51 Facts About Albert Apponyi

Albert Apponyi was a board member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of Saint Stephen's Academy from 1921 to 1933, and a knight of the Austrian Golden Fleece from 1921.

Albert Apponyi belonged to an ancient noble family dating back to the 13th century.

Albert Apponyi was educated at the Jesuit institute in Calxburg until 1863, after which he studied law in Pest and Vienna.

Beyond his talent as an orator and fluency in six languages, Albert Apponyi had wide-ranging interests outside politics, encompassing philosophy, literature, and especially music and religion, namely Roman Catholicism.

Albert Apponyi visited the United States three times, first in 1904 and last in 1924, where he engaged in lecture tours and befriended leading public figures, including Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

Albert Apponyi visited Egypt twice, including in 1869 when he was invited to the inauguration of the Suez Canal.

Albert Apponyi considered his first political activity to be the role he once played alongside Ferenc Deak as a university student, when he was present as an Italian interpreter at a meeting with a delegation from Dalmatia.

Albert Apponyi won his first mandate in the district of Szentendre as a member of the platform of Ferenc Deak.

Albert Apponyi's party took the name of the National Party in October 1892, and remained under that name until February 1900, when it merged with the Libertarian Party.

Tisza's successor, Prime Minister Gyula Szapary, was initially supported by Albert Apponyi, but he turned against him when, instead of the original bill on administrative reform, he would have settled for a law stating that public administration was a state function.

Albert Apponyi then went into permanent opposition when Szapary asked for and received a provisoire in October 1891 to dissolve parliament.

Szapary was defeated in the same year, and Albert Apponyi played no small part in his downfall.

Towards the end of the year the opposition, led by Albert Apponyi, was again at war with the government.

Albert Apponyi was so taken by the idea of the upcoming millenary celebrations that on Christmas Day he proclaimed a "treuga Dei" in his party's organ, the National Newspaper.

However, 1896 had not yet ended when Albert Apponyi's fight against Banffy began again, as the government resorted to all means of violence and corruption in the general elections of that year.

Albert Apponyi was merciless in his scourging of abuses and public corruption in the newspapers, and then turned against him over the so-called 'Ischl clause'.

Albert Apponyi came to an agreement with Szell and joined the Libertarian Party with his party.

Albert Apponyi was inclined towards the opposition: although he did not succeed in asserting his position, he remained in the Libertarian Party until it became clear that he could not realise his military demands in that party.

Albert Apponyi was followed by members of the former National Party, with whom he has now re-formed the National Party.

Albert Apponyi was now the leader of the opposition in the struggle against the revision of the constitution, and on 18 November 1904 he declared on behalf of the whole opposition that he would never recognise the validity of the revision forced by the majority.

Albert Apponyi joined the alliance of opposition parties and the government hired bits and pieces to defend the lex Daniel.

On 8 April 1906, the so-called pact between the Crown and the allied opposition was finally reached, by ruling out the military question, and Albert Apponyi took over the cultural ministry in the Second Wekerle Government, appointed on 9 April under the presidency of Sandor Wekerle.

Albert Apponyi was now leading the Kossuth Party in the opposition struggles, which, given the government's means at the time, certainly did not lead to breathtaking scenes in the House of Representatives.

Albert Apponyi was again the one who initiated the reconciliation of the parties, so that by breaking down the partitions, the whole public opinion would stand united behind the government in the struggle that was forced upon the country.

Albert Apponyi was one of the first to call for a democratic extension of suffrage after the great blood sacrifices made by the Hungarian people in the war.

Albert Apponyi was Minister of Culture in the subsequent Esterhazy government and then in the third Wekerle government, which lasted two years during the war.

Albert Apponyi lived there even after the collapse of the Communist Party and only returned home in November 1919, when his presence was indispensable in the unfolding negotiations initiated by Sir George Clark of the British Foreign Office's Oriental Department, the Entente's chief envoy in Budapest.

Albert Apponyi had been a strong participant in the unfolding negotiations for the formation of a government of concentration, and had already appeared to be forming the new government, when this combination was thwarted at the last moment by opposition to Christian-National unification.

Albert Apponyi's mission culminated in a speech to the negotiators at the Quai d'Orsay on 16 January 1920, which he delivered in French, simultaneously translated himself into English, and concluded in Italian.

Albert Apponyi took part in the election campaign with a vigour unusual for his age, speaking in six places in a single day, all with great success.

Albert Apponyi was himself re-elected by his old, loyal district of Jaszbereny.

Albert Apponyi was the early president of the second National Assembly, but did not attend the opening ceremony because of his public concerns.

Albert Apponyi made a number of eye-catching speeches in the National Assembly, which, if his views did not prevail, always had a profound effect on the members of the House.

Albert Apponyi made a major speech on the Franco controversy.

Albert Apponyi stated that the House could not decide on the question of political responsibility until the court had delivered its verdict in the forgers' trial.

Albert Apponyi made another important statement on the king question, after the opening of the National Assembly in 1927.

Albert Apponyi then outlined the relationship of legitimacy to national kingship, saying that the advocates of legitimate kingship were in the public position laid down in the late King Charles' former proclamation.

On behalf of the government, Albert Apponyi then presented the Hungarian position in a powerful expose, and proposed that the matter be referred to the Permanent International Tribunal in The Hague.

Albert Apponyi stressed that the League of Nations was dealing with the minority question in an unsatisfactory manner, and then went on to say that this was precisely why minorities should be given the right to submit their complaints directly to the council, which should be obliged to refer all cases to the Permanent International Tribunal.

Albert Apponyi made a major speech at the General Assembly of the League of Nations in the autumn of 1925, during the negotiation of the Security Pact.

Albert Apponyi then presented his motion on the question of minorities, the essential content of which was that the complaints of minorities in church and school matters should be heard compulsorily, and in accordance with the rules of adversarial procedure, that the expert opinion of the Permanent International Tribunal should be obtained in all such cases, and that the autonomy of the large number of minorities living in one place should be achieved.

Albert Apponyi was the keynote speaker of the Hungarian group at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conferences and represented his country on many important issues with much success.

Albert Apponyi has written extensively in foreign reviews and newspapers in the past, explaining Hungary's special position in the monarchy, arguing and promoting its rights and aspirations.

Albert Apponyi was particularly successful in America: his speeches there evoked the memory of Lajos Kossuth in American public opinion.

Albert Apponyi spoke in New York, Chicago and many other cities in the US and Canada.

Albert Apponyi lectured on the problem of Central Europe, but he presented the Hungarian question very forcefully, with the persuasive force of the truth he represented, leaving a deep impression on public opinion with his engaging lectures.

Albert Apponyi spent his birthday in Gyongyosapati, where, after the Czechs had expropriated his ancestral estate in Eberhard, he founded a new family estate.

Albert Apponyi continued to fight for Hungary as the Hungarian government's chief delegate in Geneva.

Albert Apponyi died on 7 February 1933 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he had come to speak at the re-opening of the World Disarmament Conference.

Albert Apponyi's memory is less positive in Slovakia and Romania where his name is associated with the Apponyi laws and Magyarization.

Albert Apponyi was the subject of national celebration on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday in May 1921, when he was made an honorary citizen by numerous Hungarian cities and towns.