Budapest and River Danube from Fisherman's Bastion, Buda Castle
Budapest was at its peak in the late 1800s and the decade leading up to the Great War. It was then known as the Pearl of the Danube. At this time many countries seeking to modernise sought expertise and finance from Britain - then the world’s predominant economic power. Britain accounted for most of Europe's commerce and much of the world’s. (The United States was not yet a global power). Budapest’s parliament building was inspired by London’s Palace of Westminster. The Hungarian capital was the second city in Europe - after London - to build an underground transport system. The first bridge across the Danube linking Buda and Pest was the Chain Bridge designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish engineer Adam Clark in 1849. All the iron was brought over from Britain. The break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Great War was just the first step in Hungary’s decline. The second step: flirting with fascism and allying with Nazi Germany in the Second World War. This meant that once again Hungary was on the losing side of a historically-seismic war. Next came 45 years of Soviet control that resulted in the economic stagnation that was typical of Iron Curtain client states. But the Hungarians were the first to throw open their borders - in this case with Austria - allowing principally East Germans to use that route to West Germany. This triggered the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the implosion of the unsustainable Soviet Union. In 2004 the Hungary joined the European Union.
Size: 5717px × 4320px
Location: Budapest viewed from Fisherman's Bastion
Photo credit: © Frank Nowikowski / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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