Hungary's War of Independence was the bloodiest conflict of a European revolutionary era. It excited nationalist passions that have not yet been stilled. The principal actor of the drama was the nobleman, Louis Kossuth. The story of the revolution of 1848, Hungary's most important historic event, is told here in terms of the towering personality of Louis Kossuth. In the spring of that year, Kossuth and his fellow noblemen seized the opportunity presented by the European revolutions to legally restore the sovereignty of the country under the Habsburg Crown. They also introduced many administrative, social and economic reforms. The goals of the reformers however ran into the opposition of the Habsburg Court, the new liberal Austrian government and the non-Magyar peoples of Hungary who feared Hungarian nationalism. In the ensuing war the country was led by Kossuth. The Hungarians lost the war and, in August 1849, Kossuth fled, never to return to his homeland. Louis Kossuth was a forceful, powerful governor-president of Hungary, the people's spokesman and hero but also the symbol of much that they considered calamitous in the national character. At once dynamic and forceful, but also hesitant and weak - he made great provisions for the wounded, veterans, women and orphans but also squandered the lives of his soldiers unnecessarily. He emancipated the peasants and the Jews and, though he died an impoverished exile, he remained a popular idol in Hungary, his name a symbol of the aspiration for independence. His legend grew with the years and was further cultivated after 1945, when Hungary had lost much of the independence for which Kossuth struggled.

67 texts, including hymns, manifestos, articles or extracts from lengthy studies exemplify the relation between Romanticism and the national movements in the cultural space ranging from Poland to the Ottoman Empire. Each text is accompanied by a presentation of the author, and by an analysis of the context in which the respective work was born.The end of the 18th century and first decades of the 19th were in many respects a watershed period in European history. The ideas of the Enlightenment and the dramatic convulsions of the French Revolution had shattered the old bonds and cast doubt upon the established moral and social norms of the old corporate society. In culture a new trend, Romanticism, was successfully asserting itself against Classicism and provided a new key for a growing number of activists to 're-imagine' their national community, reaching beyond the traditional frameworks of identification (such as the 'political nation', regional patriotism, or Christian universalism). The collection focuses on the interplay of Romantic cultural discourses and the shaping of national ideology throughout the 19th century, tracing the patterns of cultural transfer with Western Europe as well as the mimetic competition of national ideologies within the region.

The Hungarian War of Independence was one of the largest European conflicts of the 19th century, lasting a year, encompassing a dozen major battles and many smaller actions and sieges, with half a million men under arms by its end. Yet it remains strangely obscure and overlooked by the Anglophone world, perhaps because of the inaccessibility of Hungarian-language sources for most English readers, combined with the limited number of German-language sources due to Austria's embarrassment about the whole episode. The first half of this war was the Winter Campaign of 1848-1849, in which invading Austrian armies drove deep into Hungary, only to be hurled back again almost to the Austrian border. The Austrian commander was sacked, and the Kaiser had to ask the Tsar for his aid in the Summer Campaign. 250,000 Russians helped the Austrians finally to defeat the Hungarian revolution. This book is a translation of the Austrian semi-official history of the Winter Campaign. It therefore provides a detailed and authoritative account of this neglected war, replete with fascinating episodes and invaluable factual data, in English for the first time ever. It includes extensive information about orders of battle, precious nuggets about uniforms and weaponry, actual despatches reproduced verbatim, and accounts of myriad actions from tiny skirmishes up to the major battles of Kápolna and Isaszeg. The translation of the original text is complemented by extensive scholarly annotation providing both critical analysis and additional data or contextual information. No other work in English approaches this level of detail.

Despite its relatively small size, Hungary has shown remarkable resilience in its long and difficult history, resisting hostile neighbors and the pressures of two massive neighboring empires. Subjected to invasion, occupation, and frequent historical tragedy, the country has nevertheless survived and even flourished, becoming a stable, sovereign democratic republic with a seat in the European Union. Drawing on his experiences as ambassador to Hungary during the declining years of János Kádár's communist regime, Bryan Cartledge recreates a rich portrait of the country's political, economic, and cultural development. Spanning eleven hundred years, his account begins with the arrival of the Magyars in the ninth century and concludes with the acceptance of Hungary into NATO and the EU. Cartledge recounts Hungary's medieval greatness and its defeats at the hands of the Mongols, Turks, and Nazis. He revisits the nation's unsuccessful struggle for independence and the massive deprivations it suffered after the First World War. He also investigates Hungary's disastrous alliance with the Nazis, motivated by a hope for political redress. Cartledge provides startling insight into the experience of Soviet-imposed communism, which culminated in the brutally suppressed revolution of 1956. Exploiting his intimate knowledge of Hungary and its rich archival sources, he explains how a country can lose almost every war it has engaged in and still forge ahead stronger than before.

In the spring of 1848, revolution threatened to sweep away the old order throughout Europe. In the Austrian-occupied north of Italy, newly nurtured nationalism, further fueled by economic issues, prompted open revolt in Lombardy and Venetia. The Austrian army in Italy, commanded by 82-year-old Field Marshal Radetzky, soon saw itself under further threat from the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, that of Naples, and the Papal States, as well as thousands of volunteers, all determined to rid Italy of the occupier. Seemingly under attack from all sides, the Austrian Army was forced to concentrate in the famous 'Quadrilateral', formed by the fortress cities of Peschiera, Mantua, Legnago, and Verona, losing deserters by the thousand, to prepare for the war to follow, a war that would continue into the following year. This volume narrates the remarkable tale of how one old general quite possibly saved an empire. With iron will, the great personal affection of his men, and some luck, Radetzky maintained his army, and finally defeated his opponents. Such was the impact of the 1848 campaign, that Johann Strauss the Elder wrote the 'Radetzky March', in the Field Marshal's honor! The comprehensive story of the revolts and the subsequent military campaigns is recounted here, taken from many and varied sources, including a considerable number of contemporary and first-hand accounts, as well official reports from all sides. Radetzky's Marches is profusely illustrated, and is accompanied by maps, charts, diagrams and extensive orders-of-battle.