Albert, Count Apponyi

Albert, Count Apponyi (born May 29, 1846, Vienna—died February 7, 1933, Geneva) was a Hungarian statesman whose political philosophy blended the conservative traditions of his background with Hungarian nationalism.

Born into an ancient and famous family, he was the son of Count György Apponyi, who was leader of the Progressive Conservatives and chancellor from 1846 to 1848. Entering the Hungarian Parliament in 1872, Apponyi remained a member of it, with one short exception, until 1918. From the late 1880s, he was the leader of the “united opposition,” which consisted of all parties hostile to the Austro-Hungarian “compromise” (Ausgleich) of 1867.

As minister of education (1906–10) in the coalition government, Apponyi introduced changes in the school curricula that were greatly resented by the non-Magyars for their Magyarizing tendencies. After the breakdown of the coalition he returned to the opposition as a member of the Party of Independence, of which he became president after Ferenc Kossuth’s death (1914). He was again minister of education in 1917–18.

Apponyi returned to Parliament after World War I and headed the Hungarian peace delegation at Paris. He also represented Hungary several times at the League of Nations. When he died in 1933 he was serving as Hungarian delegate to the disarmament conference. His published works include several versions of his memoirs (Eng. trans., 1935) and many studies on Hungarian constitutional problems. Apponyi was one of the most brilliant orators in Hungarian public life.