Hungary–Poland relations are the foreign relations between Hungary and Poland. Relations between the two nations date back to the Middle Ages. The two Central European peoples have traditionally enjoyed a very close friendship, brotherhood and camaraderie rooted in a deep history of shared rulers, cultures, struggles, and faith. Both countries commemorate their fraternal relationship on the 23rd of March.
From 1370 to 1382 the Kingdom of Poland and Kingdom of Hungary entered into a personal union and were ruled by the same King, Louis the Great. This period in Polish history is sometimes known as the Andegawen Poland. Louis inherited the Polish throne from his maternal uncle Casimir III. After Louis's death the Polish nobles (the szlachta) decided to end the personal union, since they did not want to be governed from Hungary, and chose Louis's younger daughter Jadwiga as their new ruler, while Hungary was inherited by his elder daughter Mary. A second personal union with Poland was formed for the second time from 1440 to 1444, when King Władysław III of Poland was also King of Hungary.
Both countries are full members of NATO, joining it on the same day (March 12, 1999) and are also both members of the European Union, the OECD, the Council of Europe, the Visegrád Four (along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic), the Bucharest Nine, the Three Seas Initiative, the OSCE and the World Trade Organization.
The leaders of the two countries have been holding regular secret meetings to improve bilateral relations and work more closely together. Hungarian-Polish political scientist Dominik Hejj states: "The relations are very strong, and almost every week a Polish minister visits Hungary and vice versa". The two countries first joined NATO in 1999 and then the European Union in 2004.
Historic relations
Good relations between Poland and Hungary date back to the Middle Ages. Both countries shared a border for nearly 800 years, from the 10th century to the First Partition of Poland in 1772. The Polish and Hungarian ruling dynasties (such as the Piast dynasty or House of Árpád) often intermarried. Louis the Great was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and king of Poland from 1370 until his death in 1382. He was his father's heir, Charles I of the House of Anjou-Sicily (King of Hungary and Croatia) and his uncle's heir, Casimir III the Great (king of Poland – last of the Piast dynasty). King Casimir had no legitimate sons. Apparently, in order to provide a clear line of succession and avoid dynastic uncertainty, he arranged for his nephew, King Louis I of Hungary, to be his successor in Poland. Louis' younger daughter Saint Jadwiga of Poland inherited the Polish throne, and became one of the most popular monarchs of Poland. In 1440–1444, the two countries shared the same King again, after King Władysław III of Poland became also King of Hungary. He was eventually killed in the Battle of Varna in which a coalition of Central and Eastern European countries led by Poland and Hungary was defeated by the Turks. Poles fought on the side of Hungary in subsequent Ottoman–Hungarian wars, including the battles of Kosovo (1448) and Mohács (1526). From 1490 to 1526, both countries were ruled by separate but closely related branches of the Jagiellonian dynasty, after Polish prince Władysław, son of Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon, became King Vladislaus II of Hungary. In 1576, Poland elected the Hungarian nobleman Stephen Báthory as its king, who is regarded as one of Poland's greatest rulers. The famous Polish hussars were modelled after Hungarian hussars.