On 15 March 2012, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a commemorative speech during the national anniversary of the declaration of Hungarian independence from ‘Habsburg colonialism’ in 1848. The speech was pivotal in setting the course for Hungary’s new official political agenda: “we will not become a colony of the West”. The primordial historical date of 1848 served to articulate the concept of ‘Habsburg colonialism’ not only for 19th century Hungarians, but also to support the anti-Western and anti-colonialist positioning of the later communist regime (1947–1989) during its opening to decolonizing Afro-Asian countries, just as it serves today the ‘opening to the East and South’ of the Fidesz government after 2012.