Hungary, Kingdom of

The Bohemian Kingdom, in contrast to Moravia, has entrenched estates that are ready to defend what they considered their rights and liberties.

Because the Habsburgs pursue a policy of centralization, conflict is inevitable.

The conflict is further complicated by ethnic and religious issues and will subsequently be seen by some as a struggle for the preservation of Czech institutions and the Czech nation.

The Bohemian Kingdom, the Margravate of Moravia, and Slovakia are all under Habsburg rule, but they follow different paths of development.

The defeat at Mohacs in 1526 had meant that most of Hungary proper was taken by the Turks; until Hungary's reconquest by the Habsburgs in the second half of the seventeenth century, Slovakia becomes the center of Hungarian political, cultural, and economic life.

The Habsburg kings of Hungary are crowned in Bratislava, the present-day capital of Slovakia, and the Hungarian estates meet here.

Slovakia's importance in Hungarian life proves of no benefit, however, to the Slovaks.

In essence, the Hungarian political nation consists of an association of estates (primarily the nobility).

Because Slovaks are primarily serfs, they are not considered members of a political nation and have no influence on politics in their own land.

The Slovak peasant has only to perform duties: work for a landlord, pay taxes, and provide recruits for military service.

Even under such hostile conditions, there are a few positive developments.

The Protestant Reformation brings to Slovakia literature written in Czech, and Czech replaces Latin as the literary language of a small, educated Slovak elite, but on the whole, the Slovaks will languish for centuries in a state of political, economic, and cultural deprivation.

Habsburg rule brings two centuries of conflict between the Bohemian estates and the monarchy.

As a result of this struggle, the Czechs lose a major portion of their native aristocracy, their particular form of religion, and even the widespread use of the Czech language.

The Habsburg policy of centralization begins with its first ruler, King Ferdinand (1526-64).

His efforts to eliminate the influence of the Bohemian estates are met with stubborn resistance, but the Bohemian estates are themselves divided, primarily on religious lines.

By several adroit political maneuvers, Ferdinand is able to establish hereditary succession to the Bohemian crown for the Habsburgs.

The estates' inability to establish the principle of electing or even confirming a monarch makes their position considerably weaker.

Moravia has accepted the hereditary right of the Austrian Habsburg to rule it and thus escapes the intense struggle between native estates and the Habsburg monarchy that is to characterize Bohemian history.

The Moravians have a poorly developed historical or national consciousness, make few demands on the Habsburgs, and are permitted to live in tranquillity.

Late in the eighteenth century, the Margravate of Moravia will be abolished and merged with Austrian Silesia.

Royal Hungary becomes a small part of the Habsburg Empire and enjoys little influence in Vienna.

The Habsburg king directly controls Royal Hungary's financial, military, and foreign affairs, and imperial troops guard its borders.

The Habsburgs avoid filling the office of palatine to prevent the holder's amassing too much power.

In addition, the so-called Turkish question divides the Habsburgs and the Hungarians: Vienna wants to maintain peace with the Turks; the Hungarians want the Ottomans ousted.

As the Hungarians recognize the weakness of their position, many become anti-Habsburg.

They complain about foreign rule, the behavior of foreign garrisons, and the Habsburgs' recognition of Turkish sovereignty in Transylvania.

Protestants, who are persecuted in Royal Hungary, consider the Counter-Reformation a greater menace than the Turks, however.

The partition of Hungary between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires will last more than one hundred and fifty years.

Habsburg Austria controls Royal Hungary, which consists of counties along the Austrian border and some of northwestern Croatia.

The Ottomans annex central and southern Hungary.

Transylvania becomes an Ottoman vassal state, where native princes, who pay the Turks tribute, rule with considerable autonomy.

After the Hungarian defeat at Mohács, the Protestant Reformation takes hold in Hungary.

Initially, German burghers in Transylvania and Royal Hungary adopt Lutheranism; later, John Calvin's works convert many Magyars in Transylvania and central Hungary.

The Reformation spreads quickly, and by the early seventeenth century hardly any noble families remain

Catholic Archbishop Péter Pázmány reorganizes Royal Hungary's Roman Catholic Church and leads a Counter-Reformation that reverses the Protestants' gains in Royal Hungary, using persuasion rather than intimidation.

Transylvania, however, remain a Protestant stronghold.

The Reformation causes rifts between Catholic Magyars, who often side with the Habsburgs, and Protestant Magyars, who develop a strong national identity and become rebels in Austrian eyes.

Chasms also develop between Royal Hungary and Transylvania and between the mostly Catholic magnates and the mainly Protestant lesser nobles.

Central Hungary becomes a province of the Ottoman Empire ruled by pashas living in Buda.

The Turks' only interest is to secure their hold on the territory.

The Sublime Porte (a term used to designate the Ottoman rulers) becomes the sole landowner and manages about twenty percent of the land for its own benefit, apportioning the rest among soldiers and civil servants.

The new landlords are interested mainly in squeezing as much wealth from the land as quickly as possible.

Wars, slave-taking, and the emigration of nobles who lose their land depopulates much of the countryside.

However, the Turks practice religious tolerance and allow the Hungarians living within the empire significant autonomy in internal affairs.

Towns maintain some self-government, and a prosperous middle class develops through artisanry and trade.

The anti-Habsburg rebellions reflect the rising tensions between Catholics and Protestants in the early 1600s.

Proponents of the Counter-Reformation, often operating under Habsburg protection, are reaping the fruits of a generation of work: monastic life is reviving, Catholic intellectual life is regaining confidence, and prominent figures are returning to the Catholic Church.

As a result, Protestants are increasingly on the defensive. The German princes split into two military camps based on religious affiliation: the Evangelical Union and the Catholic League.

Ferdinand had recognized after the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529, that defense of the Habsburg lands required that Hungary form a bulwark against the Turks.

Although Turkey's ultimate objective is the conquest of Europe, Western Europe does not see the Turks as a threat and is unwilling to aid Ferdinand in the defense of the continent's eastern borders.

He thus signs a peace agreement with the Turks in 1562 that formalizes the stalemated status quo in Hungary.

Ferdinand I dies in 1564, and Habsburg territories in Central Europe are divided among his three sons, with the eldest, Maximilian III.(r. 1564-76), becoming Holy Roman Emperor.

Although Maximilian's sympathetic policies toward the Protestants contrast with his brothers' efforts to reestablish Catholicism as the sole religion in their lands, military policy, not religious doctrine, is to divide the dynasty in the final years of the sixteenth century and open the door to the religious wars of the seventeenth century.