1848 – 1849

Revolution and War of Independence

 

Antal Endrey

(1922–2010)

 

RISE UP MAGYAR

By Sándor Petőfi:

 

Rise up, Magyar, the country calls!

It’s ‘now or never’ what fate befalls…

Shall we live as slaves or free men?

That’s the question – choose your ‘Amen’!

God of Hungarians,

we swear unto Thee,

We swear unto Thee – that slaves we shall

no longer be!

 

On March 3, 1848, Kossuth made a long speech in the lower house, demanding representative parliamentary government not only for Hungary but also for the Austrian hereditary provinces. Ten days later, there was a revolution in Vienna itself and Metternich was forced to abdicate.The following day, Kossuth came out with even more concrete proposals for a liberal constitution which were accepted by both houses of parliament. At the same time, the young intellectuals and students of Pest rose in open revolt against Austrian oppression. On March 15, they held a mass meeting in front of the National Museum where they proclaimed their demand in twelve points and the great Hungarian poet Alexander Petőfi recited his fiery poem Talpra magyar (Arise Hungarians) which was immediately thereafter printed and distributed in thousands as a mark of defiance of censorship. The enthusiastic crowd then proceeded to Buda and freed all political prisoners.

The news of the events in Pest made a deep impression on the deputies in Pozsony and they were now unanimous in their demands for liberal reforms. A large parliamentary deputation went to Vienna, and the frightened imperial court agreed to their proposals on the spot. The Hungarian parliament now quickly passed laws for the establishment of parliamentary government, the abolition of all feudal burdens and liberation of the jobbágys, the equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the union of Hungary with Transylvania, the setting up of a Hungarian national army and all other measures necessary to enable Hungary to function as an independent liberal state. On April 11, the king assented to all these laws and a responsible Hungarian government was appointed with Count Lajos Batthyány as premier and a cabinet comprising the leaders of both factions of parliament.

Having achieved national and individual freedom without bloodshed, Hungarians were now content with their situation and were quite prepared to maintain their ties with the dynasty. The ruling circles of Austria, however, were determined to preserve their dominance over Hungarians and wasted no time in their efforts to reverse the course of events. The means they decided to employ was to set on the Hungarians their national minorities… As early as March 20, the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Count Kollowrat, initiated moves for revoking the liberal reforms of Hungary and two days later, he appointed the fiercely anti-Hungarian Baron Jellasich as bán of Croatia… At the same time, Austrian agents also incited the Serbs in southern Hungary and even instigated the Serbian principality in the Balkans to send in armed “volunteers” to assist a Serbian revolt in Hungary… The Rumanians who at first only had moderate demands, were also persuaded to oppose the union of Transylvania with Hungary and to attack the local Hungarians and attempts were even made to stir up the Slovaks with the help of the Czechs, although these were largely unsuccessful.

These developments came as a deep shock to Hungarians… in order to prevent the complete disintegration of their country, Hungarians took two logical steps… on July 11, they voted to raise 200,000 recruits for the setting up of a Hungarian defense force. Ten days later, they passed an extremely generous law for regulating the position of the national minorities… It was hoped that these measures which were unique in contemporary Europe, would placate the national minorities and help in restoring order in the country. These expectations, however, were in vain. By now, the minorities had worked themselves into an anti-Hungarian frenzy with the encouragement of the imperial court…

Hungarians were quick to realize that all their troubles with their minorities had been orchestrated in Vienna and relations with Austria deteriorated rapidly. On its part, the imperial court made no secret of its intentions to revoke the reforms granted in April and to place Hungary under imperial administration again… Batthyány and Deák went to Vienna to mediate. The emperor, however, refused to receive them and members of the imperial government also turned them away. A showdown with the Habsburg Empire was now inevitable.

On September 11, the imperial government gave Jellasich his marching orders and the bán invaded Hungary with a Croatian army. The declared purpose of this unprovoked attack was to terminate liberal rule in Hungary. Jellasich headed immediately towards Pest but a hastily organized Hungarian force, consisting mainly of young recruits, routed him and forced him to seek refuge in Vienna… the Hungarian parliament appointed a Home Defense Committee under the chairmanship of Kossuth to attend to the defense of Hungary. The Hungarian War of Independence began.

On October 3, the imperial government declared martial law in Hungary and appointed Jellasich commander-in-chief. Three days later, however, another liberal revolt broke out in Vienna, forcing the imperial court to flee… In November the main imperial army, commanded by Prince  Alfred Windischgraetz invaded Hungary from the west whilst other imperial troops entered from Galicia and Transylvania. In southern Hungary the Serbs went on the attack. The country was truly in flames.

Kossuth now became the apostle of freedom in Hungary. He went from town to town, calling Hungarians to arms with fiery speeches, and the people responded enthusiastically. A huge volunteer army was raised overnight which engaged the Austrians immediately. Although they had very little training and were ill-equipped, these young Hungarian soldiers fought with great courage and caused the imperial army heavy losses…

Since the new Hungarian army had training problems and fresh troops were still being raised, the Hungarian commander, Arthur Görgey, retreated to northern Hungary… On January 1, 1849, the Hungarian parliament also moved to Debrecen to be under the protection of its armies and Windischgraetz entered the capital without resistance. The imperial government was now certain that Hungarians had been completely defeated. On March 4, 1849, Schwarzenberg issued a new imperial constitution which deprived Hungary of all its freedoms and made it a constituent part of the Austrian Empire.

Görgey, however, had used the winter to train and equip his forces and in March 1849, went on the attack. In a brilliant campaign, he scored a number of great victories over Windischgraetz while a Polish general, Joseph Bem (who had joined the Hungarians as a volunteer), cleared Transylvania of imperial forces and Rumanian insurgents. On April 14, the Hungarian parliament at Debrecen declared the independence of Hungary, deposed the House of Habsburg and elected Kossuth as Regent. By the end of May, virtually the whole of the country was again in Hungarian hands.

The emperor Francis Joseph, seeing that his armies were unable to deal with the Hungarians, now sought the assistance of the Czar of Russia, Nicholas I. Fearing that the revolution would spread to Poland, the Czar obliged and sent in 200,000 soldiers under Prince Paskievich. At the same time, a fresh Austrian army of some 170,000 men, commanded by General Haynau, attacked from the west. The Hungarian army which numbered only 150,000 men and was also greatly inferior in artillery, clearly had no chance… Fighting heroically against both emperors, the Hungarian forces retreated to the plains to make a last stand. The end, however, was now near. After a number of fatal reverses, Kossuth resigned on August 12, 1849 and went into exile. The following day, Görgey and his remaining army laid down their arms at Világos before the Russian general Rüdiger. The cause of Hungarian freedom was lost.

“Hungary lies at the feet of Your Majesty”, reported Paskievich to the Czar after Világos but it was the ministers of Francis Joseph who exacted the revenge. The instruments of retribution were the Austrian Premier, Felix von Schwarzenberg, the commander-in-chief, General Haynau, and the Minister of Interior, Alexander Bach. At the instigation of Schwarzenberg, a “cold-blooded vampire” in the words of one of his contemporaries, Francis Joseph appointed Haynau, called “the hyena of Brescia” after his former cruelties in Italy, his plenipotentiary in Hungary, with power to impose the death sentence without prior approval. Haynau had the Premier Batthyány, thirteen Hungarian generals and hundreds of others executed and sent thousands more into dungeons in Austria… For nearly a year, Haynau engaged in a reign of terror in Hungary until he was recalled under the pressure of European public opinion.

 

Source:

Anthony Endrey: Hungarian History Part Three, The Hungarian Institute Melbourne, 

Australia, 1981. Pages 58-63