Lajos Kossuth

The native form of this personal name is udvardi és kossuthfalvi Kossuth Lajos. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Noble
Lajos Kossuth
de Udvard et Kossuthfalva
Daguerreotype portrait by Southworth & Hawes, May 1852
Governor-President of Hungary
In office
14 April 1849 – 11 August 1849
Prime MinisterBertalan Szemere
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byArtúr Görgey (as acting civil and military authority)
In office
2 October 1848 – 1 May 1849
Preceded byLajos Batthyány (Prime Minister)
Succeeded byBertalan Szemere (Prime Minister)
Minister of Finance of Hungary
In office
7 April 1848 – 12 September 1848
Prime MinisterLajos Batthyány
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byLajos Batthyány
Personal details
Born
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva

(1802-09-19)19 September 1802
Monok, Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg monarchy
Died20 March 1894(1894-03-20) (aged 91)
Turin, Kingdom of Italy
Resting placeKerepesi Cemetery
Political partyOpposition Party (1847–1848)
SpouseTerézia Meszlényi
Children
RelativesJuraj Košút (uncle)
Signature

Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (Hungarian: [ˈlɒjoʃ ˈkoʃut]; Hungarian: udvardi és kossuthfalvi Kossuth Lajos; Slovak: Ľudovít Košút; English: Louis Kossuth; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–1849.[1]

With the help of his talent in oratory in political debates and public speeches, Kossuth emerged from a poor gentry family into regent-president of the Kingdom of Hungary. As the influential contemporary American journalist Horace Greeley said of Kossuth: "Among the orators, patriots, statesmen, exiles, he has, living or dead, no superior."[2][3]

Kossuth's powerful English and American speeches so impressed and touched the famous contemporary American orator Daniel Webster, that he wrote a book about Kossuth's life.[4] He was widely honoured during his lifetime, including in Great Britain and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe. Kossuth's bronze bust can be found in the United States Capitol with the inscription: Father of Hungarian Democracy, Hungarian Statesman, Freedom Fighter, 1848–1849. Friedrich Engels considered him to be "a truly revolutionary figure, a man who in the name of his people dares to accept the challenge of a desperate struggle, who for his nation is Danton and Carnot in one person ...".[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference HeadlamEB1911 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Hungarian President Louis Kossuth Concerning the Centralization of Power". Captainjamesdavis.net. 27 February 2014. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Kossuth County EDC". Kossuth-edc.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  4. ^ Webster, Daniel (1851). Sketch of the Life of Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary: Together with the Declaration of Hungarian Independence; Kossuth's Address to the People of the United States; All His Great Speeches in England; and the Letter of Daniel Webster to Chevalier Hulsemann. Stringer & Townsend.
  5. ^ Engels, Frederick (1849). "Magyar Struggle". Neue Rheinsiche Zeitung (194). Retrieved 14 July 2018.