Russia invaded Ukraine with an army as big as the one they sent to crush the March 1848 Hungarian revolution!

After the Hungarian revolutionary army defeated the Habsburg Empire in their spring offensive in 1849, it seemed that everything could be achieved that the March 1848 revolution wanted; independence, constitutional order, liberal reforms in the economy, freedom of thoughts and press. However, the day the Hungarian troops recaptured Buda castle marked the Habsburg emperor, Franz Joseph’s and the Russian tsar, Nicholas I’s, agreement to crush Hungary. 

Slow reforms

Russian troops took part in the fight for Transylvania before, but Hungarians defeated them. Therefore, “the gendarme of Europe” decided to send an army big enough by itself to destroy the Hungarian army.

But why did the Habsburgs need foreign intervention? How could an undeveloped, poor and unorganised country like Hungary defeat such great power?

The first part of the 19th century in Hungary was the era of reforms. Magnates like István Széchenyi or Miklós Wesselényi realised that the country was poor and underdeveloped. They believed that Hungary must catch up with industrialised Great Britain and France. Otherwise, the country would remain a periphery, a semi-colony of the modern world. Some nobles believed that they needed the Habsburg’s support for the reforms. Others argued that reforms should be introduced even if the Habsburgs oppose them.

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Since the Vienna court was conservative, it was difficult to convince them about anything. Thus, the reform process was slow.

15th of March: victory for the nation

The 1848 revolutions created an opportunity to accelerate the establishment of a modern, civic Hungary. After learning about the revolution in Vienna, a revolution broke out in Pest on 15th March. People led by world-famous Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi, Mór Jókai, Pál Vasvári and others, wanted autonomous state, freedom of thought, press, and liberal economic reforms.

It seemed they won. The first parliament and government accountable for it formed between March and July with the authorisation of the emperor. 

However, the Habsburgs only wanted time to reorganise. After they crushed all the other revolutions in the empire, they turned against Hungary. Shockingly for the Vienna court, they suffered several defeats even though they stirred Romanians, Serbians, Croats against the Hungarian government. The Hungarian revolutionary army defeated the Habsburg Empire in their glorious spring offensive in 1849. Moreover, in April, the Hungarian parliament dethroned the Habsburgs.

Nobody supported an independent Hungary

But nobody supported an independent Hungary in the region despite its victories. The German revolution was crushed, Great Britain and France greeted Lajos Kossuth and Hungary, but thought it important that the Habsburg Empire remain intact in Central Europe. Therefore, no foreign powers sent help to Pest.