In 1848, a revolution swept Europe. Only Britain, which was too far ahead in development, and Russia, which was too far behind, escaped.

Revolution also took place in the Habsburg countries. It took place in Italy, Vienna, Prague and especially in Hungary. In Hungary, the fighting was so fierce that it lasted until 1849.

The Russian Tsar came to the aid of the Austrian Emperor as part of the then Holy Alliance negotiated in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon. The Hungarians fought from March 1848 and capitulated only on August 8, 1849. There were about 40,000 dead on both sides.

The struggle was for democracy and national equality. And what does this have to do with coins? The Hungarian revolutionary government minted coins.

You can see the difference at first glance. The first coin in the picture is a pre-revolutionary coin and the second a revolutionary coin. The pre-revolutionary coin has a description in Latin. The Revolutionary coin has a description in Hungarian.

Otherwise for both coins: 20 Krejcar, diameter 27 mm, weight 6.68 g of silver, purity 583/1000

And how did the revolution turn out?

I have already written about the Emperor and King Ferdinand called the Good. He meant well. He promised everything to everyone, and that calmed things down.

Meanwhile, the army was gaining strength. Then a court camarilla forced the emperor to resign. The new emperor, Francis Joseph I, gradually began to wage war across the empire and "pacify" the country. The revolution was suppressed everywhere.

My story does and does not have a happy ending. The new emperor lost several wars and in 1867 gave the Hungarians practically everything they had demanded in the previous revolution. And the Hungarians began to oppress their national minorities, Slovaks, Croats, Romanians.

The Habsburg Empire after the First World War ceased to exist and disintegrated. The Slovaks, Croats and Romanians no longer wanted to be with the Hungarians and joined other states.

In our part of Europe there is no fighting now, but there are still national problems. But the coin is still being minted here.