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Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary
Chapter 33 Hungry Hungary
"Stupid Austria. If they can't control Hungary then what hope would they ever have of becoming leaders of Germany." Kaiser Wilhelmn I 1846
"Motherfucking Magyars!"- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"Make Hungary Great Again!"- Lajos Kossuth 1846
For over three centuries since 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary had been under effective control of the Austrian Hapsburg's as the lands of the crown of St. Stephen. In the wake of the Ottoman victory at the battle of Mohacs the northern lands of Hungary were partitioned to the Austrian Empire in order to bring the Kingdom under the Holy Roman Empire's protection against the ongoing Ottoman menace. For the next 150 years the Hungarians had been fighting a losing battle against the Ottomans as mile after mile of land would be ceded to the Turks year after year due to continuing victories. In that time though Hungary became an essential part of the Austrian lands and would soon develop as its largest and most prominent economic center. Everything would change after 1683 when the Siege of Vienna turned the tide of war against the Ottomans and the empire which before had been on a continuous victory streak was now suddenly being pushed back all over Europe in a viscous counteroffensive lead by the Catholic Powers. All of Hungary would be reclaimed in 1699 after the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottomans ceding the territories of Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, and Slavonia to the Austrians; with all but Slavonia coming under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the reconquest though the situation began to worsen for the Hungarians as the elimination of the immediate Ottoman threat caused for the Hapsburg rulers to look inward and begin to consolidate their lands both within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. Still an Hungarian Diet in Pressburg was established and the Hungarian nobles were able to retain their individual rights and autonomy. This would all change in the 18th century as Hungary began to face economic instability with multiple agricultural failures as well as an ever decreasing population. In order to compensate for the population loss the Hapsburg's encouraged multiple Germans and Slavs to colonize the Kingdom, causing the Magyars to become a minority within their own lands. The situation took a turn for the worse when Emperor Joseph II came to power and sought to eliminate the Hungarian nobles power within the Kingdom and consolidate Hungarian rule under direct management from Vienna. German was officially established as the dominant language over all of Hungary and multiple reforms were passed that freed the serfs and gave greater rights to the peasants, infuriating the magnates even further. These various decrees caused a new national awakening within Hungary where the Hungarian culture and language experienced a renaissance in defiance of their German masters, unintentionally causing a renewal in Slavic culture as well in Hungarian lands. When Joseph died his successor Leopold II reintroduced Hungarian autonomy and the rights of the magnates. It was to late however, Hungarian nationalism was introduced to its people and would not falter. For the next 25 years Hungary was in a state of content as the Austrian Empire became focused solely on fighting Napoleon's French Empire. Despite attempts by reactionary Austrians to restrict information of the French Revolution and Enlightenment to the Hungarians, the people of the Kingdom managed to receive these ideals through smuggled books and underground artisans, causing the idea of nationalism, reform, and independence to increase. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the magnates and to a greater extent all of Hungary, went under a massive trend of stagnation as industrialization within Western Europe caused a large recession within Hungary and the Austrian Empire directed power towards the monarchy. In the wake of this crisis a new movement would emerge that came under the leadership of a growing class of intellectual patriotic Hungarians. It was not a matter of if Hungary would rise up, but when.
Since 1811 the Hungarian Diet had becoming increasingly filled with Liberals and Nationalists who desired for Hungary to become on equal footing with the nations of the west and make sure that Hungary would be in a position of even greater power than Austria.The liberal faction under the leadership of Kossuth were discontent with Vienna with acting on their own interests, especially after Ferdinand came to power and began implementing his reactionary policies. The liberals were gaining much headway with the passing of laws in 1839 that made Magyar the official state language of Hungary and effectively freed the peasant class from all obligation to their noble lords. There were 10 main points that the liberals were fighting for in Hungary which included freedom of the press, full autonomy within the nation, establishment of a separate armed forces, religious liberty, and union with Transylvania. Though Ferdinand had tried to resist these changes, including going to some extremes such as arresting Kossuth for sedition, the Hungarians resisted at every opportunity and threatened for full rebellion if they would not be given their rights. An opportunity for Hungary's freedom arose on March 3rd when word of the January Revolution spread to Hungary. Kossuth himself was instrumental in the forming of the Viennese revolutions when he traveled to Vienna in early March and appealed to Ferdinand to listen to the rights of his people and the need for all peoples of the Austrian Empire to receive democracy and autonomy. His words played direct part in inspiring multiple Viennese people to come to the streets in protest of Ferdinand's heavy rule. Mass peaceful demonstrations immediately followed in Budapest and the Emperor consented to the Hungarian liberals 10 points, essentially creating an independent Hungary that was only under the jurisdiction of the Emperor of Austria. A new government was formed in Budapest under the new rule of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyany, with the newly popular elected Hungarian Diet devoting itself to the implementation of the April laws, a series of reforms that the liberals had been fighting for as part of their party platform. New tensions would rise though as the ongoing war with the Italians caused conflict with Hungary as the Hungarians sought to control their own armies and refused to participate in the conflict, in direct defiance of the Emperor and Austria's foreign policy. In addition the now powerless magnates where plotting to regain their old authority along with separatist movements in Croatia advocating for a separate kingdom within the Austrian Empire apart from Hungary. The clock was ticking to a future civil war.
