Fritz Schönpflug: “Extra Hungaria non est vita”, caricature from: Die Muskete of 31 January 1907

As in the majority of the Habsburg empire, the aristocracy was the ruling class in Hungary and was able to maintain its political and economic privileges until the First World War. In the process of national development, however, it played a more important role in Hungary than in most of the other nationalities of central Europe.