The Conservative Party ( Hungarian: ''Konzervatív Párt,'' ) was one of the most influential political groups of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

of the 1840s in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The group was led by

Emil Dessewffy Count Emil Dessewffy de Csernek et Tarkeő (24 February 1814, Eperjes – 10 January 1866, Pozsony) was a Hungarian conservative politician, leader of the Conservative Party, who served as President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Th ...

. In 1849, after long debates, the Conservatives temporarily set aside their differences with their greatest political opponent, the left-wing

Opposition Party In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of a city, region, state, coun ...

, and united for the duration of the war to demonstrate national unity to Hungarian society. The reason: Hungary faced immense military and political pressure when it became clear that it had to fight not only against the armies of the Habsburgs but also against the forces of the Russian Tsar.

History

The Conservative Party was formed on 12 November 1846 by

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

-loyal, "considering progressive" thinking young conservative aristocrats. It was the first political party by today's terms in the history of

. The party wanted to achieve Hungary's interests within the empire and seen the country's interest to preserve a strong Habsburg Realm. Unlike the liberal opposition they did not want to confront with Vienna. They wanted to comply the interests of Hungary with the interests of the whole empire. They kept in mind the interests of the aristocracy, but unlikely the "old conservatives" they did not want to maintain

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

and the constitution of the orders, because they recognized its crisis. They supported a slow and partial extension of full citizen rights to the people. The leader of the "considering progressive" politicians was

Aurél Dessewffy : For the Speaker of the House of Magnates see Aurél Dessewffy (1846–1928). Count Aurél Dessewffy de Csernek et Tarkeő (, 1808–1842), Hungary, Hungarian journalist and politician, the eldest son of Count József Dessewffy and Eleonóra Szt ...

, but after his death his younger brother

took over the role. (At the time of the establishment of the party Aurél was already dead.) Emil tried to persuade Chancellor Metternich to understand that it is also in Vienna's interests to introduce new moderate reforms, to hold back the reform opposition in the

. They supported the administer system. During the

Revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

the party moved closer to the

. The party's social organisation, the ''Közhasznú Gyülde'' (''Public Benefit Meeting'') united with the social organisation of the liberals. In Pál Esterházy they gave in the first Hungarian government the

Minister besides the King of Hungary The minister of foreign affairs of Hungary () is a member of the Government of Hungary, Hungarian cabinet and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current foreign minister is Péter Szijjártó. The position was called People's Comm ...

. In 1849 the party merged into the

Political program

* Unchanged maintenance of public law with Austria, based on the Sanctio Pragmatica (maintenance of the area council institutions) *

Customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set u ...

with

Cisleithania Cisleithania, officially The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council (), was the northern and western part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in the Compromise of 1867—as distinguished from ''Transleithania'' (i.e., ...

* Election of representatives to the

and to the local authorities, based on popular representation, with high

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

* Restricted freedom of press, religion and speech * Redesigning of the Hungarian cities according to modern needs * Centralized public administration (with slow, organized, from above directed reforms) * Burden sharing * Investments in the infrastructure *

Peasant question A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

, maintenance of voluntary perpetuation * Tolerance with the nationalities

Critics

The official opinions are contradictive about the Conservative Party. Although they were reformists and stood against Vienna's absolutistic pursuits, they were the number one opponents of the

. They are often referred to as the "ruling party" opposite of the Opposition Party. According to the latter liberal historiography they were Vienna's puppets, who proposed modest reforms, in favor of quietening the reformist mood. Others said that they wanted to achieve just the aims they stated in their party program, an aristoctatic-led society with a reformed structure. About the Conservative Party later sympathizer (like Gyula Szekfű, or today's Hungarian conservative press) says that they wanted the same as the reform opposition, but slower and they avoided the direct confrontation with Vienna like

István Széchenyi Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (, ; archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and writer. Widely considered one of the greatest statesme ...

. They were afraid of the centralization of the empire and the

germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people, and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nati ...

List of notable members of the Conservative Party

, leader of the party, president of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

György Apponyi Count György Apponyi de Nagyappony (29 December 1808 – 28 February 1899) was a Hungarian conservative politician, who served as Lord Chancellor of Hungary from 1846 to 1848. He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1858 ...

, Lord Chancellor of Hungary, Speaker of the House of Magnates * Pál Esterházy,

György Andrássy Count György Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka (February 5, 1797 – December 19, 1872) was a Hungarian nobleman, Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, Privy Councillor, Master of Cup-bearers, Chairman of the ''Tisza Rail Track Corporati ...

References

* Závodszky, Géza: Történelem III. Budapest, 2002. {{Hungarian political parties Defunct political parties in Hungary 1846 establishments in the Austrian Empire Political parties established in 1846 Political parties disestablished in 1849 1849 disestablishments