[2]Tomas G. Masaryk: The making of a State, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1927.

[3]Nemeskürty, I.: How long we wait?, Budapest: Szabad Ter, 1996.

[4]Edvard Benes: Ditruisez l'Austriche-Hongrie; Paris, 1917; Eng. Transl.: Bohemia's Case for Independence, New York: Arno Press, 1971.

[5]Edvard Benes: My War Memoirs, London: G. Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1928.

[6]Nemeskürty, Op. Cit.

[7]Johnson, Lonnie R.: Central Europe, Enemies, Neighbors, Friends, Oxford Univ. Press, 1996. p. 195.

[8]Oscar Jaszi: Revolution, Counter-Revolution in Hungary, London: P.S. King, 1924.

[9]Moynihan, D. P.: Pandaemonium, Ethnicity in International Politics, Oxford Univ. Press, 1993.

[10]Robert Lansing: Lansing Papers, Manuscripts Division, U.S. Library of Congress.

[11]Walter Phelps Hall and William Stearns Davis: The Course of Europe since Waterloo, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1926. Republished 1941, 1947.

[12]Hunyadi was born in Kolozsvár (now Cluj) in Transylvania. The house he was born in is a heritage site. Romanian propaganda holds that he was or Romanian origin. This is doubtful for three reasons: Romanians were not allowed to spend the night within the city walls of Transylvanian towns until the middle of the 19^th century, much less to own homes there. Hunyadi's father was named Vajk, an ancient Hungarian name. He received a royal patent to Hunyad Fort in Transylvania from Hungary's King Sigismund (of Luxemburg) on October 18, 1409. Hunyadi was raised under the tutelage of Cardinal János Vitéz, served in Sigismund's court, even accompanied him to Rome when Sigismund became Holy Roman Emperor. At one time he commanded the guards at the court of Lorenzo de Medici. Not exactly the training for a social upstart. Historians speculate that he was the illegitimate son of Sigismund. In his prime, he was by far the biggest landowner in Hungary. He owned two million hectares of landed estates, and spent all his income on fighting the Turks. Hunyadi's military campaigns are described in detail by Stephen Sisa: The Spirit of Hungary. (Toronto: Rakoczi Found., 1983.) After the disastrous Battle of Varna, where Hungary's Jagellion king Wladislaus has died, Hunyadi was elected Regent. Only Kossuth (1849) and Horthy (1920) shared this title later in Hungarian history. Hunyadi was the Christian commander in the Battle of Kosovo (1448), that is mentioned so often these days. It was a three day affair, lost at the end by the Christians when the Wallachian (Romanian) forces, 8,000 light cavalry, switched to the side of the Turks.

[13]More on this in Norman Davies: Europe, Oxford Univ. Press, 1996. p. 522.

[14]A note of interest here: Saint Thomas More wrote (Comfort Against Tribulation) nine years later, just before his execution: "Hungary hath been ever hitherto a very shure key of Christendom"

[15] In fact, he promised his support but little came of it.

[16]Note: all population figures are pre-1950. During the Communist years there was an extensive program of transfering ethnic Romanian population into Transylvania, particularly into regions where Hungarians were in the majority.

[17]A rather dubious assertion, see earlier footnote.

[18]Horthy never countermanded his armistice order. He was arrested by the Germans and was held in house arrest in Germany by the Gestapo, while his son, Nicholas, was imprisoned at Mauthausen concentration camp. Horthy was in the protective custody of the American Army, as a witness at the Nuremberg trials. He died in Portugal in 1957. See his Memoirs at http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[19]Nemeskürty, Op. Cit.

[20]Wife of Louis II, king of Hungary who lost his life at the battle of Mohács in 1526. She was virtually chased out of Hungary by the Hungarians after her husband died.

[21]Actually, the Turks went north as far as Buda, sacked the royal palace, carried away the famed library of king Matthias (the Corvina), and then evacuated Hungary.

