Hungarian Revolution Day of 1848

The Hungarian parliament, which represents its independence, is royally beautiful.On this day in G. Pest (now part of Budapest) began the "Hungarian Spring" - a bourgeois revolution, a bloodless national liberation movement of the Hungarians for independence from the power of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, which later escalated into a war against Austria and its allies.

The main demands of the Hungarians were freedom of the press, the creation of a Hungarian parliament and a government in Pest. The revolutionaries also demanded the abolition of serfdom, freedom of religion, the creation of a national bank, the Hungarian army and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

As a result of negotiations between the independence fighters and Emperor Franz Joseph II, most of their demands were fulfilled. This was recorded in the so-called "April laws" signed by the monarch. The first government responsible to the Hungarian parliament was headed by Count Lajos Battiani.

Despite the bloodless nature of the reforms, the independence of the Hungarians was unprofitable to the Austrian imperial house, so soon Franz Joseph II agreed with the Russian tsar on military assistance to suppress Hungarian freedom. Confrontation of interests turns into armed conflict.

In August 1849, Hungarians seeking independence were defeated. Thirteen generals of the revolutionary army and five civilian leaders of independent Hungary were executed, and among them was Count Battiani, the first prime minister of the independent country.

The Hungarians succeeded in partially restoring the freedoms briefly achieved by the revolutionaries only two decades later, when in 1867 an agreement was concluded to transform the Habsburg Empire into a dualist (double) monarchy of Austria-Hungary.

Austria and Hungary were recognized as sovereign parts of the same state, there was a partial separation of legislative and executive power (at the level of the Austrian Reichsrat/Hungarian Sejm and ministries). The main role in governing the country was played by the Austrian emperor, who also had the title of Hungarian king.

As a public holiday, this day began to be celebrated in Hungary after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918. Every year on March 15, Hungarian tricolors are displayed throughout the country.