1. Ferenc II Rákóczi
Benedict S. Gombocz

2. Early life
Early life
 Ferenc II Rákóczi was born to an aristocratic Magyar (Hungarian) family on
March 27, 1676 in Borsi, Kingdom of Hungary (now Borša, Slovakia).
 Both his father and his stepfather played leading roles in revolts against the
Habsburgs, and Rákóczi grew up with a feeling of Magyar patriotism.
 Following the fall of Munkács (Мукачеве, Mukacheve) to the Austrians in 1688,
he was separated from his mother, Ilyona Zrínyi, and taken to Vienna, where
he was put in a Jesuit college in Bohemia (Böhmen) to be raised in Austrian
ways.
Ferenc II Rákóczi’s birth home, modern day
Borša, Slovakia

3. Ottoman Hungary
Circa 1572 Circa 1683

4. Return to Hungary
Return to Hungary
 In 1694, Rákóczi returned to his Hungarian estates, having overlooked
his heritage.
 His fellow Hungarian nobles nevertheless inspired him to have hope for
the Hungarian cause.
 One day ahead of the War of the Spanish Succession, Rákóczi and his
fellow magnates sought out assistance from King Louis XIV of France.
 Their intermediary were not loyal to Rákóczi’s trust, and he was
arrested and detained, and evaded death with assistance from his wife
by leaving his cell disguised.
 After spending two years in Poland, he returned to Hungary in 1703,
placing himself as the leader of the peasant uprising called the Kuruc
(Kurucok) uprising.
 Even though he originally had substantial success, the 1704 Anglo-
Austrian victory at Blenheim ruined any chances of help from the
French and of eventual triumph (fighting in Hungary, however, did not
end until 1711).
Kuruc (Kurucok) uprising

5. Europe in 1700

6. Defeat
 The Transylvanians, in the meantime, turned to Rákóczi to reinstate their
independence; they made him prince on July 6, 1704, which caused the
devastation of any optimism for negotiations with the King of Hungary at the
time, Leopold I (I. Lipót).
 France did not provide effective assistance, Rákóczi’s attempts to win the
Russian Tsar Peter I’s aid against Austria were not successful, and his peasant
armies dealt further significant losses; on February 21, 1711, just a few months
ahead of the signing of the Peace of Szatmár with the Austrians, he finally left
Hungary for good.
Leopold I (I. Lipót)

7. Exile and death
Exile and death
 After he sought safe haven in in Poland and France, Rákóczi, on the
offer of the Sultan to assist in creating an army against the Austrians,
went to Constantinople in 1717.
 However, peace was reached before his arrival, the Sultan no longer
needed his help, and Rákóczi spent his last years in exile in Tekirdağ,
Turkey; he died there on April 8, 1735, almost two weeks after his 59th
birthday.
Rákóczi’s exile

8. Tekirdağ

9. Statue of Ferenc II Rákóczi behind the Hungarian
Parliament, Budapest

10. Ferenc II Rákóczi’s grave, Košice (Kaschau, Kassa)

11. II. Rákóczi Ferenc Gimnázium

12. References and other sites
 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/490227/Ferenc-Rakoczi-II
 Other sites: http://www.rakocziszovetseg.org/tartalom/helyi_szervezetek/2012/latin_verseny.pdf