Siege of Budapest

The Kingdom of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Királyság), referred to retrospectively as the Regency and the Horthy era, existed as a country from 1920 to 1946 under the rule of Regent Miklós Horthy, who officially represented the Hungarian monarchy. In reality there was no king, and attempts by King Charles IV to return to the throne shortly before his death were prevented by Horthy. Hungary under Horthy was characterized by its conservative, nationalist and fiercely anti-communist character. The government was based on an unstable alliance of conservatives and right-wingers. Foreign policy was characterized by revisionism — the total or partial revision of the Treaty of Trianon, which had seen Hungary lose over 70% of its historic territory along with over three million Hungarians, who mostly lived in the border territories outside the new borders of the kingdom. Hungary's interwar politics were dominated by a focus on the territorial losses suffered in this treaty, with the resentment continuing until the present. Nazi Germany's influence in Hungary has led some historians to conclude that the country increasingly became a client state after 1938. The Kingdom of Hungary was an Axis Power during World War II, intent on regaining Hungarian-majority territory that had been lost in the Treaty of Trianon, which it did in early 1941. By 1944, following heavy setbacks for the Axis, Horthy's government negotiated secretly with the Allies, and also considered leaving the war. Because of this Hungary was occupied by Germany and Horthy was deposed. The extremist Arrow Cross Party's leader Ferenc Szálasi established a new Nazi-backed government, effectively turning Hungary into a German-occupied puppet state. After World War II, the country fell within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. It changed its name to the Hungarian State (Hungarian: Magyar Állam) and the Second Hungarian Republic was soon thereafter proclaimed in 1946, succeeded by the communist Hungarian People's Republic in 1949.

The Zero Kilometre Stone is a 3 m high limestone sculpture in Budapest that represents Kilometre Zero in Hungary. It consists of a zero sign, with an inscription on its pedestal reading "KM" for kilometres. It was initially located at the threshold of Buda Royal Palace, but was moved to its present location by Széchenyi Chain Bridge when the crossing was completed in 1849. The present sculpture is the work of Miklós Borsos and was erected in 1975. The first official monument, a Madonna statue by Eugene Kormendi had been set up at this spot in 1932, but was destroyed in World War II. A second sculpture, depicting a worker, was in place from 1953 until its replacement by the current one.

Inner City (Hungarian: Belváros; German: Innenstadt) the central part of Budapest. It is more or less equivalent with the historic old town of Pest.

The bridges of Budapest, Hungary, crossing the River Danube from north to south are as follows:

The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular or Budavári Sikló is a funicular railway in the city of Budapest, in Hungary. It links the Adam Clark Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge at river level to Buda Castle above. The line was opened on March 2, 1870, and has been in municipal ownership since 1920. It was destroyed in the Second World War and reopened on June 4, 1986. A feature of the line are the two pedestrian foot bridges which cross above it. These were present when the line opened, were removed in 1900 when the castle's garden was extended, and rebuilt to the original design in 1983.

The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the works of many nineteenth- and twentieth-century Hungarian artists who worked in Paris and other locations in the West. The primary museum for international art in Budapest is the Museum of Fine Arts.

The Palatinal Crypt (Hungarian: Nádori kripta; German: Palatinsgruft) in Buda Castle, Budapest is the burial place of the Hungarian branch of the Habsburg dynasty, founded by Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary. It is the only interior part of Buda Castle which survived the destruction of World War II and was not demolished during the subsequent decades of rebuilding.

Buda Castle (Hungarian: Budavári Palota, German: Burgpalast) is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian Kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, although the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace (Hungarian: Királyi-palota) or the Royal Castle (Hungarian: Királyi Vár, German: Königliche Burg). The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest Historical Museum. Buda Castle sits on the southern tip of Castle Hill, surrounded by the touristic area known as Várnegyed (Castle Quarter), which is famous for its Medieval, Baroque, and Neoclassical houses, churches, public buildings, and monuments. The hill is linked to Clark Ádám Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle Hill Funicular. The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987. The original Royal Palace was ruined during World War II; it was rebuilt in a simplified Stalinist Baroque style during the Kádár era.

The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom around the year 1000; his family (the Árpád dynasty) led the monarchy for 300 years. By the 12th century, the kingdom became a European middle power within the Western world.Due to the Ottoman occupation of the central and southern territories of Hungary in the 16th century, the country was partitioned into three parts: the Habsburg Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania. The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács in 1526 continuously until 1918 and also played a key role in the liberation wars against the Ottoman Empire. From 1867, territories connected to the Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. The monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king Charles IV in 1918, after which Hungary became a republic. The kingdom was nominally restored during the "Regency" of 1920–46, ending under the Soviet occupation in 1946.The Kingdom of Hungary was a multiethnic state from its inception until the Treaty of Trianon and it covered what is today Hungary, Slovakia, Transylvania and other parts of Romania, Carpathian Ruthenia (now part of Ukraine), Vojvodina (now part of Serbia), the territory of Burgenland (now part of Austria), Međimurje (now part of Croatia), Prekmurje (now part of Slovenia) and a few villages which are now part of Poland. From 1102 it also included the Kingdom of Croatia, being in personal union with it, united under the King of Hungary. According to demographers, about 80 percent of the population was made up of Hungarians before the Battle of Mohács; however, in the mid-19th century out of a population of 14 million less than 6 million were Hungarian due to the resettlement policies and continuous immigration from neighboring countries. Major territorial changes made Hungary ethnically homogeneous after World War I. More than nine-tenths of the population of modern Hungary is ethnically Hungarian and speaks Hungarian as their mother tongue. Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I (20 August) is a national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the foundation of the state (Foundation Day).

The medieval Palace Chapel (Hungarian: Várkápolna; formerly Alamizsnás Szent János-kápolna) in Buda Castle was built in the 15th century by King Sigismund as the lower chapel of the former Castle Church. The Gothic chapel, which survived the destruction of the 1686 siege, was buried under a Baroque terrace for centuries. After its reconstruction in 1963 became part of the exhibition of the Budapest History Museum.

Matthias Fountain (Hungarian: Mátyás kútja, German: König Matthias Brunnen) is a monumental fountain group in the western forecourt of Buda Castle, Budapest. Alajos Stróbl’s Neo-Baroque masterpiece is one of the most frequently photographed landmark in the Hungarian capital. It is sometimes called the ’Trevi Fountain of Budapest’.

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Hungarian: Széchenyi lánchíd [ˈseːt͡ʃeːɲi ˈlaːnt͡shiːd]) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish engineer Adam Clark, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. It was opened in 1849. It is anchored on the Pest side of the river to Széchenyi (formerly Roosevelt) Square, adjacent to the Gresham Palace and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and on the Buda side to Adam Clark Square, near the Zero Kilometre Stone and the lower end of the Castle Hill Funicular, leading to Buda Castle. The bridge has the name of István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction, attached to it, but is most commonly known as the "Chain Bridge". At the time of its construction, it was regarded as one of the modern world's engineering wonders. Its decorations are made of cast iron.