Körmöczi Katalin szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum 3 - From the End of the Turkish Wars to the Millennium - The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries (Budapest, 2001)

ROOM 12. Revolution and War of Independence in 1848-49 "I Fall on My Knees Before the Greatness of the Nation" (Lajos Kossuth) (Katalin Körmöczi - Tibor Kovács S.)

38. Cavalry sword of Artúr Görgey (1818-1916), 1848 national guards of Pest (Fig. 35). Because of the uncertainty both internally and externally, a national defence (honvéd) army was set up in May 1848, alongside the National Guard. This was made necessary by events in the south of the country, where a protracted static war had developed. The Batthyány government forcefully urged the bringing home of Hungarian regiments stationed in the regions of the Habsburg empire outside Hungary. In the interests of increasing the country's defence capability, on June 11 Lajos Kossuth, who was finance minister, obtained 42 million forints from the Parliament's House of Deputies for the establishment and maintenance of an army of

200,000 men. In September 1848, a counter-revolutionary army led by Jellacic threatened Hungary's sovereignty. The National Defence Committee was formed, which began recruitment and the organization of national defence throughout the country. On September 29 the Hungarian troops halted the advance of Jellacic's forces at Pákozd, north of Lake Velence. Because of recruiting, the size of the army had increased substantially by the end of 1848. At the beginning, Hungarian regiments from the imperial and royal Habsburg army served as the foundations of the cavalry, infantry and artillery of the honvéd forces. In addition to these, new hussar regiments were formed - for example, the famous Hunyadi Hussars, whose men were also equipped with battle-axes and long whips. The uniform of the honvéd infantry, which was organized into battalions, was appreciably simpler than earlier uniforms, and its basic colour was chocolate-brown. With regard to uniform, an officer was distinguished from the men only by his infantry officer's sword, introduced into service in 1837; the braiding on his shako, and his red, white and green service belt. The main weapon of the infantryman was a musket supplied with a bayonet. The Augustin percussion-lock military mus-