The Bethlen Home Messenger, 1991-1992 (1-4. szám)

1992-03-01 / 2. szám

Qlijaplmn’g (Corner

by Rev. Joseph Posta

HUNGARY’S FREEDOM WAR OF 1848-49

“There is no more illustrious history than the history of the Magyar nation .. . The whole civilized world is indebted to Magyarland for its historical deeds.”

/President Theodore Roosevelt, April 2, 1910/

“Great was the Magyar in days gone by Great was his name, envied his might.

The falling stars of North, South, East,

In Magyar seas ended their flight. . .”

/Sándor Petőfi/

Nations may differ as regards their numerical strength, but the worth of their soul is the same. Their role in the whole of humanity does not depend entirely on their numerical strength, rather by the quality of their spiritual and mental strength and ability. Now, in the great warfare of humanity which it carries on for the advancement of civilization, that body of soldiers which bears the name: the Magyar Nation, occupies one of the most important strategical points. Representing and defending the highest type of advancement, that of the West, it holds position at which two cultural types come into collision with each other.

Liberty has always been the most treasured possession of the Magyars, in the defense of which they were ever ready to shed their blood. With these thoughts we may come closer to understanding the real meaning of FREEDOM FIGHT of 1848. Let us now turn to the history.

When Napoleon reached the Hungarian frontier during his Austrian Campaign /1809/, he called on the Hungarians to rise against the Habsburg House. Remembering Louis XIV, and his unkept promise to Rákoczy, the Hungarians did nothing. After Napoleon’s fall, the Vienna Congress in 1815 set up the H oly Alliance of the victorious powers with the aim of re-establishing the rule of absolution in Europe which affected Hungary very closely and badly. It was of this despotic government that the great freedom war broke out in Hungary on March 15, 1848. Before the revolution, at the Diet of 1832, one leading figure appeared - LAJOS /Louis/KOSSUTH, the son of an old Reformed noble family. He was one of the great leaders of the Independence War. He remained, in fact, the actual leader of the nation during the ensuing struggle. As we know, the most d ramatic events of March 15 took place in Budapest while Louis Kossuth was in Vienna. The hero of that day was not Kossuth, but an uninvited supporting actor in the person of the poet Sándor Petőfi. Among all the literary lights who illuminated Hungary at that time, Petőfi was the youngest and the most brilliant. He was a comet shooting across the sky with the radiance of his powerful poetry. Never were his words delivered with more dramatic effect than on March 15,1848, when they became the overture to revolution. On that significant morning, Petőfi and his friend, Mór Jókai, addressed a group of young men who had assembled in the cafe Pilvax and who would later

become known as the youth of March. Aroused by the clarion calls for the rebirth of the nation, they were ready to start freeing it from its chains. Inspired by the fire of Petôfi’s words, the whole nation raised against the despotic government of the Habsburg House.

After innumerable battles, the independence wars were crushed. The Habsburg House asked for the Russians’ help to crush the Hungarian uprising. Thus, a newly-expanded Austrian army and fresh Russian troops, a total of about half a million with about 2,000 cannons, confronted the exhausted Hungarian army. The Hungarians had no chance to win. On the 13th of August, 1849, the remaining Hungarian troops in Transylvania at Világos capitulated before the Russian and Austrian commanders. The sadistic Austrian general Haynau, nicknamed “Hyena” for his cruelty, was made military dictator to vent his wrath upon a defenseless people. He had 160,000 soldiers and civilians executed, among them 13 generals and ex-prime minister Batthányi. The country was divided into districts administered directly from Vienna. After the collapse of the freedom struggle, Kossuth sought refuge abroad, accompanied by several political and military leaders. Kossuth had learned English in his Austrian prison. After a triumphal welcome in New York, he was invited to address a session of the U.S. House of Representatives/an honor only granted to one other foreign statesman, Winston Churchill/. During his stay in America as the nation’s guest, he delivered several hundred speeches in English. Thus, he managed to make the fate of his nation known to the western world. During these years, he managed to gain worldwide sympathy for the oppressed Hungarian nation. The elderly Kossuth retired in Italy, where he died.

The scattered Hungarians all over the world every year on MARCH 15 remember those who lost their lives during the uprising. So do we remember after 144 years, here at Bethlen Home, about this Freedom Fight, and we see its effect today.

We have marveled at the astonishing and fundamental changes in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union. Indeed, the whole cultural fabric of Europe has been altered right before our eyes. Once again the basic human need for freedom has triumphed. We have witnessed the creation of a new order. Who would have predicted that Communism was to last only the span of a lifetime? What a sad and tragic lifetime! Would we have predicted that the Berlin Wall would stand for less than 30 years? Or that the Post-war communist dictatorship from East Germany to Romania would tumble within months of each other? Would we have dared to hope for all these? Perhaps most astonishing of all is the removal of Soviet troops from Hungary and other Eastern European Countries, and the final collapse of the Soviet Union.

What does all of this have to do with the Hungarian Revolution of 1848? Everything. Have you noticed that of all of the countries caught up in the recent revolutions, Hungary’s was the most effective and has the greatest promise? The anguished cries of the revolutionaries of 1848 have not been lost to an uncaring history. The irrepresible