István Türr
Encyclopedia
István Türr (August 10, 1825, Baja, Hungary
– May 3, 1908, Budapest
) was a Hungarian soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer, remembered in Italy for his role in that country's unification and his association with Garibaldi. In the later years of his life became known as a peace activist
.
, the fifth child of an ironmonger. His mother was Terézia Udvary, whose father was a medical doctor.
When young he was not a diligent pupil and left school early. As a teenager he tried his father's profession as well as working in a mill and as an unskilled mason, but did not show great aptitude for any of these three jobs.
The first time he tried to enlist in the Austrian Army he was rejected, but on his re-application in 1842 he was accepted at the age of 17. Moreover, officers found in him a hitherto unnoticed promise and encouraged him to improve himself and undergo officer's training at Pécs
. By 1848 he was already a military engineer at the rank of lieutenant
in a Hungarian grenadier regiment.
engulfed his homeland, Türr was stationed in Lombardy
, Italy. He was involved in early fighting against Piedmont and witnessed the cruel retaliations inflicted on rebellious Italians at Monza
, where he was stationed – which caused him to change his loyalties.
On January 19, 1849 Türr crossed the bridge over the Ticino
and went over to the Piedmont side. He was immediately placed in command of the newly-formed "Hungarian Legion", comprising numerous deserters of the Austrian Imperial Army. Its ranks were swelled by the increasing desertion of Hungarian soldiers and officers, crossing the Ticino in small boats every night until the Austrian command moved them away.
In a parallel development, another Hungarian Legion – headed by Lajos Winkler (1810–1861) who would later become Türr's close associate – was formed at Venice
and fought in defence of the revolutionary Repubblica di San Marco headed by Daniele Manin
.
Thus, Türr became involved in the First Italian War of Independence
, under the leadership of King Carlo Alberto of Piedmost. However, before he could lead the Hungarian Legion to the field and take part in actual fighting against his former Austrian comarades in arms. the final Austrian victory at Novara
dashed the Italian hopes. Carlo Alberto had to abdicate and go into exile, and Piedmonst could no longer carry on the struggle.
However, when Türr put it to his men, they voted by acclamation to reject the Austrian pardon, stay together and leave Piedmont in search of a place whose revolution was still holding out. At first they set out for the Roman Republic
, but were blocked by the French forces besieging the city (thus, Türr's meeting with Garibaldi, at this time directing Rome's defence, was delayed for ten years).
Next, the Hungarians entered France itself via Nice
, where they had to give up their arms and the authorities regarded them with considerable suspicion. The Hungarians, kept for a considerable time in Toulon
, conceived the idea of going to the Ottoman Empire
, where some Hungarians already got refuge (and many more would follow in the coming years). However, the French disliked this idea, attempting to send them instead to Algiers
– where, Türr feared, the Hungarian Legion would "melt down". He then decided to try heading to Britain, in the hope that from there it would be easier to get to Turkey.
Hearing of the revolutionary ferment at Baden, Germany, where "the army had joined with the people to overthrow the monarchial government", Türr decided to set out in that direction – also in the hope of eventually returning to a liberated Hungary via Germany. Two contingents of the Hungarian Legion did manage to cross into Germany and reach Baden; a third was stopped by the French and diverted to Folkstone, where the British put them on a ship headed to Turkey.
Bringing sorely needed reinforcements, Türr was warmly welcomed in Baden, made immediately upon arrival a colonel in its revolutionary army, and got three battalions of German troops under his command in addition to the Hungarians who came with him. He did not hold this position long, however, as the Baden revolution soon succumbed to an overwhelming Prussia
n attack. Together with the overthrown Baden Government, he and his troops had to seek refuge in Switzerland. The victors, in control of occupied Baden, were summarily executing those officers of the revolutionary army who fell into their hands.
In Berne
Türr got the bitter news of the revolution being crushed in his own homeland, too, after prolonged fighting throughout Hungary. He was faced with the prospect of an exile life of indefinite duration, his life forfeit should he ever try to go home.
(now Şiria, Romania) on August 13, 1849, the Austrians on the following month, September, renewed the offer of a free pardon to the men of the Hungarian Legion. This time, a considerable part of them accepted the offer – "tired of incessant fatigues and disappointments, and having lost all hope of ever being able to fight for their country's cause" – and went back to defeated Hungary.
The sympathetic Government of Switzerland – described by Türr as "always humane and noble minded" – financed and facilitated the sending the rest of the Hungarian soldiers to America. (This Federal Swiss government was newly installed, composed of the Radicals
, who won the Swiss civil war
two years earlier – one of the few regimes established by the Revolutions of 1848
which remained in power, inclined to help the less fortunate revolutionary refugees.)
Türr himself, dejected and in bad health, remained in Europe, alternating between Switzerland and Piedmont, and living on a pension which the Piedmont-Sardinia
n Government granted to him.
In October 1850, the above-mentioned Captain Lajos Winkler, who had fought at Venice, came over from Lombardy, in command of a party of about a hundred Hungarian privates which he had kept together under discipline. Türr's 1856 brochure, mentioning this and other events of the 1850s,
does not relate where Winkler and his men had been and what they had been doing during the year since the fall of Venice; evidently, they had gotten the help of sympathetic Italians.
With the Hungarian fortunes at their nadir, Türr and Winkler devised a plan of sailing with this troop to Montevideo
, to join the Liberal forces fighting against Juan Manuel de Rosas
in the Uruguayan Civil War
. Since the 1830s, the prolonged struggle – especially the perilous Siege of Montevideo – gained the considerable support and sympathy of progressive Europeans, and it was there that Garibaldi first gained his reputation as a freedom fighter. With the European revolutions crushed, the war in Uruguay seemed to offer Türr the only place where he could still "contribute to the protection of freedom against oppression and tyranny".
Had Türr carried out this plan, his subsequent career might have been considerably different. However, at Genoa
they were faced with a firm Austrian demand for the extradition of the Hungarian deserters. To save them, Türr falsely declared that they had all belonged to the former Piedmontese-Hungarian Legion which he had commanded and thus covered by the amnesty offered to these.
Türr gained the Piedmontese Government's permission to take the Hungarian troops to Switzerland, whose friendly Federal Council in turn obtained French permission for them to go to America. As the Austrians had not completely given up their demands, Türr personally conducted the exiled troops as they made their way on foot to Havre
, and saw them safely embarked to their destination.
