It is no secret that during the first half of the nineteenth century Hungarian nationalism changed from quiescence to fierce agitation, from relative indifference to extreme preoccupation, from an aristocratic prerogative to a mass movement, and from a disregard of the lower classes to a sincere endeavor to make everyone who lived in the lands of the Crown of St. Stephen happy. Among the most conspicuous promoters of this modern, aggressive nationalism were István Széchenyi, Miklós Wesselényi, and Lajos Kossuth. All three nurtured identical hopes for the future of the nation, but they advocated very different methods for attaining the fulfillment of these expectations. They were contemporaries or near-contemporaries; yet their successive rise and decline reflected important shifts in the evolution of Hungarian nationalism as it gradually moved into an all-encompassing doctrine requiring total personal commitment and integration.