Geography, biology

The present volume is an introduction to the agrarian history of Hungary from the mid-nineteenth century until the present day, in which renowned economic historians discuss both the successes and failures of Hungarian agriculture. The past 150 years is only a brief period in historical terms, but reading this book and looking at the illustrations can still give the reader a sense of being a participant in, and witness to, the life-changing events of successive generations.

Hungarian farmers owned their land as free bourgeois property after 1848 and in the Austro-Hungarian economic community, with its freedom from duties and foreign-currency burdens, they were able to farm with ever greater efficiency on the Monarchy's unified and protected markets. The authors make one familiar with a period in which the extent of lands made arable as a result of river regulation in Hungary equalled the area of the Netherlands. The reader can also witness the struggle waged by Hungary for its very survival after losing half its population and two-thirds of its territory following the Great War. After the Second World War, like other countries in the region, Hungary was obliged to submit to the Soviet Empire: land, animals, machinery and tools were taken from farmers by force. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the path was once again open towards bourgeois values and a market economy. However, the players in Hungarian agriculture had only one and a half decades to prepare for accession to the European Union.

The authors have no wish to undermine the romantic image of endless plains, spicy goulash and fiery Hungarian wines conjured up by the guidebooks. Their aim, through both their words and the hundreds of original illustrations, has been to guide the reader behind the scenes, providing an insight into the at times uplifting, at times bitter, fate of those who have made their living from the land.