Hungarian Forint Exchange RateThe Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many revolutions that year and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. The revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary grew into a war for independence from Habsburg rule.
Many of its leaders and participants, including Lajos Kossuth, István Széchenyi, Sándor Petőfi, József Bem, are among the most respected national figures in Hungarian history, and the anniversary of the revolution’s outbreak, on March 15, is one of Hungary’s three national holidays.
The Hungarian Diet (parliament) was reconvened in 1825 to handle financial needs. A liberal party emerged in the Diet. The party focused on providing for the peasantry in mostly symbolic ways because of their inability to understand the needs of the laborers. Lajos Kossuth emerged as leader of the lower gentry in the Diet.
The Revolution started on March 15, 1848, with bloodless events in Pest and Buda (mass demonstrations forcing the imperial governor to accept all demands), followed by various insurrections throughout the kingdom, which enabled Hungarian reformists to declare Hungary’s new government and the first Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány of Hungary.
The new government approved a sweeping reform package, referred to as the “April laws” (also referred to as the “March Laws”), which essentially created a democratical political system[1] in Hungary. They also demanded that the Hungarian government receive and expend all taxes raised in Hungary, and have authority over Hungarian regiments in the Habsburg army.
The Hungarian cockade used in 1848
In the summer of 1848, aware that they were on the path to civil war, the Hungarian government ministers attempted to gain Habsburg support against Conservative Josip Jelačić by offering to send troops to northern Italy. By the end of August, the imperial government in Vienna officially ordered the Hungarian government in Pest to end plans for a Hungarian army. Jelačić then took military action against the Hungarian government without any official order.
With war raging on three fronts (against the Jelačić’s Croatian troops, in the Banat, and in Transylvania), Hungarian radicals in Pest saw this as an opportunity. Parliament made concessions to the radicals in September rather than let the events erupt into violent confrontations.
Faced with revolution at home in Vienna too, Austria at first accepted Hungary’s government. However, after the Austrian revolution was beaten down, and Franz Joseph I replaced his mentally handicapped uncle Ferdinand I as Emperor, Austria again refused to accept Hungarian government. The final break between Vienna and Pest occurred when Field Marshall Count Lamberg was given control of all armies in Hungary (including Jelačić’s).
In response to Lamberg being attacked & viciously murdered by a peasant mob upon his arrival in Hungary a few days later, the Imperial court ordered the Hungarian parliament and government dissolved. Jelačić was appointed to take Lamberg’s place. War between Austria and Hungary had officially begun.
Source and more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1848
