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At the Diet of 1825, following a statement made
by one of the members on the need to encourage the use of the Hungarian
language and culture, a young aristocrat, count István Széchenyi, asked for
the floor. To help implement this aim, he offered a year's income from his
estates to found a Hungarian
Academy of Sciences.
His example was followed by others, and by the end of the Diet, the necessary
financial basis for the establishment of the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences was secured.
Széchenyi's speech at the Diet marked the
beginning of a new era, that of the Hungarian Reform Movement. Széchenyi
became an outstanding leader of this movement in the following years, the
initiator and active participant of a whole series of changes and reforms
which were to set feudal Hungary
on the road to bourgeois development.
Széchenyi's ideas for reform were supposed to
lay the foundations for the growth of general welfare. He believed that the
transformation from feudalism to bourgeois economy could be implemented
voluntarily and peacefully. He was anxious to see these inevitable reforms
take place under the leadership of the nobility and the large landowners. He
had no desire to alter the relationship between Hungary
and the Hapsburg dynasty; on the contrary, he wanted to make use of Austrian
capital for the economic transformation of Hungary. He elaborated his
political programme in influential books, but his practical initiatives also
gave a considerable boost to development. He participated in the introduction
of steamship navigation on the Danube,
encouraged mining, set up steam mills, and aided the construction of
railways. He was responsible for works regulating the waters of the Tisza and
the Lower Danube, and induced the Diet to pass a law for the construction of
the first permanent bridge across the Danube, the Chain Bridge in Budapest. He was the
first to propose the unification of the three separate towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda.
The other great personality of the age, Lajos
Kossuth, made his first appearance in public life at the Diet of 1832 with
the publication of a newspaper - produced in mimeographed form - that
contributed considerably to the dissemination of liberal ideas throughout the
country.
The activities of the Reform Movement mobilized
the political life of the country. Chancellor Metternich, however, who
effectively held the reins of power in place of the sickly and feeble-minded
Ferdinand I, did everything he could to roll back the tide of liberal
resistance. But the views of Kossuth were becoming increasingly popular; by
means of modern journalism, he was able to win over the public to side with
his political views. The political programme of the Opposition Party
advocated the liberation of the serfs against an indemnity paid to their
lords, ended the nobility's privilege of not paying taxes, proposed the
gradual introduction of universal franchise and equality before the law. It
also advocated the abolition of the system of entailment, one of the most
ancient laws governing Hungarian feudalism, which stood in the way of the
development of a modern credit system.
The revolutionary spirit of the spring of 1848
gave a tremendous impetus to the course of events in Hungary. Having swept Paris, Berlin and Milan, revolution irrupted in Vienna as well. On March 15, a
revolutionary demonstration took place in Pest.
The writer Mór Jókai read the "Twelve Points" containing the
national demands for change, Sándor Petőfi recited his poem, the
"National Song", and a revolutionary mass meeting was held in front
of the National
Museum in which ten
thousand people took part. The Diet which held its session in Pozsony [now Bratislava] passed the
laws containing the reforms demanded by the opposition. The king gave his
assent, and the Viennese
State council appointed
count Lajos Batthyány, the chairman of the Opposition Party, to form the new
government.
The revolutionary wave that swept over Europe had paved the way for the bloodless victory of
the March revolution. But by the summer of 1848, the wave of
counter-revolution had won decisive victories, and the court in Vienna decided that the
time had come to take action against the Hungarian revolution. Jellacic, the bán
of Croatia devoted to
imperial interests launched an attack with an army of 45,000, crossed the
river Drave, and invaded Hungary.