[22]This treaty was considered a travestry by Hungarians who felt that the Turkish forces could have been pushed out of Hungary by General Montecuccoli, who lacked initiative.

[23]Prince Thököly's forces actually did join the Turks during the fight at the gates of Vienna. As the the younger Zrinyi wrote: "Between two pagans, for one country." Thököly considered the Austrians worst pagans than the Turks. His forces, however, changed sides later, and were instrumental in reconquering Buda. Meanwhile strong Hungarian contingents fought with the Habsburg armies from the beginning.

[24]The book, however, uses the expression "Austrian Empire" on pages 696, 725, 731, 793, 819, 821, and 856 referring to the Habsburg Empire, well before 1804.

[25] By not indicating population densities, the map allows as much weight to highly mountainous areas populated, allegedly, by Rumanians and Slovaks, as densely populated agricultural areas populated by Magyars. Also, in large areas the population was mixed with various single-ethnic villages adjacent to each other. The fact is that the Magyar population of historic Hungary (with the exclusion of Croatia) was 54.5 percent at the beginning of WWI.

[26]This is a patently absurd interpretation. The so called "Age of Reform" started decades earlier, in 1825, when Szechenyi pledged a year's worth of his income toward the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and brought about a variety of economic and political developments. In another standard history text, Hughes and Wilkinson (Contemporary Europe, a History, 7th Ed.; Prentice Hall, 1961, page 5) wrote that "late nineteenth-century European society was frankly aristocratic" and they go on to explain that the nobility occupied positions of leadership throughout. Why make a negative point of this in the case of Hungary?

[27]Up until 1919 Croat members of the Hungarian parliament were allowed to use their own language. It was, of course, as unwise to speak Croatian, as for Senator Inouye to speak Hawaiian.

[28]Reading Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Pandaemonium (Oxford, 1993) would cause the reader to draw a diametrically opposite conclusion.

[29]It would be most useful to mention at this point that one out of three Magyars ended up as oppressed minorities in the 'successor states'.

[30]No part of Czechoslovakia has ever been Russian imperial land. It was Northern Hungary.

[31]This last statement is grossly untrue. The 'successor states' were carved out in such a manner that their border regions were almost entirely populated by Magyars. Hungary was left with virtually no minorities except perhaps a few isolated villages deep in Hungarian territory.

[32]After WWI Hungary remained a constitutional monarchy with Charles IV, Franz Joseph's brother's grandson, as king. Because the allied powers forced Charles into exile, the Hungarian parliament appointed Horthy as regent. While the country can not be called democratic in the western sense, the Hungarian parliament had a variety of parties in it, including a Social Democratic Party with some forty elected members. Only the Communist Party was outlawed. See John F. Montgomery: Hungary -the Unwilling Satellite, New-York: Devin-Adair Co. 1947, or on Internet: http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[33]Why not label it, perhaps, "part of former Hungarian Highlands populated by Magyars".

[34]Under German pressure, Hungary occupied part of its former southern territory detached some twenty years earlier. Hungarian Prime Minister Count Paul Teleki committed suicide on the eve of this action.

[35]No mention is made here of the fact that their escape was made possible by the Hungarian government that opened the Iron Curtain.

[36]By the end of the ninth century Magyars were settled in the Carpathian basin, although they raided the west frequently for another sixty years.

[37]Otto's granddaughter, Gisele (sister of Henry II, the Saint) married Stephen I of Hungary, who has firmly established western Christianity in Hungary.

[38]The author defines Europe as the range of Western Civilization, located east of Augsburg at the time.

[39]While Charles' brother Ferdinand was crowned king of Hungary in 1526, it was a part of Charles's empire only according to the family laws of the Habsburgs. At the same time John Zápolya was also crowned king,- both paid tribute to Suleiman the Great.

[40]Transylvania would be another example, where religious freedom was constitutionally guaranteed between 1571 and 1691.

[41]There is no record of this person in the history of Hungary's wars with the Turks. Most likely this picture was a vanity project.

