| abstract | - The background to the war can be found in the 2010 Parliamentary elections in which the conservative party Fidesz under Viktor Orbán won the election with 52.73% of the votes and 263 of the seats (out of a total number of 386). A new citizenship law gained a majority in the National Assembly on 14th May which put huge strain on the two countries relations as the law allows ethnic Hungarians living in other countries (e.g. Slovakia) to apply for duel citizenship. In a tit-for-tat exchange, Slovakia retaliated later the same day with its own legislation threatening that anyone who applies for citizenship of another country will lose their Slovak citizenship. This was to come into effect sometime in July. Naturally, this only served to worsen the relations and increase tensions. Relations between Hungary and Slovakia had been deteriorating for years with Slovak National Party leader Ján Slota, a far right member of the government and staunch anti-Hungarian, even threatening to "flatten Budapest with tanks". At 12:34 PM on the 28th June, angry ethnic Hungarians protest in the south of the country against the Slovak legislation which will remove Slovak citizenship should they apply for Hungarian citizenship. Far-right supporters of the SNS (Slovak National Party)confront them and a fight starts. The fight escalates when several more SNS supporters arrive, brandishing handguns purchased off the black market and shoot at the Hungarians, who are unarmed. The Hungarians immediately flee, hoping to find safety over the border. The SNS supporters give chase, even crossing the border into Hungary, where Hungarian police open fire on the armed men, killing three SNS supporters. One police officer is wounded in the fire fight and dies of his wounds on the way to hospital. News of this quickly reaches the media of both countries with feelings already running high, it seems certain that the first war between Hungary and Slovakia since the Magyar-Slovak War of 1939, is about to start. Hungarian troops begin to arrive near the border by 4:00 PM in an effort to prevent further cross border incidents, all of this being seen by the worlds media fueling fears of conflict. Seeing this, the Slovak government orders a partial mobilisation of its reserves and sends several thousand troops towards the border with Hungary. Riots begin in the Hungarian speaking south of Slovakia, where 60% of the population is ethnic Hungarian. Riots rage across the south as people hear of the shooting. The rioters are demanding the Slovak government step down, and new elections be held, which the government refuses to do. In response to the riots, the area is placed under martial law, and six rioters are shot dead by Slovak Army units, and dozen more are wounded. At least two Slovak soldiers are killed in the fighting and several more are wounded. Over a thousand people protest in front of the Slovakian embassy in Budapest, burning Slovak flags and attempting to storm the building, although police manage to hold them back. Within an hour of the protests, all embassy personnel are evacuated from the building by helicopter and are flown back to Slovakia. Rioting continues in south Slovakia and Hungarian media reports that Slovak police have shot at least four more people dead, although the police deny this claim. As the riots continue, there also more incidents of SNS supporters attacking ethnic Hungarians and trying to drive them over the border. Hungarian soldiers who have recently arrived on the border open fire on the SNS and kill at least three of them and wound another in order to protect the ethnic Hungarians being attacked. The SNS, however, were still on the Slovakian side of the border. Slovak soldiers arrive at the scene less than an hour later and both sides shout insults at each other, although refrain from firing, that is, until a teenage SNS supporter throws a Molotov cocktail over the border at the Hungarians. Although the Molotov misses the soldiers, they still open fire on him and kill him, resulting Slovak troops nearby shooting at the Hungarians. The brief firefight results in the death of four Hungarian soldiers and three Slovak soldiers(as well as two armed SNS supporters near them).
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