Hungarian Revolution of 1848
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The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
. The revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, ruled by the Habsburg monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
.
Many of its leaders and participants, including Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
, István Széchenyi
István Széchenyi
Széchenyi committed suicide by a shot to his head on April 8, 1860. All Hungary mourned his death. The Academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations...
, Sándor Petőfi
Sándor Petofi
Sándor Petőfi , was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered as Hungary's national poet and he was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848...
, Józef Bem
Józef Bem
Józef Zachariasz Bem was a Polish general, an Ottoman Pasha and a national hero of Poland and Hungary, and a figure intertwined with other European nationalisms...
, are among the most respected national heroes in Hungarian history
History of Hungary
Hungary is a country in central Europe. Its history under this name dates to the early Middle Ages, when the Pannonian Basin was colonized by the Magyars, a semi-nomadic people from what is now central-northern Russia...
. The anniversary of the Revolution's outbreak, 15 March, is one of Hungary's three national holidays
Public holidays in Hungary
- Fixed public holidays :- Remembrance days endorsed by the state :Remembrance Days are working days in Hungary.- Holidays not endorsed by the state :- Special events :...
.
Pretext
The Hungarian DietDiet (assembly)
In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is mainly used historically for the Imperial Diet, the general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and for the legislative bodies of certain countries.-Etymology:...
(Parliament) had not convened since 1811.
In 1825, Emperor Francis II convened the Diet in response to growing concerns amongst the Hungarian nobility about taxes and the diminishing economy, after the wars. This started what is known as the Reform Period . But the Nobles still retained their privileges of paying no taxes and not giving the vote to the masses. It was in this time that Hungarian became an official language instead of Latin as had been used formally before.
The influential Hungarian politician Count István Széchenyi
István Széchenyi
Széchenyi committed suicide by a shot to his head on April 8, 1860. All Hungary mourned his death. The Academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations...
recognized the need to bring the country up-to-date. The Hungarian Parliament was summoned once again in 1825 to handle financial needs. A Liberal Party emerged in the Diet, which put its attention on providing for the peasantry. Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
, a famous journalist of the time, emerged as the leader of the lower house of Parliament.
Kossuth's aspiration was to build a modern democratic, liberal state with a constitution, ensuring civil equality. The people supported him in this modernisation, even though the Habsburg monarchs obstructed all important liberal laws about their civil and political rights and the economic reforms. Many reformers (like Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
, Mihály Táncsics
Mihály Táncsics
Táncsics Mihály was a Hungarian writer, journalist and politician.Mihály Táncsics was born as a son of Croatian father and Slovak mother.- References :...
) were imprisoned by the authorities.
Revolt
The Revolution started on March 15, 1848.A bloodless battle was fought in Pest and Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
, and the mass demonstrations forced the Imperial governor to accept all twelve of their demands
12 points of the Hungarian Revolutionaries of 1848
The 12 points were a list of demands written by the leaders of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.-History:On the morning of March 15, 1848, revolutionaries marched around the city of Pest, reading Sándor Petőfi's Nemzeti dal and the 12 points to the crowd...
. After that, there were many insurrections throughout the Kingdom; Hungarian reformists declared Hungary's new parliament with Lajos Batthyány
Lajos Batthyány
Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár was the first Prime Minister of Hungary. He was born in Pressburg on 10 February 1807, and was executed by firing squad in Pest on 6 October 1849, the same day as the 13 Martyrs of Arad.-Career:His father was Count József Sándor Batthyány , his mother Borbála...
as its first Prime Minister. The new government approved a sweeping reform package, referred to as the "April laws
April laws
The April laws, also called March laws, were a collection of laws legislated by Lajos Kossuth with the aim of modernizing Kingdom of Hungary into a nation state. The imperative program included Hungarian control of its popular national guard, national budget and Hungarian foreign policy, as well as...
", which created a democratic political system. The newly established government also demanded that the Habsburg Empire spend all taxes they received from Hungary in Hungary itself, and that the Parliament should have authority over the Hungarian regiments of the Habsburg Army.
Josip Jelacic
Count Josip Jelačić of Bužim was the Ban of Croatia between 23 March 1848 and 19 May 1859...
. They offered to send troops to northern Italy. By the end of August 1848, the Imperial Government in Vienna officially ordered the Hungarian Government in Pest not to form an Army. Jelačić, being a Count in Croatia and Dalmatia, which were at that time part of Hungary, had a different view. He invaded Hungary to dissolve the Hungarian Government, without any order by the Austrian throne.
