Kossuth Lajos

Kossuth Lajos was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. Kossuth is a national icon in Hungary.

Kossuth Lajos was born in Monok, Hungary. The ancestors of the Kossuth family had lived Turóc in northwest Slovakia, but Kossuth considered himself an ethnic Hungarian.

In 1841 he became editor of a magazine advocating political reform and an independent legislature for Hungary. In 1847 Kossuth became leader of the opposition in government and he succeeded in winning a separate constitution for Hungary within the Austrian Empire. In 1848 demanded an independent government for Hungary and he was mainly instrumental in passing "March laws" (Márciusi ifjak) which abolished the privileges of the nobles, freed the peasants, and created a ministry responsible to the legislature.

In 1849 he was named leader of the newly declared Hungarian Republic. The Hungarian forces were eventually crushed after the Russian Army intervened on the Austrian side.

Kossuth fled to Turkey in September, 1851. Later that year he moved to the United States where he joined a group of Hungarian political refugees who had established the community of New Buda in Decatur County, Iowa (when Kossuth died, New Buda had new name: Kossuth County). Over the next few years Kossuth also lived in England and Italy.

He died in Turin on 20 March 1894; his body was taken to Budapest. A bronze statue was erected, by public subscription, in the Kerepesi Cemetery.

Memorials in Hungary:

The main square of Budapest with the Hungarian Parliament Building is named after Kossuth, and the Kossuth Memorial is an important scene of national ceremonies. Most cities in Hungary have streets named after Kossuth. The first public statue commemorating Kossuth was erected in Miskolc in 1898.