Hungary’s history still haunts its politics. From the Treaty of Trianon to Viktor Orbán’s nationalist strategy and his surprising alliance with Vladimir Putin, we explore how historical trauma is shaping the 2026 elections, and why the long shadow of history still impacts votes in Hungary?
The treaty of Trianon carved up Hungary after the First World War and has loomed large over the country’s world view ever since. Will this year’s elections still be shaped by its impact, given all of the other issues at hand? And will the collective memory of the impact of the treaty swing the vote in Orbán’s favor?
Join Jan Darasz and his guest Piotr Kaczyński, a lecturer in EU Institutional Issues at the University of Warsaw University for another episode of How We Got Here.
Chapters:
00:00 – Trianon’s shadow over Hungary
00:42 – King Stephen & Hungary’s Western turn
02:43 – Treaty of Trianon: loss of land, identity, and economy
04:38 – Myth vs reality in Hungarian history
07:21 – Hungarian minorities & diaspora politics
12:12 – Trianon as identity politics in modern elections
15:01 – Orban’s Greater Hungary strategy
20:26 – Orban’s evolution: liberal to nationalist
22:43 – Orban meets Putin: strategic bromance
24:24 – What a Magyar premiership would change
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