Who was Lajos Kossuth?
Lajos Kossuth was born in 1802 and made his name as a campaigning journalist. He launched a parliamentary news sheet in 1832, and in 1837 police arrested him on orders from the Vienna court, leading to a three-year sentence. From 1841 he edited Pesti Hírlap, which grew rapidly, and he pressed for reform. In 1848 he served as finance minister in the revolutionary government. After the 1849 declaration of independence deposed the Habsburgs, the Debrecen assembly made him governor-president. Habsburg and Russian armies crushed the revolution, and he lived in exile, largely in Turin, until his death in 1894.
Political views
- His writings called for a common tax burden regardless of rank, the abolition of entail and the end of serfdom through compensated redemption.Source: ado.hu
- Vienna took action against his early parliamentary reports, and he was arrested in May 1837 and sentenced to three years in prison.Source: mult-kor.hu
- As editor of Pesti Hírlap from 1841 he analyzed social and economic problems, and circulation rose from about 60 to 5,200.Source: ado.hu
- He backed Hungarian industry, organized the first industrial exhibition in 1842 and directed the Protective Association of 1844, whose members pledged to buy only Hungarian goods.Source: ado.hu
- In 1848 he oversaw the April Laws as finance minister and ordered the first Hungarian banknotes to fund national defense.Source: ado.hu
- The 1849 Declaration of Independence deposed the Habsburgs, and the Debrecen National Assembly named him governor-president.Source: ado.hu
- He envisioned a federation within the Kingdom of Hungary in which all nationalities took part in a democratic system based on equality and parliamentary representation. In exile he promoted a Danubian Confederation.Source: americanhungarianfederation.org
- He opposed the 1867 Compromise with Austria and demanded full independence until his death.Source: americanhungarianfederation.org
Legacy
Admirers honor Kossuth as the great symbol of Hungarian freedom, a reformer who argued for equality, democracy and an end to serfdom, and who became a celebrity in the United States, where he addressed Congress in 1852. Critics note that the revolution he led was defeated by combined Habsburg and Russian armies, and some historians say his Danubian Confederation had little realistic basis. His 1867 attack on the Compromise left him outside the settlement most Hungarians accepted. Historians still debate the war's treatment of national minorities.