The National Defence Commission elected by Parliament took over the
leadership of the resistance with Lajos Kossuth at its head. Kossuth promptly
set out on a recruiting campaign, and tens of thousands of people from the
towns and villages of the plains rallied to the battle-cry. The Hungarian
army, made up for the most part of the new conscripts, defeated Jellacic and
drove his army out of the country. Influenced by the events in Hungary, the Camarilla in Vienna compelled Ferdinand V to abdictate
in favour of Francis Joseph (1848-1916). Under the command of Prince
Windischgraetz, the offensive against Hungary began and on January 4,
1849 the imperial forces captured the capital. The Government transferred its
headquarters to Debrecen, and Arthur Görgey,
the commander-in-chief of the Hungarian forces, led his army through the
mountains of northern Hungary.
He arrived after a brilliantly executed series of manśuvres on the Upper Tisza, where the army was reorganised and
reinforced with newly recruited troops.
Map from Hungarian
Historical Atlas depicting
the War f Independence
/ 1948-49.
Click on the map for
higher resolution
The Hungarian forces, strengthened during the winter
months, launched an offensive in the spring of 1849. Supported by Polish,
Austrian, Italian and other volunteers, it drove the imperial forces out of
the country after a series of victorious battles. Following the marked
improvement of the military situation, Kossuth - with the support of the
radical wing in Parliament - forced through the dethronement of the Hapsburgs
and the proclamation of the independence of Hungary on April 14, 1849. He was
then elected the Governing President of the country.
Meanwhile, on the basis of their Holy Alliance,
the Hapsburg Court
presuaded the Russian czar to provide military intervention against Hungary.
The Hungarian forces were inevitably overwhelmed by the joint offensive of
the superior Russian and Austrian imperial forces. After many bottles, the
Hungarian war of independence was crushed. The poet Sándor Petőfi was among
those who fell in the battle of Segesvár [now Sigisoara]. The final battle at
Temesvár [now Timisoara]
was concluded by the Hungarian surrender to the Russian commander-in-chief,
Prince Paskievits, at Világos on August 13, 1849. Kossuth, together with many
other leaders of the war of independence, took refuge abroad. Fourteen
generals were executed at Arad [now Oradea], Count Lajos Batthyány was shot by a firing
squad in Pest, military courts sentenced
thousands to prison and to death, and tens of thousands of Hungarian soldiers
were forcibly conscripted into the emperor's army. A reign of terror engulfed
Hungary.
The Compromise
and Hungary
in the Dual Monarchy
Revolutions, including the unsuccessful ones,
nearly always force their victorious enemies to retain at least some of the
measures which were introduced by them. This is what happened in the case of
the 1848-49 Hungarian revolution and war of independence. Although the
political system introduced by the Minister of the Interior Alexander Bach
annulled the 1848 laws, it could not, however, nullify the most important
reforms, including the liberation of the serfs. So while the regime introduced
measures to Germanise the country by force, and any kind of activity was
viewed with suspicion by the secret police, Hungary nevertheless embarked
upon the road of economic development in the period following its defeat.
Agricultural output increased and certain branches of industry, such as
milling, coal-mining, metallurgy and processing, showed signs of development,
and Hungary
began exporting a considerable quantity of goods.
Meanwhile, international conflicts were
increasingly undermining the status of the Hapsburg Empire, whose position
was aggravated by internal resistance. The Hapsburg armies had been defeated
by the forces of the Italian risorgimento, supported by France,
and it was soon apparent that the Empire was without the economic resources
to wage a protracted war. Francis Joseph laid the blame for the debacle on
his government, and in the autumn of 1859, he compelled Alexander Bach to
resign. The dynasty began to seek some sort of a compromise with the
Hungarian ruling class. A long political struggle which lasted for eight
years began, in the course of which it was either the Hungarian public which
was dissatisfied with the rights being offered to them by the various
"diplomas" and "patents" issued by the Hapsburgs, or it
was the dynasty which considered the Hungarian demands too excessive.