Lajos Kossuth, Father of modern Hungary, freedom fighter, and one of the most influential statesman of the 19th century(Right). Sandor Petofi reciting the National Poem to the crowds of Budapest (Center), First session of the new Budapest Diet on April 1st, 1846 (Left).
In the aftermath of the rise of the April government within Budapest the noble magnates of Hungary flocked to the banner of Croatian count Josip Jelacic, Josip was a strong supporter of Croatian nationalism and with Hungary having control of Croatia, sought to use this as his chance to regain power for the nobles as well as appeal to the Austrian's for his country to receive equal autonomy. A massive army was growing within Croatia with many Hungarian magnates offering their support to Josip's new army with "volunteers" of their former peasants along with large donations of their wealth to the cause in exchange for guaranteed protection of noble rights. Ironically this was all going on at the same time the Italian league was making advances in Lombardy only dozens of miles away. Batthyany had traveled to Vienna in July in order to ask that Jelacic be removed from power and the threat of an Croatian invasion be removed, even promising to dispatch Hungarian forces to help out with the war effort in Italy. In response however the King demanded that the Hungarian government not form an army and instantly dissolve any current armed forces for them to come under the control of the Austrian high command. Jelacic took this as an opportunity and on August 11th launched an invasion of Hungary with the intent of overthrowing the Budapest government, without the consent of the Emperor. The Romanians of Transylvania in the meantime used this as an initiative to reunite with their brethren in Hungary and took a simultaneous invasion of the state as well. The final sparks of revolution would be lit when Ferdinand was forcefully abdicated due to his mental health and failures in dealing with Italy, internal revolutions, and the German Unification crisis. He was succeeded by his nephew Franz Joseph who was somehow even more of a reactionary than his uncle. Franz sought for the people of Hungary to submit to direct Hapsburg rule once and for all and appointed Count Franz Phillip von Lamberg as head of all of Hungary's national armies. When the man arrived in Budapest he was brutally assaulted and murdered by an angry mob of Hungarians who saw this as an direct violation of their sovereignty. This was the last straw for Vienna and on September 1st, Franz Joseph dissolved the Hungarian Diet and rejected the April laws reforms. Seeing as how they had the choice of either submission or violent repression, Batthany chose for Hungary to follow Austria no longer and on September 14th called for a deceleration of Independence from the Hapsburg's which was formally approved the next day on the 15th. Facing a war on three fronts Lajos Kossuth was sent throughout the countryside in order to appeal to the masses for recruitment into the new Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Kossuth's strong oratory skills was immensely helpful in causing recruitment to increase with tens of thousands of Hungarians joining in a matter of weeks. The first major battle of the Revolution occurred in the Battle of Pakozd on September 29th near the town of Sokoro where Jelaic sought to wipe out the infant Revolutionary Army once and for all before it became a major threat. Initially the battle looked in favor of Croatia with their army containing 40,000 troops and 100 artillery cannons versus the Hungarians 27,000 troops and 82 artillery canons. The battle however went to the Hungarians tactically as the Creation army was incredibly disorganized and sought to attack the flanks of the Hungarian army one at a time with little coordination between the individual regiments. Each time they attacked the Hungarians held on and inflicted massive casualties on the Croatian army while taking few losses. The battle ended in a total Hungarian victory as Jelaic retreated from the battlefield with the Hungarian forces under Major General Janos Moga giving chase. While Jelaic managed to escape near half his army was captured by the Hungarians in the process. The overall result of the Battle of Pakozd was a Hungarian victory with the Hungarians taking only 324 dead, and 556 wounded. While the Croatians suffered devastating casualties with 1612 dead, 1945 wounded, and 18,782 taken prisoner. The battle had a huge effect on the Hungarian morale as the public turned in full support for independence and the Revolutionary Army exploded in recruitment, every one of its men believing in the righteousness and guarantee of their victory. Despite the success of the battle, Prime Minister Batthyany chose to resign on October 2nd due to his failure to find a compromise with the Emperor. In his place the popular Kossuth was chosen as Regent-President and began organization of the Republic's new government. The rise of Hungary had begun.
