They came for him in January 1849. He went quietly, knowing that resistance was futile. His wife, Antónia, watched as they led him away. She would spend the next months fighting for his life.
In prison, Lajos was calm. He had known for months that this day might come. He had made his peace with the possibility.
But he also believed he might survive. He was not a general; he had not commanded troops. He had been a politician seeking peaceful reform. Surely the Habsburgs would distinguish between him and the military leaders?
They did not. In Habsburg eyes, Lajos was the most dangerous of all — a nobleman who had betrayed his class, a moderate who had made revolution respectable. He had to die, pour encourager les autres.
His wife lobbied tirelessly. She appealed to every authority she could reach. She begged for clemency from the Austrian government, from the Russian Tsar, from anyone who might intervene. All refused.
Lajos learned of his sentence in late September 1849: death by hanging.