Algyői Általános Iskola
Algyő Primary School
On 15th March Hungarians commemorate the Revolution and the following War of
Independence against the Austrian-Habsburg rule in 1848-49.
This day is one of the most prominent National Holidays in Hungary.
Brief Historical Background on 15th March
The Habsburg and their allies liberated Buda and from 150year Turkish occupation in 1686. However Hungary did not
become a free country but a province of the Austro-Habsburg
Empire.
Hungarians
fought
against
the
Habsburg
oppression
throughout the coming centuries. The most important antiHabsburg movements include the Thököly movement, the War
of Independence in 1703-11 lead by Ferenc Rákóczi. The
Austrians beat down these movements.
Ferenc Rákóczi
The first half of the 18th century was a period of compromise between the Austrian rulers
and Hungary.
Influenced by the events of French revolution a new
resistance movement, the Jacobin, emerged in Hungary
toward the end of the 18th century. Lead by Ignác
Martinovics the Jacobin's main objecties were the
independence of Hungary and tranforming the country to a
bourgeois society. The Jacobin movement failed too; the
Habsburgs arrested and executed the leaders of the
organisation.
Ignác Martinovics
The Reform Era
The Hungarian Reform Era started in 1825 when at the diet Count István Széchenyi (17911860) offered his 1-year income to establish the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Széchenyi
become a prominent figure of this era facilitating great developments in Budapest and the
country. The other outstanding personality of this era was Lajos Kossuth.
Hungarian Acadamy of Science
István Széchenyi
Lajos Kossuth
The spirit of nationalism arose in other European countries and capitals and they only
heightened the enthusiasm of Hungarian reformers. On political level Lajos Kossuth's fiery
speeches provoked anti-Habsburgs feelings while Sándor Petőfi roused common people
through his uplifting poems.
Petőfi Sándor: Nemzeti Dal
in Hungarian
Talpra magyar, hí a haza!
Itt az idő, most vagy soha!
Rabok legyünk, vagy szabadok?
Ez a kérdés, válasszatok!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Fényesebb a láncnál a kard,
Jobban ékesíti a kart,
És mi mégis láncot hordtunk!
Ide veled, régi kardunk!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Rabok voltunk mostanáig,
Kárhozottak ősapáink,
Kik szabadon éltek-haltak,
Szolgaföldben nem nyughatnak.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
A magyar név megint szép lesz,
Méltó régi, nagy híréhez;
Mit rákentek a századok,
Lemossuk a gyalázatot!
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Sehonnai bitang ember,
Ki most, ha kell, halni nem mer,
Kinek drágább rongy élete,
Mint a haza becsülete.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Hol sírjaink domborulnak,
Unokáink leborulnak,
Es áldó imádság mellett
Mondják el szent neveinket.
A magyarok istenére
Esküszünk,
Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább
Nem leszünk!
Sandor Petofi: National Song
Get up Hungarian, the country is calling
you!
This is the right time, now or never!
Will we be slaves or free?
This is the question, choose one!
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
We were slaves until this time,
Our forefathers were damned,
Those who lived and died free
They can’t lie in servant soil.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
The Hungarian name will be nice again,
Worthy of his old, great fame,
We will wash down the shame
Which has been here by the centuries.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
Where our graves are lying
Our grandchildren fall on knees
And they list our holy names
By blessing prayer.
Fugitive, derelict man,
Who doesn’t dare to die now, if must,
Whose paltry life is worth much
Than the honour of the country.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
We are swearing
By the Hungarian’s God
We are swearing on
We won’t be slaves anymore.
The sword is brighter than the chains,
It adorns arms,
And we wear chains still!
Let us have our old sword!
The Revolution on 15th March 1848
The revolutionary wave that had swept over Europe in spring 1848 resulted in a bloodless
revolution in Hungary on 15th March. A bunch of Hungarian poets and writers formed the
core of the radicals.
They were preparing for a demonstration on 19th March at their regular meeting place, the
Café Pilvax. They heard the news of the revolution in Vienna on the evening of 14th March
so they decided to bring forward the demonstration.
