Hungarian War of Independence, 1848-1849

Es handelt sich um die Übersetzung des Tagebuchs von Petar Čarnojević aus der Zeit seiner politischen Tätigkeit in der Eigenschaft eines königlichen Kommissars (vom 27. April—28. Juli 1848), als man ihn beauftragt hatte, den Unruhen im Süden Ungarns ein Ende zu setzen. In der Einleitung wird in gedrängter Form auf den Charakte und die Bedeutung der politischen Tätigkeit von Petar Čarnojević hingewiesen. Darüberhinaus werden auch die seine Persönlichkeit und Tätigkeit kennzeichnenden Kontroversen erörtert und auf die Bedeutung der im Zusammenhang mit seiner Tätigkeit als königlicher Kommissar entstandenen historischen Materialien (Korrespondenz, Befehle, Anordnungen, Proklamationen) hingewiesen.

Szakdolgozatom középpontjában az 1848-as önvédelmi háború és szabadságharc idején a hazai nemzetiségi vélt vagy valós szerepvállalások állnak. Ezt a témát három részben fogom feldolgozni. Ahhoz, hogy ezt megfelelő kontextusban tudjuk értelmezni, szükségszerű először egy rövid áttekintés formájában megnéznünk, hogy a korszak nyugat és közép-európai nagyhatalmai hogyan viszonyultak a saját területeiken jelentkező nemzetiségi problémákhoz. Írásom második részében az önvédelmi háború és szabadságharc alatti nemzetiségi széttagoltságot kívánom bemutatni és a dolgozatom első mondatából érezhető bizonytalanságot is meg fogom indokolni. Dolgozatom utolsó harmada pedig az első két részben megismert információk alapján, a hazai nemzetiségek 1848-as megítélését vizsgálja majd a kiegyezéstől a rendszerváltásig kiadott történelemtankönyvek tükrében.

The subject of this analysis are the issues related to the revolutionary events which took place in Europe between 1848 and 1849, and which have been referred to in history as the "Spring of Nations". Although these events, which had their roots in a common European protest against dominant state authorities, political power balance and social injustice, characterised by different aims and ideological assumptions in individual European countries, depending on the type and tension level of the conflicts. In addition, however, these events significantly influenced the formation of liberal, republican and socialist ideas, directly influencing specific projects of political reforms in the spirit of constitutionalism and parliamentarianism. It is in the constitutionalism of the Spring of Nations that we find the full concept of the rule of law, i.e. the idea of the rule of law based on the principles nowadays considered fundamental for Western democracies. This analysis has been supplemented by a number of selected statements by K. Marx and F. Engels; they  were keenly interested in European events of that period, reported in an extremely interesting way on the various revolutionary events that took place on the European continent in the years 1848-1849.

Przedmiot niniejszej analizy stanowią zagadnienia, związane z wydarzeniami o charakterze rewolucyjnym, jakie miały miejsce w Europie w latach 1848-1849, a które przyjęło się w historii określać mianem „Wiosny Ludów”. Wydarzenia te, mimo że mające u swojego źródła wspólny dla Europy protest przeciwko dominującym autorytetom państwowym, układowi sił politycznych i niesprawiedliwości społecznej, w poszczególnych krajach europejskich charakteryzowały się różnymi celami i założeniami ideowymi w zależności od rodzaju i napięcia konfliktów. Poz tym jednak wydarzenia te w znaczący sposób wpłynęły na kształtowanie się idei liberalnych, republikańskich i socjalistycznych, wpływając bezpośrednio na konkretne projekty reform ustrojowych w duchu konstytucjonalizmu i parlamentaryzmu. To właśnie w konstytucjonalizmie Wiosny Ludów odnajdujemy pełną koncepcję państwa prawa, a więc idei państwa prawa opierającej się na zasadach uznawanych współcześnie za fundamentalne dla zachodnich demokracji. Analiza niniejsza została uzupełniona licznymi wybranymi wypowiedziami K. Marksa i F. Engelsa, którzy żywo zainteresowani wydarzeniami europejskimi tamtego okresu, w sposób niezwykle interesujący relacjonowali poszczególne zdarzenia rewolucyjne, jakie miały miejsce na kontynencie europejskim w latach 1848-1849.

In diploma work we dealt with the issue of civil war in Hungary in the years 1848 – 1849, the war and the political aspects. We summarize the most important events of the revolutionary years of the whole Hungary. In conclusion, we look at the voluntary expedition from the perspective of eyewitnesses. Individual statements have then compared and evaluated.

