Századok – 2007

TANULMÁNYOK - Hermann Róbert: I. Ferenc József és a megtorlás I. rész III/635

I. FERENC JÓZSEF ÉS A MEGTORLÁS 681 Friedrich Walter Friedrich Walter: Von Windischgrätz über Weiden zu Haynau. Wiener Regierung und Armee-Oberkommando in Ungarn 1849/50. In: Friedrich Walter -Harold Steinacker (Hg.), Die Nationalitätenfrage im alten Ungarn und die Südostpolitik Wiens. Buchreihe der Südostdeutschen Historischen Kommission 3, München 1959. 68-161. FRANCIS JOSEPH I AND RETALIATION. I

ST PART. by Robert Hermann (Summary) Historians have long debated the role of Francis Joseph in the bloody retaliation which followed the suppression of the freedom fight in the autumn of 1849. From 1849 to 1867 the ruler's responsibility was not allowed to be discussed at all, whereas after 1867 posing the question would have been regarded as an act of indiscretion. Change came with the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy and the availability of formerly secret archives, but no common consent has so far been reached by historians. Árpád Károlyi in his work on the trial of Lajos Batthyány tried to minimize the emperor's responsibility, by emphasising the dominant influence of prime minister Felix Schwarzenberg and of commander-in chief Julius Haynau. Erzsébet Andics underlined, on the basis of a government proposal containing partial amnesty, the responsibility of Artúr Görgey, who would have prevented the amnesty by early capitulation. According to Domokos Kosáry, the amnesty was rejected when news of Haynau's victory at Temesvár had arrived. The present study re-examines the problem on the basis of well-known as well as hitherto unused sources. The first part analyses the emergence of the conception of retaliation from the beginning of the Russian intervention until mid-August 1849. The second part discusses the conception of partial amnesty, which was put forward and debated on 15-17 August. It comes to the conclusion that prime minister Schwarzenberg continued to support the proposal even after he had received the news of Görgey's capitulation. Consequently the importance which Haynau attributed to the battle of Temesvár is examined, as well as the efforts made by the Russians in order to save the captive Hungarian officers. The author comes to the conclusion that the emperor himself was responsible for the rejection of the partial amnesty, for the decision was made in the course of government session convoked and presided by Francis Joseph in person.