From the Austrian point of view, the demand for the Hungarian troops' extradition turned out to be a serious blunder. Instead of letting Türr neatly get rid of himself and devote his energies to Latin American struggles, the Austrians themselves ensured that he would stay on in Europe and become an increasingly disturbing thorn in the Habsburg Empire's side.
Many of the Hungarian "Forty-Eighters
" who arrived in the US at this time are known to have later fought on the Union side in the American Civil War
. The ones sent off by Türr might have been among them.
In the early 1850s he became closely involved with fellow exile in Mazzinian conspiracies, such as the failed Milan
uprising of February 6, 1853.
Following the outbreak of the Crimean War
Türr was also involved in the plan of György Klapka
, former War Minister of the 1848 revolutionary Hungarian government, to raise a force of Hungarian exiles to fight against Russia, whose intervention in 1848–49 had tipped the scales against the Hungarian rebels.
Even before the Crimean War, a considerable number of exiled Hungarians had already taken service with the Ottoman
s, some reaching high positions without having to convert to Islam (see Islam in Hungary). During the Siege of Kars
in eastern Anatolia, Hungarian exiles took an active part in defending this border city against the invading Russians.
As Türr would later disclose to Italian friends, supporting the Ottoman Empire against the Russian Empire was far less satisfactory to him than taking part in the Italian struggle for liberation. It was more in the nature of "serving one barbarism, out of the hatred of another barbarism".
, at the time occupied by Austria though not annexed to the Habsburg Empire. He trusted to the protection of the British and to promises of safe-conduct by locally-stationed Austrian officers, which were apparently overruled by Vienna.
In Bucharest
Türr was arrested and sent on to Kronstant (the present Brasov
) where he was interrogated and court-martialed. Sentenced to death for desertion and treason ("seeking to detach Italy and Hungary from Austrain rule"), he was sentenced to death. However, the Emperor commuted his punishment to perpetual banishment, due to the strong British protests, apparently involving Queen Victoria personally.
At the time, the whole affair got considerable press attention all over Europe, and on his release Türr published a long and detailed account of it.
The document was declassified only thirty years later, and not given particular prominence even then. It does not seem to have influenced Turr's reputation.
in 1859 Türr returned to that country and joined Garibaldi's volunteer unit Cacciatori delle Alpi ("Hunters of the Alps"). Garibaldi held Türr in great esteem and in one speech dubbed him "The Fearless Hungarian".
On the circumstances of Turr's wounding on June 15, 1859, an eye-witness report is provided in a letter by Frank Leward, an English volunteer fighting with Garibaldi:
.
The 500 Hungarians
led by Türr – helped by fellow exiles Adolf Mogyórody, Nándor Éber and Gusztáv Frigyesy – were the largest contingent of foreign volunteers fighting with Garibaldi, alongside French, Poles
, Swiss, German and other nationalities. Like the Hungarians, most of the other internationals were fighting with a view to follow up the liberation of Italy with that of their own countries from foreign or domestic tyranny (see International Legion
).
In later parts of the campaign, as Garibaldi's campaign gathered momentum and many local recruits in Sicily and South Italy, Türr was in command also of an increasing number of Italian troops.
In Talamone
, en route to Sicily
, Garibaldi promoted Türr to General and included him in the General Staff formed for the expedition. After the capture of Palermo
, Türr led the force which went through the rugged Sicilian interior towards Messina, while Garibladi himself went on along the island's north shore. After crossing to the mainland, Türr led a force of 1,500 men towards Salerno
.
Franco Catalano, analysing the Battle of Volturnus (1860)
, accuses Turr of "reckleness" which contributed to the initial Garibaldian defeats at Caiazzo and Castel Morrone
– though the overall battle ended with Garibaldi's decisive victory, and at the time there were no recriminations.
In the aftermath of the fighting Türr was appointed by Garibaldi as Governor of Naples
. In this role he conducted the plebiscite of October 21, 1860, in which the city's population voted overwhelmingly in favour of incorporation in the new Kingdom of Italy
.
During the famous meeting of Garibaldi with King Victor Emmanuel II at Teano, the king refused Garibaldi's request that the soldiers and officers who took part in the Expedition of the Thousand be taken into the Italian Army, and most of them were in fact dismissed. Garibaldi afterwards went back to his home in Caprera
, and his later relations with the King and the royal government were often tense. However, the King not only confirmed Türr's rank as a general, but also made him a royal aide-de-camp
, and subsequently entrusted to Türr the handling of some sensitive diplomatic matters. Despite this divergence of political courses, however, Türr remained on highly cordial and friendly relations with Garibaldi until the Italian revolutionary's death in 1882.
Meanwhile, back in Austrian-ruled Hungary, the city of Debrecen
on February 6, 1861, declared Türr – as well as Kossuth, Klapka and other exiled nationalists – to be its honorary citizen. This was an act of defiance, as at the time Türr stood to be executed out of hand had he attempted to arrive at the city whose honorary citizen he became,
, the brother of the Emperor Napoleon – which made her a cousin of the then Emperor Napoleon III of France http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=110088. (Her parents were Sir Thomas Wyse
, British Minister to Athens, and
Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte's daughter).
Moreover, Adelina's sister, Laetitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte
, married in the same year the Piedmontese statesman Urbano Rattazzi
– Italian Prime Minister several times during the 1860s – who thus became Türr's brother in law.
Türr is mentioned as having, with the help of his wife, with her help, carried out an extensive diplomatic activity. Among other things, both of them are known to have conducted extensive correspondence with Prince Napoleon, the Emperor's cousin and advisor, a proponent of the anti-Clerical forces in the French imperial court and opponent of the policy of letting French troops preserve the Pope's temporal power over Rome
István Türr and his wife had one son, Raoul Türr (1865–1906).
).
The Türrs immediately became prominent figures in the town's social life, as seen in repeated reports in the local paper, the "Il Lago Maggiore". The return after a visit to France of "The Valorous Hungarian General and his Most Beautiful and Amiable Consort, Princess Bonaparte" was a major local news item. The couple were hosted and feted by the town's dignitaries – sub-prefect, municipal councillors and the commander of the local National Guard – with a civic band playing various pieces, prominently ones associated with Garibaldi.
