With the defeat of the Hungarians during the revolution,[7] many of the reforms were revoked and Hungary was put under military dictatorship under Austrian general Julius Haynau.

On returning home he devoted himself to the improvement of the family estates, and in 1855 was elected assistant curator of the Calvinist church at Salonta, in succession to his father.

He renewed his opposition in the most uncompromising terms at the ensuing congress (Jan. 11, 1860), shrewdly guessing that the Patent was directed as much against the Hungarian constitution as against the Calvinist confession.

[5] In August 1860 Tisza married the countess Helen Degenfeld-Schomburg, a union which brought him into close connexion with the Károlyis, the Podmaniczkys and the Odescalchis.

During the Provisorium (1861–1865) Tisza fought for constitutional reform in the columns of the Hon and the Magyar Sojtó, his leading articles, afterwards collected and published under the title of Alföldi Levelek (Letters from the Alföld), being by far the most important contribution to the controversy.

When the Diet was again summoned by royal decree on 10 December 1865, Tisza once more represented Debreczen and formed, with Kálmán Ghyczy, the Left-centre party.

[9] The importance of this document is that it restored the "Constitutional integrity of Hungary" (Janos 90), with the exception over powers of defense and foreign affairs.

One of the first acts performed under the premiership of Kálmán Tisza was the consolidation of power and transformation of the bureaucracy into a single, capable apparatus: "The bureaucracy was in charge of the elections and perpetuating the liberal majority, while parliament and the party would lend an aura of legitimacy to bureaucratic policies and provide a forum to articulate bureaucratic interests" (Janos 97).

Kálmán Tisza achieved consolidation of power within the government while Parliament simply served to legitimize those actions.

Aristocratic titles were still given by the imperial power but hereditary and life peerages were to be awarded upon the advice of the Prime Minister who, in case of emergency, could seek the appointment of new members to secure the passage of a particular piece of legislation (Janos 99).

The protests that began in early 1890 in response to the news of Kossuth's citizenship being revoked, combined with a tangible and visible loss of popularity both within and outside the party, ultimately led to Tisza's resignation effective March 15, 1890.

He attempted to present his departure as a protest against the pressure from the Vienna court to revoke Kossuth's citizenship as well, although in reality, neither he nor his cabinet was particularly concerned about the issue.

His legacy of reform and success gave confidence to a people that were once suppressed by the Austrians and were struggling to master constitutional government.