Budapest, Hungary: Kossuth Memorial

The Revolution of 1848 obviously was a big deal in Hungary. The Austrians started to lose a bit of their grip on the empire at that point, and several uprisings took place in the region that were nationalistic in nature. 

Lajos Kossuth took a leading role from his post in the legislature, and he pushed through a series of reforms. They included freedom of the press, legislative oversight of some government agencies, religious freedom, tax reform, the freeing of political prisoners and the abolition of feudalism. That's quite an agenda, and it obviously made a difference in life in Hungary.

Kossuth served in a number of important government jobs in the 1848-1849 era in Hungary. Part of his skill package was his golden tongue, as he was considered the best speaker of his time. His words so inspired American Daniel Webster than the latter wrote a book about the life of Kossuth. 

His political views got in the way after that, and he had to escape his homeland and eventually lived in exile in London for a while. Then it was on to Italy, where his views from a distance became less influential. 

Kossuth died in 1898, which resulted in a huge funeral and an instant campaign to build a memorial to him. That first memorial was debuted in 1927, and it was placed right by the Parliament. It was, as a video shows, a heck of a party.