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Dec 27, 2003
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Chapter One - Preface​

Lajos Kossuth sent word
That his regiment is no more
Should he tell that once more
We all have to go.
Long live Hungarian liberty!
Long live the Fatherland!




Welcome, reader!​

This AAR is about a somehow less AAR-exploited country: Hungary. No wonder, since the country is not playable from the start of the scenario, being part of Austria at the time being. However, recently-released VIP 0.4 puts this into a new perspective, properly modelling the independence fight of this nation! I'd like to hereby say thanks for the makers of the VIP project, now I can fulfill my old plan too, writing an AAR about my country :)

Sit back, forget about the present! Gap the athmosphere of a long ago passed era, the age of the Spring of Nations! Click on the yellow text at the beginning of the page to listen to a popular Hungarian revolutionary folk song - it's a link! Back, time, back we go to 1848, when the modern Hungarian nation was born..

pest.jpg




How did it evolve to this ?

The national revival, known as Reform Age, began when Franz I opened the Parliament of 1825, with the contribution of the young aristocrat Széchenyi, or, as later he was named, The Greatest Hungarian. He offered the one year revenues of all his lands to the founding of an institue promoting the development of the Hungarian language. By then Latin was the official language of the country. The back then founded Hungarian Scientific Academy by now evolved the supreme authority of all kind of sciences.

szech-1.jpg


His motto was "Hungary must become rich first to be independent, free and enourmous". He wrote a number of studies to publish his reform thoughts. Being an aristocrat, he would liked to preserve the leading role to his own class, but along with the emerging of the whole nation. He had built the world famous Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest. He promoted the use of steamers on the Danube, and a good number of other inventions. He even introduced new cultural-social habits like horse racing, casinos and regular bathing :D . He was the true Civilisator , celebrated through the whole country in the 1830s.

The other person of very great influence was Lajos Kossuth.

kossu.jpg


He credited Széchenyi as his leader, he was the one who named him the greatest Hungarian. Because of his pamphlets about the Parlamential seasons, he was sentenced to three years of prison. In prison, he used the time to learn economics and the English language on his own from the translation of the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. What a genius he was, can be perceived by the fact that later, after the failure of the freedom fight, he travelled to the United States and held several hundreds of speeches there on his 6-month tour all along the country based on this knowledge to great public acclaim:

broadway.jpg


When he was freed, he started his newspaper, the Pesti Hírlap, in which he addressed every single issue of national revival and modernisation, giving him unmatched popularity. He was more radical than Széchenyi, and eventually the people turned to him, making him the charismatic leader of the independence movement. Today there are many reminders of Kossuth’s impact, of course mainly here, but even in the USA. There are towns with his name in Indiana, Ohio and Mississippi, and a settlement with a Post office in Pennsylvania. There are two other full figure Kossuth statues in New York City and Cleveland, Ohio. Know what ? The largest county of Iowa state is named after him too. See http://www.kossuth-edc.com/community/Kossuth.htm


In the Parliament of 1847-48 the reform-nobility already got into majority and issued a number of very important reform acts. The nobles voluntarily gave up their tax-free privilege, and enacted the instant, mandatory abolition of serfdom with compensation (they already instituted voluntarily emantipation in the previous years).

Why was all this so important ? The wisdom of the reform-nobility prevented the situation that of many other countries, where the serfs risen up against their own landlords in rage. Instead, in Hungary this fantastic era of voluntary reforms created an alliance between the politically educated nobility and the people, whom trusted the nobles as their leaders, happily rallying to their flag on their call. This explains why could the Hungarian revolution last over a year, set up mass-armies and lead victorious offensives even when all the other revolutions were broken down in Italy, Germany and everywhere else in Europe.

During the end of the 1847-48 Parliament arrived the news, that in Paris the revolution has broken out. Hearing this, Kossuth urged in his speech of 3 March to put an end to absolutism and a constitution to be given for the country. The response to this demand could not even arrive, when news arrived that revolution broke out in Vienna too on 13 March, and destroyed the whole political system of Metternich. Hearing this, the Parliament approved the whole liberal reform programme plan and ambassadors were dispatched to Vienna to get the king sign the demands. Meanwhile, the radical youth of Budapest made the revolution on 15 March without bloodshed. The rule of the Habsburgs were shaken in all of Europe, in their fear, they promised everything and approved to Hungarian autonomy. The people lit the windows, raised national flags in the capital, thus celebrated the first day of Hungarian freedom...

start.jpg


start2.jpg


So we are set. In the first pic, you can see in orange the territories currently under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. The second pic shows which territories the Hungarians consider Hungary. The Croats, however seems to think otherwise with their leader Ban Jellasic. There are rumors about them being reluctant to accept Hungarian souvereignity and turning to the Emperor for help...

