Hungarian State (1849)
| Hungarian State | ||||||||||
| Magyar Álladalom | ||||||||||
| Unrecognised state | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
Anthem Himnusz Hymn |
||||||||||
| Capital | Buda | |||||||||
| Capital-in-exile | Debrecen | |||||||||
| Languages | Hungarian (official) · German · Romanian · Slovak · Croatian · Slovene · Serbian · Italian · Ruthenian | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism · Calvinism · Lutheranism · Eastern Orthodoxy · Eastern Catholicism · Unitarianism · Judaism | |||||||||
| Government | Not specified | |||||||||
| Head of State | ||||||||||
| • | 1849 | Lajos Kossuth | ||||||||
| • | 1849 | Artúr Görgey | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | ||||||||||
| • | 1849 | Bertalan Szemere | ||||||||
| Legislature | Diet | |||||||||
| Historical era | Revolutions of 1848 | |||||||||
| • | Established | 14 April 1849 | ||||||||
| • | Military collapse | 13 August 1849 | ||||||||
| Currency | Krajcár | |||||||||
|
||||||||||
.svg)
The Hungarian State (Hungarian: Magyar Álladalom) was a short-lived state that existed for 4 months in the last phase of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49.
On 2 December 1848 Ferdinand V of Hungary abdicated in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph. On 7 December the Diet of Hungary formally refused to acknowledge the title of the new king, "as without the knowledge and consent of the diet no one could sit on the Hungarian throne" and called the nation to arms. Constitutionally, in the Hungarian point of view, Ferdinand was still king of Hungary, and this gave to the revolt an excuse of legality. Actually, from this time until the collapse of the revolution, Lajos Kossuth was the de facto ruler of Hungary.
The struggle opened with a series of Austrian successes. Prince Windischgrätz, who had received orders to quell the rebellion, began his advance on 15 December; opened up the way to the capital by the victory at Mór (on 30 December), and on 5 January 1849 the Imperial-Royal Army occupied Pest-Buda, while the Hungarian government and diet retired behind the Tisza and established themselves at Debrecen. A last attempt at reconciliation, made by the more moderate members of the diet in Windischgrätz’s camp at Bicske (on 3 January), had foundered on the uncompromising attitude of the Austrian commander, who demanded unconditional submission; whereupon the moderates, including Ferenc Deák and Lajos Batthyány, retired into private life, leaving Kossuth to carry on the struggle with the support of the enthusiastic extremists who constituted the rump of the diet at Debrecen. The question now was: how far the military would subordinate itself to the civil element of the national government. The first symptom of dissonance was a proclamation by the commander of the Upper Danube division, Artúr Görgey, from his camp at Vác (on 5 January) emphasizing the fact that the national defence was purely constitutional, and menacing all who might be led astray from this standpoint by republican aspirations. Immediately after this proclamation Görgey disappeared with his army among the hills of Upper Hungary, and, despite the difficulties of a phenomenally severe winter and the constant pursuit of vastly superior forces, fought his way down to the valley of Hernád – and safety. This masterly winter-campaign first revealed Görgey’s military genius, and the discipline of that terrible month of marching and counter-marching had hardened his recruits into veterans whom his country regarded with pride and his country’s enemies with respect. Unfortunately his success caused some jealousy in official quarters, and when, in the middle of February 1849, a commander-in-chief was appointed to carry out Kossuth’s plan of campaign, that vital appointment was given, not to the man who had made the army what it was, but to a foreigner, a Polish refugee, Count Henrik Dembinski, who, after fighting the bloody and indecisive battle of Kápolna (26–27 February 1849), was forced to retreat. Görgey was immediately appointed his successor, and the new generalissimo led the Honvéds from victory to victory. Ably supported by György Klapka and János Damjanich he pressed forward irresistibly. The battles of Szolnok (on 5 March), Isaszeg (on 6 April), Vác (on 10 April), and Nagysarló (on 19 April) were so many milestones in his triumphal progress. On 21 May 1849, Buda, the Hungarian capital was once more in the hands of the Hungarians.
...
Wikipedia