Understanding drought mitigation, adaptation, and resilience in Hungary and the Middle Danube region: case studies from the 13th-21st centuries

Through six case studies of major historical as well as recent droughts, the paper provides an overview of the documented short- and long-term drought impacts, the level of resilience, typical administrative and societal responses in historical Hungary and the Middle Danube region, in East Central Europe, where even today drought is singlemost important climate-related natural hazard. The analysis includes the presentation and complex system analysis of four outstanding, well-documented historical droughts occurred in the early 1360s, early 1500s, the 1710s(-1720s) and in the early 1860s, and the recent outstanding drought of 2022, with discussing the different levels, changes and development of drought mitigation, prevention and adaption methods since the Middle Ages until the present.