The Hungarian Army is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. However , like the army of any other country. In 2016, the Hungarian army was 31,080 active duty soldiers, while the operational reserve brings the total number of troops to fifty thousand. In 2018, Hungary's military spending amounted to $ 1.21 billion , which is about 0.94% of the country's GDP, which is significantly lower than the NATO target by 2%. In 2012, the government adopted a resolution that pledged Hungary to increase defense spending to 1.4% of GDP by 2022.
Military service, modernization and cybersecurity
Military service is voluntary, although conscription may occur during wartime. During a significant modernization step, Hungary in 2001 decided to buy 14 fighters from the Americans in the amount of about 800 million euros. The Hungarian National Cybersecurity Center was reorganized in 2016 to become more effective thanks to cybersecurity.
Service outside the country
In 2016, the Hungarian armed forces numbered about 700 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including 100 troops in the peacekeeping forces led by NATO in Afghanistan, 210 Hungarian soldiers in Kosovo and 160 military personnel in Bosnia and Herzegovina . Hungary sent 300 logistic units to Iraq to help US troops with armed transport convoys, although ordinary citizens were opposed to joining the war. During the operation, one Magyar soldier was killed by an Iraqi road mine.
Short story
In the XVIII and XIX centuries, the hussars brought international fame to this country and served as a model of light cavalry in all European countries. In the years 1848-1849, the Hungarian army achieved incredible success in the fight against well-trained and equipped Austrian forces, despite the obvious advantage of the latter in numbers. Jozef Boehm’s winter campaign of 1848-1849 and Arthur Gerge’s spring campaign are still studied at prestigious military schools around the world, even at West Point Academy in the United States and Russian military schools.
In 1872, the Military Academy “Louis” officially began training cadets. By 1873, the Hungarian army already had more than 2,800 officers and 158,000 employees. During the Great (World War I) war, of the eight million people mobilized by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than a million died. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Hungary was preoccupied with the return of vast territories and the huge population lost after the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in Versailles in 1920. Conscription was introduced on a national basis in 1939. The size of the Royal Hungarian army grew to 80,000, organized in seven corps. During the Great Patriotic War, the Hungarian army participated in the Battle of Stalingrad on the side of the Germans and was almost completely destroyed. In the era of socialism and the Warsaw Pact (1947–1989), it was completely restored and reorganized, and thanks to the support of the USSR, it received full-fledged tank and missile troops.
According to the Global Peace Index in 2016, Hungary is one of the most peaceful countries, ranking 19th out of 163.
Hungarian Red Army
In the era of the Socialist bloc and the Warsaw Pact (1947–1989), the army of this country was considered quite powerful. Between 1949 and 1955, tremendous efforts were also made to build and equip the Hungarian army. The huge cost of maintaining the military-industrial complex by 1956 almost ruined the country's economy.
Revolution
In the fall of 1956, armed demonstrations against the government were suppressed, and the Soviets dismantled all the Hungarian air forces because a large part of the army fought on the same side with the revolutionaries. Three years later, in 1959, the Soviets began to help rebuild the Hungarian People’s Army and supply them with new weapons and equipment, as well as rebuild the Hungarian Air Force.
After the revolution
Satisfied that Hungary was stable and faithful to the Warsaw Pact, the USSR withdrew its troops from the country. The new Hungarian leader, Janos Kadar, asked Khrushchev to leave all 200,000 Soviet soldiers in the country, as he allowed the Hungarian People's Republic to neglect their own project armed forces, which quickly led to the deterioration of the army. Large amounts of money were saved in this way and were spent on high-quality social programs for the population, so Hungary was able to become the “happiest barracks” in the Soviet bloc. Since the mid-1970s, limited modernization has taken place to replace the old stocks of military equipment with new ones and allow the army to fulfill its obligations under the Warsaw Pact.
After the collapse of the Warsaw block
In 1997, Hungary spent about 123 billion forints ($ 560 million) on defense. Since the late 90s, Hungary has been a full member of NATO, a military organization uniting most of the countries of Europe and America. Hungary provided airbases and support to the North Atlantic Alliance during its war against Serbia, and also allocated several military units to serve in Kosovo as part of a NATO-led operation. Thus, Hungary repeated its actions at the beginning of World War II, when it, together with the Italo-German forces, invaded the territory of then Yugoslavia. Just as in the Middle Ages the Hungarian Black Army under the leadership of Matthias Korvin instilled fear in Slavic and Romanian rebels, modern Magyar troops participate in all military campaigns under the leadership of NATO, while continuing to preserve the image of the most fierce soldiers of Eastern Europe for a long time.