J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
M. Vida : Serving two Nations: Tivadar Duka (1825—1908)
i /¡_ 2 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl . 6.) himself later —when while fleeing he was arrested in Pozsony (Pressburg, today Bratislava) but by chance was put under the custody of an officer of the Duka-regiment who let him escape. At the age of eight the little boy was sent to Sárospatak, the traditional centre of Hungarian Protestantism, and later to Eperjes (today Presov in Slovakia), where he started legal studies, in accordance with the prevailing custom of the nobility. In 1845 he went to the capital where he received his degree in law at the age of 21. Beside quick grasp and lively interest his studies also revealed assiduous thoroughness. "It is only through endurance and efforts that one can reach some better objectwas his opinion in one of his letters when he was barely twenty-two. 3 These words have indeed become his maxim, as it is proved by his life, so rich in trials and new starts, and forced to carry through in a new country. But at the start his career seemed smooth and promising. Concluding his studies he had an opportunity to go abroad and widen his horizon. An old friend of the family, Captain Trangous, who had lost an arm in the Napoleonic wars, invited him on a tour to be his personal secretary. They went to Silesia where the captain was left at the spa of Gräfenberg while Duka was travelling accross Germany to finish in Vienna. The friendship of the revolutionally minded Trangous left a deep impression on the young man, who was otherwise quiet and mild by nature. After the revolution of March 1848 Captain Trangous became responsible for the mines of the country, while Duka joined the ranks of the national guard in Buda. He soon had to use his arms. The imperial government had succeeded in making most of the non-Magyar nationalities of Hungary turn against the revolution. Jellacic, the Ban of Croatia, defied the orders of the Palatine (the Nádor) and the Hungarian Government and was willing to obey only the Emperor-King. In September 1848 he led his 30 000 troops against the seat of the Hungarian Government, but near the shores of Lake Velence was succesfully stopped by Lieutenant-General Moga and his 10 000 men. Making use of a three day truce Jellacic hurriedly left the country and joined the army of Field-Marshal Windischgraetz, who was enclosing the revolutionary Vienna with 70 000 men. On the request of the revolutionaries and urged by Lajos Kossuth the Hungarian army on October 30 belatedly tried to save the Austrian revolution, but the untrained army of the new recruits was defeated at Schwechat. It was in that battle that Tivadar Duka distinguished himself by his bravery and as a result Artúr Görgey, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, appointed him his aide-de-camp. From that time on he remained at the side of Görgey, to whom he always remained loyal. Fifty years later in England he wrote an English language history of the Hungarian War of Independence, in which he took up the question of the relation between Kossuth and Görgey. The work wanted to show the foreign public the greatness of the commander 3 Tivadar Duka to Antal Reguly. Vienna, September 15 1847. MTA (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) Kézirattár. Levelestár.