The Türrs also took considerable interest in the lower classes. Türr became the Honorary President of the local Labourers' Society (Società Operaia di Pallanza) and gave donations to be distributed among the needy. On November 4, 1862, the paper noted with regret that:
In 1876, the Pallanza villa was sold to Cesar Bozzotti – apparently due to Türr being able to return to Hungary after 1867 (see below) and therefore spending less time in Italy.
, now under the government of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had shown some sympathy to the Hungarian exiles. Following upon an earlier (1861) delegation headed by Klapka, Türr sought an agreement on establishing Hungarian weapons and supplies depots on Moldavian soil, with a view to a new uprising against Habsburg rule.
In case of their independence being achieved, the Hungarians promised "a full autonomy" to the Romanian population of Transylvania
. Nevertheless, disagreement on the Question of Transylvania prevented Türr and his fellows from reaching an agreement.
At the time, Türr was a confidential adviser to Italian King Vittorio Emanuele. With Venetia still held by the Austrians and a new war a distinct possibility, it was clearly in Italy's interest to have a Hungarian rebellion open a second front for the Austrians.
and Garibaldi's campaign against the Austrians in the Trentino, Türr was assigned to prepare an uprising in Hungary involving György Klapka
and other Hungarian exiles. It was supposed to be launched from Serbia
n territory, but – due to the fast ending of the Prussian-Austrian War including its Italian part – never came to implementation, and the next year's developments rendered all such plans moot.
to grant a Liberal Constitution as well as a renewed autonomy for the ancient Kingfom of Hungary; the unitary Austria became the dual Austro-Hungary. The changed political climate also included an amnesty for exiles such as Türr, who could at last return to his homeland.
Not long after his return Türr – no longer an implacable foe of Austrian interests – was informally involved in (ultimately unsuccessful) negotiations aimed at creating an alliance between
Austria, Italy and France.
Using his wide international experience and personal contacts, he was a leading proponent of the building of navigation canals and river navigation systems in Hungary. On the basis of his international experience, Türr was charged with élaborating a plan for navigable canals connecting the Danube
and Tisza
rivers.
Türr was deeply involved with the Panama Canal
at its earlier stage, being himself the President of the "Societe Civile Internationale du Canal Interoceanique" which proposed to build it. In 1876 Türr as well as Béla Gerster
, a younger Hungarian engineer who would be his partner in later projects – accompanied Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps in an international expedition with the task of locating the most suitable route of an interoceanic canal that would eventually become the Panama Canal
.
However, Türr was no longer involved in later stages of the French Panama project, having shifted his interest and gave his full attention to another canal, closer to home (see below). This saved Türr from public responsibility for the fiasco of the collapse of French Panama project and the appalling loss of thousands of workers to disease at Panama.
After 1881 Türr – together with Gerster – were involved with the Greek Government's major project of planning and implementing the Corinth Canal
– a project which gained considerable international attention. In his 1883 travel book, "To the Gold Coast for Gold", Richard Burton
mentioned meeting "that talented and energetic soldier, General Türr" in Venice
, and predicted that the hitherto impoverished Patras
"will have a fine time when [Türr] begins the piercing of the Isthmus."
In 1888, the company constructing the canal failed, putting the project's completion in danger. Türr the led a successful effort to get governments and individuals to invest further sums – so that on August 6, 1893, King George I of Greece and his wife, Queen Olga could solemnly inaugurate the artificial waterway.
Also in partnership with Gerster, Türr formulated monumental plans of water-supply engineering in Hungary itself. As well as promoting the canalization of the Danube
he was distinguished for supporting the newborn Hungarian national industry.
In particular, Türr was opposed to the Transylvanian Memorandum
movement of 1892, whose initiators demanded greater autonomy for Romanians – a demand seen as the prelude for altogether detaching Transylvania
from Hungarian rule, and therefore causing the Manifesto's organisers to be imprisoned by the Hungarian authorities.
In 1894–95 Türr published articles condemning the Memorandum participants and their Bucharest-based partisans. One of the latter, V. A. Urechia
, answered in kind in a series of articles of his own, debating Türr on the pages of the European press and in various international forums.
From that time until his death, Türr would increasingly become known in the role of "The Pacifist General", who became "a prominent personality of the international peace movement". In the 1890s, Türr was "a regular fixture" in the annual Universal Peace Congresses, held every year at a different location. In 1896 he was elected President of the Seventh Congress, held at Budapest
.
The well-known Austrian pacifist Bertha Von Suttner
recalls in her memoires the great impression of meeting, on that occasion, "the old warrior, General Türr" (he was seventy one at the time) and hearing from him that "he had seen so much of war that he came to throughly detest it".
Türr recalled – and Von Suttner later published – some horrors which he had witnessed during the Expedition of the Thousand
, and which had not been published in 1860 itself. For example, entering a village and discovering the bodies of Bourbon soldiers who had been burned to death by the inhabitants. When Garibaldi became extremely furious with the villagers for having perpetrated such an act, they responded that it was done in retaliation for the soldiers having earlier set on fire houses in the village and prevented their inhabitants from escaping.
" (http://passingstrangeness.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/the-yellow-peril/). He used it in June 1895; in an article mainly concerned with Otto von Bismark, there was a passage referring to Japan's recent victory over China where Türr remarked: "The 'yellow peril' is more threatening than ever. Japan has made in a few years as much progress as other nations have made in centuries." This was widely re-published and translated throughout the world (the quotation here is from the text published at the time in a Ohio
paper, The Sandusky Register
)
A few months later, on September 1895, Kaiser Wilhelm II took up the term and made extensive use of it, being indeed often credited as its originator. As interpreted by the German Emperor (and subsequently, by many others) this implied a concrete threat by "Yellow Hordes" in the Far East, poised to invade and overwhelm the West by sheer numbers. This attitude to "Yellow-skinned people" had very concrete results in Wilhelm, a few years later, explicitly exhorting German troops involved in putting down the Boxer Rebellion
in China to particularly ruthless and cruel conduct.
There is, however, no record of Türr sharing such attitudes. In fact, "General Etienne Turr, Buda" is duly noted in the list of participants at the Tenth Universal Peace Congress held at Glasgow
in 1901, where that Western expedition against the Boxer Rebellion
, in the previous year, was strongly condemned. In that gathering, Dr. Spence Watson got applause when stating at the podium that "The swooping down of the Christian nations on China [was] the most detestable bit of greed that history records". The conference as a whole adopted resolutions clearly condemning that Western intervention in China (though in milder terms) and stating that defence of Western missionaries active in non-European countries, or of connverts to Christianity, was no an acceptable reason for waging war.
