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Hungary - History

Hungary - History
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.46

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    foreign-born, mistrustful, turnaround, unfree, communism, communist, successor, disastrous, spells, prosperous, unemployment, modern-day, leadership, greatly, unsuccessful, mines
     content words:    Eastern Europe, Christian King, Christmas Day, Andrew III, Charles Robert, Matyas Corvinus, Austrian Habsburgs, But Turkish, Austrian Habsburg, Lajos Kossuth

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Hungary - History
By Ekaterina Zhdanova-Redman 		  
1     Hungary is a country that hasn't enjoyed much independence. Throughout much of its history, Hungary has been under the rule of a foreign government. At times, foreign rule was good for Hungary, at other times, awful. And for as long as there was foreign rule in Hungary, there were Hungarians fighting against it.
 
2     The history of Hungary began almost 1,500 years ago, with a group of people called the Magyars. The Magyars were nomads who originally came from the land of nearby Russia. The Magyars settled in the land of Hungary in Eastern Europe around the 8th century AD. The Magyars were hunters and horsemen, and after settling around Hungary, became warriors. For more than a hundred years, the Magyars picked fights with people as far away as modern-day France. The Germans finally defeated the Magyars in 955, greatly reducing the Magyars' strength.
 
3     After this defeat, the Magyars looked to Rome -- to the Pope -- for strength. When they accepted Christianity as their religion, the pope crowned a Magyar as king of Hungary. According to Hungarian tradition, "Christian King" Stephen I was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 1000.
 
4     Stephen I set up a class system in Hungary that lasted throughout most of its history in one form or another. In Stephen's Hungary, there were two classes of people: Noblemen, who were direct descendants of the Magyars, and "unfree" people. Noblemen owned land and wealth; the "unfree" worked for the noblemen as slaves. The system never worked well for Hungary, as it always kept its people separate and mistrustful of each other.
 
5     Throughout the next two and a half centuries, the House of çrpÇd -- of which Stephen I was the first -- ruled Hungary. During this time, Hungarian culture began strong, but ended in shambles. At the death of Andrew III, çrpÇd's last ruler, Hungary made a quick turnaround.

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