Károly Khuen-Héderváry

Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary
In office 27 June – 3 November 1903 (&100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000129000000129 days)
Preceded by	Kálmán Széll
Succeeded by	István Tisza
In office 17 January 1910 – 22 April 1912 (&100000000000000020000002 years, &1000000000000009600000096 days)
Preceded by	Sándor Wekerle
Succeeded by	László Lukács
Ban of Croatia-Slavonia
In office 4 December 1883 – 27 June 1903
Preceded by	Hermann Ramberg
Succeeded by	Teodor Pejačević
Personal details
Born	23 May 1849(1849-05-23) Gräfenberg, Austrian Silesia
Died	16 February 1918(1918-02-16) (aged 68) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian

The native form of this personal name is Hédervári gróf dr. Khuen-Héderváry Károly. This article uses the Western name order.

Dragutin Károly Khuen-Héderváry, also known as Károly Count Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár (Croatian: Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, 23 May 1849, Bad Gräfenberg (Czech: Jeseník), Austrian Silesia – 16 February 1918, Budapest), was a Hungarian politician, the ban of Croatia in the late nineteenth century. He succeeded the temporary reign of Ban Hermann Ramberg in 1883. Khuen's reign was marked by a strong magyarization. After a series of riots broke out against him in 1903, Khuen was relieved of his duty and appointed prime minister of Hungary.

Life

Károly Khuen-Héderváry was born as an oldest son of the 7 children between Hungarian magnate Antal Khuen (1817–1886) and his wife Angelika Izdenczi (1823–1894).

Ban of Croatia-Slavonia

During his time as ban, the Hungarian language came into official use and Hungarian symbols were brought alongside the national symbols of the Croats. Khuen was forced to deal with many protests, including one during the 1895 visit of King Franz Joseph. At the opening of the Croatian National Theatre which the King was attending, a group of students burned the Hungarian flag beneath the statue of Ban Jelačić.

Prime Minister (1903)

At the elections of 1901 the Liberal Party had obtained a considerable majority, and Prime Minister Kálmán Széll formed a government. He faced the greatest difficulty on 16 October 1902, when the Minister of Defence, Géza Fejérváry tabled a bill in the House of Representatives about the conscription of 20 thousands reervists. Against this proposal of the defence minister, the opposition, led by the Independence Party, launched an endless obstruction under the slogan of "no more soldiers without the introduction of Hungarian as the language service and command".

Khuen-Héderváry in 1894

In the face of opposition, which paralysed the work of the parliament, the Széll government proved impotent and, so on 23 May 1903 King Francis Joseph authorised Károly Khuen-Héderváry, ban of Croatia, to initiate negotiations among the Hungarian politicians about the prospects of forming a new government. the ban, who had no immediate knowledge of the political conditions at Budapest, briefly acquainted himself with the situation and resigned his commission as he saw his situation utterly hopeless. Consequently, the ruler asked István Tisza on 16 June to agree as future prime minister with the politicians of the Liberal Party about the composition of the government. But the members of the governing party, fearing that Tisza would eventually break down the obstruction with violent means, refused to assume the ministerial posts offered to them one after the another.

After the failure of Tisza's effort to form a government, the king withdrew the commission of Széll and asked Khuen-Héderváry to initiate negotiations in a wider circle than before about the formation of his government at Budapest. As a result, Khuen-Héderváry made an agreement with the leaders of the Independence Party, promising them that in return for ending the obstruction he would drop the proposition of Fejérváry and would only table a bill for enlisting the regular yearly number of recruits. Yet the Khuen-Héderváry cabinet, which was appointed on 27 June 1903, realised already at the time of its introduction at parliament that a great part of the opposition representatives would continue their obstruction, which made parliamentary work impossible.

The situation of the prime minister further deteriorated after the session of parliament on 29 July, when representatives of the Independence Party announced that László Szapáry, Governor of Fiume, who belonged to the friends of Khuen-Héderváry, had tried to bribe oppositional representatives into suspending their obstruction. Although no direct evidence was found against the prime minister in the case of bribery, the ensuing scandal made even those oppositional representatives return to the camp of obstruction who had so far respected their agreement with Khuen-Héderváry. The latter, who saw no way out of the crisis, handed in his resignation, which was accepted by the ruler on 7 August. Three days later the parliament took cognizance of the government's leave.

Prime Minister (1910–1912)

He also served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1910 to 1912, before World War I.

Political offices
Preceded by Hermann Ramberg	Ban of Croatia-Slavonia 1883–1903	Succeeded by Teodor Pejačević
Preceded by Kálmán Széll	Prime Minister of Hungary 1903	Succeeded by István Tisza
	Minister of the Interior 1903
Preceded by Gyula Széchényi	Minister besides the King 1903
Preceded by István Tisza	Minister besides the King 1904–1905	Succeeded by Géza Fejérváry
Preceded by Sándor Wekerle	Prime Minister of Hungary 1910–1912	Succeeded by László Lukács
Preceded by Gyula Andrássy the Younger	Minister of the Interior 1910–1912
Preceded by Aladár Zichy	Minister besides the King 1910–1912
Preceded by Gejza Josipović	Minister of Croatian Affairs Acting 1910	Succeeded by Gejza Josipović

Persondata
Name	Khuen-Hedervary, Karoly
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 May 1849
Place of birth	Gräfenberg, Austrian Silesia
Date of death	16 February 1918
Place of death	Budapest, Hungary