2000 Forint Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49

Issued on the 150th anniversary of the 1848 revolution, this coin commemorates the Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule that began on March 15th of that year — a date still observed as a national holiday. The revolution, initially successful enough that Hungary operated as a near-independent state under Lajos Kossuth, was ultimately crushed in August 1849 when Franz Joseph I called in Russian Imperial forces under Tsar Nicholas I, some 200,000 troops whose intervention the Hungarian army could not withstand.

Thirteen Hungarian generals were executed at Arad following the surrender. That date, October 6, 1849, remains a day of mourning in Hungary.