István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (1791-1860)

Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (pronounced ; September 21, 1791 – April 8, 1860) was a Hungarian politician, theorist and writer, one of the greatest statesmen of Hungarian history. István is a Hungarian name equivalent of the name Stephen.

Family and early life
Széchenyi was born in Vienna to Count Ferenc Széchényi and Countess Juliána Festetics; he was the youngest of their two daughters and three sons. The Széchenyis were an old and influential noble family of Hungary. Traditionally loyal to the Habsburg dynasty, they were linked with noble families, such as the Liechtenstein, the Esterházy and the Lobkowitz. István Széchenyi's father was an enlightened aristocrat who founded the Hungarian National Museum. The boy spent his childhood both in Vienna and on the family estate of Nagycenk, Hungary.

After his private education, the young Széchenyi joined the Austrian army and participated in the Napoleonic wars. He left the service as a first lieutenant in 1826 and turned his interest towards politics.

Political career
From September 1815 to 1821, Széchenyi traveled extensively in Europe, visiting France, England, Italy, Greece and the Levant, and studying their institutions. He also established important personal connections. The rapid modernisation of Britain fascinated him the most, and strongly influenced his thinking. He was also impressed with the Canal du Midi in France, and began to envision ways to improve navigation on the lower Danube and Theiss rivers.

The Count quickly became aware of the growing gap between the modern world and his native Hungary. For the rest of his life, he was a determined reformer and promoted development. Széchenyi found early political support from his friend, Baron Miklós Wesselényi, a noble from Transylvanian; however, their relation later weakened.

The great reformer
Széchenyi gained a wider reputation in 1825, by supporting the proposal of the prime minister, Nagy, to establish the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Széchenyi donated the full annual income of his estates that year, 60,000 florins, towards it. His example brought donations of 58,000 florins from three other wealthy nobles and they gained royal approval for the Academy. He wanted to promote the use of the Magyar language in this effort. This was an important milestone in his life and for the reform movement.

In 1827 he organized the Nemzeti Kaszinó, a forum for the patriotic Hungarian nobility. The "Kaszinó" had an important role in the reform movement by providing an institute for political dialogues.

To reach a wider public, Széchenyi decided to publish his ideas. His series of political writings, the Hitel (Credit, 1830), the Világ, (World/Light, 1831), and the Stádium (1833), addressed the Hungarian nobility. He condemned their conservatism and encouraged them to give up feudal privileges (e.g. free of taxation status), and act as the driving elite for modernization.

Széchenyi envisioned his program for Hungary within the framework of the Habsburg empire. He was convinced that Hungary initially needed a gradual economic, social and cultural development; he opposed both undue radicalism and nationalism. The latter he found particularly dangerous within the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, where people were divided by ethnicity, language and religion.

Besides his comprehensive political ideas, he concentrated on the development of transportation infrastructure, as he understood its importance for development and communication. Part of this program was the regulation of the flow of waters of the lower Danube to improve navigation, in order to open it to commercial shipping and trade from Buda to the Black Sea. He became the leading figure of the Danube Navigation Committee by the early 1830s, which completed its work in ten years. Previously the river had been dangerous for ships and was not efficient as an international trading route. Széchenyi was the first to promote steamboats on the Danube, the Theiss, and Balaton Lake, also measures to open up Hungary to trade and development.

Recognizing the potential for the project for the region, Széchenyi successfully lobbied in Vienna to gain Austrian financial and political support. He was appointed as high commissioner and supervised the works for years. During this period, he travelled to Constantinople and built up relations in the Balkan area.

He wanted to develop Buda and Pest as a major political, economic and cultural center of Hungary. He supported the construction of the first permanent bridge between the two cities, which was named for him as "Széchenyi Lánchíd". Besides its improving transportation connections, the "Lánchíd" was a symbolic structure, foreshadowing the later unification of the two cities as Budapest, connected across rather than divided by the river.

Marriage and family
In 1836 at the age of 45, Széchenyi married Countess Crescence Seilern in Buda. Their children included a son Béla.

Béla Széchenyi became known for his wide travels and explorations in the East Indies, Japan, China, Java, Borneo, western Mongolia, and the frontiers of Tibet. In 1893 he published an account of his experiences, written in German.

Political rivalry with Kossuth
His relations with Lajos Kossuth were not good: he always thought Kossuth was a political agitator who overplayed his popularity. Széchenyi, although in a minority, continued to counsel for caution in the Diet and other meetings. In March 1848, he accepted the portfolio of ways and communications "in the first responsible Magyar administration" under Batthyany, but he feared the disruption of revolution.

Retreat from politics
In early September 1848, his nervous state brought depression and a breakdown ; his doctor ordered him to the Goergen Asylum of Döbling. With his wife's care, he gradually recovered enough to resume writing but did not return to politics. He wrote the book, Önismeret (Self awareness), about children, education and pedagogy. He also wrote Ein Blick (One Look), a study of the deep political problems of Hungary at the beginning of the 1850s.

Death
Still suffering from depression, Széchenyi committed suicide by a shot to his head on April 8, 1860, in his 68th year. All Hungary mourned his death. The Academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations (including counts József Eötvös, János Arany, and Károly Szász). His rival Kossuth said he was "the greatest of the Magyars".

Writings

 * Hitel (Credit, 1830)
 * Világ, (World/Light, 1831)
 * Stádium (1833)
 * Önismeret (Self awareness)
 * Ein Blick (One Look)
 * Most of his numerous writings on political and economic subjects were translated into German for wider appreciation in Europe.
 * From 1884-1896, the Hungarian Academy published a nine-volume edition of his writings in Pest.

Legacy and honors

 * A statue of him was unveiled on May 23, 1880 in Budapest.
 * Also in 1880, a statue commemorating him was unveiled in Sopron.
 * In 2008, the István Széchenyi Chair in International Economics was privately endowed at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, United States. In collaboration with Mathias Corvinus Collegium and Sapientia Hungarian University of Transilvania, the Chair oversees and develops three major academic programs to strengthen relations with Central Eastern Europe, especially Hungary: the Hungarian American Business Leaders (HABL), the QU executive MBA Trip in Hungary, and the Foreign Lecture Series.
 * Since 1990, Széchenyi's portrait has been featured on the 5000 Hungarian forint banknote, with a new design in 1999.
 * 2002, a Hungarian made-for-TV movie portrayed his life from 1820-1860; it is entitled, A Hídember (The Bridgeman) (in Hungarian).