The transcript does not record, however, any speech made by Türr himself, who was 76 years old at the time and had recently lost his wife.
, France. His son Raoul predeceased him and died in 1906.
In his last years Türr spent much of his time in Paris. He died in Budapest
on May 3, 1908.
He was survived by his granddaughter Maria Stephanie Türr (1895 – 1994)
http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=110090.
Today there are only a few desendence of István Türr and the grandgaughter of Lucien Bonaparte, Adelina. A small family living in Germany.
Baja, Hungary
Baja is a city in , southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to around 37,000 people....
– May 3, 1908, 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...
) was a Hungarian soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer, remembered in Italy for his role in that country's unification and his association with Garibaldi. In the later years of his life became known as a peace activist
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
.
Young age and Enlistment
Türr was born in the city of Baja, HungaryBaja, Hungary
Baja is a city in , southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to around 37,000 people....
, the fifth child of an ironmonger. His mother was Terézia Udvary, whose father was a medical doctor.
When young he was not a diligent pupil and left school early. As a teenager he tried his father's profession as well as working in a mill and as an unskilled mason, but did not show great aptitude for any of these three jobs.
The first time he tried to enlist in the Austrian Army he was rejected, but on his re-application in 1842 he was accepted at the age of 17. Moreover, officers found in him a hitherto unnoticed promise and encouraged him to improve himself and undergo officer's training at Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
. By 1848 he was already a military engineer at the rank of lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in a Hungarian grenadier regiment.
Deserting the Austrian Army, fighting for the 1848 Revolution in Italy
At the time when the Hungarian Revolution of 1848Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas...
engulfed his homeland, Türr was stationed in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, Italy. He was involved in early fighting against Piedmont and witnessed the cruel retaliations inflicted on rebellious Italians at Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
, where he was stationed – which caused him to change his loyalties.
On January 19, 1849 Türr crossed the bridge over the Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
and went over to the Piedmont side. He was immediately placed in command of the newly-formed "Hungarian Legion", comprising numerous deserters of the Austrian Imperial Army. Its ranks were swelled by the increasing desertion of Hungarian soldiers and officers, crossing the Ticino in small boats every night until the Austrian command moved them away.
In a parallel development, another Hungarian Legion – headed by Lajos Winkler (1810–1861) who would later become Türr's close associate – was formed at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and fought in defence of the revolutionary Repubblica di San Marco headed by Daniele Manin
Daniele Manin
Daniele Manin was an Italian patriot and statesman from Venice. He is a hero of Italian unification .-Early life:...
.
Thus, Türr became involved in the First Italian War of Independence
First Italian War of Independence
The First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese....
, under the leadership of King Carlo Alberto of Piedmost. However, before he could lead the Hungarian Legion to the field and take part in actual fighting against his former Austrian comarades in arms. the final Austrian victory at Novara
Battle of Novara (1849)
The Battle of Novara or Battle of Bicocca was one of the battles fought between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia during the First Italian War of Independence, within the era of Italian unification...
dashed the Italian hopes. Carlo Alberto had to abdicate and go into exile, and Piedmonst could no longer carry on the struggle.
From Italy to Baden
Under the terms of the ceasefire imposed on Piedmont, the Hungarian Legion (and a similar Polish Legion, also composed of deserters from the Austrian Army) were to be disbanded. Privates and NCO's up to the rank of sergeant-major were offered a pardon and a return home. This did not include the officers, but the Austrians did not object to their accepting commissions in the Piedmontese Army.However, when Türr put it to his men, they voted by acclamation to reject the Austrian pardon, stay together and leave Piedmont in search of a place whose revolution was still holding out. At first they set out for the Roman Republic
Roman Republic (19th century)
The Roman Republic was a state declared on February 9, 1849, when the government of Papal States was temporarily substituted by a republican government due to Pope Pius IX's flight to Gaeta. The republic was led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi...
, but were blocked by the French forces besieging the city (thus, Türr's meeting with Garibaldi, at this time directing Rome's defence, was delayed for ten years).
Next, the Hungarians entered France itself via Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, where they had to give up their arms and the authorities regarded them with considerable suspicion. The Hungarians, kept for a considerable time in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, conceived the idea of going to 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...
, where some Hungarians already got refuge (and many more would follow in the coming years). However, the French disliked this idea, attempting to send them instead to Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
– where, Türr feared, the Hungarian Legion would "melt down". He then decided to try heading to Britain, in the hope that from there it would be easier to get to Turkey.
Hearing of the revolutionary ferment at Baden, Germany, where "the army had joined with the people to overthrow the monarchial government", Türr decided to set out in that direction – also in the hope of eventually returning to a liberated Hungary via Germany. Two contingents of the Hungarian Legion did manage to cross into Germany and reach Baden; a third was stopped by the French and diverted to Folkstone, where the British put them on a ship headed to Turkey.
Bringing sorely needed reinforcements, Türr was warmly welcomed in Baden, made immediately upon arrival a colonel in its revolutionary army, and got three battalions of German troops under his command in addition to the Hungarians who came with him. He did not hold this position long, however, as the Baden revolution soon succumbed to an overwhelming Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n attack. Together with the overthrown Baden Government, he and his troops had to seek refuge in Switzerland. The victors, in control of occupied Baden, were summarily executing those officers of the revolutionary army who fell into their hands.
In Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
Türr got the bitter news of the revolution being crushed in his own homeland, too, after prolonged fighting throughout Hungary. He was faced with the prospect of an exile life of indefinite duration, his life forfeit should he ever try to go home.
Sending exiles to America
In the wake of the Hungarian Army's surrender at VilágosSurrender 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) on August 13, 1849, the Austrians on the following month, September, renewed the offer of a free pardon to the men of the Hungarian Legion. This time, a considerable part of them accepted the offer – "tired of incessant fatigues and disappointments, and having lost all hope of ever being able to fight for their country's cause" – and went back to defeated Hungary.
The sympathetic Government of Switzerland – described by Türr as "always humane and noble minded" – financed and facilitated the sending the rest of the Hungarian soldiers to America. (This Federal Swiss government was newly installed, composed of the Radicals
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....
