Adalékok gyulai Gaál Miklós 1848–1849-es honvédtábornok mérnöki tudásáról és műveltségéről
The Engineering Expertise and the Erudition of Honvéd General Miklós Gyulai Gaál

Summary/Abstract: To this day, we barely have detailed portraits of the military leaders of the 1848-1849 Hungarian war of independence, we know very little of their education, expertise and erudition. Among them, Miklós Gyulai Gaál was one of the most qualified, who also had extensive knowledge and erudition. The paper discusses his major achievements as an engineer after his graduation at the military engineering academy in Vienna as well as his broad education. After he had graduated at the academy, he became a military engineer in the imperial and royal army, and worked mostly on designing structures for years, as part of his varied tasks required in the army. He realized it early that there were several engineering problems in the army with severe consequences. One such issue was the insufficient transfer of exhaust from heating devices and furnaces, which often resulted in the backdraft of smoke. In such cases airing was required, which caused severe colds often putting soldiers on the sick-list, especially in the winter. To solve this problem, Gaál constructed a heuristic chimney add-on, which did eliminate the problem during a long test. He described his proposal in detail in a small book published in Brünn (Brno) in 1837, which earned him a written commendation by his superiors. He also thoroughly studied group lavatories, in which pipe freezing caused a lot of troubles, including leaking sewage damaging the walls. Gaál designed a solution which prevented such issues during a long test period. He published his design, which was environmentally friendly, in a booklet in Brünn in 1841. The paper examines these two printed books on engineering problems by Gaál as both can be regarded as unprecedented examples of Hungarian building engineering. He participated in the competition announced in 1844 for designing a new parliament building in Pest, and his plan was accepted, which bears witness to the fact that its quality was up to the rather stringent requirements of the tender. But it is not just his military and engineering expertise that makes Gaál one of the most notable generals of the war of independence: he also excelled with his wide education. He could speak several languages. He was not just a music lover and expert, but he could also play the violin and even composed music. He was also conversant with literature and astronomy, and he created several artistic drawings and paintings. An early, small selfportrait of his is kept in the Hungarian National Gallery. Several of his paintings created during his imprisonment after the suppression of the war of independence are kept in the Ereklyemúzeum in Arad.

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