Editing Hungarian Defence Forces (section)

=== Ancient, medieval, and early modern military ===
{{Main|Hungarian invasions of Europe|Principality of Hungary|Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)|Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526)|Ottoman Hungary|Royal Hungary|Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)}}
[[File:Balatonboglár, katonai járművek.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|250x250px|Military vehicles on show]]
The Hungarian tribes of ''[[Árpád]] vezér'' who came to settle in the [[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]] were noted for their fearsome [[light cavalry]], which conducted [[Hungarian invasions of Europe|frequent raids]] throughout much of [[Western Europe]] (as far as present-day [[Spain]]), maintaining their military supremacy with long-range and rapid-firing [[reflex bow]]s. Not until the introduction of well-regulated, plate-armored knight [[heavy cavalry]] could German emperors stop the Hungarian armies.

During the Árpáds the light-cavalry-based army was transformed slowly into a western-style one. The light cavalry lost its privileged position, replaced by a feudal army formed mainly from heavy cavalry.

The Hungarian field armies were drawn up into an articulated formation (as it happened in [[Battle of Przemyśl (1099)]], [[Battle of the Fischa|Battle at Leitha]] (1146), [[Battle on the Marchfeld|Battle of Morvamező]] (1278), (1349), in three main [[battle (formation)]] (1146, 1278, 1349). According to the contemporary sources and later speculations, the first line was formed by light cavalry archers ([[Battle of Oslava]] (1116, 1146, 1260, 1278). Usually, they started the battle followed by a planned retreat (1116, 1146), [[Battle of Kressenbrunn]] (1260). The major decisive battles of the Hungarian army were placed in the second or third lines consisted mainly of the most valuable parts of the army – in general heavy cavalry (1146, 1278, 1349).

The commanders of the [[Hungarian Kingdom]]'s army used different tactics, based on a recognition of their own and the enemies' ([[Holy Roman Empire]], [[Pechenegs]], [[Oghuz Turks|Uzes]], [[Cumans]], [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]], [[Byzantine Empire]]) abilities and deficiencies.

The Hungarian knight army had its golden age under King [[Louis I of Hungary|Louis the Great]], who himself was a famed warrior and conducted successful campaigns in [[Italy in the Middle Ages|Italy]] due to family matters (his younger brother married [[Joanna I of Naples|Joanna I, Queen of Naples]] who murdered him later.) King [[Matthias Corvinus]] maintained very modern mercenary-based royal troops, called the ''[[Black Army of Hungary|Black Army]]''. King Matthias favoured ancient artillery ([[catapult]]s) as opposed to cannons, which were the favourite of his father, [[Johannes Hunyadi]], former [[Regent of Hungary]].

During the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]] invasion of Central Europe (between late 14th century and circa 1700) Hungarian soldiers protected fortresses and launched light cavalry attacks against the Turks (see [[Hungarian Hussar]]s). The northern fortress of [[Eger]] was famously defended in the autumn of 1552 during the 39-day [[Siege of Eger (1552)|Siege of Eger]] against the combined forces of two Ottoman armies numbering circa 120,000 men and 16 ultra-heavy siege guns. The victory was very important, because two much stronger forts of [[Szolnok Castle#Ottoman siege of 1552|Szolnok]] and [[Siege of Temesvár (1552)|Temesvár]] had fallen quickly during the summer. Public opinion{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} attributed Eger's success to the all-Hungarian garrison, as the above two forts had fallen due to treason by the foreign mercenaries manning them. In 1596, [[Siege of Eger (1596)|Eger fell to the Ottomans]] for the same reason.

In the 1566 [[Battle of Szigetvár]], [[Nikola Šubić Zrinski|Miklós Zrínyi]] defended [[Szigetvár]] for 30 days against the largest Ottoman army ever seen up to that day,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Turnbull|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Turnbull (historian)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-JqHCwAAQBAJ&q=1566+the+largest+Ottoman+army+Szigetvar&pg=PT65|title=The Ottoman Empire 1326–1699|date=2014-06-06|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-1026-7|language=en}}</ref> and died leading his remaining few soldiers on a final suicide charge to become one of the best-known national heroes. His great-grandson, [[Miklós Zrínyi]], poet and general, became one of the better-known strategists of the 1660s. In 1686, the capital city [[Buda]] [[Battle of Buda (1686)|was freed from the Ottomans]] by an allied Christian army composed of Austrian, Hungarian, and Western European troops, each roughly one-third of the army.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} The [[Habsburg]] empire then annexed Hungary.