Siege of Budapest

The Siege of Budapest or the Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement of the Hungarian capital of Budapest by Soviet forces near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was first encircled on 26 December 1944 by the Red Army and the Romanian Army. During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died from starvation and military action. The city unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945. It was a strategic victory for the Allies in their push towards Berlin.

General situation

Suffering from nearly 200,000 deaths in three years fighting the Soviet Union, and with the front lines approaching its own cities, by early 1944 Hungary was ready to exit the war. As political forces within Hungary pushed for an end to the fighting, Germany preemptively launched Operation Margarethe 19 March 1944, and entered Hungary.

In October 1944, after successive Allied victories at Normandy and Falaise, and after the collapse of the Eastern Front following the stunning success of the Soviet summer offensive, Bagration, Horthy again attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies. Upon hearing of Horthy's efforts, Hitler launched Operation Panzerfaust to keep Hungary on the Axis side, and forced Horthy to abdicate. Horthy and his government were replaced by "Hungarist" Ferenc Szálasi, led by the far-right National Socialist Arrow Cross Party. As the new right-wing government and its German allies prepared the defense of the capital, IX SS Mountain Corps, consisting of two Waffen SS divisions, was sent to Budapest to strengthen the city's defense.

Budapest

Budapest (Hungarian: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt]; names in other languages) is the capital and the largest city of Hungary, and one of the largest cities in the European Union. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre, sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. According to the census, in 2011 Budapest had 1.74 million inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2.1 million due to suburbanisation. The Budapest Metropolitan Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi). Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, with Pest on the east bank on 17 November 1873.

The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia.Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918, following World War I. Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.

Budapest (disambiguation)

Budapest is the capital of Hungary.

Budapest may also refer to:

Places

Music

People with the surname

Other uses

Budapest (George Ezra song)

"Budapest" is a song by British singer-songwriter George Ezra, from his debut studio album, Wanted on Voyage (2014). It was released as the album's second single on 13 December 2013 in Italy, and on 13 June 2014 in the United Kingdom. The song was co-written by Ezra with Joel Pott and produced by Cam Blackwood.

The single was released on Columbia Records, and distributed by Sony Music, and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. "Budapest" has also been a major hit for Ezra in Austria and New Zealand, topping the charts in both countries, while reaching the top ten in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland. It was the 13th-best-selling single of 2014 in the UK. The song was released in the U.S. in 2015 and has peaked at number 32.

Background

Ezra told The Daily Telegraph that "Budapest" was "[his] first attempt to write a love song, and it uses the first three guitar chords [he] ever learned. There's a lot to be said for that simplicity." Ezra has also insisted that, despite its title, the lyrics of "Budapest" do not have anything to do with the city in Hungary and that he had never even been there before. He said, "I was in Malmö in Sweden and the Eurovision Song Contest was being held in Malmö on that night, and I didn't have a clue about it but everyone there seemed to be really excited about it and having parties. But I didn't know you couldn't buy alcohol after 10 o'clock at night. So I ended up buying a bottle of like, rum, or something like that from a guy in a park so I could have something to drink at this party. Anyway, I was meant to be getting a train to Budapest the next day, and I never got it because I was too hungover and didn't fancy it. So I wrote the song about being miles from Budapest."