István Tisza

István Tisza

Count István Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged (22 April 1861, Pest – 31 October 1918, Budapest) was a Hungarian politician, prime minister, and member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The two most important events in his life were Austria-Hungary's entry into the First World War when he was prime minister for the second time, and his assassination during the Chrysanthemum Revolution on 31 October 1918. Tisza supported the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and was representative of the then liberal-conservative consent.

He had been a Member of Parliament since 1887 and had had abundant opportunities to see how the unyielding temper of the Emperor on the one hand, and the revolutionary spirit of the extremists on the other, were leading to a complete impasse. He himself supported the Compromise of 1867. A social reactionary to the end, Tisza stubbornly opposed on principle the break-up of the large landed estates as well as even the most modest reform proposals that would have granted the suffrage to soldiers fighting at the front (before 1918 only 10% of the Hungarian population could vote and hold office). However, in economic affairs, he tended to be a modernizer who encouraged and supported industrialization and, in that respect, he was an opponent of anti-Semitism, which he feared could jeopardize Hungary's economic development.

Tisza's role model was Otto von Bismarck.