Hungary now had war raging on three fronts: Jelačić's Croatian troops to the South, Romanians
Hungarians in Romania
The Hungarian minority of Romania is the largest ethnic minority in Romania, consisting of 1,431,807 people and making up 6.6% of the total population, according to the 2002 census....
in Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
and in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
to the East, and Austria to the West.
Hungarian liberals in Pest saw this as an opportunity. In September of 1848, the Diet made concessions to the Pest Uprising, so as not to break up the Austro-Hungarian Union. But the counter-revolutionary forces were gathering. After many local victories, the combined Bohemian and Croatian armies entered Pest on 5 January 1849 to put down the revolt.
Austria had its own problems with the revolution in Vienna that year. So at first it acknowledged Hungary's government. The Austrian monarchy also made other concessions to subdue the Vienna masses: On 13 March, 1848, Prince Klemens von Metternich was made to resign his position as the Austrian Government's Chancellor. He then fled to London for his own safety.
After the Austrian revolution in Vienna was beaten down, Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
replaced his uncle Ferdinand I of Austria
Ferdinand I of Austria
Ferdinand I was Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation, King of Hungary and Bohemia , as well as associated dominions from the death of his father, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848.He married Maria Anna of Savoy, the sixth child...
, who was not of sound mind. Franz Joseph still refused to acknowledge Hungary's self-rule. In the end, Hungary and Austria were divided when Field-Marshal Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg
Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg
Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg Austrian soldier and statesman, was born in Mór , Hungary. He held the military rank of Feldmarschallleutnant....
was given control of every army in Hungary (including Jelačić's). He went to Hungary where he was mobbed and viciously murdered, upon which the Imperial court dissolved the Hungarian Diet and appointed Jelačić as Regent.
War between Austria and Hungary had officially begun.
War of Independence
In 1848 and 1849, the Hungarian people or Magyars, who wanted independence, formed a majority only in about a third of the total country known as "Hungary and Transylvania". And the Magyars were boxed in by their traditional enemies. In the north, from Pressburg (now BratislavaBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia) to the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and the Tisza
Tisza
The Tisza or Tisa is one of the main rivers of Central Europe. It rises in Ukraine, and is formed near Rakhiv by the junction of headwaters White Tisa, whose source is in the Chornohora mountains and Black Tisa, which springs in the Gorgany range...
were several million Slovaks and a few Ruthenians.
Croats and Slovenes lived in the south, between the Danube, the Sava and the Drava
Drava
Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...
. More to the east, there was a Serb colony numbering over a million. These Slavic areas – the Slovenes and the Serbs – were linked with the Wallachians and the Saxons of Transylvania. Often these different races were at war with each other.
In 1848– 49, the Austrian monarchy, and those advising them, skillfully manipulated the Croatian, Serbian and Romanian peasantry, making promises to the Magyars one day and making conflicting promises to the Serbs and other groups the next. Some of these groups were led to fight against the Hungarian Government, by their priests and officers who were loyal to the Habsburg monarchy.
But in 1848 and 1849, the Hungarians were supported by most Slovaks, Germans, Rusyn
Rusyns
Carpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...
s and Hungarian Slovenes, the Hungarian Jews, and many Polish, Austrian and Italian volunteers.
Occasionally, the Austrian throne would overplay their hand in their tactics of divide and conquer in Hungary – with some quite unintended results. This happened in the case of the Slovaks who had begun the war as at least indifferent if not positively anti-Magyar, but came to support the Hungarian Government against the Dynasty. But in another case, the Austrians' double-dealing brought some even more surprising new allies to the Hungarian cause during the war in 1849:
Serbs
To the east of the Tisza to the Transylvanian border lay the part of Hungary called "The BanatBanat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
", the southern boundary of which was the Danube. On its southern bank lies the city of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in the district of Syrmien (now Syrmia
Syrmia
Syrmia is a fertile region of the Pannonian Plain in Europe, between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia in the east and Croatia in the west....
, Serbia). For centuries the Danube here had served as the boundary between the Ottoman and Austrian empires. But since 1804, the independent nation of Serbia had formed south of the Danube with Belgrade as its capital. So in 1849, the Danube divided Serbia from the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian district on the northern side of the river was called "Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
", and was home to more than a million Serbian colonists. Vojvodina had long sought its own independence as a nation or, as an alternative, attachment with the independent nation of Serbia on the other side of the Danube. Even before the revolution of 1848 the Austrian monarchy had promised an independent status for Vojvodina within the Austrian Empire.