The revolutionaries started to gather people while reciting Petőfi's National Song and
reading their demands worded in the 12 points (kids at school had to learn it by heart when
they learn about the Revolution).
What the Hungarian nation wants.
Let there be peace, liberty, and concord!
1. We want freedom of the press, the abolition of censorship.
2. A responsible government in Buda-Pest.
3. An annual parliamentary session in Pest.
4. Civil and religious equality before the law.
5. A Hungarian National Guard.
6. A joint sharing of tax burdens.
7. The cessation of socage [land tenure].
8. Juries and representation on an equal basis.
9. A national bank.
10. The army must swear to support the constitution, our
soldiers must not be dispatched abroad, foreign soldiers
must be removed from our soil.
11. The freeing of political prisoners.
12. Union (with Transilvania)
The mass lead by Petőfi in the pouring rain occupied
a press and printed out the poem and the 12-points.
The Habsburgs didn't dare to intervene.
Despite the rain an even bigger crowd gathered in
the garden of the National Museum by afternoon.
Following the events on 15th March a Hungarain delegation went
to Vienna to tell their demands to Ferdinand V. After several
discussions the Habsburgs accepted an independent Hungarian
ministry lead by Count Lajos Batthyány.
Count Lajos Battyány
"We swear unto thee - that slaves we shall no longer be!"
In summer 1848 Vienna decided to take action against the Hungarian revolution. The
ethnic minorities living in Hungary weren't happy with the Hungarian's victory. The Croats
allied with Austria and their troops attacked and invaded Hungary.
Despite the Habsburgs' more power and larger army they weren't strong enough to defeat
Hungarians so Austria convinced Russia provide support to breakdown Hungarian War of
Independence. Despite being a small
country, Hungary humiliated Austria by
fighting tooth and nail and she emphasized
this by surrendering not to the Emperor but
to the Russian Czar in August 1849.
Terror
Following the defeat retribution began. Thirteen generals
were executed at Arad on 6th October 1849, Count
Batthyány Lajos, Hungary's first prime-minister was shot
at Pest, thousands were sentenced to death and to prison.
The Habsburgs built the Citadel fortress on Gellert Hill at
that time with cannons directed at the town below. The age
The Citadel
of terror stifled Hungary in the coming years.
October 6 is the depressing day commemorating the unlawful execution of 13 Hungarian
military generals on that day in 1849 – by the order of Franz Joseph, Emperor of the
Habsburg Monarchy, after the end of Hungary’s War of Independence (1848-1849).
Hungarians still today consider the execution to be a martyrdom among the generals,
namely: Karoly Knezic, Jozsef Nagysandor, Janos Damjanich, Lajos Aulich, Gyorgy
Lahner, Erno Poeltenberg, Karoly Leiningen-Westerburg, Ignac Torok, Karoly Vecsey,
Erno Kiss, Jozsef Schweidel, Arisztid Dessewffy, Vilmos Lazar.
One of the executed was actually a colonel, but reportedly promoted to the rank of general –
post mortem. While the execution took place in Arad, (then still part of Hungary, in what
today is Romania). Hungarian President Count Lajos Batthyany was reportedly also
executed in Pest on that day.
Batthyány Eternal Flame
Under today’s Geneva Convention the lifes of the
13 generals would have been saved, historians say.
They added that the October 6 date was
intentionally chosen for the quick-step execution
by the Emperor to revenge the hanging of the
Habsburg Minister of Defense Theodor Baillet von
Latour (October 3, 1848). Today a small obelisk
marks the spot where was Count Lajos Batthyany
murdered.
Tough the Revolution was beat down but it wasn’t in vain. Most of the demands of the 12
points were realized.
How do we remember in Algyő Primary School
Preparation
We make a lot of cockades and flags.
1. The original cockade
2. The bended Hungarian cockade
3. The cockade used by in general
And we decorate our school with them.
The inhabitants of Algyő take part in the celebation in the village centre at the monument
with the national flag on every 15 March.
We also commemorate and children put their flags and flowers on the monument.