The Bethlen Home Messenger, 1998 (1-2. szám)

1998-03-01 / 1. szám

Cijaptótt's Corner

By Rev. Nicholas Novak

HUNGARY'S WAR OF LIBERATION 1848-1998

By Rev. Nicholas Novak MAGYAR, ARISE! -Thy country calls you now!

The hour of decision is here - or never: Should we be slaves or shall we be free? This is the question - You must decide it now! ~

By the great God of Hungary we pledge, we swear: "We'll never be slaves again!"

Verse after verse the solemn refrain grew into a thundering chorus on March 15,1848, as the revolutionary poet Petsfi read this new Credo of Liberty to the demonstrating multitude, demanding the guarantees of an all - inclusive freedom from the tyranny of the Habsburg emperors.

For the past 150 years, virtually all turn of events in Hungarian history have their roots - for better or worse - in these unforgettable lines of an eternal inspiration for the undiminished struggle and endless sacrifice to achieve the all - too - long denied freedom of the people of Hungary.

For a moment, let us reflect on some of the features that characterized this monumental upheaval. First, it was not the lawless riot of an unruly mob, - as the secret - police informed the young, inexperienced emperor, Franze Joseph I. From the beginning to the end, it was a spontaneous, patriotic uprising, in which the whole nation, people from all walks of life, stood up as one man to break the chains of oppression that crippled and humiliated them for centuries. Students and professors, rich nobles and poor peasants, Catholic priests and Calvinist preachers, former generals of the Imperial Army and Polish volunteers, Jewish merchants and Slovak insurgents - all marched together shoulder to shoulder to end the reign of police - terror and heartless exploitation that had but one insidious aim: to turn Hungary into the personal colony of the Habsburg dynasty and of their brain-washed bureaucracy in Vienna.

Secondly, no man of any consequence planned or promoted an armed conflict. It was forced on us. A motley band of marauders, led by the self-styled Croation war - lord Jellasich, crossed the Drava River, plundering, like ruthless bandits, the villages of defenseless peasants. His impudence enraged the whole country. In no time they were literally whipped out from the land, then Austrian troops marched on to Buda - only to meet defeat by the swords of an insurgent National Army, recruited virtually overnight by the passionate, town~to~town campaign of Louis Kossuth.

The liberating forces defeated the Austrian mercenaries battle after battle. The Hungarian general staff gained a most capable ally in the Polish General, Josef Ben. By the summer of 1849, final victory was only a few weeks away. The emperor, who was declared formally dethroned at the Decrecen assembly, called into play the mutual assistance pact with the Tsar of Russia.

Russian infantry and Kossack cavalry was commandeered into the country, an army of 200,000 strong. Against these overwhelming odds General Görgey saw no point in prolonging the war. He, his officers and his exhausted army, laid down their arms in August 13, 1849.

Kossuth and with him thousands of patriots, went into exile. Others, who naively believed the given word of the victors for safe-conduct, were arrested, tried as ordinary traitors, and executed. The day, October 6, 1849, when the 13 generals died a martyrs death at Arad, is ever since a National Day of Mourning.

At our graves "-wrote Petőf the prophetic words in the last stance - our children shall kneel and recall our names and bless our memory in prayer."

Even as we, of Hungarian ancestry, do today.