Why weren't the majority of Romanians in Hungarian-owned Transylvania not assimilated by the

Hungarians?

Romeo Matei

Romeo Matei, studied Economics & Marketing at University of Galati

Answered Jan 21

I do not believe this is a honest question. However, I have a short answer. Hungary was very
incompetent at assimilating Romanians during the Middle Ages.

For example in 1241 the Magyar kingdom chose to fight a pitch battle with … wait for it … with
the Mongols. AFTER the Mongols wiped out the Russian armies. This was a total catastrophe for
the Hungarian people. At least 10% of the population was killed, enslaved, deported. The
Southern lands of the kingdom were decimated. Not much assimilation going on after that.

Battle of Mohi - Wikipedia

The recovery was long and very hard. The kings were forced to spend a lot of for the security of
their lands. Not many resources were left to assimilate the Romanians. And in fact the
Romanians belong to another polity, the so called Voievodeship Of Transylvania. Not all
Romanians, but most of them did. The Voievodeship was semi-autonomous. Transylvania war a
multi-ethnic province. Pope Pius the Second (1405 - 1464) said that Transylvania is populated by
3 races: Germans, Szekelys and Romanians. Basically the Hungarians were (more or less) the
ruling class.

But lets get back to the next disaster in Hungarian history. By 1290 the nobles succeeded in
killing it. The country was only a collection of fiefs, ruled by local lords. Soon the ruling dynasty
died out. The kingdom needed a reboot. It took 2 decades for situation to stabilize. Not much
assimilation going on.

But after that the kingdom enjoyed a century of good rulers. In my opinion this century can be
considered the Golden Age of Hungary. But by 1450 the Golden Age was no more and the
kingdom need a warrior. So they elected a Romanian noble to rule Hungary. He was good at
killing his enemies. And his enemies were the Ottomans. AKA the best warriors since the
Romans. The Ottoman Empire has a bad name. But history book tells us that while the Empire
was ascending (until 1600) the Ottomans were the best at conquering lands. They made wise
decisions about their resources. They were smart and courageous. They had an unshaken belief
in their own prowess.

The Hungarian kingdom resisted for about a century the Ottoman invasions. To be fair, the
Hungarian river of blood stopped the Turks to flood Austria, Italy and Germany. And now we
arrive to the years 1526. A relative small Turkish army invaded Hungary. The incompetent nobles
and the king decided, again, to fight a pitch battle against a superior army. The Ottomans just
killed everybody and everyone. And then they decided to eliminate Hungary. The kingdom was
dead and buried. The Magyar history took a decisive turn for the worst. For the next 350 years
the Magyars would be ruled by foreign people. Not much assimilation going on.

The former kingdom was broken up in 3 parts.

The Buda Paslik, ruled by Turks Budin Eyalet - Wikipedia

The semi-independent Transylvania Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711) - Wikipedia

The Upper Hungary became part of the Austrian (Habsburg) Empire

Fun fact: for a while Budapest was a majority Muslim city. As you can imagine there was no time
for assimilating Romanians.

By the year 1700 Transylvania and the majority of Romanians came under Austrian rule. The
Hapsburgs conducted a census and found out that 60% of the People in Transylvania were
Romanians. The Hungarians were only 20%. Say what you will, but 2 out of 10 cannot assimilate
6 out of 10.

In conclusion: the Hungarian rulers had a chance to assimilate the Romanians during the Middle
Ages. As you can see, they had other priorities (read: to stay alive and defend the Western
civilization from the Ottomans). After the Middle Ages Romanians were basically too many. In
fact the reverse became true: the Romanians assimilated Germans, Hungarians and Szekelys.
And finally, genetic studies show that the people of Transylvania are basically one nation, with
very few differences. Because of course they are. They lived together for at least 1.000 years.