Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMiklós Barabás, 1840s | |
| 1stPrime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary | |
| In office 17 March – 2 October 1848 | |
| Monarch | Ferdinand V |
| Deputy | Bertalan Szemere |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Lajos Kossuth |
| Leader of the Opposition Party | |
| In office 15 March 1847 – 2 September 1848 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Lajos Kossuth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1807-02-10)10 February 1807 |
| Died | 6 October 1849(1849-10-06) (aged 42) |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Resting place | Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest |
| Political party | Opposition Party |
| Spouse | Antónia Zichy de Zics et Vázsonykő |
| Children | Amália Ilona Elemér |
| Signature |  |
Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár (Hungarian pronunciation:['lɒjɔʃ'bɒc:a:ɲidɛne:mɛtu:jva:r];Hungarian:gróf németújvári Batthyány Lajos; 10 February 1807 – 6 October 1849) was the firstPrime Minister of Hungary. He was born in Pozsony (modern-dayBratislava) on 10 February 1807, and was executed by firing squad inPest on 6 October 1849, the same day asthe 13 Martyrs of Arad.
His father was Count József SándorBatthyány von Német-Újvár (1777–1812), his mother BorbálaSkerlecz de Lomnicza (1779–1834). He had an elder sister, Countess Amalia (who married, and divorced, CountFranz Oliver von Jenison-Walworth, and later then Count vonWesterholt-Gysenberg. At an early age, he moved toVienna with his mother and his brother after his parents' divorce. Batthyány had a private tutor, but his mother sent him to a boarding school and Batthyány rarely saw his mother again.
At the age of 16 Batthyány finished his studies at boarding school and attended the academy in Zagreb (nowUniversity of Zagreb, Croatia). In 1826 he took atour of duty in Italy for four years, where he was promoted to lieutenant and got hislaw degree.
In 1830 he became ahereditary peer in theUpper House in Hungary and took his seat in the Parliament, but at this time Battyhány was not a politician by nature.
In December 1834 he marriedCountess Antónia Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeő (daughter of Count KárolyZichy de Zich et Vásonkeő and Countess AntóniaBatthyány von Német-Újvár). Their children were:Countess Amália Batthyány von Német-Újvár (1837–1922),IlonaKeglevich von Buzin (1842–1929) andCount Elemér Batthyány (1847–1932). Batthyány's friend said that Antónia (his wife) encouraged him to take on larger responsibilities in politics.
Batthyány became more involved after the 1839–1840diet in Pozsony and was theLeader of the Opposition. He drew up a reform plan for them. Batthyány advised employingstenographers to record verbatim the proceedings of the Upper House starting in 1840.
Batthyány agreed withIstván Széchenyi's views on economics and politics. At the beginning of the 1830s Batthyány was one of the people who promoted thebreeding of race horses in Hungary. Later they expanded into other animal breeding and established theAssociation of Hungarian Economy. Batthyány, following Széchenyi, supported breedingsilkworms: he planted more than 50,000mulberry trees on his farm to cultivate them. TheVas shire county and the Economics Association of Szombathely were founded with Batthyány's help.
At the start he agreed with Széchenyi that the new noblemen and aristocrats had to lead the new reform movement, but Batthyány's views were much closer to that of the nobility. Because of this Batthyány tried to bite his tongue when dealing with Széchenyi andLajos Kossuth. From 1843 onward he started to work with Kossuth.
In the 1843–1844 parliament Batthyány was the Leader of the Opposition for the entire parliament, and criticised theHabsburg monarchy's internal affairs and foreign policy.
After thedissolution of parliament Batthyány moved to Pest and in 1845 he was elected as the chairman of the Central Election Office. He had an important role in the other economic associations and set up theVédegylet (roughly: "Defence society" ). On 15 March 1847 an amalgamation of the Hungarian Leftist movements (the Maverick Party) was founded and Batthyány became its first President.
Batthyány supported Kossuth both morally and financially. Kossuth became the representative forPest County in the 1847 diet. After this Batthyány was the Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House while Kossuth had the same role in theLower House.
Batthyány was part of the delegation to the EmperorFerdinand I of Austria. They insisted Hungary's government be supreme in its territory. On 17 March 1848 the Emperor assented and Batthyány created the firstDiet of Hungary. On 23 March 1848, ashead of government, Batthyány commended his administration to the Diet.
The first task of the new government was to work out the revolution's policies. After these were agreed, the government began to take action on 11 April 1848. At that time the internal affairs and foreign policy of Hungary were unstable, and Batthyány faced many problems. His first and most important act was to organise the armed forces and thelocal government. He insisted that the Austrian army, when in Hungary, would come under Hungarian law, and this was conceded by the Austrian Empire. He tried to repatriate conscripted soldiers to Hungary. He established theOrganisation of Militiamen, whose job was to ensure internal security. In May 1848 he started to organise the independentHungarian Revolutionary Army and recruited men into it. Batthyány took control of the Organisation of Militiamen untilLázár Mészáros returned. At the same time, he wasMinister of War.