The life of Archduke Stephen, his appointment to Palatine of Hungary, and his exile are described in surprising detail in András Gergely's book entitled Áruló vagy áldozat? (Traitor or Victim?). Despite the thoroughness of the volume, however, the author forgets to mention one element that is undoubtedly significant and decisive for Stephen's life, his perception, and how he is preserved in collective memory, namely his long and pointed moustache, and the reason of the birth of this significant facial ornament. This study attempts to explore the process by which Archduke Stephen became - even if only for a short time - the Palatine of Hungary, not only in title and administrative function but also in his appearance. In addition to the pictorial depictions, the memoirs of persons who knew the Archduke directly, as well as articles published in the press, mostly about the reception of the Archduke in 1847 and his retirement in 1848, can help us to understand this process or metamorphosis.

The life of Ján Andráscsik is a perfect illustration of the difficulties one encounters when trying to grasp Hungarian-Slovakian relations in the first half of the nineteenth century by projecting a modern notional framework on it. By invoking his biography, the author had the double aim of making this life story, almost completely unknown in the Hungarian-speaking areas, more widely accessible, and, completed by other new sources, offering an insight into the unsearched relations between the Hungarian and Slovak intellectuals in his times, and into the activities of Andráscsik himself. Although Andráscsik was a convinced Slovak, he regarded Hungarian as the language of the fatherland, of the "Regnum Hungariae". In both his stance against excessive brandy consumption, and in his struggle for civic rights, he found willing allies among the Hungarian liberals. His play entitled "Šenk palenčeni" [Brandy bar] is an outstanding piece of both the Slovak national movement and of the struggle against alcoholism. The surviving sources prove beyond doubt that in 1848/49 Andráscsik supported the Hungarian revolution and fight for independence. Although in the last years of his life he faced serious difficulties, he refused to yield to the imperial authorities, and his superiors in the church offered him protection against political attacks. His life thus provides several lessons to be considered from the wider perspective of Hungarian-Slovakian relations in general.
SZÁZADOK 149. ÉVF. (2015) 5. SZÁM

In Gödöllő on 7 April 1849, after the battle of Isaszeg, which closed the first stage of the Spring Campaign, the Hungarian military and political leaders decided on a somewhat hazardous operational plan, which, however, bade fair to succeed. The primary aim of the plan was the liberation of the besieged Komárom, which would also have rendered it possible to recapture Pest-Buda without fighting. Putting the plan into action, the main body of the Hungarian army, led by Artúr Görgei, got round the left wing of the Imperials and triumphed over some of the minor Austrian forces that tried to hold them up. On 10 April 1849 they won at Vác, on the 19th at Nagysalló, on the 26th at Ács and then eventually liberated the fortress of Komárom. On 23 April, the main body of the Imperial army evacuated Pest and retreated partly to Southern Hungary and partly toward Pozsony. Thus, the operational plan of Gödöllő proved to be successful, the capital and a great part of the country had been liberated. Besides the victories mentioned above and analysed thoroughly by our historiography, a less spectacular but very important and difficult task of the war plan fell to the share of General Lajos Aulich's II Corps and Lajos Asbóth's 12th Independent Division. For some 12 days, they had to contain the main body of the Imperial army, outnumbering them by four to one, so that Görgei could liberate Komárom. The two Hungarian commanders and their forces (prevailingly recruits) accomplished the task splendidly. They deceived the Imperial supreme command by a series of diversionary movements, demonstrations and the masterly distribution of the troops, which made the Austrians overestimate the strength of the opposing powers. On 10, 11, 16 and 21 April, Aulich and Asbóth fought small battles with the Imperials in the lowlands in front of Pest, by Stream Rákos. In the course of these they could avoid any defeats and harassed the insecure Imperial high command by their repeated bold advance. Their merits are not lessened by the crisis of the enemy command in the period, or by the fact that the main body of the Imperial army in Pest was practically left without a commander after relieving Field Marshal Prince Windisch-Grätz.
Among the battles of the Spring Campaign, the introduced events remain under the shadow of the spectacular successes, notwithstanding the boldness that made the Hungarian supreme command leave a force of barely 11.000 on its own for a long time, facing an army of 40.000. This is a rare example in Hungarian and universal military history, as well as the complete success of such an operation.

The  "Diary  of  my  Military  Life" is the reminiscences of a hitherto unknown Honvéd hunting master on the last phase of the 1848–1849 Hungarian War of Independence. The diary was written by a simple soldier who saw the events “from below”, thus his viewpoint can offer us interesting new data mainly to the operations of the Seventh Army
Corps. In addition, the diary allows us to take a glimpse into the everyday life of field camps. The young Honvéd soldier’s view and personal opinion about Artúr Görgei can also be interesting for the readers.
Szilárd joined the Honvéd Army as a 16-year-old young defrock. The data in the diary identify him as János Szilárd from Esztergom, who worked as the manager of the archbishop’s estate after the defeat of the independence war. With the publication of the reminiscences the author of the paper wishes to offer new data to the broader understanding of the War of Independence.

