Debrecen Declaration of Independence (1849)
데브레첸 독립 선언 (1849)
The declaration of independence adopted by the Hungarian parliament at Debrecen on 14 April 1849. Presented by Lajos Kossuth amid the victories of the Spring Campaign, it dethroned the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, proclaimed Hungary independent and made Kossuth regent-president.
In depth
Kossuth presented the declaration to a closed session on 13 April and to an open session the next day, and proclaimed it from the Reformed Great Church of Debrecen. It declared that "the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is unexampled in the compass of its perjuries", denounced robbery, arson and murder, and concluded that "the house of Habsburg has forfeited the throne". The form of government was left open and Kossuth became regent-president, a compromise meant to satisfy both royalists and republicans.
The declaration passed unanimously but provoked the Peace Party, which wanted only autonomy under the dynasty, and the generals, some of whom resigned. Görgei later blamed it for the Russian intervention and even contemplated reversing it. It made any compromise with the Habsburgs practically impossible. In exile Kossuth appealed in a New York speech for American recognition of Hungarian independence. The article on the martyrs of Arad dates the declaration to 19 April.