To what extent the nationalism, revisionist tendencies and nostalgia for “Greater Hungary” have its

renaissance under the role of Viktor Orban in Hungary, especially since 2010?

“In 2010, with a firm and unified stance, we ended the era of transition and found

the path leading to the complete renewal of Hungary.” 1 – said Viktor Orbán in his speech

during the commemoration of the 1848-49 revolution in March 2011. Hungary has been a

place of huge changes and “renewals” during past thirteen years. However, in this essay I

would like to focus mainly on one aspect of those “renewals” - the growth of nationalistic and

reversionistic tendencies, which I claim to be the effect of direct and indirect actions of

Hungarian PM and his party FIDESZ . These tendencies are not new, because organization

called “World Federation of Hungarians” have been claiming for almost three decades to keep

the “remembrance of Trianon” as its main goal. However, during past 13 years, the historical

narrative about the injustice and treachery has started to dominate the official message from

government and FIDESZ. It can be visible in polls - two-thirds of Hungarians, according to

survey of Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 2020, agree that Trianon still hurts, while two

decades before, it seemed that more people have accepted 1920 borders.2 What is more,

commemorations of 100th anniversary of Trianon Treaty in summer 2020, were one of the

biggest in the modern history of Hungary, bigger than these ten or twenty years ago. It shows

that nationalistic and reversionistic tendencies have enormously grown during past years. 3 The

fact that in the Central Europe, which for many centuries was a scene of bloody and long-

lasting wars, is a nation with growing nationalist and revisionist tendencies, does not wish

1
Viktor Orban, “Both 1848 and 2010 brought renewal”, 15 March 2011,
https://2010-2014.kormany.hu/hu/miniszterelnokseg/miniszterelnok/beszedek-publikaciok-interjuk/1848-es-
2010-is-megujulast-hozott, accessed on 10th May 2023
2
Dominik Hejj, „Węgry na nowo. Jak Wiktor Orban zaprogramował nową tożsamość narodową”, Warsaw:
Szczeliny, 2022.
3
Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, „Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orban and the Subversion of Hungary”, (London: C. Hurst &
Co., 2022)
good for its future and that’s why the understanding of this topic is so important in a present-

day Europe.

The planned structure of essay:

1. Topic of Trianon Treaty and Greater Hungary under communist rule and in years

1989-2010

2. Social medias used by Viktor Orbán and his ministers as an example of the revisionist

and nationalistic propaganda

3. Commemorations of national holidays of 4 June and 20 August - nationalistic shows

4. Direct and indirect support of far-right groups by FIDESZ that have revisionism and

nationalism as main parts of their manifestos – cases of Jobbik and Mi Hazank

movements

5. Contact with the Hungarian diaspora – case of dual citizenship and uncontrolled

Hungarian investments on the territories, where Hungarians dominate etc.

6. The architectural changes in Budapest during past 13 years – rebuilding of pre-war or

preparing new monuments commemorating revisionism, Greater Hungary or

nationalistic figures from Hungarian history

7. Geographical changes on map of Hungary – reinstating names that were present on

pre-1920 maps

In my essay, I am going to focus both on primary and secondary sources. From primary

sources, I will use mainly social medias of Viktor Orbán, but also texts of his speeches

(mainly given during national holidays) and also these from parliament. As secondary

sources, I will use mainly books written by former politicians, e.g. Zsuzsanna Szleneyi, or by

political journalists, e.g. Dominik Hejj.

Bibliography

- Hejj, Dominik. „Węgry na nowo. Jak Wiktor Orban zaprogramował nową tożsamość

narodową”, Warsaw: Szczeliny, 2022.

- Orbán, Viktor. “Both 1848 and 2010 brought renewal”, 15 March 2011, https://2010-

2014.kormany.hu/hu/miniszterelnokseg/miniszterelnok/beszedek-publikaciok-

interjuk/1848-es-2010-is-megujulast-hozott, accessed on 10th May 2023

- Szelenyi, Zsuzsanna. „Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orban and the Subversion of

Hungary”, London: C. Hurst & Co., 2022.