The Hungarian War of Independence 1848-1849

The Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 was both a national transformation and part of the wider European revolutionary upheaval of 1848. In just 18 months, Hungary moved decisively from a feudal order towards a civic society, while hundreds of thousands of soldiers, national guardsmen and civilians became caught up in elections, mobilisation, campaigning and war. When Vienna sought to curtail Hungary’s new autonomy, political crisis gave way to armed conflict: first against Josip Jelačić’s Croatian intervention and then against much of the Imperial Royal Army. What began as a war of self-defence became, after the declaration of independence and dethronement of the Habsburgs in April 1849, a full war of independence. Austria was ultimately able to suppress the Hungarian cause only with the military intervention of Tsarist Russia, requiring the combined power of two great empires to bring the conflict to an end.

The Hungarian War of Independence 1848–1849 is far more than a narrative of battles and campaigns. Róbert Hermann, the foremost authority on the conflict and the author of some 30 books and 350 scholarly papers, brings decades of research to a comprehensive examination of the war in all its dimensions. He explains how Hungary raised, armed and supplied its new honvéd army; examines the Austrian, Hungarian and Russian forces in remarkable detail; and explores command, tactics, weapons, fortifications, transport, military industry, logistics and battlefield medicine alongside the political and national tensions that shaped the struggle. The great campaigns and personalities are placed alongside the experiences of ordinary soldiers and civilians, while nationalist myths and long-established assumptions are subjected to critical scrutiny.

The result is also an exceptionally rich visual history. Illustrated throughout with contemporary portraits, engravings, uniform studies and depictions of battles and military life drawn from the author’s extensive private collection, the volume is further enhanced by a spectacular 24-page colour section charting the conflict from its opening campaigns to Komárom, Temesvár, the final surrender and the executions at Arad. Detailed maps clarify the operations across the vast and complex theatres of war, while an extensive bibliography provides an invaluable guide to the scholarship of the conflict.

Translated and prepared for an international readership by Péter Bayer and Christopher Pringle, this landmark study makes Hermann’s magisterial account available to English-speaking readers and restores the Hungarian War of Independence to its rightful place within the military and revolutionary history of nineteenth-century Europe.