1848 was supposed to be the birth of the modern Hungarian nation. In some ways, it still succeeded.

March 15th marks the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 – the only bloodless revolutions in the wave that crashed over Europe that year. We Hungarians are very proud of that, even if the day began a cascading series of events that led to the War of Independence.

I usually keep a “we get there when we get there” attitude on this podcast when it comes to major historical events. However, our community has been growing significantly since last year, and, to be honest, 1848-1849 is probably my favorite two years of Hungarian history. It has all the makings of an epic drama, with tragedy mixed in. We will discuss it in excruciating detail once we get around to it, but this one time, I did not want to wait the years it is going to take us to get here.

The revolution and the subsequent war with Austria swept away the old remnants of the feudal system that held up in Hungary up until the 19th century, and sown the seeds of a modern Hungary – both in good ways, and bad ones. But today, let us remember the good: the people who stood up for liberty, for freedom, and for their homeland.

See you all next Wednesday!

Image above is a painting by Zalán Kertai, titled: Huszárroham (Charge of the Hussars)