Bernd 03/17/2023 (Fri) 14:11 No.49969 del
(13.95 KB 160x204 sztanko-soma.jpg)
>>49968
In 1848 they had quite a few months to arrange foreign purchases.
The revolution basically was done on March 15th, then with the blessing of the king they started the legislative work, on the 22th they accepted the law about setting up the national guard, the recruitment started in May. The first military challenge was the Serbian revolt, started in late May - early June. While this was part of the Habsburg wider strategy, it did not meant the start of the war of independence. The Court was busy elsewhere, they had problems in Czechia, Vienna, and chiefly Italy. They had to consolidate the situation first. The war starts essentially with Jelacic's intervention, on September 11st he crosses the river Drava from Croatia, as the agent of the Court (and not like a Croatian separatist). Before the Croatian mobilization they might delayed the transports with bureaucratic bs, but from late March to early September it was peace on paper.
I found that the first, earliest purchase was the Belgian, they bought 4-5000 muskets. From England they also procured 19-20000. The officer entrusted with the deal was sent abroad on July 2. So the guns were brought in the next two months.
This officer, called Sztankó Soma (~Samuel Stanko, from Northern Hungary), during autumn also managed to smuggle machines and equipment necessary for manufacturing weapons, and percussion caps. Then he set up the factories.
To close down his history: he participated in the fights too. Got 12 years of prison, sit 3 years, got amnesty. Then teacher. After the Austro-Hungarian compromise officer again in the Hungarian Defense Force. Retired in 1875. Died in 1896, because of his illness - I dunno what it was - he committed suicide. May the soil be light for him.