Reform and Revolution 1825-1848

Andras Gergely focuses on the program, motives, and social background of the Hungarian reform movement, which formed around the nobility of the 1830s. After 1841, the political scene in Hungary became more complex with the rise of the political press and the widening of public opinion. Both the reformers’ and conservatives’ camps split. However, the 1848 Revolution demolished Vienna absolutism and allowied for the emancipation of the serfs and the creation of a ministry that established the April Laws and the new constitution of Hungary. The Revolution was then followed by the War of Independence, but unfortunately, the intervention of the Russian Tsar’s army conquered Hungary’s thirst for freedom, and in 1849 the country was divided and assimilated into the newly organized Hapsburg Empire.