Lajos, count Batthyány

Lajos, count Batthyány (born Feb. 14, 1806, Pozsony, Hung., Austrian Empire [now in Bratislava, Slovakia]—died Oct. 6, 1849, Pest [now in Budapest], Hung.) was a statesman who during the revolution of 1848 was premier of the first Hungarian parliamentary government and a martyr for Magyar independence.

The son of wealthy liberal landowners whose nobility dated to 1398, Batthyány entered the military but left it in 1827 to manage his estates and to take a law degree at the University of Zagreb. Travel in western Europe acquainted him with advanced liberal ideas and capitalist business practices, which he applied successfully to his own economic interests.

He became a member of Hungary’s upper house in 1830, and in 1845 he led the forces seeking Hungarian independence from the Habsburg monarchy. Meanwhile, he continued his business activity and in 1843 headed the sugar industry trust. He went to Vienna in March 1848 as a member of the committee that presented Hungarian demands for parliamentary reform to the Austrian imperial court. The following month the Austrian emperor Ferdinand I (King Ferdinand V of Hungary) appointed Batthyány prime minister of Hungary’s new parliamentary government, which took office on April 7. Despite his able leadership and the passing of important social legislation, his government was caught between the forces of the Austrian monarchy and the extreme separatist Hungarian elements.

In the ensuing civil war, Batthyány tried to mediate but finally took the side of the revolutionaries. On October 11 he was wounded in battle, fell from his horse, and broke an arm. In attempting to negotiate with the Austrian forces, he was captured on Jan. 3, 1849, and sentenced to death by hanging. The night before the execution Batthyány tried, unsuccessfully, to kill himself with a knife. The next morning, badly wounded, he was shot for the crime of sedition. His death caused deep mourning across the nation and aligned European public opinion against Austria.