Page 47 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Hungary

THE HIST OR Y OF HUNGAR Y  45

Turks practised religious Habsburg rule
tolerance, giving Hungarians After the expulsion of the Turks,
living within the empire the Austrians colonized Hun­
significant autonomy. gary with Germans, which led
Transylvania became to an anti­Habsburg revolt in
an Ottoman vassal state. 1703–11. It was put down and
It functioned as an the leader, Tran sylv anian prince
independent country, ruled Ferenc Rákóczi, was forced
by local princes who paid a into exile, yet the Habs burgs
tribute to the Turks. But the guaranteed constitutional
princes’ increasing auto­ Ottoman Campaign Tent, taken during the independence for Hungary
nomy angered the Turks, Siege of Vienna, 1683 and restored noble privileges.
who routed their armies in Peace and prosperity followed,
1660 and took control of Transylvania. first under Empress Maria Theresa (1740–80)
and later her son, Joseph II (1780–90).
Reunification Enlightened absolutists, they strengthened
Hungary’s aristocracy was increasingly their empire by pursuing a more humane
dominated by Protestants and opposition social policy. Maria Theresa had Buda and
to Catholic Habsburg rule grew. Angered Pest rebuilt, and built most of the Habsburg
by the persecution of Protestants and Royal Palace (see pp58–9) and a floating yet
insufficient action against the Turks, permanent bridge across the Danube.
an outright rebellion in 1664 failed to Joseph II was even more radical. He
overthrow the Habs burgs. Instead, Emperor curbed the power of the Church, disbanding
Leopold I suppressed the Hungarian monastic orders, and introduced tax reforms
constitution, and ruled Habsburg Hungary that limited the powers of the Hungarian
from Vienna. Protes tantism was viciously aristocracy. He also made German the
repressed. Hungarian discontent deepened official language, but he died young, in 1790,
still further, until 1681, when Imre Thököly, and many of his reforms died with him.
a Tran sylvanian nobleman, led a more
successful rebellion against the Habsburgs,
forcing Leopold to restore Hungary’s
constitution. It was during these internal
conflicts that the Turks attacked Austria, only
to be almost wiped out entirely near Vienna
in 1683. A Western campaign then gradually
drove the Turks from all of Hungary, and the
Ottoman government finally surrendered
its Hungarian possessions at the Peace of
Karlowitz in 1699. The return of the Crown to Buda (1790)

1780 Joseph II
1664 Habsburgs 1683 Turks attack Habsburgs but (1780–90)
rout a Turkish are routed near Vienna. succeeds his
army at St Gott­ mother, Maria
hard in Hungary. 1686 Christian troops enter Buda. Order created by Theresa; he enacts
Turkish rule in Hungary ends. Maria Theresa further reform.
1625 1650 1675 1700 1725 1750 1775
1681 Hungarians rebel 1699 Turks lose almost all 1740 Maria Theresa 1792 Coronation of
against Habsburg rule. Hungarian possessions in (1740–80) becomes Ferenc I (1792–1835),
Peace of Karlowitz, which Habsburg Empress, who repeals many of the
1684 Start of ultimately successful formally ends partition. and institutes social reforms carried out by
Siege of Buda by Habsburgs. reform. his predecessors.

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