Hungary

Last modified: 1998-01-07 by rob raeside
Keywords: hungary | europe | budapest | cross of lorraine | oak leaves |
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by Mark Sensen

• Hungarian arms
• 1848 war flag
• the interwar years
• 1941 flag

• Austrohungarian Empire
• Hungarian Air Force
• Budapest
• Magyar Vexillologiai Tarsasag
• A hungarian neofascist movement's flag

The arms of Hungary are: per pale, barry of 8, gules and argent, gules, a cross lorraine argent, rising out of a crown or on a compartment vert. [Most of these arms, except for the golden crown, can be seen on the 1848 war flag, below - editor.]
Josh Fruhlinger, 1996-04-09

by Zeljko Heimer, 1996-09-05

Some time ago I described a Hungarian war flag used in 1848 revolts, as it is shown on the Hungarian post stamps of 1948. The flags on the stamps are in shades of one colour, so I have coloured it as it seemed right to me. I believe that it is quite right.

The flag is white, bordered with red and green triangles. In the middle there is a shield of Hungarian arms, without the crown, surrounded with a wreath of oak(?) leaves.

As much as I know, the Hungarian tricolour was used for the first time used in 1848, so this is not the national flag. I guess it must be the flag of the army. I back up this assumption by noting that a similar flag is used today by the Hungarian army, with the only difference in the shape of the shield and the crown of St. Stephen over it. That flag I have seen used by Hungarian units stationed in Croatia in UN forces, but I don't know if this is a war flag or the flag of the respective unit.

The interwar years

What about inter-war and WWII Hungary, which was technically a monarchless monarchy?
They retained the red-white-green flag with the traditional arms topped with the Crown of St. Stephen - i.e. the same as under the Hapsburgs.
Roy Stilling, 1996-04-09

Technically, Hungary was a Regency under Admiral Horthy. So not only was it a monarchless monarchy, its head of state was an Admiral without a coastline. Hungary was forbidden by the victors of WW1 from putting a Hapsburg on the throne, but the royalist constitution was restored after Horthy defeated the Communist junta of Bela Kun in 1919. When in 1921 (?) there was an attempt by the Hapsburg heir to return to Budapest there was armed resistance from Horthy's forces, who sent the Hapsburgs packing. Horthy's official title as Regent was 'His Serene Highness', I believe, which seems an inappropriate title for so volatile an individual (although to be fair, steering a middle course between Germany and Russia in the 1930s would probably have been beyond any politician in Central Europe.)
When the Germans took over Hungary in 1944 and imposed a pro-Nazi regime, Horthy was arrested. He survived the war and lived in exile (in Portugal, I think) living long enough to see the 1956 uprising.
Anyway, in flag terms, Hungary used its red-white-green tricolour, with the state flag having the royal coat of arms on the white - i.e., the same arms restored after the Communist regime fell in 1989 - even though Hungary is now a republic!
Stuart Notholt, 1996-04-09

Hungary 1941: The ensign is a red white green horizontal tricolor with the state arms on the white stripe. The arms are hard to see in my copy and very complex. I think they are per-quarter with another shield in the center that is the one described earlier. Surrounding the shield on three sides are laurel? and oak? leaves, and it is topped by the crown of St Stephen, first Hungarian king, the crown with the bent cross on top.
Nathan Augustine, 1995-12-05