This paper investigates the events and lessons from the 1848–49 cholera epidemic in Hungary. For contemporaries, the ongoing revolution and civil war pushed the devastation of the cholera epidemic into the background, even though the death rate was similar to that of the earlier 1831 infection. The epidemic hit the country in a period when the revolutionary Hungarian state was waging a war of self-defense. This article strives to refute the historiographic view that the movements of the different armies had a considerable influence on the development of the epidemic. Instead, this article argues that the cholera epidemic was a demographic crisis unfolding in the background of war, but for the most part independently of it. It mattered that most people of that time had already directly experienced cholera and that the Hungarian government did not want to cause panic with restrictive measures. In 1848, cholera was not a “mobilizing factor,” but in 1849 it contributed to the demoralization of the hinterland and frequently appeared in the political propaganda of the civil war.

本文调查了 1848-49 年匈牙利霍乱疫情的事件和教训。对于同时代的人来说，持续不断的革命和内战将霍乱疫情的破坏抛诸脑后，尽管其死亡率与 1831 年早期感染的死亡率相似。疫情爆发之际，匈牙利革命国家正在进行自卫战争。本文力图反驳认为不同军队的行动对疫情发展有相当大影响的史学观点。相反，本文认为霍乱疫情是一场在战争背景下展开的人口危机，但在很大程度上与战争无关。重要的是，当时大多数人已经直接经历过霍乱，匈牙利政府不想通过限制措施引起恐慌。1848年，霍乱还不是一个“动员因素”，但到了1849年，它却助长了内陆地区的士气低落，并频繁出现在内战的政治宣传中。