Honvéd


Honvéd

 

the name of the Hungarian army in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the Middle Ages honvéd was the name of the Hungarian infantry; during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49, it referred first to the Hungarian infantry and then to the entire Hungarian national army. According to the law of 1868, the ground forces of Austria-Hungary consisted of three parts: the Imperial Army, the Austrian Landwehr, and the Hungarian honvéd, which was located in Hungary for the purpose of strengthening the Imperial Army and serving within Hungary. In peacetime, at the beginning of the 20th century the honvéd had 14 infantry brigades and four cavalry brigades; in wartime, divisions were formed from the brigades. From 1918 to 1949 the armed forces of Hungary were known as the honvéd.