Nevertheless, Hungarians are full of best hopes. Will everything continue to progress so smoothly, is this a dawn of a new era of liberty, freedom and brotherhood ? Stay tuned and find out in the following updates :)
 
DAMN YOU! YOU BEAT ME TO IT!

I'll watch anyway, though.:D
 
I can't resist a Hungary AAR. I'll be looking in on this one.
 
Thanks for the interest guys! I have the game material for the first update ready, now just see if I can tune it up with some stuff of my liking and then we can get this thing going today or tomorrow.

As for down to game business, aside from VIP 4, it is on hard difficulty and normal agressiveness. I started it as Sweden originally, not Austria, since I doubt I could resist myself otherwise to build the factories on Hungarian territory from the start ;) The game starts right after Hungary declares independence, but Austrians refuse to recognise full independence, only autonomy - thus they made Hungary a satellite. Due to the nature of the thing, it is much like a CSA AAR - if Hungary ever gets into war with Austria and they gain significant holdings in Hungary, it's game over, so it's not a guaranteed success, at least until Austria can't be forced to accept our independence. Guess that's only makes it more exciting. :) Hope I can handle it, I'm new to AAR writing, but am an experienced player.

That media file available by clicking on the lyrics at the start of the AAR plays with Real Audio.
 
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I'll be watching this. :)
 
I hope you manage to get our liberty!

e: BTW, can"t you upload the starting save somewhere?
Or just send it to me through MSN? I was always keen on play such a scenario, but never succeeded to not break the balance:).
 
Chapter Two - Till Death do us Part​

Jó az Isten!
Zöld füvet ád a harcáztatta földnek,
fehér bárányt a zöld fûnek,
ártatlan szelíd angyalkát játszótársul a báránynak
feledés írját a mély sebnek
jobb idõk reményét a szegény magyar nemzetnek.

Jókai Mór


repkeny.gif



With the Emperor giving blessing on the autonomous status of Hungary, the first free, liable Hungarian government has been set up in Pest-Buda with the leadership of Lajos Batthiany.

kormany.jpg


The government instantly began addressing the most stressing issues of the newly born nation. There were a number of debates in the Parliament, which way Hungary should take. Széchenyi, as minister granted powers over transportation and commerce, argued instant investment in industry to set up a powerful economy and developing strong commercial ties with the neighbours, thus securing the nation's self-sufficiency. There were also strong arguments in favour of investing in education, thus raising the nation by science.

Others, however, thinked completely the opposite. Kossuth warned that the country's position cannot be secured no matter how much economic power it has, until a professional armed force is established for the defence of the achievments of the revolution. "We cannot feel safe.. My friends, we were living wonders so far, but be ye warned over the fate of Italia..the whole peninsula is in flames, yet they have to fight for their lives. Can we trust the friendship of those who gave in only under the pressure of arms ? For this, I say, our only friends are arms and our only brothers are cannons, hussars and the free men of Hungary".

Indeed, after a night of fierce debating, the majority of the government decided to act correspondingly to this latter plan. Commerce and trade has been subordinated to the goal of achieving material for self-defence, should ever it be needed.

budget.jpg


trade.jpg



Recruitment into the Nation Guard has begun.


toborzas.jpg


soldier.jpg



Existing troops were dispatched to the border with Austria, while in the same time new ones were recruited:


border.jpg



As you can see on the pic above, there was another obstacle the recently born nation had to face. Due to 150 years of constant warfare against the Ottoman Turks in the 16-17. century, large parts of the previously 90%-Hungarian dominated country became vacant, either due to extermination of the Hungarian population or by the wandering away of Hungarians from the said areas to those which were safe of warring. After the retake of the capital in 1686 by allied Christian forces, and the following years in which the Ottomans were completely chased out of the territory of Hungary, these vacant areas were populated by mostly non-Hungarian migrants from the neighbouring regions. By the time the game starts, Hungarians are a minority in their own country, however the most numerous minority of them all. The non-Hungarian population, however, was reluctant to support the Hungarian independence movement, as they perceived a strong Hungarian nationstate a treat to their own national existence. As the uprisings show, majority of these nationalities turned to Austria against the rule of Hungarians:


nationality.jpg



But away with these disturbing thoughts for now! By June, aside from professional soldiers, Hungary was able to set up even a militia to her defence - which she did, indeed:

mobilisation.jpg




The Emergency Cabinet Meeting​


In July, an envoy arrived to Pest-Buda from the Revolutionary Cabinet of Venice. They shared disturbing news. According to him, the Austrian generals whom the Italian forces captured, indeed did tell interesting things considering Hungary. They confessed under pressure that Austrians plan to invade Hungary after they subdued the Italian revolution. This reassured Kossuth's fears about the maliciousity of the Habsburgs, and he urged in his speech addressed to the Parliament to strike before it was too late. He proposed that Hungary should form an alliance with Venice and other revolutionary powers of Europe, an alliance ever lasting, till Death do it part. His proposal met severe resistance from the nobility still loyal to the Habsburgs. They argued that Hungary is unable to stand against the Austrian Empire, besides it would be the most low treason against the true king of Hungary, Ferdinand Habsburg.

