The Radical Left in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 [antikvár]

introduction 1848 was the year of revolutions in Europe, and Hungary, too, experienced a major political and social upheaval. Hungary had two basic questions to solve in that year. As a feudal country, she had to institute modern economic and social systems. As part of the multinational Habsburg Monarchy, Hungary wished to free herself from Austrian influence and at the same time had to cope with her own non-Magyar nationalities' political aspirations. Thus, the problems of social progress and of conflicting national desires required simultaneous solutions. The struggle for national independence failed and the nationalities problem was unresolved in 1848 but by abolishing feudalism Hungary accomplished one of the most important changes in her thousand year old history. The revolution also placed Hungary in the main stream of world history. Alone among the peoples of Europe, the Magyars succeeded in taking a unified national stand in defense of their freedom. The revolutionary war against the Habsburg armies was on a larger scale and longer duration than elsewhere in Europe and also brought Russian troops for the first time to the Carpathian Basin. This monograph will not attempt to give a detailed history of Hungary during the revolution. Its purpose is to examine the contribution to social progress and national freedom made by Hungarian radicals in 1848. The radicals were selected as the topic of this investigation because they, more than any other group, were responsible for the outbreak of the revolution and did the utmost to make it succeed. The accomplishments of Hungarian radicalism were determined by the internal conditions of the country. Hungarian radicals, as radicals elsewhere in Europe, derived their ideology from the egalitarian tradition of the Great French Revolution. Therefore, despite Hungary's backwardness, the radicals asserted democratic principles and worked toward this goal during the revolution. In 1848, the political spectrum in Hungary ranged from conservatives to liberals to, on the extreme left, radicals, a minority which wanted greater change than did the other groups. These three political groups are distinguishable by the solutions each offered to the essential