the campus of St. Michael's College. Several dozen scholars were in attendance as paper- givers and session chairmen. The former came from Hungary, Canada, the United States and elsewhere, while the latter Were mainly from among the faculty and administration of the host university. The papers presented at the conference dealt with the evolution of Hungary from the late tenth century to the present. The conference was a part of the commemorative celebrations, organized by the Hungarian community of Toronto, of the 1000 years of Hungarian statehood. In the year 2001 we continue our celebration of the millennium of the birth of the Hungarian state. We do this by publishing a selection of papers from this conference. Our original plan had been the publication of the conference's unabridged proceedings; however, pressures of time, limi- tations on our resources, and the unavailability of some of the manu- scripts, prompted us to abandon our initial intentions in favour of publish- ing a selection of papers, all dealing with or touching on the theme of the survival of the Hungarian state, and even the Hungarian nation, through the second millennium of historical times. It is our hope that more of the papers given at the conference, including those not yet submitted and those on which rewriting and translation work has not been completed, can be published by us in our journal in the not too distant future. In the commemorative activities of the Hungarian Studies Review throughout 2000 and 2001 there had been a sometimes calculated and sometimes improvised division of labour between the journal's editors. The year 2000 volume was the result of many years of work by George Bisztray and his students in the University of Toronto's Hungarian studies program, while Nandor Dreisziger's input was confined largely to the preparation of a camera-ready copy. In making the 2000 gathering a reality, most of the myriad tasks of conference organizing and local arrangements were the lot of the Toronto-based member of the team, while the task of writing an introduction and a postscript, and the editing (sometimes the re-translating) of the manuscripts fell on the shoulders of the historian member of the team. A great many other people and several institutions also contrib- uted to the success of our commemorative ventures. The conference in Toronto had several sponsors and official supporters: the Ministry of External Affairs of Hungary, the National Canadian Conference Commit- tee and the Canadian-Hungarian Heritage Association; and, at the Univer- sity of Toronto, the Connaught Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Science, the School of Graduate Studies, the Department of History, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, and the European Studies Program. Dr. Sandor Szakaly, of the Institute of Military History in Budapest at the time, acted as one of the academic advisers and counselled on the selec- tion of participants from Hungary, while Mrs. Eva Tomory of Toronto's Hungarian Studies Program, helped with local arrangements. Still others, too numerous to mention, offered encouragement, gave their time and energies to the organizing of the larger community celebrations in Toron- to, or assisted with the many mundane tasks of making a gathering of scholars successful. George Bisztray Nandor Dreisziger Thousand Years of Hungarian Survival: An Introduction N. F. Dreisziger The perpetual struggle for room and food. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) If the history of mankind is an unending quest by nations for territory and sustenance then it is inevitable that in this contest there would be winners and losers.1 Anyone who looks at an atlas of the world produced generations ago will find countries that cannot be located on today's maps. A map of Central Europe, for example, printed in the early nine- teenth century, is hardly recognizable to a person today who is not familiar with the region's history. The changes do not suggest that the political entities that exist on the old map and cannot be found on the new one have all disappeared.