[42] The western part of Hungary, including western Croatia, with its capital Pozsony (Pressburg, today Bratislava) was "Royal Hungary" under St. Stephen's crown worn by the Habsburg kings.

[43]Not only the nobles, most Hungarians after the Reformation. Then again, the cuius regio, eius religio rule was prevalent thoughout Europe at the time.

[44]They had relinquished their noble prerogatives, paid taxes, what they insisted on was Hungary's liberty.

[45]King, really, he was ruling under St. Stephen's crown.

[46]All parts of "St. Stephen's crown."

[47]Then came Hungary's Spring Offensive, beginning on March 20, 1849: Habsburg forces under Puchner were driven out of Transylvania into Bukovina; the armies of Windisch-Graetz were beaten in a series of major battles and about to be driven out of Hungary, the fort of Buda was taken after a siege, and Windisch-Graetz was desperately begging the emperor for fresh troops. Then came the Russians.

[48]This whole description of Hungary's 1848 - 49 revolution is grossly biased and distorted.

[49]Strangely, the author refers to the Magyar "nobility" throughout while he does not do so when in comes to, for example, British nobility as leaders of their country.

[50]The word 'Croatians' is often misspelled this way throughout this book. They are Croats.

[51]One third of the Magyar population became minorities in the successor countries.

[52]No mention is made of the single biggest minority group of Europe, the Hungarians.

[53]The invasion was against the express orders of the Peace Commission. See H. H. Bandholtz: An Undiplomatic Diary, New-York: Columbia University Press, 1933, or on the Internet: http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[54]See the Annotated Memoirs of Admiral Miklos Horthy, Regent of Hungary: Internet: http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[55]These were areas largely populated by Magyars.

[56]Before, not thereafter, in 1988.

[57]St. Stephen, his four hundred year long dynasty, the House of Árpád with its five saints (St. Stephen, St. Emeric, St. Margaret, St. Elisabeth, St. Ladislaus) are not mentioned in the book. Nor in any of the others either. See: C.A. Macartney: Hungary, a Short History, Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1961 or on the Internet: http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[58]That would have been mesalliance by the royals.

[59]Hungary's king at that time was Louis II who lost his life at Mohács in 1526, furthermore Hungary was never a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

[60]The Turks withdrew from Hungary after Mohács and did not return until 1541.

[61] Prince Ferenc Rákóczi's rebellion between 1703 and 1711 was in alliance with Louis XIV, during which time Rákóczi's forces dominated practically the whole territory of Hungary with the exception of Transylvania. It was another phase of the Thirty Years' War.

[62]Actually it was more of an all-European effort. For example, General James Oglethorpe, founder of the state of Georgia has allegedly fought in that campaign.

[63]As the Hungarians have it, at the Diet in Pozsony (now Bratislava) their representatives declared: "Vitam et sanguinem pro rege nostro, Maria Theresia, sed avenam non." (Our lives and blood for our Queen, but no grains.)

[64]They, however, were free of taxation.

[65]Large-scale immigration by Serbs and Romanians into Hungary escaping their Turkish occupied homelands led to major problems later.

[66]Romania did not exist until 1862.

[67]Most of the areas shown to be populated by Romanians and Slovaks are scarcely populated mountainous regions, while those with Magyar populations are densely populated agricultural plains.

[68]No plebiscites were ever held on this matter. The only exception was the city of Sopron, given to Austria, where the population forced a plebiscite and decided to stay part of Hungary.

[69]In fact, one of every three Hungarians became minorities in successor states.

[70]There was no dictatorship in Hungary until October 15, 1944, when Hitler installed Ferenc Szálasi after Horthy was arrested by Nazi troops.

[71]The Hungarian government has opened the Iron Curtain which precipitated the collapse of the East German regime, as explained on page 975.

[72]In 1500 Hungary's population was about the same as that of England's.

