He became very popular in pro-democratic circles of Hungarian politics and soon became a leadership figure for Hungary’s pro-democracy politics. In 1847, Hungary successfully created a separate constitution from Austria and the Habsburgs. They established a Hungarian Republic, and Kossuth Lajos was named as the governor-president of this new Hungarian Republic.
In 1848, Kossuth’s government enacted the April Laws (sometimes also called the March Laws), which implemented democratic parliamentary elections in Hungary. They became the third country in continental Europe to create a democratic parliamentary system. All privileges of the Hungarian nobility were lost under these rules. Franz Joseph I of Austria revoked the April Laws less than a year later without any legal right and despite prior ratification by the previous Austrian king, King Ferdinand I. A huge conflict erupted between the Hungarian Parliament and the Habsburgs, and the Habsburgs soon deployed the Austrian army against the Hungarians. The Hungarian parliament was overthrown, and the Hungarians responded by forming a volunteer army against the Habsburgs. Kossuth Lajos was one of the main instigators who formed this volunteer army.
Despite not being formalized, the Hungarian volunteer army was successful against the Austrian army throughout 1848 and 1849. Franz Joseph I started to get desperate because of these military losses and called on the Russian empire to assist. The combined Austrian and Russian armies were able to defeat the Hungarians in 1849, and Hungary was placed under martial law by the Habsburgs. The main instigators and leaders of the revolution were either executed, or they fled the country.