, who won the Swiss civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
two years earlier – one of the few regimes established by the 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...
which remained in power, inclined to help the less fortunate revolutionary refugees.)
Türr himself, dejected and in bad health, remained in Europe, alternating between Switzerland and Piedmont, and living on a pension which the Piedmont-Sardinia
Piedmont-Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia or Sardinia, also Piedmont-Sardinia, Sardinia-Piedmont or Piemonte, refers to the states of the House of Savoy from 1720 or 1723 onwards, following the award of the crown of Sardinia to King Victor Amadeus II of Savoy under the Treaty of The Hague...
n Government granted to him.
In October 1850, the above-mentioned Captain Lajos Winkler, who had fought at Venice, came over from Lombardy, in command of a party of about a hundred Hungarian privates which he had kept together under discipline. Türr's 1856 brochure, mentioning this and other events of the 1850s,
does not relate where Winkler and his men had been and what they had been doing during the year since the fall of Venice; evidently, they had gotten the help of sympathetic Italians.
With the Hungarian fortunes at their nadir, Türr and Winkler devised a plan of sailing with this troop to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, to join the Liberal forces fighting against Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...
in the Uruguayan Civil War
Uruguayan Civil War
The Uruguayan Civil War, also known as "Guerra Grande", was a series of armed conflicts that took place between the Colorado Party and the National Party in Uruguay from 1839 to 1851...
. Since the 1830s, the prolonged struggle – especially the perilous Siege of Montevideo – gained the considerable support and sympathy of progressive Europeans, and it was there that Garibaldi first gained his reputation as a freedom fighter. With the European revolutions crushed, the war in Uruguay seemed to offer Türr the only place where he could still "contribute to the protection of freedom against oppression and tyranny".
Had Türr carried out this plan, his subsequent career might have been considerably different. However, at Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
they were faced with a firm Austrian demand for the extradition of the Hungarian deserters. To save them, Türr falsely declared that they had all belonged to the former Piedmontese-Hungarian Legion which he had commanded and thus covered by the amnesty offered to these.
Türr gained the Piedmontese Government's permission to take the Hungarian troops to Switzerland, whose friendly Federal Council in turn obtained French permission for them to go to America. As the Austrians had not completely given up their demands, Türr personally conducted the exiled troops as they made their way on foot to Havre
Havre
Havre may refer to:* Havre, Montana* Havre de Grace, Maryland* Havre , Norway* Havre-Aubert, Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada* Havre Boucher, Nova Scotia, Canada...
, and saw them safely embarked to their destination.
From the Austrian point of view, the demand for the Hungarian troops' extradition turned out to be a serious blunder. Instead of letting Türr neatly get rid of himself and devote his energies to Latin American struggles, the Austrians themselves ensured that he would stay on in Europe and become an increasingly disturbing thorn in the Habsburg Empire's side.
Many of the Hungarian "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...
" who arrived in the US at this time are known to have later fought on the Union side in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The ones sent off by Türr might have been among them.
Mazzinian conspiracies and the Crimean War
Between 1850 and 1853 the exile Türr, facing execution as a deserter should he return to Hungary, moved between Switzerland, France, England and Piedmont.In the early 1850s he became closely involved with fellow exile in Mazzinian conspiracies, such as the failed Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
uprising of February 6, 1853.
Following the outbreak of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
Türr was also involved in the plan of György Klapka
György Klapka
--------György Klapka , also known as , or George Klapka, was a Hungarian soldier.Klapka was born at Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary and entered the Austrian Army in 1838...
, former War Minister of the 1848 revolutionary Hungarian government, to raise a force of Hungarian exiles to fight against Russia, whose intervention in 1848–49 had tipped the scales against the Hungarian rebels.
Even before the Crimean War, a considerable number of exiled Hungarians had already taken service with the Ottoman
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...
s, some reaching high positions without having to convert to Islam (see Islam in Hungary). During the Siege of Kars
Siege of Kars
The Siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. On June 1855, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the troops at Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor...
in eastern Anatolia, Hungarian exiles took an active part in defending this border city against the invading Russians.
As Türr would later disclose to Italian friends, supporting the Ottoman Empire against the Russian Empire was far less satisfactory to him than taking part in the Italian struggle for liberation. It was more in the nature of "serving one barbarism, out of the hatred of another barbarism".
Arrest by the Austrians, court martial, release
In 1855 Türr was required to procure supplies for the British forces in the Danubian PrincipalitiesDanubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
, at the time occupied by Austria though not annexed to the Habsburg Empire. He trusted to the protection of the British and to promises of safe-conduct by locally-stationed Austrian officers, which were apparently overruled by Vienna.
In Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
Türr was arrested and sent on to Kronstant (the present Brasov
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....
) where he was interrogated and court-martialed. Sentenced to death for desertion and treason ("seeking to detach Italy and Hungary from Austrain rule"), he was sentenced to death. However, the Emperor commuted his punishment to perpetual banishment, due to the strong British protests, apparently involving Queen Victoria personally.
At the time, the whole affair got considerable press attention all over Europe, and on his release Türr published a long and detailed account of it.
Disputed British naturalization
It was in 1856, after this intervention to save him, that Turr asked for British citizenship. This was granted – but his naturalization was thereafter strongly contested, as can be seen from a then-classified British document stating tersely:Naturalization by certificate of secretary of state: Naturalization Act 1844: Certificate obtained by fraud: Colonel Etienne Turr. False statements as to residence and intention to reside. Law officers advised that certificate could not be revoked by secretary of state.
The document was declassified only thirty years later, and not given particular prominence even then. It does not seem to have influenced Turr's reputation.
1859 fighting, wounded at Brescia
With the outbreak of the Second Italian War of IndependenceSecond Italian War of Independence
The Second War of Italian Independence, Franco-Austrian War, Austro-Sardinian War, or Austro-Piedmontese War , was fought by Napoleon III of France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against the Austrian Empire in 1859...
in 1859 Türr returned to that country and joined Garibaldi's volunteer unit Cacciatori delle Alpi ("Hunters of the Alps"). Garibaldi held Türr in great esteem and in one speech dubbed him "The Fearless Hungarian".
