The Hungarian hero of Argentina

According to GLOBS Magazine, the story that leads us to the pampas of Argentina starts at the end of the 18th century in the Habsburg Empire, more specifically – in Transylvania. A certain Johann Czetz of the Armenian community in Transylvania joins the hussars and marries a Szekler girl. The main character of the story is his son, General János Czetz, who ends up in Argentina at last.

János Czetz was born in the same year as the famous Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi. He was a good student, an excellent scientist and a brave soldier. He was a world traveller, whose adventurous life and stories could even be a compulsory reading for the youth, but this is unfortunately not the case. The general of the Transylvanian military operations and his fellow fighters – as against the legendary General Bem – don’t form part of the Hungarian historical remembrance. Many of his descendants still live in Transylvania, they regularly commemorate the general and guard his relics among the treasures of the family. Even though his memory is also guarded in Budapest by a street and a plaque, he became a national hero somewhere else: thousands of kilometres away from the Transylvanian mountains – in Argentina.

But let’s start from the beginning. When his father suddenly passed away, the upbringing of the child, who was already highly interested in natural sciences, was taken over by the family and the patrons. He continued his studies in Kézdivásárhely and Bécsújhely at the military academy, where the best soldiers of the monarchy were trained and where admission for a Transylvanian-Hungarian orphan was a huge honour and opportunity. One can consider that a strict institution like this is not a pleasant place at all. But the atmosphere of the Academy of Bécsújhely was very inspiring for young soldiers. At least this is how János Czetz described it, saying that it was the best eight years in his life. Czetz became a real infant prodigy.

He mentioned quite proudly in his memoir that during the 95 years of the academy, he was the second person who passed all of his exams with excellent results.

At the age of 24, when Petőfi wrote János Vitéz (John the Valiant), Czetz also wrote a book titled ‘Hungarian Military Grammar’. He advanced quite quickly in the hierarchy and was admitted to the Viennese general staff, which was quite sensational with his young age. He would’ve been in a glorious military career as the young lieutenant of the imperial army, but it turned out to be the last time that he was in the imperial city as the Hungarian war of independence intervened. Lázár Mészáros, leader of the newly set up Ministry of Defence, invited the young expert to help in setting up the army. First, he worked in office and made procession plans and then, he passed the battle baptism in Délvidék. Although Hungarians lost the battle, Czetz performed well. In time of the crisis at the end of 1848, Kossuth sent Czetz to Transylvania as the chief of staff. By that time, Transylvania was mostly controlled by the imperial forces and their allies, the Romanian rebels. It was the task of Lieutenant-General Bem and Chief of Staff Czetz to bring the region under the control of the revolutionary government. Even though the imperial forces led by Puchner outnumbered them, Czetz was able to stop the marching troops of Puchner.

Bem promoted him to colonel on the 12th of February, 1849 and he received the third order of the Hungarian Military Merit on the 8th of April. He achieved great successes in the occupation of Nagyszeben (11th of March, 1849), so Bem proposed his promotion to general, which was approved by the Hungarian Defence Committee in May. János Czetz became the youngest general of the Hungarian defence forces. In the absence of Bem, he was the leader of the victorious Battle of Medgyes on the 2nd of March. The battle was the peak of Czetz’s military career, because he served as an independent commander in the first line. Besides his strategic preparedness, he was also able to attest his leading skills. Then, he was the assigned commander of the Transylvanian army during Bem’s campaign in the Bánság. At the age of 26, János Czetz became the youngest general of the Hungarian defence forces – it was an incredible career, even if promotions happen quite quickly during revolutions.