Military history of Hungary

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The military history of

Hungarian people
regardless of geography.

Early Hungarian warfare

The first well established reference to Hungarians derives from

Georgius Monachus' work in the 9th century. It mentions that around 837 the Bulgarian Empire desired an alliance with the Hungarians.[1] Although the Hungarians supposedly participated earlier at the Battle of Pliska in 811.[2]
The Hungarians began the conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. They continued to raid adjacent countries for many years. The Hungarians were able to defeat three major Frankish imperial armies between 907 and 910,[3] however a military defeat in 955 forced them to withdraw and consolidate their gains.

The Magyars advanced as far as the Iberian Peninsula, the Coast of Normandy and city of Constantinople.[4]

The Magyar arts of war involved agility, speed, and precision. Their armies were well-organized and the men were well trained and disciplined.

sabers and spontoons
, but the reflex bow remained their armament of choice. The Magyars placed an emphasis on ranged fighting – their charges were usually preceded by a volley of arrows, and followed up by hand-to-hand combat. The majority of their troops were trained to fight on horseback.

Era of patrician warfare

The Hungarians demonstrated a use of siege weapons, including a

King Coloman of Hungary ascended to the Hungarian throne. The feudal lords of Croatia elected a new king, and tried to get rid of the Hungarian occupation, and then the Hungarians took up arms against Croatia, and won a bloody victory at Gvozd Mountain
. After this, Coloman was crowned as king of Croatia in 1102. The Hungarian
Szeklers
and the settling Kuns. On the winter of 1458 the 15 years old
Jász
mounted archers, regained part of their former role in the Fekete Sereg.
On 2 September 1686 united Hungarian,
Habsburg Monarchy
.
A decisive part of the fighting force – about four fifth, most of the time – was formed by the main arm of the time: infantry. The other arm, cavalry, still consisted mainly of heavy cavalry, or units equipped with mail armor, called battle cavalry. Another two types of cavalry were
dragoons and light cavalry. Hungarian hussars became internationally recognized, being a prime example of light cavalry. In this era artillery
became a third arm.
Two significant attempts were made at achieving independence: the
.

Notable battles

References

Sources

  • Bánlaky, József (1928). A magyar nemzet hadtörténelme [The Military History of the Hungarian Nation] (in Hungarian). Budapest.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Bohn, H.G. (1854). Hungary and Its Revolutions from the Earliest Period to the Nineteenth Century. London. ASIN B000H48F74.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading