Kossuth, L
NAME: Kossuth, Lajos.
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Led Hungary's fight for independence from Austria.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 19th September 1802, Monok, Hungary.
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 20th March 1894, Turin, Italy. Aged 91.
DISCIPLINE: Revolutionary.
FIELD: Politics.
LANGUAGE: Hungarian.
PARENTS: Laszlo Kossuth and Charlotte.
SIBLINGS: Four sisters.
SPOUSE: Terezia Meszlenyi, married 1841.
CHILDREN: Ferenc, who, for a time, was president of the Hungarian Party of Independence.
EDUCATION: Calvinist Academy of Sárospatak; University of Budapest, to 1821.
MAJOR WORK: 'Memories of My Exile', 1880.
LIFE AND TIMES: In 1824, having moved to Pest, Kossuth was appointed deputy at the National Diet (Parliament) in Pozsony, Pressburg (now Bratislava) of which he was a member from 1825 to 1827, and then again from 1832 to 1836. At this second Diet, a new generation of Hungarian reformers, Kossuth among them, agitated for national liberty and freedom from Austrian rule.
When the Diet ended in 1836, the County Assembly of Pest asked Kossuth to write a report on what had gone on. This put him in a dangerous position, since he no longer had parliamentary immunity. As a result, on 4th May 1837, he was arrested on a charge of high treason and, after 18 months in jail in Ofen, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for subversion.
Luckily for Kossuth, the Diet of 1839 supported the release of prisoners and refused to pass any government measures before this was achieved. The Austrian Chancellor <amnestied by> Metternich* finally agreed, and Kossuth became a popular hero following his release in 1840.
In January 1841, he became editor of the biweekly radical journal, the 'Pesti Hirlap' and began to make enemies. The Austrian authorities and the more conservative Hungarians were worried about his political radicalism, and he upset racial minorities ties with his pro-Hungarian views.
His publisher, probably under pressure from Vienna, sacked him in 1844 and his plan to start a journal of his own was blocked. Metternich offered him a job writing for the Austrian government but Kossuth refused and faced the next three years without regular work.
In the autumn of 1847 he got his lucky break. Supported by the current leader of the Hungarian independence movement, Count Louis Batthyanyi, Kossuth became the member for Budapest in the next Diet, in which he led the "National
Opposition" group, composed of radicals and extreme liberals.
His major demands were for the abolition of feudal tax burdens and of the exemption of the nobility from taxation. In February 1848 news of the revolution in Paris encouraged Kossuth.
On March 3rd, in a powerful speech to the Diet, he demanded parliamentary independence for Hungary, as well as constitutional government for Austria. This was the beginning of Kossuth's leadership of the Hungarian Revolution. On behalf of the Diet he wrote to the Emperor, outlining the plans of the reformers.
This list later became known as the March Laws, under which radical social revolution could be avoided. The plan was that power would be in the hands of the landowners, in an independent Hungarian State, loosely united with Austria under a common Monarchy.
News of revolution in Vienna and the overthrow of Metternich on 13th March 1848 reached the Diet the following day.
Kossuth expanded the March Laws and, as a member of the deputation that took it to Vienna the next day, saw it accepted by an Austrian court now in chaos. On April 11th 1848, the March Laws were ratified by Emperor Ferdinand I and the Hungarian Revolution was legalized. Count Lajos Batthyány, who became Prime Minister in April 1848, made Kossuth Minister of Finance.
Control of the country's economy soon became the biggest stumbling block between the new Hungarian government and the Austrians. Beginning what was something of a personality cult, he issued an independent Hungarian currency, with his own name prominent on the notes. His newspaper, entitled the 'Kossuth Hirlapia', increased his prestige with readers and cemented his power.
Kossuth persuaded the Diet to send troops to support the revolution in Italy, while also calling for a national force to defend Hungary against the dual threat from the Croats and the Serbs. In September 1848, the Austrians, fed up with Kossuth and Hungarian independence, supported an invasion by a Croat army. Batthyanyi stood down and Kossuth became head of the Committee of National Defense, taking charge of the war effort.
He was now the virtual dictator of Hungary, a charismatic figure who inspired the Hungarian people. But despite his popular support, his uninformed meddling with military affairs caused friction with his senior general, Arthur Gorgei.
The Diet made Kossuth "Governor" of Hungary but, after an invasion (in support of the Austrians) by the Russian army, he recognized the hopelessness of his position and resigned in favor of Gorgei on 11th August 1849. After the defeat at Temesvar, he escaped to Turkey, where he was interned .
As a result of British and American influence, he was released in September 1851 and traveled to Marseilles. Having been refused permission to cross France, he sailed to Southampton, England, landing on 23rd October 1851. Once safely there, he addressed a series of mass meetings. He received standing ovations but no government support for the Hungarian cause.
In the summer of 1852, Kossuth settled as an exile in London, where he remained for the next seven years, working for the Hungarian cause and corresponding with revolutionaries all over Europe. While in London, he met <met> Garibaldi*, and <collaborated with> Mazzini* , joining his revolutionary committee.
As war between Austria and a Franco-Italian alliance became imminent in 1859, Kossuth approached French Emperor <betrayed by> Napoleon III*, offering to arrange a Hungarian uprising against Austria. The Emperor agreed and preparations for military action were devised with France and Piedmont, through its Prime Minister, <collaborated with> Cavour*. The plans fell apart when, in July 1859, Napoleon concluded an armistice, the Peace of Villafranca, with the <betrayed by> Austrian Emperor Franz Josef*, leaving the Hungarians to their fate.
Kossuth, bitterly disappointed, moved to Turin in 1860, where he was forced to see Hungary, led by the moderate statesman Francis Deak, move towards reconciliation with the Austrian monarchy. This eventually resulted in the agreement of 1867 and the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Kossuth published an open letter, known as the "Cassandra letter", predicting bad times for Deak and for Hungary. In spite of an offer of amnesty, Kossuth refused to take his seat at the Diet of 1867.
For the rest of his life, he lived in Turin, where he wrote an autobiography, 'Memories of My Exile', detailing his activities during the period 1859-1861, his negotiations with Napoleon III and Cavour, and those with the Balkan courts over his idea of a Danubian Federation.
In 1879, he became an exile again when the Hungarian government passed a law withdrawing the citizenship of all Hungarians who had been voluntarily absent for ten years.
He completed four further volumes of his autobiography and a work on Hungarian history, living in near-poverty and declining health.
ASSESSMENT: His legend grew with the years and was further cultivated after 1945, when Hungary lost much of the independence Kossuth had won.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: He inspired <inspired> Bartok*
ONELINER: Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian patriot
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Zarek, Otto, Kossuth, London: Selwyn & Blount, 1937.