After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the restoration of constitutionalism, the government had to resolve not only the day-to-day tasks but also the question of the role of the state, the scope for government and the role of self-government in the civil transformation. The modernisation agenda of the civic transition presupposed the development of a modern public administration, marked by the aim of ‘nationalising’, i.e. centralising public administration. The flood disaster of 1879, which devastated the city of Szeged, was a great help to Prime Minister Kálmán Tisza in achieving these goals. By shelving the institutions of county and city self-government and reconstruction after the disaster through a royal commissioner, the position of the defenders of self-government became practically comparable with the aims of the government that wanted to create a modern administration.