The Crowned Head and the Ottoman Alley

The Ottoman military expansion, which had been kept under control until the end of the 15th century, in 1526 destroyed the muchdepleted Hungarian forces. In the catastrophic battle of Mohács, the Hungarian king was also killed. The dropping crowned head is also a symbol of the downfall of the independent Hungarian kingdom.

 





After the catastrophe of Mohács, the country was torn into three: the territory under Turkish rule, the northern part of the country under Habsburg domination, and finally the Transylvanian principality, besieged and constantly threatened by the other two. Hungary, truly at the heart of Europe under Emperor Sigismund and King Mathias, became a marginal zone.

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Until 1989, apart from a couple of short intervals, Hungary had been under foreign rule and was victim to the imperial aspirations of various empires. All great attempts to regain the country's liberty: the war of independence led by Prince Rákóczy, the revolution and war of independence in 1848-1849, holding out to the end when the rest of revolutionary Europe had long surrendered, and the 1956 uprising against the Soviet empire all failed...