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Problems of the Development of Hungarian Industry, 1900–1944*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

György Ránki
György Ránki
Affiliation:
Budapest, Institute for Historical Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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Extract

The revolution of 1848, by ending the system of serfdom, had created the basic conditions of Hungary's industrialization; however, since the revolution had remained incomplete and the War of Independence had been lost, the ensuing suppression by Austrian absolutism and the considerable feudal survivals proved a strong barrier to the way of social and economic progress. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy, a product of the Compromise of 1867, offered somewhat more favorable conditions for economic development. Nevertheless, the structure of the dual monarchy kept Hungary's industrialization within rather narrow limits: the absence of independent statehood and the existence of a common customs area with Austria exposed the Hungarian market to devastating competition from Austria's more advanced manufacturing industry; and since these circumstances helped to consolidate the political and economic power of the large landowners, the capital accumulating within the country served above all the capitalist development of agriculture. So towards the end of the nineteenth century, nearly half a century after the bourgeois revolution, Hungary was still a wholly agrarian country whose major exports were foodstuffs and agricultural produce. The rapid development of manufacturing industry began as late as the last decade of the nineteenth century and continued until the beginning of World War I, over a span of some twenty-five years.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , June 1964 , pp. 204 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1964

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References

1 Magyar Statisztikai Közlemények, New Series, Vol. XXIV, Part 1 (Budapest: Hungarian Royal Statistical Office, 1909)Google Scholar.

2 For a detailed exposition, see ibid., Vol. XXVII, Part 1, “A Magyar Szent Korona Országainak 1900, évi népszámlálása” (“The 1900 Census in the Countries of the Holy Crown of Hungary”).

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4 Berend, I. and Ránki, Gy., Magyarország gyáripara 1900–1914 (“Hungary's Manufacturing Industry” [Budapest: Szikra Publishing House, 1955]), p. 136Google Scholar.

5 Compare Sándor, V., Nagyipari fejlödés Magyarországon 1867–1900 (“Development of the Manufacture in Hungary, 1867–1900” [Budapest: Szikra Publishing House, 1954]), p. 596Google Scholar.

6 Compare Berend-Ránki, “Manufacturing Industry,” p. 294.

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9 Berend-Ránki, “Manufacturing Industry,” p. 296.

10 The Peace Treaty of Trianon left to Hungary only 32.2 per cent of her former territory and 42 per cent of her former population. But there remained within the new boundaries 49.2 per cent of the factories, and 55.5 per cent of the production value of the manufacturing industry.

11 Matolcsy, M. and Varga, I., Magyarország nemzeti jövedelme 1924/25–1934/35 (“Hungary's National Income 1924/25–1934/35” [Budapest: Institute of Hungarian Economic Research, 1936]), p. 98Google Scholar.

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14 For a detailed treatment of the problems of industrial development in the 1930's, see Berend, I. and Ránki, Gy., Magyarország gyáripara a második világháboru elött és a háboru idöszakában 1933–1944 (“Hungary's Manufacturing Industry Before and During World War II, 1933–1944” [Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1958])Google Scholar.

15 Svennilson, Growth and Stagnation, p. 57.

16 Compare OEEC, Statistiques industrielles, 1900–1955 (Paris: OEEC, 1955)Google Scholar.

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19 Gratz, Gustav, ed., Ungarisches Wirtschafts-Jahrbuch, 1938 (Budapest: Buchliandlung R. Gergely, 1939), p. 12Google Scholar.

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21 Magyar Statisztikai Szemle (“Hungarian Statistical Review” [Nov. 1940], published in Budapest by the Hungarian Royal Statistical Office), p. 954. Here, and also in the following pages, data for the industrial development of Hungary during. World War II are computed on the basis of the territory of 1938 and do not contain data for those territories which were annexed by Hungary with Germany's help.

22 Berend, I. and Ránki, Gy., The Development of the Manufacturing Industry in Hungary, 1900–1944 (“Studia Historica” No. XIX [Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1960]), pp. 126–39Google Scholar.

23 A more detailed discussion of German economic expansion and the economic policy of the Germans vis-à-vis Hungary during World War II is contained in Berend, I. and Ránki, Gy., “Die deutsche wirtschaftliche Expansion und das ungarische Wirtschaftsleben zur Zeit des zweiten Weltkrieges,” Acta Historica, No. 3–4 (1958)Google Scholar.

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25 Compare “Magyar Nemzeti Bank Fötanácsülésének Jegyzökönyve” (“Minutes of the Board Meeting of the Hungarian National Bank”) in Központi Gazdasági Levéltár (Central Economic Archives), Sept. 27, 1944.

26 Compare Külügyminisztérium, Békeelökészitö Bizottság (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Committee for Peace Preparation) in Országos Levéltár (National Archives), 1/1–3/1–24/3.

27 Compare ibid., II/2–44/45. Also Kozgazdasági Szemle (“Economic Review”), III (1954), 360Google Scholar.