István Tisza

Count István Fürst Tisza von Borosjenő (1861-1918) was a Hungarian politician.

Tisza was born in Budapest. He was the Prime Minister of Hungary from 1903 to 1905 and from 1913 to 1917, and an major power behind the scenes in the interval. He was the son of Count Kálmán Tisza, prime minister of Hungary from 1875 to 1890, whose Liberal Party political machine he inherited. The Tiszas were originally an Calvinist common nobility (nobility with no title; often regarded as equivalent to the British gentry) family from Transylvania, and since their title was very recent, they were much disliked and resented by the greater noble (nobility with titles) families.

Tisza received his post-graduate education at Oxford in the 1880s, during which time he became fluent in English. The Liberal Party was renamed the National Party of Work in 1905. An tough, no-nonsense leader and efficient manager, Tisza dominated Hungarian politics during his career by the generous use of electoral corruption. Through Tisza's power was limited by the relatively free Magyar language press and the courts, at the elections, opposition in the free boroughs was ruthlessly smashed through the use of the police intimidation. In the "rotten boroughs", such methods were not necessary.

Tisza's hero and role model was Otto von Bismarck. Tisza saw himself as the embodiment of everything best about Hungarian life and was staunchly opposed to any reforms that might allow any wider voting franchise (Before 1918 less then 6% of Hungarian men could vote and hold office). In economic affairs, Tisza was an modernizer who encouraged and supported industrialization. In particular, Tisza was an opponent of anti-Semitism, which he feared could jeopardized Hungary's economic development. Much of the emerging middle class were either Jewish or Jewish converts to Christianity. Tisza often used his influence at Court to have titles given to wealthy Jewish families, especially industrialists and bankers. Towards the non-Maygar population, Tisza carried out an policy of forcible Magyarization. Under Tisza, the size of the state grew as to onset the decline of the common nobility, it became official policy to hire as many common aristocrats into the bureaucracy. Count Tisza was an very aggressive and belligerent man who fought numerous duels with his political opponents.

In July 1914, he was opposed to Austria-Hungary going to war with Serbia under the grounds that the Dual Monarchy already had too many Slavs. Tisza was removed as Prime Minister by the reformist King-Emperor Charles VI for his opposition to expanding the franchise. However, Tisza continued to frustrate reforms until the end of the war via his control of the largest block of parliamentary deputies. He was murdered in Budapest by gang of soldiers during Chrysanthemum Revolution of October 1918, who blamed him unfairly for the First World War.