The MoD Military History Institute and Museum’s permanent exhibition which presents the military history of Hungary between 1815-1866 was opened on the Day of National Defence on 21st May 2012. The exhibition introduces the events of the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848/49.
The exhibition presents the history of the Hungarian soldier from the end of the Napoleonic Wars till the so-called Compromise in 1867. Going along the exhibition we will learn of the heroic fight of the Honvéd (Home Defence) Army through its victorious (Pákozd, Isaszeg, Komárom, Buda) and losing (Schwechat, Mór, Temesvár) battles till the capitulation at Világos. The last room displays the events of the Habsburg retaliation and the fates of those who had to emigrate from the country.
We can have the chance to inspect original cockades from 1848 as well as the National Guardsmen’s armbands which were the main insignia worn by people during the War of Independence. There are several highly valued artefacts in the exhibition which belonged to prominent officers and politicians of the first independent Hungarian government. Such as: pistols from the estates of Prime Minister Count Lajos Batthyány and Lieutenant General Ernő Kiss who were executed by the Habsburgs, the uniform of General Richard Guyon with the Second and Third Class insignia of the Hungarian Order of Military Merit, and Major General János Damjanich’s sabre. We can get to know the different types of military flags, the combat arms of the Honvéd Army and many paintings, letters and various types of documents that had not been shown to the public before.