Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946. The Catholic kingdom emerged as a continuation of the Grand Principality of Hungary upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom around the year 1000; his family (the Árpád dynasty) led the monarchy for 300 years. By the 12th century, the kingdom had become a European power.

Due to the Ottoman occupation of the central and southern territories of Hungary in the 16th century, the country was partitioned into three parts: the Habsburg Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania. The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács in 1526 continuously until 1918 and also played a key role in the wars against the Ottoman Empire and the eventual expulsion of the Turks during and after the Great Turkish War.

The Hungarians fought many wars of independence against the Habsburgs, including in 1604–06, 1664–71, 1680–85, 1703–11, and 1848–49. From 1867, territories connected to the Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. The monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king Charles IV in 1918, after which Hungary became a republic. The kingdom was nominally restored during the "Regency" of 1920–46, ending under the Soviet occupation in 1946.

The Kingdom of Hungary was a multiethnic state from its inception until the Treaty of Trianon and it covered what is today Hungary, Slovakia, Transylvania and other parts of Romania, Carpathian Ruthenia (now part of Ukraine), Vojvodina (now part of Serbia), the territory of Burgenland (now part of Austria), Međimurje (now part of Croatia), Prekmurje (now part of Slovenia) and a few villages which are now part of Poland. From 1102, it also included the Kingdom of Croatia, being in personal union with it, united under the King of Hungary.

According to Hungarian demographers, about 80 percent of the population was made up of Hungarians before the Battle of Mohács, however in the mid-19th century out of a population of 14 million less than 6 million were Hungarian due to the resettlement policies and continuous immigration from neighboring countries. The loss of 72% of Hungary as a result of the post-World War I Treaty of Trianon (reinforced by the post-World War II Treaty of Paris) made the remnant of Hungary ethnically homogeneous. More than nine-tenths of the population of modern Hungary is ethnically Hungarian and speaks Hungarian as their mother tongue.

Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I (20 August) is a national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the foundation of the state (Foundation Day).