Finally, external and internal changes created the conditions suitable for
compromise. The Hapsburg Empire was further weakened by defeat at the hands
of the Prussians at the battle of Königgrätz, while the Hungarians, faced
with serious economic difficulties, hoped that a compromise would lead to
loans, economic development, and the provision of posts in the 1848
government administration. It was under these circumstances that the
Compromise of 1867 was reached, mainly through the efforts of Ferenc Deák,
who had been a minister in the 1848 government and was the representative
politician of the lesser nobility.
Click on the map
for better resolution
The Compromise reorganised the Hapsburg Empire
on a dualist basis. Within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, both the Austrian
empire and the Hungarian kingdom became independent states with separate
legislative bodies and governments responsible to their legislatures. The
link between them was further assured by the common affairs of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: defence, foreign affairs and the finances related
to these. Francis Joseph, who had been uncrowned up till then, was crowned
King of Hungary in the summer of 1867. According to the accounts from
contemporary records, it must have been a splendid occasion. The ceremony
took place in the rapidly developing community of Buda-Pest which already had
a population numbering around half a million. (Six years later, the towns of
Pest, Óbuda and Buda merged, giving birth to Budapest.) From each county in Hungary, a
sack of earth was brought to "Coronation Hill", onto the top of
which Francis Joseph galloped on horseback, wearing the Holy Crown and a
coronation robe, and carrying a sword to make the traditional slashes to the
four winds, signifying his intention to defend his country from any kind of
attack, from wherever it might originate. It is a scene that yearns for the
painter's brush, and in fact, it was soon rendered immortal by
chromolitography and appeared on the walls of schoolrooms, bank offices, and
middle class homes.
Source: The Penguin Atlas of World
History, Vol. 2, 1974. p. 78
The policy of appeasing the dynasty had a great
many supporters, but an even greater number of people hung the portrait of
"our father Kossuth" in their homes, and brooded in front of it
with nostalgia; for Kossuth, even in exile, had continued to support the
platform of independence and had condemned the Compromise. This dichotomy was
the essential feature of the internal political life of Hungary during the last decades
of the nineteenth century. In manifested itself in the struggle between the
ruling party, which supported the Compromise, and the opposition parties,
which adhered to the principles of 1848. It was a struggle interspersed with
many spectacular events, such as the sudden conversion of Kálmán Tisza, who,
discarding his programme of independence, formed a new government and
remained in power for three decades.
All these events occurred during a period of
economic growth, and with the promotion of industrial development, there was
a massive migration to the towns. A railway network was constructed in this
period, the main lines of which met at Budapest,
directing the interregional traffic of distant parts of the country to the
capital. This contributed to the development of Budapest as a centre of transport, and also
enhanced its commerce and industry. Budapest
developed at an astonishing speed, and in the course of a few decades, became
one of the great capitals of Europe.
Important new industrial firms, such as engineering works, textile and
leather factories were founded, and signs of development began to appear in
mining and in the metallurgical industries. The regulation of rivers and the
resulting cessation of the flood peril expanded the amount of arable land.
The modernisation of farming became feasible, and the output increased. The high point of the era
following the Compromise was marked by the celebrations of the onethousandth
anniversary of the Magyar Conquest of Hungary. However, behind the glossy
exterior and a basically unfounded optimism, a number of serious problems had
been tormenting the country for some time. Lacking capital, the owners of
small and medium-sized estates could not keep up with modern development, and
consequently went bankrupt. The number of farm labourers reached four
million, and thousands of landless peasants were forced to emigrate. The
discontent felt by the working masses and the national minorities contributed
to the further deepening of internal contradictions. The growth and expansion
of the working-class movement was marked by a series of strikes and
demonstrations which the government attempted to crush on several bloody
occasions. While the Monarchy drifted towards war, resistance to the imminent
conflict strengthened among the masses.
Hungary in the First World War. The Years 1918-19
Following the assassination of Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, at Sarajevo
on June 28, 1914, most politicians and military commanders of the Monarchy
favoured war against Serbia.
