7.22- The April Laws

In April of 1848, the Hungarians won the right to national self-government. But what about the other nations of the Kingdom of Hungary?

Direct Link: 7.22- The April Laws

Comments

[Dunne]

I'm wondering who made up the 25% of Hungarians who could vote under the new constitution. You mentioned doctors, lawyers, professors and nobles, but I don't think that is 25% of the population. Were there that many non-noble landowners?

I'm also wondering about the role of land-reform in this revolution. In France the package of reforms included ending feudal dues, tax reform, voting and political reforms, but also land to the peasants (without compensation if I remember). I'm sure that was a pressing issue in Hungary. For example, with the ending of feudal dues, what happened the serfs? Did they get the land? did they become rent-payers? were they just landless laborers?

[Kepernyos]

Dunne,

It was 25% of the adult male population, not the whole population. You have remember that all nobles retained their right to vote, and there were a lot of nobles in Hungary, most of them poor.

As for the land reform, peasants would now own the land that they could use freely before as serfs, while the landlords retained their own land (Demesne). Landlords were supposed to be compensated in the form of government bonds.
However, due to the quick pace of events, and the upcoming war, there were still problems left. Previously "neutral" lands, like pastures and forests were subject of arguments about ownership. Landless serfs were out of their jobs, too, and this caused social unrest among them.

[Espinosa]

Response to previous podcast episode on Czech history and pronunciation

Thanks for inclusion of Bohemia in your podcast! Appreciated.

Václav - pronunciation was excellent, no worries

Palacký - very close, you are trying to put stress (accent) on "L", on the second syllable, as is frequent in English. In Czech, stress is officially always on the first syllable, but I would argue that is evenly on every syllable, if there is actually any stress at all.

Czech is very egalitarian language, no syllable or letter is privileged :) all letters are always pronounced, and no accents on any letter, and definitively not in the middle of word, as is frequent with English. No special treatment for any letter or syllable. Nation of Hussites, what else you can expect :)

I'm quite curious how you would deal with pronunciation of Kroměříž, Moravian town where Kremsier Parliament of 1848/1849 eventually resided, when it was moved out of Vienna.

I hope you won’t avoid the geography like with Carlsbad Decrees, which were Carlsbad is in fact "Karlovy Vary" (Charles’ Bath) in western Bohemia.

Kroměříž - that pronunciation is sometimes tricky even for born Czechs. Try it as Kro-mye-rzee-zh (letter ž, aka zh, is absent in English, but it’s in French, pronounced like ‘ j’ in words journal, jour, or Jean).

I don't mind using German names, respective anglicized forms of German names, after all German was official language of Bohemia, but it would be nice to at least mention that they were in fact Czech towns, places and people.

Speaking of Austrian politicians, several of them were Czechs too: Kounitz (Kounic), Radecký, Kolovrat (Kolowrat, 'kolovrat' in Czech means spoked wheel).