The diary published in the present research paper contains the memoires of a first lieutenant of the Hungarian Home Defence Forces who was conscripted into the Austrian imperial army after the downfall of the Hungarian war for independence: the memoires of first lieutenant Márton Szilvásy who joined the Hungarian Home Defence Forces on 2 November 1848, at the age of 20, and who in March1849 served as a first lieutenant in the Hunyadi Battalion, in the battlefield of Transylvania. After the surrender, he was conscripted into Imperial Infantry (Prohaska) Regiment 7, from which he discharged on 25 November 1850, in return for ransom. We cannot read about the turning points of the war for independence in the diary, since the author wrote the first entry after falling into captivity, on 28 August 1849. However,
his notes let us see the life of a soldier forcefully conscripted into the royal and imperial army, we can follow the change of his stations, and we can also read about his fellow soldiers of similar fate.

In the spring of 1848, already after the ides of March, on 6 April, before the passing of the April Laws that established the constitutional monarchy, the enthusiastic newspaper reader could raise an eyebrow when picking up the newest issue of the Nemzeti Ujság [The National Newspaper]. Right next to the Bishop of Kassa's article reflecting on the reform movements in Europe, there was a short open letter by János Szerenespataki. He addressed his letter to fellow priests, for whom he had a lot of respect, but who, to his despair, had a shaved face and always wore a cassock. The letter aimed to convince the priests to keep their moustaches and beards, and, when they are not practising their clerical duties, exchange their priestly robes for black atillas decorated with braids. Quite soon, the open letter raised the attention of the community, and serious social debate unfolded in the various newspapers of the era, such as the Nemzeti Ujság [The National Newspaper], the Reform, the Budapesti Híradó [Budapest News], the Márczius Tizenötödike [March Fifteenth], but most of all in the journal of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Religio és Nevelés [Religion and Education]. The underlying motives, however, should be taken into account. Why did the author of the open letter contend with his peers considering both the issue of growing a moustache and a beard and wearing a secular dress? Masculine vanity was not the reason why he had left his collar in the sacristy and grew a beard and a moustache, and it was not out of extravagance that he encouraged his fellow priests to follow his example. Could it be possible that the way to understand his real moives is through the early history of the discourse on the Hungarian national character? In my study, I seek to answer these questions, all the while shedding light on how the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, is related to this all.

Tóth Tamás tanulmánykötete a tizenöt éves háború idejétől egészen napjainkig kronologikus elrendezésben, több aspektusból tárja fel azt a kapcsolatot, amely összeköti az Örök Várost a történelmi Magyarországgal. A szerző közel két évtizedes kutatási eredményeiben, melyek római, illetve vatikáni forrásokból táplálkoznak, jól körvonalazódnak, hogy egy adott történelmi korban, illetve időszakban, hogyan látták a Katolikus Egyház központjából azt, ami Magyarországon történt, vagy hogyan értékelték egy-egy világi vagy egyházi személy tevékenységét.

During the last months of the 1848–1849 Hungarian War of Independence, Polish immigrants in Constantinople elaborated a large-scale cooperation plan against Russia. According to two letters found in the archives of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, a would-be Circassian–Polish–Hungarian cooperation and alliance would engage considerable Russian forces in the Caucasus, dividing thus the country's power. It would effectively support the Hungarians' fight, give the Circassians the opportunity to attain their freedom, the Ottoman Empire would considerably strengthen its position in the area, and it would eventually help to restore the independence of Poland. The late and bold plan however contained too many obstacles. The Porte's extensive support would have been by all means necessary, but at that time the Ottomans, considering the political and military circumstances, did not dare to go into a confrontation with Russia yet. At the date of the documents the Hungarian War of Independence was nearing to defeat. Circassians were weakened by tribal, religious and political conflicts; and though they scored numberless tactical victories over Russians, they were unable to inflict strategic defeat on the Tsar's battle-hardened troops.

text in english here (pp. 45-58):
The author analyzes the program documents of the Slovak national movement as historiographical sources. He focuses on historical thinking of Slovak patriots in the year of revolution 1848 and then in the early 1860s. He compares the two fundamental political documents of the national movement, namely the "Requests of the Slovak Nation" (1848) and the "Memorandum of the Slovak Nation" (1861). In the later the Slovak politicians proposed a fundamentally different discourse in comparison to the "Requests" (1848). Its most important feature is that Hungarians are no longer represented as the oppressors of the Slovak nation. The primacy of the Slovak history over the history of the Magyars is expressed in the "Memorandum" only as a matter of chronology: the Slovaks have occupied the territory of the later Kingdom of Hungary for a long time before the Magyars. The arrival of the latter in the 10th century, however, was not considered a tragedy - on the contrary, according to the authors of the "Memorandum" it was followed by a harmonious coexistence of the two nations. Thus the motive of the "hundreds of years lasting national oppression" that was prominently featured in the 1848's "Requests" was abandoned altogether by the early 1860s. The author also has analyzed the "Declaration of Matica slovenská" (1863) and other period documents of the Slovak national movement to confirm that the abandonment of the "oppression" motive was a deliberate political strategy. Based on wider national ideology context of the period. He emphasizes that the images of the past in political (ideological) documents have to be analyzed in narrow context of actual political or ideological objectives pursued by their authors.

