István Széchenyi
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- The native form of this personal name is Széchenyi István. This article uses the Western name order.
Count István Széchenyi, in Hungarian: Gróf Széchenyi István, born in Vienna, 21 September 1791 and died in Döbling, 8 April 1860. He was a Hungarian politician, theorist and writer, one of the greatest statesmen of the Hungarian history.
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[edit] Family and early life
The Széchenyi were an old and influential noble family of Hungary. Traditionally loyal to the Habsburg dynasty, it was linked with noble families, such as the Liechtenstein, the Eszterhazy and the Lobkowitz.
István Széchenyi's father, Count Ferenc Széchenyi, was an enlightened aristocrat. He founded the Hungarian National Museum and the Hungarian National Library. His mother was Countess Juliána Festetics. They had two daughters and three sons of which István was the youngest. He spent his childhood both in Vienna and on the family estate of Nagycenk, Hungary.
After his private education, the young Széchenyi joined the Austrian army and participated in the Napoleonic wars. He left the service as a first lieutenant in 1826 and turned his interest towards politics. Széchenyi travelled extensively in Europe and established important personal connections. The rapid modernisation of Britain fascinated him the most, and utterly influenced his thinking. The Count quickly became aware of the growing gap between modern world and his native Hungarian land. This recognition made him a determined reformer in the rest of his life. Széchenyi found early political support from his friend, the Transylvanian noble, Count Miklós Wesselényi, however their relation later weakened.
[edit] The great reformer
Széchenyi gained wider reputation in 1825, by donating the full annual income of his estates for the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This was an important milestone in his life and for the reform movement.
Having gained recognition as a bold, reformer aristocrat, his devotion for progress became his obsession. In 1827 he organized the Nemzeti Kaszinó, a forum for the patriotic Hungarian nobility. The "Kaszinó" had an important role in the reform movement by providing an institute for political dialogues.
To reach a wider public, Széchenyi decided to publish his ideas. His series of political writings, the Hitel (Credit, 1830), the Világ, (World, 1831), and the Stádium (1833), addressed the Hungarian nobility. He deeply condemned their conservatism and encouraged them to give up feudal privileges (e.g. free of taxation status), and act as the driving elite for modernization.
Széchenyi envisioned his program for Hungary within the framework of the Austrian empire (being Austrian, historically meant a loyalty to the Empire, not an ethnic entity). He was convinced that Hungary initially needs a gradual economical, social and cultural development and opposed both undue radicalism and nationalism. The latter he found particularly dangerous within the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary.
Besides his comprehensive political ideas, his attention was vastly concentrated on the development of transportation, the vital factor behind economical growth.
Part of this program was the regulation of the lower Danube, from Pest to the Black sea. He became the leading figure of the project by the early 1830's. That time, the river was dangerous for sailing, therefore it was not efficient as an international trading route. Széchenyi recognized its potential for both the region and Hungary, and was successfully lobbying in Vienna for financial and political support. He was appointed as high commissioner and supervised the works for years. During this period, he travelled to Constantinople and built up relations on the Balkan.
Another important Széchenyi initiative was the development of Buda and Pest as a major political, economical and cultural center of Hungary. He supported the construction of the first permanent bridge between the two cities, which nowadays bears his name as "Széchenyi Lánchíd". Besides its advantage in transportation , the "Lánchíd" became a highly symbolic construction, that forecasted the later unification of the two cities as Budapest.
Széchenyi married Countess Crescence Seilern in 1836 in Buda.
[edit] Political rivalry with Kossuth
His relations with Lajos Kossuth were not good: he always thought Kossuth was a political agitator. Half of the country sympathised with him, and the other half with Kossuth. After the 1848 revolution he was convinced of the opportunity of achieving greater development of Hungary so he agreed to be the head of the Ministry of Transport and Social Affairs.
[edit] Retreat from politics
The failure of the revolution caused a mental breakdown, and his doctor ordered him to the Goergen Asylum of Döbling. Due to the loving care of his wife he regained his mental power, and wrote Önismeret (Self recognition) about children, education and pedagogy. Even more important was his work, Ein Blick (One Look) about the deep political problems of Hungary in the beginning of the 1850s.
[edit] Death and aftermath
His house was searched by the Viennese Police on March 3, 1860, and they used his letters as evidence of political conspiracy. They told him that the asylum would not be a protection for him any more. The sadness about the death of his late friend Sámuel Jósika and the worrying political era led him to commit suicide on the night of April 8, 1860.
All Hungary mourned his death. The Academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations (count József Eötvös, János Arany, Károly Szász). His statue in Budapest was unveiled on May 23, 1880, and in Sopron in the same year.
His son Béla became known for wide travels and explorations in the East Indies, Japan, China, Java, Borneo, western Mongolia, and the frontiers of Tibet. In 1893 he published in German an account of his experiences. [1]
A film was made on his life in 2002, titled A Hídember ("The Bridgeman"), see its IMDb entry.
[edit] See also
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[edit] External links
