As a result of World War II, Hungary became part of the Sovjet empire and disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. However, even in the drab times of communist rule in Eastern Europe, Hungary was considered the "different kid", since its population enjoyed a few more freedoms than the rest of eastern europeans countries. Hungary was always *the* fun place to visit in the Eastern Block (since travel outside the Eastern Block was prohibited).
The former connection between Hungary and Austria played a major role in the fall of the Iron curtain, as the former connected countries where were the first ones in Europe to open their borders to each other in early 1989. This led to the mass exodus of East Germans in the summer of 1989 that the ruling class in East Germany couldn't stop and led resulted eventually to in the fall of the Berlin Wall.
== Budapest ==