On the circumstances of Turr's wounding on June 15, 1859, an eye-witness report is provided in a letter by Frank Leward, an English volunteer fighting with Garibaldi:
Col Türr, an' Hungarian who hates the Austrians like sin, had been sent with a lot more of our men to RezzatoRezzatoRezzato is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is bounded by other communes of Brescia, Botticino, Castenedolo, Mazzano and Nuvolera.-Ancient era:...
a few miles from BresciaBresciaBrescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
on the road to Preschiera and a battalion of Austrians came at them but Türr sent them off and was so excited he followed them up too far and fell into a sort of ambuscade they had waiting for him and he got awfully cut up. However he managed to keep the enemy at bay for some time. Castenodolo the place was called I think [where] Türr lost a heap of men(...).
The General [Garibaldi] was in an awful stew, [he] made me go with him to Castenodolo. On the way we met Türr badly wounded in an ambulance he was very bad but tried to sit up and sang out viva Italia then we met a lot more wounded being carried off.
Expedition of the Thousand, promotion to general
Türr had completely recovered from his wounds by the next year (1860), when he again followed Garibaldi and took a major part in the Expedition of the ThousandExpedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...
.
The 500 Hungarians
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
led by Türr – helped by fellow exiles Adolf Mogyórody, Nándor Éber and Gusztáv Frigyesy – were the largest contingent of foreign volunteers fighting with Garibaldi, alongside French, Poles
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Swiss, German and other nationalities. Like the Hungarians, most of the other internationals were fighting with a view to follow up the liberation of Italy with that of their own countries from foreign or domestic tyranny (see International Legion
International Legion
The International Legion was created in Italy by Giuseppe Garibaldi, on October 5, 1860 - in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Volturnus , where the forces of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were decisively broken....
).
In later parts of the campaign, as Garibaldi's campaign gathered momentum and many local recruits in Sicily and South Italy, Türr was in command also of an increasing number of Italian troops.
In Talamone
Talamone
Talamone is a town in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma....
, en route to Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Garibaldi promoted Türr to General and included him in the General Staff formed for the expedition. After the capture of Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, Türr led the force which went through the rugged Sicilian interior towards Messina, while Garibladi himself went on along the island's north shore. After crossing to the mainland, Türr led a force of 1,500 men towards Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
.
Franco Catalano, analysing the Battle of Volturnus (1860)
Battle of Volturnus (1860)
The Battle of Volturnus or Volturno refers to a series of military clashes between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies occurred around the river Volturno, in northern Campania, in September and October 1860...
, accuses Turr of "reckleness" which contributed to the initial Garibaldian defeats at Caiazzo and Castel Morrone
Castel Morrone
Castel Morrone is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 km north of Naples and about 6 km north of Caserta...
– though the overall battle ended with Garibaldi's decisive victory, and at the time there were no recriminations.
In the aftermath of the fighting Türr was appointed by Garibaldi as Governor of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. In this role he conducted the plebiscite of October 21, 1860, in which the city's population voted overwhelmingly in favour of incorporation in the new Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
.
During the famous meeting of Garibaldi with King Victor Emmanuel II at Teano, the king refused Garibaldi's request that the soldiers and officers who took part in the Expedition of the Thousand be taken into the Italian Army, and most of them were in fact dismissed. Garibaldi afterwards went back to his home in Caprera
Caprera
Caprera is a small island off the coast of Sardinia, Italy, located in the Maddalena archipelago.In the area of La Maddalena island in the Strait of Bonifacio, it is a tourist destination and is famous as the place to which Giuseppe Garibaldi retired .This island has been declared a natural reserve...
, and his later relations with the King and the royal government were often tense. However, the King not only confirmed Türr's rank as a general, but also made him a royal aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
, and subsequently entrusted to Türr the handling of some sensitive diplomatic matters. Despite this divergence of political courses, however, Türr remained on highly cordial and friendly relations with Garibaldi until the Italian revolutionary's death in 1882.
Meanwhile, back in Austrian-ruled Hungary, the city of Debrecen
Debrecen
Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...
on February 6, 1861, declared Türr – as well as Kossuth, Klapka and other exiled nationalists – to be its honorary citizen. This was an act of defiance, as at the time Türr stood to be executed out of hand had he attempted to arrive at the city whose honorary citizen he became,
Wedding and the Napoleonic connection
On September 10, 1861 Türr married in Mantova Adelina Bonaparte Wyse (1838–1899), granddaughter of Lucien BonaparteLucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....
, the brother of the Emperor Napoleon – which made her a cousin of the then Emperor Napoleon III of France http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=110088. (Her parents were Sir Thomas Wyse
Thomas Wyse
Sir Thomas Wyse KCB , an Irish politician and diplomat, belonged to a family claiming descent from a Devon man, Andrew Wyse, who is said to have crossed over to Ireland during the reign of Henry II and obtained lands near Waterford, of which city thirty-three members of the family are said to have...
, British Minister to Athens, and
Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte's daughter).
Moreover, Adelina's sister, Laetitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte
Laetitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte
Lætitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte was a French author.-Biography:She was born in Waterford, Ireland...
, married in the same year the Piedmontese statesman Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi was an Italian statesman.-Biography:He was born in Alessandria . He studied law at Turin, and in 1838 began his practice, which met with marked success at the capital and Casale. In 1848, Rattazzi was sent to the Sardinian chamber of deputies in Turin as...
– Italian Prime Minister several times during the 1860s – who thus became Türr's brother in law.
Türr is mentioned as having, with the help of his wife, with her help, carried out an extensive diplomatic activity. Among other things, both of them are known to have conducted extensive correspondence with Prince Napoleon, the Emperor's cousin and advisor, a proponent of the anti-Clerical forces in the French imperial court and opponent of the policy of letting French troops preserve the Pope's temporal power over Rome
István Türr and his wife had one son, Raoul Türr (1865–1906).
Pallanza Dignitary
In October 1862, Türr acquired from the Milanese Carlo Lattuada a villa in Pallanza, described as "an elegant dwelling with a garden facing the lake" (i.e. Lake MaggioreLake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.The climate is mild...
).
The Türrs immediately became prominent figures in the town's social life, as seen in repeated reports in the local paper, the "Il Lago Maggiore". The return after a visit to France of "The Valorous Hungarian General and his Most Beautiful and Amiable Consort, Princess Bonaparte" was a major local news item. The couple were hosted and feted by the town's dignitaries – sub-prefect, municipal councillors and the commander of the local National Guard – with a civic band playing various pieces, prominently ones associated with Garibaldi.
