Bem, JOSEPH

Bem, JOSEPH, a Polish leader of the Hungarian insurgents, was born in 1795 at Tarnov, in Galicia. After thirteen years' military service (1812-25), and after taking an active part in the Polish rebellion of 1830-31, he went to France, where he earned a livelihood by teaching mechanics and mnemonics. In 1848, having failed in an attempt to organise an insurrection in Vienna, he joined the Hungarians, and was intrusted with the command of the army of Transylvania, amounting to 10,000 men. He soon defeated the Austrians in several engagements, announcing his victory over the famous Ban Jellachich in the laconic despatch, Bem Ban Bum ('Bem has beaten the Ban'); and finally succeeded, in March 1849, in driving both them and their allies, the Russians, into Wallachia. He then proposed, by amnesties and general mild rule, to gain the adherence of the German and Slavonic population; but his propositions were not entertained by Kossuth and the Hungarian commissariat. After expelling the troops under Puchner from the Banat, Bem returned into Transylvania, where the Russians had defeated the Hungarians. Here he was defeated in a battle near Schässburg, where he was opposed to three times the number of his own troops. At Kossuth's request he now hastened into Hungary, and took part in the unfortunate battle near Temesvar. Retreating into Transylvania, he defended himself for some days against a vastly superior force, and then made his escape into Turkey, where he embraced, from political motives, the profession of Islam, and, as Amurat Pasha, obtained a command in the Turkish army. In February 1850 he was sent to Aleppo, where, after suppressing the sanguinary insurrection of the Arabs against the Christian population, he died of fever, December 10, 1850. Bem was distinguished as a general by promptness and courage, and his personal kindness made him popular with his followers.