Count István Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister, was at first opposed to the
idea of declaring war. He considered the timing inopportunate and the
proposed annexation of Serbia
undesirable, as it would have increased Slav population of the Monarchy and
weakened the Hungarian ruling classes. He was, however, persuaded by Austrian
pressure to dispatch the unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia, it was worded thus
provoking a war. Posters bearing the signature of Francis Joseph appeared on
the streets of Budapest
declaring the war: "I have considered everything, I have thought over
everything...;" The Hungarian soldiers joined their regiments singing
and carrying bouquets. The troops were sent off at the stations by elegantly
dressed ladies to the sound of band music. It seemed as though the glittering
image of the millennial celebrations was turning into a new, even falser
illusion.
However, the enthusiasm was short-lived. Hungary was aligned with the Central Powers,
but events soon disproved the vainglorious prophecy of Kaiser William II that
the Germans would be in Paris
by the time "the leaves fall from the trees". The fighting
gradually developed into trench warfare with heavy loss of life on both
sides. In the first three years, Austro-Hungary lost three million men, and a
million of these were Hungarian.
The country was short of food, inflation was on
the rise, and wages lagged far behind the rapidly changing prices, while those
dealing in paper-soled boots and inedible rations reaped handsome profits.
Dissatisfaction was everywhere. Since 1915, Count Mihály Károlyi, the leader
of the political opposition, had been demanding a break with the Germans and
a separate peace. Following the death of Francis Joseph, the new king,
Charles IV (1916-1918), attempted to conclude that separate peace. He
proposed a series of liberal reforms and concessions to the national
minorities, but his attempts failed in 1917.
Source: Westemanns Atlas zur Weltgeschichte, Berlin,
1953
Click on the map
for better resolution
The 1917 February revolution in Russia had a great impact in Hungary; a wave of antiwar
strikes swept over the country. New left-wing trends made themselves felt
within the working-class movement, including the left-wing opposition within
the Social Democratic Party, which strongly attacked the opportunism of party
leadership. The revolutionary socialist group of university students, the Galilei Circle,
started organizing anti-militarist resistance in alliance with the trade
union workers. The effect of the revolution in Russia and the peace edict was
even more striking. Tension mounted rapidly in the country, which the
government was unable to do anything about. Strikes and demonstrations
engulfed the nation, and the revolutionary movement spread to the fronts. At
the same time, movements among the national minorities for self-determination
and independence took on increased vigour. By the summer of 1918, the fate of
the Monarchy was sealed. Even before its capitulation on November 3, 1918, a
National Council had already come into existence. Headed by Count Mihály Károlyi,
it demanded a separate peace, Hungarian independence, the recognition of the
right of self-determination for the national minorities, land reform, and
universal suffrage. On October 31, 1918, the masses, wearing asters on their
caps, marched through the streets of Budapest
and occupied the strategic points in the capital. Archduke Joseph, named homo
regius by the king, appointed Károlyi Prime Minister. On November 16,
1918, Hungary
was proclaimed a republic.
Károlyi, a liberal politician, whom the so
called "Michaelmas Revolution" brought to power as head of
republic, was opposed to the war and sympathetic to the Entente Powers. He
tried to alleviate the plight of the peasants and divided up his huge estates
among them. Despite this, he was soon overwhelmed by the territorial demands
and armed invasion of the Entente. On March 21, a communist regime took over
under Béla Kun. The hastily conceived measures of the communists -
nationalization of all the lands and taking most of the economy into state control
- met with resistance. Meanwhile the Red Army collapsed and the Romanian
forces marched into Budapest.
On August 1, 1919, the short-lived first communist regime of Hungary
was overthrown.
© Zoltán Halász
English translation by Zsuzsa Béres
Translation revised by J.E. Sollosy
Bibliographic data:
Title: Hungary
(4th edition)
Authors: Zoltán Halász / András Balla (photo) / Zsuzsa Béres
(translation)
Published by Corvina, in 1998
159 pages
ISBN: 963-13-4129-1, 963-13-4727-3
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