1 Chapter 61: Hungary

The Vienna government suppressed the Prague rebellion and the Galician rebellion successively. After the news reached Hungary, the opposition headed by Kossuth could not sit still.

Judging from the current situation, the Vienna government has no intention of compromising the revolutionaries in the slightest. In addition to repression, the bloody crackdown in Galicia, in particular, made many feel terrified.

Ludwig von Benedek, who was in charge of suppressing the Galician rebellion, directly allowed the local people to retaliate against the nobles and capitalists. The majority of the 20,000 people who died were killed by the locals.

It was impossible for the Vienna government to execute more than 20,000 people at one time, and Franz was also someone who want to save face. For the long-term stability of Austrian-Poland, killing with a knife has become the only option.

A group of militiamen was called from the local area, and they took advantage of the contradiction between them and the exploitative group to purge the gang of reactionaries who were making a fortune.

Looking around the country, except for the ongoing war in Italy, almost all rebellions have been suppressed through force and blood. Now Hungary will have to fight alone.

It was as if the time is brought forward by a month, the cabinet in Hungary has not yet been established, and there is still the possibility of compromise between the two sides, even before the release of the Declaration of Independence on April 14, there is still a chance to turn back.

Now the Vienna government will never recognize the legitimacy of the Hungarian government and ordered them to dissolve the illegal government instantly.

Kossuth has always advocated breaking away from Austria and establishing the independent Hungarian Republic, but unfortunately, this idea has a limited response in Hungary.

Most of the nobles were worried about their security after declaring independence. After all, Hungary was merged into Austria. In addition to the marriage of the Habsburg family, they also needed the protection of Austria.

Compared with Russia and the Ottomans, they were still more willing to mix with Austria. It's just that the central government in Vienna has been weak over the years and gradually lost its brilliance. Through a series of trials, they found that at the very least a crying child would still have milk to drink.

To get rid of the restrictions of Austria and obtain greater benefits, the capitalists accepted the nationalism passed down from France, and the Austrian opposition headed by Kossuth began to grow.

But this does not mean that Hungary has the strength to get rid of Austria and become independent, and many people are still skeptical about the armed revolution.

A young man hurriedly said: "Mr. Kossuth, something is wrong. The Vienna government sent a legal preacher into Hungary, I'm afraid it's for us!"

Hearing this news, Kossuth's face changed greatly. What was the purpose of the Austrian law preacher? Is it just to educate the Hungarians?

If Franz were here, he would say—yes, the purpose of sending legal preachers is to popularize the law.

Of course, it is also indispensable to declare the establishment of the Hungarian government illegal, but this can only be regarded as incidental, and the most important thing is to divide the Kingdom of Hungary.

The interests of different classes are also different. A series of laws issued by the Vienna government is essentially to bribe ordinary people.

There is no other way, it's not that Franz doesn't want the support of the elites, it's easier to gain the support of the minority than the majority. The problem is that these elites' support cost is simply too much and Franz believes it is not worth the value of the support needed.

In March, the Hungarian delegation represented by Kossuth proposed to the Vienna government the establishment of an independent Hungarian government and the abolition of the feudal system.

After a difficult round of negotiations between the two sides, Franz was still very open-minded and did not reject reforms, and he even advocated more thorough reforms.

However, when he met a group of idealists + spokespersons of bourgeois interest groups, the two sides obviously couldn't reach an agreement.

If the Vienna government dared to accept their terms, it would be the Austrians' turn to experience a revolution.

Equal rights do not mean equal privileges. Franz can give equal status to all ethnic groups, but he absolutely cannot let the Hungarian nation take precedence over all ethnic groups.

This involves the national prowess of the Kingdom of Hungary. There are more than 13 million people in the country, of which there are more than 500,000 nobles. It can be said that nobles are all over the place.

Hungarian capitalists also have another identity - nobles, so the relationship between Hungarian capitalists and nobles is very complicated. Less than 2% of the population accounts for more than 95% of the wealth in the society.

The Hungarian nation in this period refers to the more than half a million nobles and capitalists. These people have many privileges and are the ones exploiting the country and its people.

To a certain extent, Austria is not a real autocratic empire, but an alliance of powerful nobles and the central government's control of the region is realized by the will of the nobles.

The Hungarian nationalist movement that is breaking out now is mainly composed of small and medium aristocrats and capitalists. They combine the concept of the country with their interests and put on a nationalistic halo when they compete for interests.

This is also the reason why the Hungarian government headed by Kossuth, while shouting for reform, refused to implement the Vienna government reform bill.

Even the abolition of serfdom that everyone agreed upon was not implemented in Hungary, and the nobles concealed the abolition law of the Vienna government.

Well, this responsibility can't be counted on Kossuth. After all, he is the same leader as the Artillery Party[2]. He is only the product of everyone's compromise, not their strength.

This can be seen in the Hungarian election on April 12, 1848. Although it claimed to be open to the general election, it was in fact not open, the Hungarian presidential election was still only in Budapest.

Only 16,200 people in Budapest have the right to vote. If understood by the "Hungarian nation" at that time, it can be regarded as a city-wide universal suffrage system.

The final result is that a total of 5,176 votes were received, and Kossuth was elected with 1,639 votes. Of course, the results announced to the public were not these numbers.

Judging from these numbers, Franz's butterfly effect still plays a role, and more people choose to sit on the sidelines than in history.

"Nagy, send someone to deport him immediately, we don't welcome him in Hungary!" Kossuth said with a gloomy face

As a restricted president, there are too many people in the Kingdom of Hungary who do not believe in his words and actions. Even in the minds of many people, the Hungarian Republic is a joke, as we know from everyone's indifference to elections.

Kossuth's anger was not without reason. The Hungarian Republic was established, but Ferdinand I still served as the King of Hungary.

Without a king, there would be no nobles. For their interests, the Hungarian nobles insisted on opposing the abolition of the king. Due to the situation, Kossuth was forced to make a compromise. Now he has a king over his presidency, and the power he can weld has been greatly reduced.

[2]领袖和炮党 , I don't know what political party is this, if someone knows please comment and I will change it.