AJC Presentations, 2013:
The Hungarian Revolution of
1848
&
The War of Independence
1848-49:
Portraits & Pictures
Sándor Petőfi,
author of The
National Song
(1848)
An early photographic
fragment showing Sándor
Petőfi, one of the first of
its kind in Hungary, from
1847. It can be considered
a faithful representation of
the poet's features, which
were over-romanticised in
later portraits, such as the
one on the first slide. He
fell on the battlefield at
Segesvár.
The inhabitants of Pest submit a twelve-point
petition to the City Council
An engraving from the
25th March 1848 issue
of Képes Újság. On
15th March, the
Council opened the
doors to the people,
locked for centuries,
and signed the petition,
passing it to the
Parliament. Besides
freedom of the press,
the petition also called
for the abolition of
serfdom, civil and
religious equality
before the law, the
freeing of political
prisoners and union
with Transylvania.
War of Independence,
1848-9
The First Hungarian Government was
a coaltion balancing different
tendencies. It resigned in October and
was replaced by the Committee of
National Defense, led by Kossuth.
The Revolutionary Army crossed into
Austria, in support of the uprising
there, but halted before Vienna and
was defeated by the imperial troops
besieging the city. Ferdinand V was
forced to resign, to be replaced by his
nephew, Francis Joseph I (18481916). Imperial forces occupied both
Buda and Pest, though the Hungarians
won victories in Transylvania under
the Polish General Bem. However,
the Commander-in-chief of the Army,
Artúr Görgey, was constantly in
conflict with Kossuth.
The capture of
Buda Castle,
May 21st, 1849.
During the
seesawing battles
that took place in
the War of
Independence
from Vienna to
Transylvania,
Buda, Pest and
Óbuda fell to the
Austrians without
direct combat,
and the Hungarian
government fled
to Debrecen.
However, the rebel army laid siege to it at the beginning of May, 1849, and
captured it on 21st, without real casualties. It was retaken by the imperial
troops in July. Although the inhabitants of the capital played a major role in
the events of March 1848, they seem to have endured the subsequent
events with little involvement, other than providing soldiers.
The surrender at Világos, August 1849 (painted 1851).
In mid-August 1849,
after the collapse of
political confidence in
Kossuth, Görgey,
commander-in-chief,
surrendered not only
his own forces, but
also the remaining
scattered forces, to
the Russian armies
near Arad in
Transylvania.
He was given a
personal amnesty, but
the Austrian general,
Haynau, camped
nearby, carried out
mass reprisals on the
Hungarian troops.
The Martyrs of 6th
October, 1849
On this date, the Austrian FieldMarshal Haynau carried out the
death sentence on thirteen generals,
executing them by hanging/ firing
squad. More than a hundred other
revolutionaries were executed and
thousands were imprisoned. Tens
of thousands of ordinary soldiers
were drafted into the imperial army
and forced to serve in far away
parts of the empire. Count Lajos
Batthyány was also executed in
Pest on 6th October. Haynau was
soon relieved of his command in
Hungary.
The Aftermath of
Defeat
After 1849, the Austrians developed a
new form of absolutism that tried to
maintain the status quo while at the
same time allowing for inevitable
progress. The Hungarian reformists and
revolutionaries, or rather those that had
escaped prison, pinned their hopes on
Garibaldi in Italy and Napoleon III in
France. There was a growing
dependence on the myths and legends
of 1848-9, most notably connected to
the poet Petőfi, whose death many
refused to accept. Kossuth’s tours of
Britain and America were successful in
gathering sympathy, but no more.
Count István Széchenyi, whom Kossuth
had called ‘the greatest Hungarian’ was
so depressed by the outcome of the
revolution that, in 1860, he shot himself
in the head in an asylum near Vienna.