The Türrs also took considerable interest in the lower classes. Türr became the Honorary President of the local Labourers' Society (Società Operaia di Pallanza) and gave donations to be distributed among the needy. On November 4, 1862, the paper noted with regret that:
(...)Now that the summer is over, the Türr Family has left and are not expected back until next spring. They carry with them the esteem and affection of the townspeople, who have come to appreciate their rare qualities. Before her departure, Mrs. Adelina Türr insisted upon visiting the orphanages, where the children greeted her with a most abundant dose of confetti. It was wonderful to see this scion of one of the greatest and most powerful families of Europe caress and kiss the sons of our labourers, and make the effort of conversing with them in their Pallanzese dialect.
In 1876, the Pallanza villa was sold to Cesar Bozzotti – apparently due to Türr being able to return to Hungary after 1867 (see below) and therefore spending less time in Italy.
Romanian Negotiations
In 1863 Türr returned to the Danubian PrincipalitiesDanubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
, now under the government of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had shown some sympathy to the Hungarian exiles. Following upon an earlier (1861) delegation headed by Klapka, Türr sought an agreement on establishing Hungarian weapons and supplies depots on Moldavian soil, with a view to a new uprising against Habsburg rule.
In case of their independence being achieved, the Hungarians promised "a full autonomy" to the Romanian population of 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...
. Nevertheless, disagreement on the Question of Transylvania prevented Türr and his fellows from reaching an agreement.
At the time, Türr was a confidential adviser to Italian King Vittorio Emanuele. With Venetia still held by the Austrians and a new war a distinct possibility, it was clearly in Italy's interest to have a Hungarian rebellion open a second front for the Austrians.
Planned Hungarian uprising in 1866
In 1866, in coordination with the Third Italian War of IndependenceThird Italian War of Independence
The Third Italian War of Independence was a conflict which paralleled the Austro-Prussian War, and was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire.-Background:...
and Garibaldi's campaign against the Austrians in the Trentino, Türr was assigned to prepare an uprising in Hungary involving György Klapka
György Klapka
--------György Klapka , also known as , or George Klapka, was a Hungarian soldier.Klapka was born at Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary and entered the Austrian Army in 1838...
and other Hungarian exiles. It was supposed to be launched from Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n territory, but – due to the fast ending of the Prussian-Austrian War including its Italian part – never came to implementation, and the next year's developments rendered all such plans moot.
Return to Hungary
Defeat in the war forced the Emperor Franz JosefFranz Josef
Franz Josef or Franz Joseph is a given name.People known solely by the name:* Franz Joseph I of Austria , Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary and King of Bohemia...
to grant a Liberal Constitution as well as a renewed autonomy for the ancient Kingfom of Hungary; the unitary Austria became the dual Austro-Hungary. The changed political climate also included an amnesty for exiles such as Türr, who could at last return to his homeland.
Not long after his return Türr – no longer an implacable foe of Austrian interests – was informally involved in (ultimately unsuccessful) negotiations aimed at creating an alliance between
Austria, Italy and France.
Canal Architect and Engineer
Though often referred to as "General Türr" until the end of his life, in practice Türr did not take up an active military or political career in Hungary. Rather, he chose to devote his later years to working as a canal architect and engineer.Using his wide international experience and personal contacts, he was a leading proponent of the building of navigation canals and river navigation systems in Hungary. On the basis of his international experience, Türr was charged with élaborating a plan for navigable canals connecting 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 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...
rivers.
Türr was deeply involved with the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
at its earlier stage, being himself the President of the "Societe Civile Internationale du Canal Interoceanique" which proposed to build it. In 1876 Türr as well as Béla Gerster
Béla Gerster
Béla Gerster was a Hungarian engineer and canal architect. He took part in an early expedition to determine the route of the Panama Canal, and was the chief engineer of the Corinth Canal....
, a younger Hungarian engineer who would be his partner in later projects – accompanied Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps in an international expedition with the task of locating the most suitable route of an interoceanic canal that would eventually become the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
.
However, Türr was no longer involved in later stages of the French Panama project, having shifted his interest and gave his full attention to another canal, closer to home (see below). This saved Türr from public responsibility for the fiasco of the collapse of French Panama project and the appalling loss of thousands of workers to disease at Panama.
After 1881 Türr – together with Gerster – were involved with the Greek Government's major project of planning and implementing the Corinth Canal
Corinth Canal
The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through...
– a project which gained considerable international attention. In his 1883 travel book, "To the Gold Coast for Gold", Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
mentioned meeting "that talented and energetic soldier, General Türr" in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, and predicted that the hitherto impoverished Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
"will have a fine time when [Türr] begins the piercing of the Isthmus."
In 1888, the company constructing the canal failed, putting the project's completion in danger. Türr the led a successful effort to get governments and individuals to invest further sums – so that on August 6, 1893, King George I of Greece and his wife, Queen Olga could solemnly inaugurate the artificial waterway.
Also in partnership with Gerster, Türr formulated monumental plans of water-supply engineering in Hungary itself. As well as promoting the canalization of 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....
he was distinguished for supporting the newborn Hungarian national industry.
1890's Transylvania Controversy
Like other Hungarian Nationalists, Türr in his later years was mainly concerned, not with confronting Austrian rule – a goal mostly if not completely achieved through the compromise of 1867 – but in preserving Hungarian territory and interests against the demands of other nationalities.In particular, Türr was opposed to the Transylvanian Memorandum
Transylvanian Memorandum
The Transylvanian Memorandum was a petition sent in 1892 by the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph, asking for equal ethnic rights with the Hungarians, and demanding an end to persecutions and Magyarization attempts.-Status:After the Ausgleich...
movement of 1892, whose initiators demanded greater autonomy for Romanians – a demand seen as the prelude for altogether detaching 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...
from Hungarian rule, and therefore causing the Manifesto's organisers to be imprisoned by the Hungarian authorities.
In 1894–95 Türr published articles condemning the Memorandum participants and their Bucharest-based partisans. One of the latter, V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia was a Moldavian-born Romanian historian, Romantic author of historical fiction and plays, academic and politician...
, answered in kind in a series of articles of his own, debating Türr on the pages of the European press and in various international forums.
