Kálmán Tisza

Born Dec. 16, 1830, in Geszt, county of Békés; died Mar. 23, 1902, in Budapest. Hungarian state and political figure.

Tisza was a landowner. In the 1860’s he was one of the leaders of the bourgeois Resolutionists Party and later of the Left Center Party. While favoring the alliance of the Hungarian nobility with the Hapsburgs and the Austrian bourgeoisie, Tisza sought to gain broad popular support by publicly criticizing the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. After recanting their apparent opposition to the agreement of 1867, Tisza and his supporters joined with Deák’s Party in 1875 to form the Liberal Party, of which Tisza became the leader. As head of the government from 1875 to 1890, Tisza advocated a policy of rapprochement with Germany.