Part 98

Explore the histories of Belgrade, Budapest, and Dublin, from their founding to modern times, in Civilization V.

Belgrade

Belgrade was decimated from repeated attacks with the advent of World War I in 1914. After the war, Belgrade became the capital of newly-formed Yugoslavia and experienced a period of unforeseen growth and modernization. Despite the Serbian government's attempt to stay out of World War II, Belgrade was heavily bombed and its people massacred by the Luftwaffe in 1941, and was quickly occupied by the Germans. In 1944, the Allies bombed the city and finally liberated it a few months later. At war's end Serbia was under the Soviet Union's control, and a year later the People's Republic of Yugoslavia was created, with Belgrade again housing the government's seat. Communist Belgrade rapidly developed into a major industrial center. In 1996, massive demonstrations were held in Belgrade against the Communist-led government, and in 1997 the first mayor of Belgrade was elected who did not belong to the Communist or Socialist party. Unrest continued however, with major bombings during the Kosovo War of 1999 causing substantial damage and leading to hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets. However, in spite of these military and economic troubles of the 1990s, Belgrade has been growing strongly ever since as a center for history, culture, and tourism.

Budapest

Founded c.106 AD, Budapest is located in North-Central Hungary and has a population of 2,503,205. Known historically as "the Queen of the Danube," Budapest is the political and cultural center of the country and an important economic and industrial hub in Central Europe. While inhabited from the Neolithic Period (c.9500 BC), the first recorded settlement in the region of modern-day Budapest was the Celtic city of Ak-Ink, later occupied by the Romans and renamed to Aquincum in the 2nd century AD. Its strategic position along the Danube River made Aquincum a desirable holding for both Rome and its enemies alike. At the end of the 9th century AD, a group of Hungarians led by Árpád settled in the area around Aquincum and officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary a hundred years later. After a Tatar invasion in the 13th century, King Béla IV of Hungary constructed reinforced stone walls around the city and moved his own palace to the protected, hilled town of Buda. In 1361 Aquincum/Buda became the capital of Hungary. The Italian Renaissance greatly influenced the cultural role of Buda, when King Matthias Corvinus built his library there in the 15th century. The Turks pillaged the city in 1526, besieged and captured it in 1541, and occupied it for the next 140 years. In 1686 the city was successfully retaken by Charles V and incorporated into the Habsburg Empire, though the city was largely destroyed during the consequential battle. The eighteen hundreds were dominated by the Hungarian's struggle for independence from the Habsburgs until the Reconciliation of 1867, which created the new dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and placed Buda as the capital for both these monarchies. In 1873 Buda, Pest, and Obuda were officially merged into the modern city of Budapest, starting a golden age of economic and cultural growth. Budapest's happy times ended with World War I and the collapse of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. During World War II the city sustained heavy damage from British and American air raids and was besieged during the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Major damage was afflicted upon the city from the attacking Soviet troops, and tens of thousands of civilians were killed. The communist government of the country did little to rebuild the city after the war's end, and systematically gutted and destroyed many of the surviving historic buildings. In 1956 a peaceful student demonstration in Budapest led to the start of the Hungarian Revolution when State Security Police fired upon the crowd. The government was overthrown, but the USSR sent a regiment of tanks to Budapest and crushed the revolt and restored the Communist Party to power. The last Soviet troops left Budapest in 1991, as Hungary began the transition to a free society. For the rest of the century, work was done to repair much of the wartime damage and to preserve and rebuild the remaining historic locations. Despite these beginnings of growth and construction, the city has begun recently experiencing a sharp decrease in population as its inhabitants flee to the neighboring Pest county.

Dublin

Founded c.841 AD, Dublin is located in Eastern Ireland and has a population of 1,045,769. Dublin is commonly known to the Irish as Baile Átha Cliath, or "town of the hurdled ford"; this is a bit more romantic than its original Irish name of Dubh Linn, meaning "black pool". While the Greek astronomer Ptolemy provided some evidence suggesting that the Dublin area was settled by as early as 140 AD, it wasn't until the Norse built a town at the foot of the river Liffey that the city received its more official founding date of 841. The Norse continued to rule the area despite a growing Celtic influence. Dublin became a center for military and judicial power as the country flipped between control from the Norman lords and the King of England. English control was weakened for a time by the onslaught of the bubonic plague in 1348, but conquest of the island was begun anew under the banner of the.