Toward this end, Josif Rajačić
Josif Rajacic
Josif Rajačić was a metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci, Serbian patriarch, administrator of Serbian Vojvodina and baron.-Life:...
was appointed to "Patriarch" of Vojvodina in the February of 1849. Rajačić was a supporter of the Serbian national movement, although somewhat conservative with pro-Austrian leanings. At a crucial point during the war against the Hungarian Republic, in late March 1849 when the Austrians needed more Serbian soldiers to fight the war, the Austrian Field-Marshal Georg Rukavina Baron von Vidovgrad, who commanded the Austrian troops in Hungary, officially re-stated this promise of independence for Vojvodina and conceded to all the demands of the Patriarch regarding Serbian nationhood. Acquiescence to the demands of the Patriarch should have meant a relaxation of the strict military administration of Vojvodina. Under this military administration in the border areas, any male between the ages of 16 years and 60 years of age could be conscripted into the army.
The Serbs of Vojvodina were expecting their requirement for Austrian military conscription to be the first measure to be relaxed. But the new Emperor Franz Joseph had other ideas and this promise was broken not more than two weeks after it had been made to the people of Vojvodina. This caused a split in the population of the Vojvodina and at least part of the Serbs in that province began to support the Hungarian Republic against the Austrians.
Some Serbs sought to ingratiate the Serb nation with the Austrian Empire to promote the independence of Vojvodina. Believers in the idea of a "Greater Serbia" hoped that an independent Vojvodina would sooner or later attach itself to the Serbian nation. Believers in Greater Serbia already looked forward to acquiring Bosnia (37.1% Serb), Herzegovina (37.9% Serb), and Montenegro (32.0% Serb). But some supporters of Greater Serbia also threw in acquisition of the northern part of Albania (less than 1% Serb) as another desirable goal for Serbian acquisition, not so much because of any ethnic link, but rather so that the Greater Serbia would have ""access to the sea".
With war on three fronts the Hungarian Government should have been squashed immediately upon the start of hostilities. However, events early in the war worked in favour of the Government. The unity of the Serbs on the southern front was ruined by Austrian perfidy over the legal status of Vojvodina. Some right-wingers in the Serbian national movement felt that a "revolution" in Hungary more threatened the prerogatives of landowners, and the nobles in Serbian Vojvodina, than the occupying Austrians.
Honved
Honvéd may refer to;* Honvédség, the Hungarian army.* Budapest Honvéd FC, a Hungarian football team....
) won many battles against the Austrians, for example at the Battle of Pákozd
Battle of Pákozd
The Battle of Pákozd was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 29 September 1848. It was one of the important battles of the Revolution...
in September 1848 and at the Isaszeg in April 1849, at which time they even stated the Hungarian Declaration of Independence
Hungarian Declaration of Independence
The Hungarian Declaration of Independence declared the independence of Hungary from the Habsburg Monarchy during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It was presented to the National Assembly in closed session on 13 April 1849 by Lajos Kossuth, and in open session the following day, despite political...
from the Habsburg Empire. The same month, Artúr Görgey
Artúr Görgey
----Artúr Görgey de Görgő et Toporcz was a Hungarian military leader.He was born at Toporz in Upper Hungary of a Hungarian noble family of originally Zipser German descent who immigrated to Upper Hungary during the reign of king Géza II . During the reformation they were converted to Protestantism...
became the new Commander-in-Chief of all the Hungarian Republic's armies.
Russians
Because of the success of revolutionary resistance, Franz Joseph had to ask for help from the "gendarmeGendarme
A Gendarme is a member of a gendarmerie; the word is often incorrectly used to refer to any French policeman or pikeman.Gendarme can also mean:* Gendarme , French medieval or early modern cavalryman...
of Europe" Czar Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
in March of 1849. Russian armies, composed of about 8,000 soldiers, invaded Transylvania on 7 April 1848. But as they crossed the Southern Carpathian mountain passes (along the border of Transylvania and Wallachia), they were met by a large Hungarian revolutionary army led by Józef Bem
Józef Bem
Józef Zachariasz Bem was a Polish general, an Ottoman Pasha and a national hero of Poland and Hungary, and a figure intertwined with other European nationalisms...
