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How did Lajos Kossuth become head of Hungary’s Committee of National Defense?
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Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth, lithograph, 1849.
Lajos Kossuth became the head of the Committee of National Defense following the resignation of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány in September 1848.1
This resignation occurred after an Austrian-inspired Croat army invaded Hungary, a conflict Kossuth had helped precipitate by persuading the Diet to demand conditions for the deployment of Hungarian troops that were unacceptable to Vienna. Following Batthyány's departure, the Diet appointed the Committee of National Defense as a provisional authority, with Kossuth at its head, effectively making him the virtual dictator of Hungary.1