Századok – 2002

Történeti irodalom - Helyreigazítás V/1234

TÖRTÉNETI IRODALOM 1235 studies of tactics and strategy. For he saw as one of the main reasons of the defeat the political administration's failure to grip firm control of the military. As a solution, in the case of a new war of independence he intended to unite in his hands absolute political and military authority. Kossuth's conception was not unprecedented. After the battle of Schwechat on 30 October 1848 he stayed with the Upper Danubian Army until 6 November. Although on 1 November he appionted as its commander-in-chief Artúr Görgei, he decided alone in all strategical matters until his departure. Consequently, for almost a week he functioned as the real commander of the army. At the end of March 1849, when chief commander Antal Vetter was disabled by an illness to carry out his duties, Kossuth again proposed to take over the post himself. But his ambition was thwarted by the resistance of the generals, who referred to his lack of experience in military matters. Subsequently Kossuth made two further attempts to take over the commandership: first on 1 July after the removal of Görgei, then again on 24 July after the resignation of Lázár Mészáros. But his proposal was turned down in both cases by the council of ministers, partly again because of his inexperience, partly because of the constitutional incompatibility of the governorship and the chief commandership. The present study analyses the motivations behind these aspirations and the causes of their failure. Frank Tibor: KOSSUTH AND SHAKESPEARE: LANGUAGE AND POLITICS There is no contemporary evidence to support Kossuth's later claim that his English was essentially Shakespeare's English. All we know is based on his recollections in exile. His English was based on a composite mixture of numerous sources rather than on Shakespeare alone. The English Kossuth spoke and wrote was essentially Romantic in nature rather than Elizabethan. The notion that Kossuth's knowledge of English was based on his careful study of Shakespeare alone during his prison years 1837-40 is only part of the truth, and a product of conscious myth-making rather than a sound biographical fact. To suit his actual political purposes and win the goodwill of the English-speaking countries for his nation, Kossuth retroactively reorganized his life-story, giving it a slightly mythological touch. His gently rewritten version of his autobiography did in fact contribute to his success in putting Hungary on the political map of Europe. 1 Ambrus Miskolczy: LAJOS KOSSUTH IN THE MIRROR OF AN UNKNOWN DIARY. A Fanatic of vanity or a humane Robespierre ? The study attempts to define the place of Lajos Kossuth in the universal revolutionary-democratic culture with the means of the conceptual analysis elaborated by Francois Furet. Kossuth . is a humane Robespierre, whom several contemporaries accused of not having been brave enough to be a real Robespierre. In fact, instead of terror he used his talents in persuasion and organisation. I Hence his characterisation by Engels as Danton and Carnot in one person. The most important new source of the present study is the lengthy diary of count Lajos i Gyulay, an MP from Transylvania. Gyulay regarded Kossuth.as a real Jacobin and was afraid of meeting the fate of the Girondists himself. Nevertheless, in September 1848 he endorsed the policy of self-defence advocated by Kossuth. The analysis of the diary is an occasion to emphasise the extent to which the French Revolution survived in the historical memory, and, as it has been demonstrated by Jonathan Sperber, consequently prevented the mere repetition of 1789 by the European 1848. In contrast to the European development, the Hungarian revolution was a mixture of the revolutionary-democratic culture and of the traditional the anti-Habsburg struggles. On the other hand, the „engineers" of the Hungarian historical memory tried to convert the revolution into the personal adventure of Kossuth, and describe him as a fanatic of vanity. In the 1850s and 1860s Lajos Gyulay partly adopted the same point of view, although he completed the picure of Kossuth by admitting that „we had all turned mad". Yet he proved a good prophet in 1848, when he opined that the basis of the future judgment of Kossuth would be success and nothing else. András Molnár: A CENSORED SPEECH OF LAJOS KOSSUTH AT PARLIAMENT (8 FEBRUARY 1848) At the Parliament which began in November 1847 the leader of the liberal opposition was Lajos Kossuth, mp from Pest county. His speeches exerted considerable influence on the proceedings of the parliamentary sessions. These speeches are mainly known from censured press reports, in