Batthyány was a very capable leader, but he was in the middle of a clash between the Austrian monarchy and the Hungarian separatists. He was devoted to theconstitutional monarchy and aimed to uphold the constitution, but the Emperor was dissatisfied with his work. On 29 August, with the assent of parliament, Batthyány andFerenc Deák went to the Emperor to ask him to order the Serbs to capitulate and to stop Jelačić, who was planning to attack Hungary. At the same time, Batthyány made Jelačić the offer that Croatia – as part of thelands of the Hungarian Crown -, could separate from it peacefully. Batthyány's efforts were unsuccessful: even though the Emperor formally relieved Jelačić of his duties, in practice Jelačić and his army invaded Hungary on 11 September 1848.
So Batthyány and his government resigned, except for Kossuth, Szemere, and Mészáros. Later, at the request ofArchduke Stephen, Palatine of Hungary, Batthyány became Prime Minister again. On 13 September Batthyány announced a rebellion and requested that the Palatine lead it. However the Palatine, under orders from the Emperor, resigned his position and left Hungary.
The Emperor did not recognise the new government on 25 September. He also invalidated Batthyány's leadership and nominatedCount Franz Philipp von Lamberg as the leader of the Hungarian army. But Lamberg was assassinated by the rebels in Pest on 28 September. Meanwhile, Batthyány travelled to Vienna again to seek a compromise with the Emperor.
Batthyány was successful in his hurried efforts to organize theHungarian Revolutionary Army: the new army defeated the Croatians on 29 September at theBattle of Pákozd.
Batthyány realised that he could not compromise with the Emperor, so on 2 October he resigned again and nominatedMiklós Vay as his successor. At the same time, Batthyány resigned his seat in parliament.
As an ordinary soldier, Batthyány joinedJózsef Vidos' army, and fought against generalKuzman Todorović, but on 11 October 1848 he fell off his horse and broke his arm.
After Batthyány recovered he was again elected as a politician. Batthyány didn't want the Parliament to move toDebrecen. Because of his proposal the Parliament sent a delegation (including Batthyány himself) to GeneralAlfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz to meet with him as the Parliament wanted to know Windisch-Grätz's purpose. But the general didn't want to meet with Batthyány, only with the other members of the delegation.
On 8 January 1849 Batthyány went back to Pest, where he was captured at theKároly Palace and imprisoned in the Budai barracks. When the Hungarian army was nearer Pest, Batthyány was taken away to Pozsony,Ljubljana and Olmütz (nowOlomouc, Czech Republic). The Hungarians tried to rescue him many times, but Batthyány asked them not to. Batthyány insisted that his actions were legitimate and that the court had no jurisdiction.
On 16 August 1849 in Olmütz the Military Court sent Batthyány to his fate. At first they wanted to confiscate his possessions and give him a prison sentence, but under pressure fromPrince Felix von Schwarzenberg and the Austrian Empire they instead sentenced Batthyány to death.
The Hungarians carried Batthyány to Pest, because they hoped that generalJulius Jacob von Haynau (in the name of the Emperor) would give him mercy, but Haynau sentenced him tohang. In her last visit, Batthyány's wife smuggled a small sword into the prison. Batthyány tried to commit suicide by cutting hisjugular veins, but he failed in the attempt. Because of the scars on his neck, the court changed the sentence toexecution by firing squad.
On the evening of 6 October Batthyány was drugged and because of this he walked to theNew Building. He had lost much blood because of his suicide attempt so that two people had to escort him. He was relieved to see that there were nogallows.Baron Johann Franz Kempen von Fichtenstamm, the commander of the military district in Pest and Buda[1] knew that it was impossible to execute Batthyány by firing squad in his drugged state, but he sought no delay, so decided to shoot him in the head. Batthyány knelt in front of the firing squad and shouted:"Éljen a haza! Rajta, vadászok!" ("Long live my country! Come on, huntsmen!").[2]
Batthyány's funeral was in the city centre, in the vault of the Greyfriars Church. After theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, in 1870 his remains were moved to the newly builtmausoleum in theKerepesi Cemetery.
Batthyány's parliamentary speeches are preserved in contemporary diaries and political newspapers. His essay on cultivatingsugar beet was printed in the periodicalMagyar Gazda in 1842.
| 8. Count Zsigmond Batthyány de Németújvár | |||||||||||||||
| 4. Count Miksa Batthyány de Németújvár | |||||||||||||||
| 9. Rozália von Lengheim | |||||||||||||||
| 2. CountJózsef Sándor Batthyány de Németújvár | |||||||||||||||
| 5. Magdolna Flässer | |||||||||||||||
| 1.Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár | |||||||||||||||
| 12. Sándor Skerlecz de Lomnicza | |||||||||||||||
| 6. Ferencz Skerlecz de Lomnicza | |||||||||||||||
| 13. Anna Rosty deBarkócz | |||||||||||||||
| 3.Borbála Skerlecz de Lomnicza | |||||||||||||||
| 14. Sándor Kis de Nemeskér | |||||||||||||||
| 7. Rozália Kis deNemeskér | |||||||||||||||
| 15. Zsófia Daróczy deKirálydarócz | |||||||||||||||
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Hungary 1848 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by office created | Minister of War Acting 1848 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance Acting 1848 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Religion and Education Acting 1848 | Succeeded by |
| Belligerents | |
|---|---|
| Pretext | |
| Major battles | |
| Other events | |
| Influence | |
 Leaders for Austria | |
 Leaders for Hungary | |
.svg) Leaders for Russia | |
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