View attachment 292849
Battle of Pakozd (Right). Flag of the newly formed Hungarian Republic (Left)
"Stupid Austria. If they can't control Hungary then what hope would they ever have of becoming leaders of Germany." Kaiser Wilhelmn I 1846
"Motherfucking Magyars!"- Emperor Ferdinand I 1846
"Make Hungary Great Again!"- Lajos Kossuth 1846
For over three centuries since 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary had been under effective control of the Austrian Hapsburg's as the lands of the crown of St. Stephen. In the wake of the Ottoman victory at the battle of Mohacs the northern lands of Hungary were partitioned to the Austrian Empire in order to bring the Kingdom under the Holy Roman Empire's protection against the ongoing Ottoman menace. For the next 150 years the Hungarians had been fighting a losing battle against the Ottomans as mile after mile of land would be ceded to the Turks year after year due to continuing victories. In that time though Hungary became an essential part of the Austrian lands and would soon develop as its largest and most prominent economic center. Everything would change after 1683 when the Siege of Vienna turned the tide of war against the Ottomans and the empire which before had been on a continuous victory streak was now suddenly being pushed back all over Europe in a viscous counteroffensive lead by the Catholic Powers. All of Hungary would be reclaimed in 1699 after the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottomans ceding the territories of Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, and Slavonia to the Austrians; with all but Slavonia coming under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the reconquest though the situation began to worsen for the Hungarians as the elimination of the immediate Ottoman threat caused for the Hapsburg rulers to look inward and begin to consolidate their lands both within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. Still an Hungarian Diet in Pressburg was established and the Hungarian nobles were able to retain their individual rights and autonomy. This would all change in the 18th century as Hungary began to face economic instability with multiple agricultural failures as well as an ever decreasing population. In order to compensate for the population loss the Hapsburg's encouraged multiple Germans and Slavs to colonize the Kingdom, causing the Magyars to become a minority within their own lands. The situation took a turn for the worse when Emperor Joseph II came to power and sought to eliminate the Hungarian nobles power within the Kingdom and consolidate Hungarian rule under direct management from Vienna. German was officially established as the dominant language over all of Hungary and multiple reforms were passed that freed the serfs and gave greater rights to the peasants, infuriating the magnates even further. These various decrees caused a new national awakening within Hungary where the Hungarian culture and language experienced a renaissance in defiance of their German masters, unintentionally causing a renewal in Slavic culture as well in Hungarian lands. When Joseph died his successor Leopold II reintroduced Hungarian autonomy and the rights of the magnates. It was to late however, Hungarian nationalism was introduced to its people and would not falter. For the next 25 years Hungary was in a state of content as the Austrian Empire became focused solely on fighting Napoleon's French Empire. Despite attempts by reactionary Austrians to restrict information of the French Revolution and Enlightenment to the Hungarians, the people of the Kingdom managed to receive these ideals through smuggled books and underground artisans, causing the idea of nationalism, reform, and independence to increase. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the magnates and to a greater extent all of Hungary, went under a massive trend of stagnation as industrialization within Western Europe caused a large recession within Hungary and the Austrian Empire directed power towards the monarchy. In the wake of this crisis a new movement would emerge that came under the leadership of a growing class of intellectual patriotic Hungarians. It was not a matter of if Hungary would rise up, but when.
Since 1811 the Hungarian Diet had becoming increasingly filled with Liberals and Nationalists who desired for Hungary to become on equal footing with the nations of the west and make sure that Hungary would be in a position of even greater power than Austria.The liberal faction under the leadership of Kossuth were discontent with Vienna with acting on their own interests, especially after Ferdinand came to power and began implementing his reactionary policies. The liberals were gaining much headway with the passing of laws in 1839 that made Magyar the official state language of Hungary and effectively freed the peasant class from all obligation to their noble lords. There were 10 main points that the liberals were fighting for in Hungary which included freedom of the press, full autonomy within the nation, establishment of a separate armed forces, religious liberty, and union with Transylvania. Though Ferdinand had tried to resist these changes, including going to some extremes such as arresting Kossuth for sedition, the Hungarians resisted at every opportunity and threatened for full rebellion if they would not be given their rights. An opportunity for Hungary's freedom arose on March 3rd when word of the January Revolution spread to Hungary. Kossuth himself was instrumental in the forming of the Viennese revolutions when he traveled to Vienna in early March and appealed to Ferdinand to listen to the rights of his people and the need for all peoples of the Austrian Empire to receive democracy and autonomy. His words played direct part in inspiring multiple Viennese people to come to the streets in protest of Ferdinand's heavy rule. Mass peaceful demonstrations immediately followed in Budapest and the Emperor consented to the Hungarian liberals 10 points, essentially creating an independent Hungary that was only under the jurisdiction of the Emperor of Austria. A new government was formed in Budapest under the new rule of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyany, with the newly popular elected Hungarian Diet devoting itself to the implementation of the April laws, a series of reforms that the liberals had been fighting for as part of their party platform. New tensions would rise though as the ongoing war with the Italians caused conflict with Hungary as the Hungarians sought to control their own armies and refused to participate in the conflict, in direct defiance of the Emperor and Austria's foreign policy. In addition the now powerless magnates where plotting to regain their old authority along with separatist movements in Croatia advocating for a separate kingdom within the Austrian Empire apart from Hungary. The clock was ticking to a future civil war.