, a Polish-born General.
Bem had been a participant in the Polish insurrection of 1830 – 1831, had been involved in the uprising in Vienna in 1848 and, finally, became one of the top army commanders for the Hungarian Republic from 1848 – 1849. When he encountered the Russians, Bem defeated them and forced them back out of the towns of Hermannstadt (now Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Romania) and Kronstadt (now Brașov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
) in Transylvania, back over the Southern Carpathian Mountains through the Roterturm Pass into Wallachia. Only 2,000 Russian soldiers made it out of Transylvania back into Wallachia, the other 6,000 troops being killed or captured by the Hungarian Army. After securing all of Transylvania, Bem moved his 30,000–40,000-man Hungarian army against Austrian forces in the northern Banat capturing the city of Temesvár
Battle of Temesvár
The Battle of Temesvár was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 9 August 1849 between the Austrian Empire and Hungarian Revolutionary Army supplemented by Polish volunteers. The Austrians were led by Julius Jacob von Haynau, while the Hungarians were led by Józef Bem who...
(now Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, Romania).
Austrians
Meanwhile, the Austrians followed the Danube down from Vienna and crossed over into Hungary to envelope Komorn (now KomáromKomárom
Komárom is a city in Hungary on the right bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom county.The city of Komárom was formerly a separate suburban village called...
, Hungary and Komárno
Komárno
Komárno is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Komárno was formed from part of a historical town in Hungary situated on both banks of the Danube. Following World War I, the border of the newly created Czechoslovakia cut the historical, unified town in half,...
, Slovakia). They continued down the Danube to Pest, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom. After some fierce fighting, the Austrians, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, captured Pest and held it for a short while before being forced to give up their positions and move across the Danube to the town of Buda, located directly across the Danube from Pest. (the town was known in German as Ofen and later Buda and Pest were united into Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
).
In April of 1849, the Hungarian Government enjoyed success on this western front, crossing the Danube and forcing the Austrian Army to retreat from Buda back up the Danube. The Hungarian Army relieved the Austrians at Komárom
Battles of Komárom
Three Battles of Komárom were fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 between the Hungarian and Austrian armies at the Castle of Komárom.The Austrian legions were attacking Komárom from December 1848. Under the command of János Damjanich and György Klapka Hungarian troops arrived to liberate the...
and pushed them back towards Vienna.
Thus, the Hungarian Government was initially successful on its eastern front (Transylvania) against the Russians, and on its western front against the Austrians. But there was a third front – the southern front in the Banat, fighting the troops of the Serbian national movement and the Croatian troops of Jelačić within the province of Vojvodina itself. Mór Perczel
Mór Perczel
Sir Mór Perczel de Bonyhád , was a Hungarian landholder, general, and one of the leaders of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.- Life before 1848 :...
, the General of the Hungarian forces in the Banat, was initially successful in battles along the southern front.
Laval Nugent von Westmeath
Laval Nugent von Westmeath
Laval Graf Nugent von Westmeath was a soldier of Irish birth who fought in the armies of Austria and the Two Sicilies.-Biography:...
was the Austrian Master of Ordnance, but was serving as the general in the field attempting to marshall all the Serbs still loyal to the Austrian throne, for another offensive against the Hungarian Government. Here, even on the southern front the Hungarian Armies were proving successful, initially.
This combat led to the Vienna Uprising
Vienna Uprising
The Vienna Uprising or October Revolution of October 1848 was the last uprising in the Austrian Revolution of 1848....
of October 1848, when insurgents attacked a garrison on its way to Hungary to support forces. After Vienna was recaptured by imperial forces, General Windischgrätz and 70,000 troops were sent to Hungary to crush the last challenge to the Austrian Empire. By the end of December, the Hungarian government evacuated Pest. However this army had to retreat after heavy defeats from March to May 1849 and General Windischgrätz was removed as well. In April of 1849, Ludwig Baron von Welden
Ludwig von Welden
Franz Ludwig Baron von Welden was an Austrian army officer whose career culminated in becoming the commander-in-chief of the Austrian artillery....
became the new supreme commander of Austrian forces in Hungary. Without destroying the Austrian army, the Hungarians stopped, besieged Buda and prepared defenses. In June 1849 Russian and Austrian troops entered Hungary heavily outnumbering the Hungarian army. After all appeals to other European states failed, Kossuth abdicated on August 11, 1849 in favour of Artúr Görgey
Artúr Görgey
----Artúr Görgey de Görgő et Toporcz was a Hungarian military leader.He was born at Toporz in Upper Hungary of a Hungarian noble family of originally Zipser German descent who immigrated to Upper Hungary during the reign of king Géza II . During the reformation they were converted to Protestantism...