[73]In fact, after sacking Buda, he has completely withdrawn from Hungary until 1541.

[74]It happened during the siege of Szigetvár defended by Miklós (Nicholas I) Zrinyi.

[75]While Moldavia was occupied by the Turks in 1546, Transylvania was an independent principality whose prince governed "with the approval of the Porta" but with no Turkish presence.

[76]The original Magyar population of these lands were either killed or carried off by the Turks.

[77] In the ensuing explanations the word "Austria" is used throughout, instead of Austria-Hungary.

[78]Meaning Austro-Hungarian.

[79]This concludes the discussion of the Treaty of Trianon.

[80]In fact, they utterly destroyed Hungary. See Istvan Lazar: Hungary, a Brief History, Budapest: Corvina, 1889, or on Internet: http://www.msstate.edu/archives/history/hungary.html

[81]Hungary's Hapsburg king, -crowned with St. Stephen's crown,- not Austria had the right to govern.

[82]Which were, in fact, integral parts of Hungary.

[83]They fostered animosities even if there were none before.

[84]Habsburg general Puchner had Wallachian insurgents under him when he nearly occupied Transylvania but these forces were driven out. South Slavs, -Croatians -, served in the imperial army. Slovaks fought, in large numbers, alongside the Magyars.

[85]Only after his forces were about to be driven out of Hungary.

[86]A great majority of non-Magyars fought in the Hungarian army. General Görgey's winter campaign in the northern highlands, now Slovakia, included several Slovak regiments that fought with great distinction. In contrast, the Hapsburg forces could recruit only a few scores of Slovaks to fight against the Hungarians. The 13 generals executed in Arad on October 6, 1849 eleven were not ethnic Magyars.

[87]An overwhelming Russian Imperial Army of 300,000 men.

[88]With the exclusion of autonomous Croatia, 54.5 percent of the population was Magyar.

[89]Had the author used the term 'melting pot', it would have far less sinister implication.

[90]All of this is grossly overstated.

[91]There were, for instance, thirty Croat members of parliament. The manipulation of districts was harldy possible as the county system was just as it was set up by St. Stephen a thousand years before.

[92]Most Jews moved into Hungary from Polish Galicia in the nineteenth century. Many of their descendants distinguished themselves in the arts and sciences and they proudly maintain their Hungarian Jewish culture to this day.

[93]By 1914 there were separate Hungarian divisions in addition to the 'joint' ones.

[94]How true.

[95]Both Croatia and Slovakia was carved out of Hungary, not Austria.

[96]Cede, not concede.

[97]Along with the land, went one third of the ethnic Magyar population.

[98]Only according to the emigrees of the failed communist regime, particularly prof. Oscar Jászi, who wrote extensively against his former country while living in the United States.

[99]That is, in the aftermath of the war.

[100]The formation of the Little Entente with the encouragement by France helped in this move.

[101]October 23, not 20.

[102]Borrowing some $ 22 billion from international bankers helped in this.

[103]The contemporary popular Hungarian folk song, still well known, contradicts this statement:
Louis Kossuth sent a message
That all his regiments are gone;
If once more he sends such message
Then all of us shall go.
Long live Hungarian liberty;
Long live the homeland.

[104]One wonders in whose interest this ultra-biased book had to be republished in 1977.

[105] Handbuch für Auswanderer nach Ungarn; Bamberg, 1850.

[106]E.g. Thomas Sakmyster: Admiral on Horseback, NY: Columbia, 1993.

[107]Jochen von Lang, Ed.:Eichmann Interrogated, -Transcripts from the Archives of the Israeli Police, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1983, pp. 232.

[108]U.S. Holocaust Museum: Raoul Wallenberg: Letters and Dispatches 1924 - 1944; New York: Arcade, 1995, p. 241. From a July 29, 1944 report.

[109]Norman Davies: Europe, a History, Oxford University Press, 1996. 1365 pages.

JOHN HUNYADI: Hungary in American History Textbooks