Lajos Kossuth, Father of modern Hungary, freedom fighter, and one of the most influential statesman of the 19th century(Right). Sandor Petofi reciting the National Poem to the crowds of Budapest (Center), First session of the new Budapest Diet on April 1st, 1846 (Left).
In the aftermath of the rise of the April government within Budapest the noble magnates of Hungary flocked to the banner of Croatian count Josip Jelacic, Josip was a strong supporter of Croatian nationalism and with Hungary having control of Croatia, sought to use this as his chance to regain power for the nobles as well as appeal to the Austrian's for his country to receive equal autonomy. A massive army was growing within Croatia with many Hungarian magnates offering their support to Josip's new army with "volunteers" of their former peasants along with large donations of their wealth to the cause in exchange for guaranteed protection of noble rights. Ironically this was all going on at the same time the Italian league was making advances in Lombardy only dozens of miles away. Batthyany had traveled to Vienna in July in order to ask that Jelacic be removed from power and the threat of an Croatian invasion be removed, even promising to dispatch Hungarian forces to help out with the war effort in Italy. In response however the King demanded that the Hungarian government not form an army and instantly dissolve any current armed forces for them to come under the control of the Austrian high command. Jelacic took this as an opportunity and on August 11th launched an invasion of Hungary with the intent of overthrowing the Budapest government, without the consent of the Emperor. The Romanians of Transylvania in the meantime used this as an initiative to reunite with their brethren in Hungary and took a simultaneous invasion of the state as well. The final sparks of revolution would be lit when Ferdinand was forcefully abdicated due to his mental health and failures in dealing with Italy, internal revolutions, and the German Unification crisis. He was succeeded by his nephew Franz Joseph who was somehow even more of a reactionary than his uncle. Franz sought for the people of Hungary to submit to direct Hapsburg rule once and for all and appointed Count Franz Phillip von Lamberg as head of all of Hungary's national armies. When the man arrived in Budapest he was brutally assaulted and murdered by an angry mob of Hungarians who saw this as an direct violation of their sovereignty. This was the last straw for Vienna and on September 1st, Franz Joseph dissolved the Hungarian Diet and rejected the April laws reforms. Seeing as how they had the choice of either submission or violent repression, Batthany chose for Hungary to follow Austria no longer and on September 14th called for a deceleration of Independence from the Hapsburg's which was formally approved the next day on the 15th. Facing a war on three fronts Lajos Kossuth was sent throughout the countryside in order to appeal to the masses for recruitment into the new Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Kossuth's strong oratory skills was immensely helpful in causing recruitment to increase with tens of thousands of Hungarians joining in a matter of weeks. The first major battle of the Revolution occurred in the Battle of Pakozd on September 29th near the town of Sokoro where Jelaic sought to wipe out the infant Revolutionary Army once and for all before it became a major threat. Initially the battle looked in favor of Croatia with their army containing 40,000 troops and 100 artillery cannons versus the Hungarians 27,000 troops and 82 artillery canons. The battle however went to the Hungarians tactically as the Creation army was incredibly disorganized and sought to attack the flanks of the Hungarian army one at a time with little coordination between the individual regiments. Each time they attacked the Hungarians held on and inflicted massive casualties on the Croatian army while taking few losses. The battle ended in a total Hungarian victory as Jelaic retreated from the battlefield with the Hungarian forces under Major General Janos Moga giving chase. While Jelaic managed to escape near half his army was captured by the Hungarians in the process. The overall result of the Battle of Pakozd was a Hungarian victory with the Hungarians taking only 324 dead, and 556 wounded. While the Croatians suffered devastating casualties with 1612 dead, 1945 wounded, and 18,782 taken prisoner. The battle had a huge effect on the Hungarian morale as the public turned in full support for independence and the Revolutionary Army exploded in recruitment, every one of its men believing in the righteousness and guarantee of their victory. Despite the success of the battle, Prime Minister Batthyany chose to resign on October 2nd due to his failure to find a compromise with the Emperor. In his place the popular Kossuth was chosen as Regent-President and began organization of the Republic's new government. The rise of Hungary had begun.
View attachment 292849Battle of Pakozd (Right). Flag of the newly formed Hungarian Republic (Left)
- Kaiser Chris
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