Viktor Orban: The Supreme Pragmatist or The Greatest Enabler of Fascism In Europe?
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Most people would struggle to point to Hungary on the map and yet this central European nation carries more weight than is commonly understood.
In its previous life, Hungary was one-half of one of the great European empires in the 19th century and its tentacles extended to parts of Italy and parts of South-East Europe.
By the end of the first world war, most European monarchies had fallen and the Austro-Hungarian was no exception.
The years following the great war weren’t necessarily kind to Hungary, as it had to deal with German imperialism in the 1930s and 40s, and the Soviet Russian imperialism from 1945 onwards.
And when Hungary tried to chart its own course, its quest was brutally put down by the Soviets in 1956.
But so much has happened since then, with the collapse of the soviet empire in 1991 and the emergence of the nations which lived under the yoke of communism, of which Hungary was a part.
It is no coincidence that Hungary joined NATO at the very first opportunity and became a member of the European Union in 2004.
But it must be stated that it hasn’t been all plain sailing.