Journal stoolpigeon's Journal: Hungarian History 9
I ordered some books about Hungary, as my knowledge of the area is woefully inadequate. I'm starting with A Concise History of Hungary. My knowledge of geography is just abysmal. I have to keep stopping to look places up on wikipedia. Google maps has also been very helpful.
Next I'll be reading, The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat.
The concise history is just that, and quite a bit shorter than "The Hungarians". I'm hoping though that on reading the second, longer history I'll pick up more having gone over a shorter version already.
The history of the Hungarians goes back far enough that there is quite a bit that isn't known all that well. A lot has to be guessed from linguistic studies. Like all histories there are controversies over some versions of various aspects. And I realize that all this history is only useful to a point. I'm really hoping though that it just gives me an appreciation for the place.
To get a (hopefully) better look at things as they are now, I'll be reading Culture Shock! Hungary: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. I don't think any of this will replace what I learn once I get there, but I like to do what I can to show up somewhat prepared. And my job will actually involve working with people from 20 different countries in the area, so this is just a start. What little I learned about Europe growing up was primarily focused on Western Europe. So I have a lot of work to do.
Next I'll be reading, The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat.
The concise history is just that, and quite a bit shorter than "The Hungarians". I'm hoping though that on reading the second, longer history I'll pick up more having gone over a shorter version already.
The history of the Hungarians goes back far enough that there is quite a bit that isn't known all that well. A lot has to be guessed from linguistic studies. Like all histories there are controversies over some versions of various aspects. And I realize that all this history is only useful to a point. I'm really hoping though that it just gives me an appreciation for the place.
To get a (hopefully) better look at things as they are now, I'll be reading Culture Shock! Hungary: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. I don't think any of this will replace what I learn once I get there, but I like to do what I can to show up somewhat prepared. And my job will actually involve working with people from 20 different countries in the area, so this is just a start. What little I learned about Europe growing up was primarily focused on Western Europe. So I have a lot of work to do.
We were the Alans (Score:2)
and rode in with the Huns - before becoming Bosnian - then Bohemian. My pop's a Czech
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This all makes a lot more sense to me now than it would have a couple days ago.
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Heh...
Make sense of a UK-raised Czech father who's family were German speaking... Now living as an aged California cowboy, too.
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Yeah - 'sense' probably wasn't the best word.
What I like about the concise history is that the author keeps talking about how messy the whole situation was. Magyars were often a majority but not a simple majority in Hungary. There were people from all over mixed in. And I'm sure this situation was very similar all through Eastern and Central Europe.
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Translation, please?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatians [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jassic_people [wikipedia.org]
Nandorfehervar (Score:2)
Belgrade used to be named after me [wikipedia.org]!
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That's interesting. I've read about that battle, but as it is a concise history, it didn't have a lot of the detail in that article. Interesting stuff.
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The battle reminds me much of the battle at the White Castle in Return of the King. A smaller force being attacked for days by foreign invaders, the King returning during the battle by water with reinforcements after being abroad to gather help from other peoples, and an amazing victory in the end by the much smaller forces, due to a surprise attack that made the attackers panic.
The noon bell is rung at Catholic churches today to commemorate the battle. I love the line the Franciscan Friar bellowed as the