The first part of the research article introduces on which occasions the civil guard, then the newly formed National Guard units in Pest-Buda used their orchestras after the Hungarian Revolution of 15th March 1848 in order to perform their duties. Their role was these times limited to representation, and based on the sources it cannot be decided whether they maintained permanent, or only occasional orchestras. The second part of the article introduces the process of organization of the permanent orchestra of the National Guard Battalion I of Buda (Pest county), highlighting that the orchestra finally probably did not really operate due to the military events. The supplement contains the list of names of the members of the orchestra and the contract plans to be signed with the musicians. In the final part of the article we introduce the process of military information transfer, the organization of a basic element of military music, i. e., the drummers and their training within the frameworks of the National Guard of the capital of Hungary, Pest-Buda.

The Church, mainly the local clergy, played an important, galvanizing role in Hungary in 1848. In the spring of 1848 the possibility of a democratic transformation in the Catholic Church seemed to be a crucial point. The liberal priests started a strong movement in the heart of the Diocese of Csanád. Alajos Magyari, a teacher in the seminary of Temesvár (Timişoara)  wanted to abolish celibacy and to create a new democratic Catholic Church government. The supporters of Church modernization adopted the philosophy and culture of Enlightenment, Liberalism, and Romanticism, creating an immanent theology on these bases. Ten priests from the Diocese of Csanád joined the Hungarian Army and took up weapons, while another ten priests served as army chaplains. The Revolution and War of Independence resulted in the formation of a unique revolutionary theology.

This paper is intended to provide a catalogue of existing images that portray or may portray General György Kmety of the Honvéd (Hungarian) Army, who was born 200 years ago. In order to compile an official iconography, all the necessary biographical data had to be collected through research in both archives and libraries.

Zipser Kanoniker und in den Jahren 1847 – 1851 auch Kapitelvikar Dominik Biacovský (in verschiedenen Dokumenten und literarischen Quellen tritt er unter den Namen Biatzovszky, Biaczovszky, Biaczovsky auf) verwaltete die Zipser Diözese während der Sedisvakanz des Zipser Bistums in den schweren Revolutionsjahren 1848/49 und in den darauffolgenden Jahren des Absolutismus. Nach dem Tod des Zipser Bischofs Jozef Bélik wurde er im Jahr 1847 vom Zipser Kathedralkapitel zum Kapitelvikar ernannt. Anschließend, bis zur Ernennung des neuen Bischofs Ladislav Zábojský im Jahr 1850, verwaltete er die Diözese als Kapitelvikar mit zeitweiligen Kompetenzen eines Diözese-Ordinarius. In der oben genannten Zeit brach nicht nur die Revolution 1848/49 aus, die mit sich militärische Unruhen brachte, sondern es kam zugleich zur Ablösung des Feudalismus und des Kirchenzehnten. Dies hat wesentlich die ökonomische Stabilität der Kirche gefährdet. Die Einführung der Besoldung von Geistlichen in der Form der sog. Kongrua hat verursacht, dass die bisher finanziell unabhängige und wirtschaftlich ausgeglichene katholische Kirche im bestimmten Sinne des Wortes zum Geisel des Staates wurde.
Die vorliegende Studie bringt nicht nur wichtige Angaben zum Leben des Kanonikers Dominik Biacovský, sondern es wird hier ebenso der Zustand der Zipser Diözese vor der Revolution 1848/49 beschrieben. Man konzentriert sich weiter auf wichtigste revolutionäre und politische Ereignisse, die diese Diözese unmittelbar geprägt hatten so wie auf die unausgeführte ungarische Nationalsynode, die für das Jahr 1848 geplant worden war. Die Diözesen - Phase dieser Synode wurde bisher weder vom historischen noch vom theologischen Standpunkt aus bewertet. Der Autor der Studie schöpfte bei seiner Forschung außer anderem aus dem Werk des Zipser Historikers Jozef Hradszky, der in der oben erwähnten Zeit als Sekretär des Kapitelvikars Biacovský wirkte und anschließend veröffentlichte er in seinem Werk unter dem Titel Initia, progressus ac praesens status Capituli Scepusiensis seine Erkenntnisse und Bemerkungen zu dieser bewegten Zeit.

A political and intellectual history of Romanian Forty-Eighters' exile in France after the Romanian revolution in Walachia Principality in summer 1848. The study aims to look at the exile as an intellectual experience and a moment of shaping the Romanian national identity