There is a general characteristic of the Hungarian History. Hungary and Hungarians have lost every important war and revolution since the time of Mathias Rex. He occupied Vienna and became Prince of Austria too. Unfortunately, he died in 1490. After that, the nation and its heroes can be only seen on the losers’ side.
A well-known and not too fresh joke may give you a general overview of the subject.
A Hungarian enters a small shop in New York and wants to buy a hat. But he doesn't have enough dollars on him, so he asks whether he could pay in forints (Hungarian currency).
"I've never seen any forints," the owner of the shop says. "Show me some."
So, the Hungarian shows him a ten-forint bill.
"Who's that guy here?" asks the owner.
"This is Sándor Petőfi, the brightest star of Hungarian poetry. He lived in the last century. He was one of the March Youth who started the 1848-49 War of Liberty. He was killed in a battle at Segesvár when the war was crushed by the Austrians and the Russians."
"Oh my God, what an awful story... And who is this guy on the twenty-forint bill?"
"This is György Dózsa who led a peasant uprising in the sixteenth century. It was crushed and he was executed, actually, burned on a flaming throne..."
"OK, OK. And who is he, on the fifty?"
"This is Ferenc Rákóczi the 2nd, well, leader of another crushed liberty-war. Then he had to live in exile in Turkey."
"I should have guessed. And he on the one hundred?"
"That's Lajos Kossuth, leader of the 1948-49 War of Liberty, you know. After the fall, he had to flee..."
The owner interrupts him again, "OK, poor man, go now, the hat is yours free."
(Note: Most of the banknotes mentioned are out of usage now, due to the inflation waves after the fall of socialism.)

18th Century
The Wesselényi-Zrínyi conspiracy to overthrow the despotic Hapsburg monarchy (Austria) was discovered very fast. Some of the participants could flee abroad, like the grandpa in chapter I. with his brother, daughter and grandson. We are after the Treaty of Karlóca that ended this chaotic period of Hungary when a huge part of the country had to suffer from a long lasting Turkish occupation. It lasted 150 years and seemed that it will never end. Then, an Austrian rule begun, and that one lasted much longer. Hungary became more or less a colony until World War I.
But the revolts and plots against the rulers were permanent. The so-called Kuruc (ancient orthography: Kurucz, original meaning: ‘vagabond’) guerilla troops were a pain in the ass of the Hapsburgs. The Kurucs were led first by Thököly, and later by Rákóczi the 2nd, the “Ruling Prince,” who could almost reach a victory. After the fall, he and some of his commanders took refuge in Turkey, and a bloody retaliation destroyed the country. The name Kuruc was used as a synonym of someone fighting against the Habsburgs or any tyrant for centuries. Whereas partisans of the Austrians were called Labanc (ancient orthography: Labancz, original meaning: ‘tousled’), and this became a synonym of reactionary. Both nouns have been frequently used in the Hungarian poetry.

19th Century
The movement of the Language Reform was already mentioned. It also had some anti-Hapsburg character since people speaking in Hungarian rejected the official language of the Monarchy. The most outstanding event of the anti-Hapsburg instinct was certainly the 1848-49 Revolution and Liberty War. During almost two years, the nation might have believed that it can sweep out the Austrians and gain an independence deserved. The revolting powers, the government led by Lajos Kossuth and its army almost succeeded—only the help and Cossaks of the Russian Tsar could tip the scales on behalf of the Austrians. The retaliation was even more awful than usual. Quite a number of martyrs were produced in a few months, and their names can be read on street signs in Budapest and other Hungarian cities.
A period of deep silence and sufferance started. A new era of relative conciliation could only begin in 1867, thanks to Ferenc Deák, a middle-of-the-road politician (he shows up in the novel). He was a front-runner of those who thought the circumstances cannot be forgotten, which is why a settlement with the Austrians was necessary. The pact was called The Compromise, and the k. u. k. Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was born. K. u. K. meant ‘Kaiserliche und königliche,’ (Imperial and Royal), because the Hapsburg on the throne became Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King. There were common ministries, but the most important offices remained under Austrian leadership.
In 1896, the Hungarian nation celebrated the anniversary of its thousand-year existence with high scale celebrations. Some historians claimed that the anniversary was earlier—but the authorities needed more time to build and organize. If this is true, that’s another typical Hungarian story.

20th Century
Living in Hungary for the Jews has never been a bed of roses. Throughout the centuries, they were not allowed to own anything including land. Their situation was different in the different regions and cities. Their right to a regular citizenship was more or less accepted only during the 1848 Revolution and Liberty war in which a great number of Jews participated. Most of them wanted to be Hungarians and behaved accordingly.
After World War I the Trianon Treaty was more than rude to Hungary. The country lost approximately two third of its previous size. The laws in the small Hungary were somewhat more liberal to the Jews and other ethnic groups than the in the lost territories. No wonder that the number of Jews grew fast. Most of them came to Hungary from the neighboring countries. Now that their ratio became significantly higher, a rough anti-Semitism was rose. A regulation called “numerus clausus” minimized the number of Jewish students who were allowed to attend. My father could get his law degree in spite of this rule, but he was unable to work as a lawyer due to the Jewish Laws that came into power in the forties.
After being on the losers’ side in World War I, Hungary wanted to be among the winners in the next one. They were looking for the favors of Germany and Hitler. This shows again Hungarians’ pretty good sense of seeing the future… By 1945, Hungary lost two armies and almost one tenth of its citizens, including approximately half of the Jewish population.
Socialism wasn’t easy either. The new rulers of the country killed each other following the soviet rule: try your best comrades under false pretexts and execute them. And if a dictator lives long enough, he can rebury and rehabilitate the killed. This is what happened to László Rajk. He was reburied in 1956, before the Revolution that almost shook the Soviet empire. The soviet tanks and herds crushed it in a matter of days. More martyrs were produced. The Prime Minister of the revolutionary government, Imre Nagy was among the hanged.
He and others were reburied and celebrated in 1989, year of the collapse of socialism. János Kádár, who reigned since 1956 and was considered as the killer of Imre Nagy and many other freedom fighters, was ousted. I never hoped I could survive the end of socialism. In 1989, I was in the USA, and when I read in The New York Times what was going on in Hungary, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought Western journalists exaggerated a lot, and I was constantly waiting for the bad news: Russians invaded Hungary again as always. Therefore, your humble chronicler is not good either in seeing the future, unlike most of his characters in this novel. Literature has its advantages, even if it is Hungarian.