"The Pacifist General" of the Universal Peace Congresses
In 1878 the International Peace Congress ("Congrès International de la Paix") was held in Paris, bringing together a great a variety of peace activists from all over Europe to debate ways of working to prevent war. One of the organizers, the Swiss Valentine de Sellon who would later write a book on the congress noted with great satisfaction the participation of workers and women, and "even [of] a former general". The former general referred to was István Türr.From that time until his death, Türr would increasingly become known in the role of "The Pacifist General", who became "a prominent personality of the international peace movement". In the 1890s, Türr was "a regular fixture" in the annual Universal Peace Congresses, held every year at a different location. In 1896 he was elected President of the Seventh Congress, held at 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...
.
The well-known Austrian pacifist Bertha Von Suttner
Bertha von Suttner
Bertha Felicitas Sophie Freifrau von Suttner was an Austrian novelist, radical pacifist, and the first woman to be a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.-Biography:Suttner was born in Prague, Bohemia, the daughter of an impoverished Austrian Field Marshal,...
recalls in her memoires the great impression of meeting, on that occasion, "the old warrior, General Türr" (he was seventy one at the time) and hearing from him that "he had seen so much of war that he came to throughly detest it".
Türr recalled – and Von Suttner later published – some horrors which he had witnessed during the Expedition of the Thousand
Expedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...
, and which had not been published in 1860 itself. For example, entering a village and discovering the bodies of Bourbon soldiers who had been burned to death by the inhabitants. When Garibaldi became extremely furious with the villagers for having perpetrated such an act, they responded that it was done in retaliation for the soldiers having earlier set on fire houses in the village and prevented their inhabitants from escaping.
"Yellow Peril" and The Boxer Rebellion
Türr was the first person known to have used in public the term "The Yellow PerilYellow Peril
Yellow Peril was a colour metaphor for race that originated in the late nineteenth century with immigration of Chinese laborers to various Western countries, notably the United States, and later associated with the Japanese during the mid 20th century, due to Japanese military expansion.The term...
" (http://passingstrangeness.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/the-yellow-peril/). He used it in June 1895; in an article mainly concerned with Otto von Bismark, there was a passage referring to Japan's recent victory over China where Türr remarked: "The 'yellow peril' is more threatening than ever. Japan has made in a few years as much progress as other nations have made in centuries." This was widely re-published and translated throughout the world (the quotation here is from the text published at the time in a Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
paper, The Sandusky Register
The Sandusky Register
The Sandusky Register is a daily newspaper serving the Sandusky, Ohio/Lake Erie Islands area. It is considered the paper of record for the entire region.- History :...
)
A few months later, on September 1895, Kaiser Wilhelm II took up the term and made extensive use of it, being indeed often credited as its originator. As interpreted by the German Emperor (and subsequently, by many others) this implied a concrete threat by "Yellow Hordes" in the Far East, poised to invade and overwhelm the West by sheer numbers. This attitude to "Yellow-skinned people" had very concrete results in Wilhelm, a few years later, explicitly exhorting German troops involved in putting down the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
in China to particularly ruthless and cruel conduct.
There is, however, no record of Türr sharing such attitudes. In fact, "General Etienne Turr, Buda" is duly noted in the list of participants at the Tenth Universal Peace Congress held at Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 1901, where that Western expedition against the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
, in the previous year, was strongly condemned. In that gathering, Dr. Spence Watson got applause when stating at the podium that "The swooping down of the Christian nations on China [was] the most detestable bit of greed that history records". The conference as a whole adopted resolutions clearly condemning that Western intervention in China (though in milder terms) and stating that defence of Western missionaries active in non-European countries, or of connverts to Christianity, was no an acceptable reason for waging war.
The transcript does not record, however, any speech made by Türr himself, who was 76 years old at the time and had recently lost his wife.
Last years
Türr's wife Adelina died on July 8, 1899 at BerckBerck
Berck, sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France and lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve...
, France. His son Raoul predeceased him and died in 1906.
In his last years Türr spent much of his time in Paris. He died in 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...
on May 3, 1908.
He was survived by his granddaughter Maria Stephanie Türr (1895 – 1994)
http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=110090.
Today there are only a few desendence of István Türr and the grandgaughter of Lucien Bonaparte, Adelina. A small family living in Germany.
External links
- Online biography (English)
- Online biography (Italian)
- Online biography (Hungarian)
- "István Türr: una biografia politica" by Pasquale Fornaro
- "Narrative of the arrest, trial, & condemnation of Colonel Türr" by István Türr – 48-page brochure published in London, 1856.
- The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, Vol. 2 – including detailed account of contacts and correspondence with István Türr (here usually spelled "tiir" or "Colonel Turk")
- Frank Leward' letter of July 29, 1859, recording the circumstances of Türr's wounding
- Bilingual Italian-English page on Garibaldi's campaign, including extensive reference to Türr and other Hungarians
- "The Illustrated London News", 1860 portrait of General Türr, Garibaldi Chief Aide-de-Camp
- "From Florence: The Question of an Italian War with Austria, Gen. Turr's Mission to Garibaldi, The Hungarian Question, The Siege of Gaeta", New York Times, February 19, 1861
- Photo of István Türr in Italian General's uniform, with numerous decorations
- "Stefan Turr, the emissary of Napoleon and Bismark", New York Times, August 29, 1870 (during the French-Prussian War), copied from the Pall Mall Magazine of August 18
- Online copy of the April 30, 1876 Borsszem Jankó, a Hungarian illustrated magazine, with a cartoon of Türr (on p.7) and an item making fun of Türr's canal-building schemes
- http://books.google.co.il/books?id=2MHRTK0gHkMC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=%22Bertha+von+Suttner%22+%2B+%22turr%22&source=bl&ots=yRlu9dAom2&sig=YFCTZjZCvwvT05UNCSKCi6GBqEg&hl=en&ei=CdwBS_qeM4GZ_Qb2tbWMCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=falseTürr's conversations with the Austrian Pacifist Bertha Von Suttner, recalling various parts of his life, as recorded in Von Suttner's "The Records of an Eventful Life", Volume 2, Ch. XLIX]
- "Gen. Stephen Turr Dead; Was Garibaldian Veteran and Confidential Adviser of Kossuth" – obituary in New York Times, May 4, 1908
- István Türr Museum