, who he thought was the only general who was capable of saving the nation. On August 13, Görgey signed a surrender at Világos
Surrender at Világos
The Surrender at Világos took place on 13 August 1849 at Világos, and formally ended the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. After it, Julius Jacob von Haynau became the regent of Hungary and took bloody reprisals against Hungary...
(now Şiria, Romania) to the Russians, who handed the army over to the Austrians.
However, in May of 1849, Czar Nicholas I pledged to redouble his efforts against the Hungarian Government. He and Emperor Franz Joseph started to regather and rearm an army to be commanded by Anton Vogl
Anton Vogl
Anton Vogl was born in 1789. He became a Lieutenant Field Marshal in the Austrian Army and became famous for actively participating in the suppression of the uprising in Galacia in 1848. He also led Austrian troops against the Hungarian Republic in 1849. Anton Vogl died in 1871....
, the Austrian lieutenant-field-marshal who had actively participated in the suppression of the national liberation movement in Galacia in 1848. But even at this stage Vogl was occupied trying to stop another revolutionary uprising in Galacia. The Czar was also preparing to send 30,000 Russian soldiers back over the Eastern Carpathian Mountains from Poland. Austria held Galacia and moved into Hungary, independent of Vogl's forces.
Aftermath
Julius Jacob von HaynauJulius Jacob von Haynau
Julius Jacob von Haynau was an Austrian general.The illegitimate son of the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, William I and Rebecca Richter, a Jewish woman, he entered the Austrian army as an infantry officer in 1801 and saw much service in the Napoleonic wars...
, the leader of the Austrian army, became Regent of Hungary after the conflict. He ordered the execution of the The 13 Martyrs of Arad
The 13 Martyrs of Arad
The 13 Martyrs of Arad were the thirteen Hungarian rebel honvéd generals who were executed on October 6, 1849 in the city of Arad, Kingdom of Hungary , after the Hungarian Revolution was ended by troops of the Austrian Empire and Imperial Russia, who reestablished Habsburg rule over the area...
(now Arad, Romania
Arad, Romania
Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...
) and Prime Minister Batthyány was executed the same day in Pest
Pest (city)
Pest is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two thirds of the city's territory. It is divided from Buda, the other part of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable parts are the Inner City, including the Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square and...
.
After the revolution, in 1849 the whole country was in "passive resistance". In 1851 Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen was appointed as Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
, which lasted until 1860, during which time he implemented a process of Germanisation
Germanisation
Germanisation is both the spread of the German language, people and culture either by force or assimilation, and the adaptation of a foreign word to the German language in linguistics, much like the Romanisation of many languages which do not use the Latin alphabet...
.
Kossuth went into exile after the revolution. In the US he was most warmly received by the general public as well as the then US Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, which made relations between the US and Austria somewhat strained for the following twenty years. Kossuth County, Iowa
Kossuth County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 15,543 in the county, with a population density of . There were 7,486 housing units, of which 6,697 were occupied.-2000 census:...
was named for him. He then also travelled through Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and to Turin, Italy.
Kossuth thought his biggest mistake was to confront the Hungarian minorities. He set forth the dream of a multi-ethnic confederation of republics along the Danube, which might have prevented the escalation of hostile feelings between the ethnic groups in these areas.
Many of Kossuth's comrades-in-exile joined him in the United States, including the sons of one of his sisters. These "Forty-Eighters
Forty-Eighters
The Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In Germany, the Forty-Eighters favored unification of the German people, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human rights...
"fought on the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
side in the US Civil War.
After the Hungarian Army's surrender at Világos
Surrender at Világos
The Surrender at Világos took place on 13 August 1849 at Világos, and formally ended the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. After it, Julius Jacob von Haynau became the regent of Hungary and took bloody reprisals against Hungary...
in 1849, their revolutionary banners were taken to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
by the Tsarist troops, and were kept there both under the Tsarist and Communist systems. But in 1940 the Soviet Union proposed to the Horthy government to exchange the banners for the release of the imprisoned Hungarian Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...
– which was accepted.