Finally, the people said the final word in the matter. They captured and lynched the leader of the opposition, count Ödön Zichy.

gazzichy.jpg



This act made the loyalist opposition tremble - the government of Hungary decided to make the alliance with Venice and support them as much as they can.

velence.jpg



Upon decided on military action, Kossuth travels the country to get the peoples join to the army. He held his famous recruitment speech at the marketplace of the city of Cegléd:


kossuthcegled.jpg



The recruitments drafted in all 200.000 soldiers to the country. (this is an event - I thought I took a screenshot of it, but apparently I missed it.) The new recruits were dispatched immediately to secure the borders of the country and prevent Austrian entry into the country, while the main army charged to capture Vienna, utilising the situation:


tobecs.jpg





The battle of Schwehat​


Schwechat, the town at the outskirts of Vienna, saw the first major battle of the Hungarian forces and that of the Empire of Austria.


csata13.jpg
csata14.jpg
csata15.jpg
csata16.jpg




swechat.jpg



The battle raged on fiercely, and the Hungarian recruits, outnumbering the Austrian forces, however lacking proper training and equipment, still were about to gain the lead through personal bravery.

But, alas!

Austria, alarmed by the direct attack against her capital, ordered the deployment of her troops right into the area. Soon, the battling forces were evened in numbers, with the advantage of experience and entrenchment on the side of the Austrians:


swechat2.jpg



In the same time, as can be seen in the upper pic, the Southern Army of Hungary charged on to capture Zagreb before the perfidous Croats could act and rally to the help of the Emperor. The objective of the offensive in the long term was to secure the western border all the way down to the Adriatic sea.

The main army's generals, however, had to face that it is impossible to achieve victory under such conditions, and decided to retreat behind the Leithe river, to avoid further loss of life:


defeat.jpg



repkeny.gif




So, it has became obvious that Hungary cannot secure her existence by a single, decisive victory over Austria. Will she be able to gain independence at the end at all..? Only time will tell. Find it out in the next updates and send your prayers as Hungary prepares for a long lasting war..
 
L.Gergo said:
I hope you manage to get our liberty!

e: BTW, can"t you upload the starting save somewhere?
Or just send it to me through MSN? I was always keen on play such a scenario, but never succeeded to not break the balance:).

Well I will do whatever I can.

About the save game, unfortunately that is larger that all the space I have available on my server, not to mention I need the space for ULing the screenshots. I will look into the matter if I can compress it somehow and UL it somewhere. I don't have MSN neither, however I have ICQ. Drop me a PM if you are interested in that kind of transfer, I believe it is able to send files.

Semi-Lobster, the King of Hungary by law is Ferdinand Habsburg by now - though in the light of the recent events, that may change in the future... ;)
 
Allenby said:
Make sure you play it until the First World War era when Horthy shows up.
ja.gif

:D Well I intend to. Granted that the Ösis won't reannex me, that is. I should strive to secure a seashore by then in any case ;)
But good that you mentioned his Highness, now I see I have a bit neglected the military aspect so far. I will try to address this issue in the next update and introduce some talented Independence Fight generals too. Which I will try to assemble as soon you gits comment on this one in great numbers :)
 
By the end of this AAR I want to see Hungary rule the waves! If you want some ships names and such, HoI2 has some good one, I've played as the Hungarian naval super-power in HoI2 (the key is to research and start building a battleship before you have a coast line), The Szent László has sunk most of the the Royal Navy in the Med :D
 
Semi-Lobster said:
By the end of this AAR I want to see Hungary rule the waves! If you want some ships names and such, HoI2 has some good one, I've played as the Hungarian naval super-power in HoI2 (the key is to research and start building a battleship before you have a coast line), The Szent László has sunk most of the the Royal Navy in the Med :D

I'm sure it had :) I kinda like Szent László (the historical person), Voivode could tell about it, as I've always played as him in CK multi.. :D Well AFAIK we didn't have a Szent László battleship historically, but the Szent István battleship was the biggest ship ever built in Hungary:

szent_istvan_csatahajo_n.jpg


:cool:

The sunking of Royal Navy ships in the Med also happened in real life although not during WW2, and was the deed of Horthy and his ship, the Novara . Just do a search for the battle of Otranto where he broke through the Entente sea blockade. He was an exceptional admiral, and a very brave man as a person, he continued to command the battle even after he was seriously injured. Kind of like a Nelson.

If I'm ever through this independence war, I think my priorities will be to lower the state debt, though. The war has cost me much so far too.