Amerikai Magyar Újság, 2002 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2002-05-01 / 5. szám
16 AMERIKAI MAGYAR ÚJSÁG 2002. május KOSSUTH IN AMERICA: THE 150th ANNIVERSARY Introduction Few names in Hungarian history evoke feelings of pride and admiration in Hungarians than the name Lajos Kossuth. There is good reason for this. It would not be far off the mark to call him the George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Thomas Paine of Hungary all rolled into one. Indeed, he is considered the father of Hungarian democracy. At a time when the liberal, Enlightenment ideals of the French Revolution-freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion-were being suppressed by the reactionary regimes of post-Napoleonic Europe in general and the Austrian Empire in particular, Kossuth championed these freedoms. Kossuth and Events in Hungary Winds of change blew over Europe in March of 1848, the so-called Springtime of the Peoples, and shortly thereafter, in April, the Hungarian parliament, under the guidance of delegate Kossuth, passed the April Laws, destroying all remnants of the feudal order in Hungary, abolishing censorship, enacting universal suffrage, and bringing about the legal equality of all before the law. The panic-stricken Austrian emperor, Ferdinand, who was contending with a revolution by liberal forces in Vienna, agreed to these significant reforms, and a responsible Hungarian government under the nominal leadership of Count Lajos Batthyány was formed to govern Hungary. Kossuth became finance minister, but he would soon emerge as the de facto leader of the Hungarians. Meanwhile in Vienna, conservative elements within the Austrian government sought to rescind Ferdinand's liberal concessions and return the empire to the pre-March status quo. They played upon the fears of ethnic minorities within Hungary, particularly among the Croats, and encouraged them to resist the Hungarians. Under the leadership of the virulantly anti-Hungarian general Jellasich, a Croatian army invaded Hungary but was turned back. Batthyány resigned and Kossuth became the chairman of the Hungarian Home Defense Committee. By the end of 1848, Hungary was engaged in all out war with Austrian and Croatian armies. Kossuth rallied the Hungarians with impassioned speeches, and the result was the recruitment of a huge voluntary army. Back in Vienna, Ferdinand was deposed by the reactionaries and his nephew, Franz Joseph, was installed as the new emperor. Fighting continued and the Hungarian army retreated to northern Hungary. In January, 1849, the government abandoned Budapest and fled eastward to the city of Debrecen After a brief interlude, Hungarian general Arthur Görgey went on the offensive. He defeated Austria's armies repeatedly, and a fellow officer, Polish-bom general Joseph Bern, cleared Transylvania of Austrian and Romanian forces. On April 14th, Hungary declared its independence, rejected the Austrian monarch, and made Kossuth governor of Hungary. At this point, the Austrians sought help from Russian Czar Nicholas I, who promptly supplied 200,000 fresh troops to the Austrian cause. The combined might of the Austrian and Russian armies finally wore down the Hungarian resistance, and on August 12, 1849, Görgey surrendered his forces to the Russians near the town of Világos. Kossuth resigned his office the day before and went into exile, seeking asylum within Ottoman Turkey. The Hungarian dream of freedom and independence had been crushed. Despite this crushing blow, Kossuth never lost that dream of a free and independent Hungary. He lived for two years under virtual house arrest in Turkey. When he was finally released in September, 1851, he made preparations to visit England and the United States. Kossuth in America The purpose of Kossuth's trip to America was to raise support, monetary as well as moral, for his cause of liberating Hungary from Austrian control. Unfortunately, he received more of the latter rather than the former. He had plans, unrealistic now in hindsight, of raising funds to equip new Hungarian armies. Although he was an official guest of the United States, Kossuth soon realized that the U.S. government would do nothing more than give moral support, preferring instead to heed George Washington's advice of maintaining American neutrality with regard to European affairs. No tangible assistance from the U. S.
