Reflections of a regular visitor to Hungary over forty years.  I think that a proper understanding of Hungary must be underpinned by a basic grasp of its Geography and History.

Geographically, historic Hungary (or as Hungarians themselves call it “The Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen”) covers the Great Hungarian Plain, bordered by the Alps to the west, the Tatra mountains to the north, the Transylvanian Alps to the east and the southern Carpathians to the south. The borders of modern, post-1920 Hungary cover only a small part of this territory, leaving millions of Hungarians living as minorities in Slovakia to the north, Romania to the east and Serbia to the south.

Hungarians (or Magyars) arrived in the Great Plain over the mountains from the north-east, an area now part of Ukraine, in the last decade of the 9th century. Theirs was the last of the great migrations into Europe from Central Asia. From the beginning, despite converting to Christianity,  they differed from their Slav, Teutonic and Latin neighbours in language (Magyar has nothing whatever in common with any of them) and formed an isolated island in central Europe. But they were also fearsome warriors and quickly subjugated or assimilated earlier settlers. They themselves, however, were no match for the Mongol invasions of the early 13th century. The Mongols laid waste to much of Hungary, but then returned home after the death of Genghis Khan. The Ottoman Turks arrived in the early 16th century and ruled most of  Hungary for almost 200 years until driven out by the Austrian Habsburgs, after which Hungary became part of the Habsburg Empire until it collapsed in 1918.

During the Turkish occupation, Transylvania had retained a form of autonomy and has been a heartland of Magyar nationalism ever since. Its loss to Romania in the Treaty of Trianon (1920) was resented even more than the losses to the newly-formed states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Hungary fought on the German side in the Second World War primarily in an attempt to recover these lost territories, ultimately unsuccessfully. Defeated by the Soviet Army in 1945, Hungary was under Communist rule from 1947 until 1989. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was only suppressed by Soviet forces after days of street fighting (shades of 1848-49) and was the most serious challenge to Soviet control of central and eastern Europe in the whole of the post-war period.

Although Hungary was permanently under some form of foreign rule from 1526 until 1918 (400 years is quite a long time!) this was never fully accepted and there were numerous revolts, particularly against the Austrian Habsburgs. The greatest of these was in 1848-49, under the greatest hero of Hungarian history Lajos Kossuth, who declared an independent Hungary; the Austrians were able to suppress this only with the assistance of Russian troops. Hungary did achieve a large degree of self-government within the Habsburg Empire in 1867 (the architects of this, Andrassy and Deak, are, along with Kossuth, commemorated in the steer and metro stations of Budapest). But having gained this autonomy the Hungarians were unwilling to extend it to their own minorities (mainly Croats, Serbs, Slovaks and Romanians); instead they embarked on a programme of magyarisation. This helps to explain why Hungary was so isolated at the end of the First World War in 1918.

The legacy of the above lingers on;

1)  Magyar nationalism is still a powerful force within Hungary, in particular its resentment at the losses in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon (especially the loss of Transylvania, which still has a majority Magyar population in some areas). I attended a Fidesz  rally in October 2006, addressed by Orban Victor, the present Prime Minister, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. Many in the crowd were waving posters illustrating the borders of historic Hungary and demanding the return of Transylvania. Germans have accepted their territorial losses of 1945, but many Hungarians have not accepted their losses of 1920!

2)  Magyar nationalism is still feared by both Slovakia and Romania, whose governments can still whip up nationalist feeling against the Magyar minorities in their own countries. This has been a particular feature of political life in Slovakia since its independence in 1992. Common membership of the E.U. covers this up to a certain extent.

3)  Communism has left its legacy in modern Hungary. The Socialists who form the main opposition to Fidesz contain several former Communists. There is a deep divide in Hungarian politics, deeper, perhaps, than in any other E.U. country, with some nationalists regarding Socialists as traitors.

4)  I think that the economic problems facing Hungary are another matter. Hungary integrated itself into the world economy even before the collapse of Communism more than any other country in the Soviet bloc and was already deeply in debt in 1989. The policies particularly of the Socialist governments since then have made matters worse. So many Hungarians have taken out mortgages in Swiss francs and are now unable to repay them because of currency fluctuations that this is a problem in its own right. The Swiss franc has gained more than 80% against the forint - and people's mortgage payments have risen in tandem, leaving many unable to repay their debts.

5)  So, despite the almost total absence of national minorities in Hungary (gypsies speak Magyar), Hungarian society is deeply polarised. This is likely to make a resolution of hungary`s economic problems even more difficult to achieve.

Politically Support for Mr Orban's ruling Fidesz party has plummeted to only 20% of eligible voters as the recession has worsened.But support for the socialists has not recovered. A youth protest movement - "Politics can be different" - briefly took off last year, but has since lost momentum.

The Nationalist Jobbik have done best, overtaking the socialists in the polls to become the most popular opposition force with 10% support.