Editing Lake Balaton (section)

==History==
[[File:PELSO.png|thumb|Detail of a silver plate from the [[Seuso Treasure]] with the inscription ''PELSO'' (i.e., 'Balaton')]]
It always has been an important location, both tactically and culturally(with many folk tales surrounding it). During the Ottoman wars played an important role in defending [[Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)|Royal Hungary]] where even battles were fought.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Végh |first=Ferenc |title=A Balaton Hadiflotta a Török Korban |url=https://magyarkaloz.hu/download/A_balatoni_hadiflotta_a_torok_korban._Th.pdf}}</ref> While a few settlements on Lake Balaton, including [[Balatonfüred]] and [[Hévíz]], have long been resort centres for the Hungarian aristocracy, it was only in the late 19th century that the Hungarian middle class began to visit the lake.<ref>[http://www.lonelyplanet.com/hungary/lake-balaton/history Lake Balaton History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728124939/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/hungary/lake-balaton/history |date=2020-07-28 }} at Lonely Planet</ref> The construction of railways in 1861 and 1909 increased tourism substantially, but the post-war boom of the 1950s was much larger.

By the turn of the 20th century, Balaton had become a center of research by Hungarian biologists, geologists, hydrologists, and other scientists, leading to the country's first biological research institute being built on its shore in 1927.<ref name="Ambio" />

The last major German offensive of [[World War II]], [[Operation Spring Awakening]], was conducted in the region of Lake Balaton in March 1945, being referred to as "the Lake Balaton Offensive" in many British histories of the war. The battle was a German attack by [[Sepp Dietrich]]'s [[Sixth Panzer Army]] and the [[Hungarian Third Army]] between 6 and 16 March 1945, and in the end, resulted in a Red Army victory. Several [[Ilyushin Il-2]] wrecks have been pulled out of the lake after having been shot down during the later months of the war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/13695-rescue-of-il-2-m3-lake-balaton-hungary/|title=Rescue of IL-2 M3 Lake Balaton Hungary|website=forum.il2sturmovik.com|date=26 December 2014 |language=en|access-date=2019-09-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://guideservicebudapest.com/tours-in-hungary-with-guide/lake-balaton-and-herend/|title=Lake Balaton and Herend|website=guideservicebudapest.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-22}}</ref>

During the 1960s and 1970s, Balaton became a major tourist destination due to focused government efforts, causing the number of overnight guests in local hotels and campsites to increase from 700,000 in July 1965 to two million in July 1975. The number of weekend visitors to the region, including tens of thousands from Budapest, reached more than 600,000 by 1975.<ref name= "Ambio">{{cite journal |last1=Láng |first1=István |date=1978 |title=Hungary's Lake Balaton: A Program to Solve Its Problems |journal=Ambio |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=164–168  |jstor=4312371 }}</ref> It was visited by ordinary working Hungarians, and especially for subsidised holiday excursions by National Council of Trade Union ({{langx|hu|SZOT: Szakszervezetek Országos Tanácsa}}) members to exclusive hotels and small resorts ({{langx|hu|üdülő ingatlan}}) for them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Comradely Greetings from Lake Balaton |url=https://en.mandadb.hu/cikk/858387/Comradely_greetings_from_Lake_Balaton |website=MaNDA |access-date=July 27, 2024}}</ref>
It also attracted many [[East Germany|East Germans]] and other residents of the [[Eastern Bloc]]. [[West Germany|West Germans]] could also visit, making Balaton a common meeting place for families and friends separated by the [[Berlin Wall]] until 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dortmund.de/en/leisure_and_culture/ruhr2010_en/art_creativity/balaton_1/index.html |title=German unity at Lake Balaton – a European history |publisher=Dortmund.de |access-date=January 2, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102192740/http://www.dortmund.de/en/leisure_and_culture/ruhr2010_en/art_creativity/balaton_1/index.html |archive-date=2014-01-02 }}</ref>