Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From Free net encyclopedia
| The Revolutions of 1848 |
|---|
| Prelude |
| Revolution in France |
| Revolution in Habsburg areas |
| Revolution in Germany |
| Revolution in Italy |
| Revolution in Poland |
| Aftermath |
In 1848, the Austrian Empire under the Habsburgs was confronted with the combined effect of economic, social class, and nationalities conflicts. Within its boundaries lived Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, Italians and Croats.
Contents |
The early rumblings
The focus of hatred was Prince Metternich, a seeming avatar of reaction; the absolute ruler, the Emperor Ferdinand, was feebleminded and incompetent (which, according to some, may be the result of incest in the Habsburg family). He was oddly popular, and people generally saw him as guided by ineffective advisors (which was fairly close to the truth).
Business interests wanted reform. The People wanted solid finance, roads, railroads, and technology. High tariffs crippled commerce; the crown would not lower tariffs on foreign wheat at times of famine. Press freedom was a liberal dream; government spies were everywhere. Factory workers were miserable. All books, newspapers and ads were government-approved. Private ownership of firearms was also restricted by the government.
Hungary was being affected by a simmering nationalist revolt by 1844, with the revolt's leader Kossuth attacking Chancellor Metternich. Kraków had been just annexed in 1846 following an unsuccessful Polish uprising. The 1847 depression hit hard. Crime, prostitution, homelessness, and begging increased, and workers couldn't afford potatoes.
Revolution in the Austrian lands
A few early victories
The Paris Revolution filtered over to Vienna, raising the already-insistent calls for liberal reform. The Habsburg Court pressured Prince Klemens von Metternich to step down in order to placate the subject nationalities, and he resigned on March 13, 1848, fleeing to England. He had already been in office for many years, now 74, and was seen as a reactionary, having conducted foreign affairs for thirty years, notably with less competence since 1835. Revolts broke out across the Empire; The Habsburg territories of Lombardy and Venetia were in arms.
Vienna had troubles as well. There was violence and Luddite destruction of property. Many employers later announced concessions; on March 14 the press was declared free.
Metternich's fall was deemed a great victory by at least some of the revolutionaries (and the revolutionaries were mainly students) -- Metternich was seen as a reactionary exemplar of the old order, and he had been ousted. But the Revolution increased unemployment over 1847, and Vienna seemed in a reign of terror; there was a crime wave. The Habsburgs were pushed towards reform, although for a short time. By April there was a constitution for parts of the empire.
The Imperial Court fled to Innsbruck by May 17, while back in France, the old order was already re-asserting itself. Anarchy was looking less appealing.
Ethnic disputes
Of all the nationalities -- Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, and Hungarians, the Hungarians pushed hardest for self-determination.
In Hungary a new national cabinet took power under Lajos Kossuth and the Diet (parliament) approved a sweeping reform package (referred to as the March Laws) that changed almost every aspect of Hungary's economic, social, and political life, giving the Magyar nobility and lower gentry in the parliament control over its own military, its budget, and foreign policy.
The Czechs held a congress in Prague, asking for greater freedom in the Empire, but their status as peasants and proletarians surrounded by a German middle class doomed their autonomy. They also disliked the prospect of annexation of Bohemia to a German Empire.
Both the Czech and Italian revolutions were defeated by the Habsburgs, by some means or other (more on the Italians in another page). Prague was the first victory of counter-revolution in the Austrian Empire.
On the meeting of the peoples of the Empire that was held in Bratislava, the Serbs had pleaded for the acknowledgement of their nation, education in their language and their separate region. Lajos Kossuth, the leader of Hungary, rebuffed them, announcing that "the only nation that exists in the Hungarian Kingdom is the Magyar nation" and that "the rebels should be punished by sword".
The revolters have some more successes
The early successes of the revolution in the Habsburg lands were easy -- perhaps too easy, for divisions in the revolutionaries soon showed, capitalized upon by the counter-revolution.
On July 22, the Austrian Constituent Assembly gathered in Vienna, aware of the power of the revolutionaries, but frightened of mob rule and democracy. Something had to give, and here came a few of the accomplishments of the revolution -- the feudal system under which the peasants (the bulk of the population) lived was reduced; the widely hated robot rule of service to one's lord was abolished, and some hereditary rights of the nobility were cut. While the peasants achieved some of their goals, the monarchy was untouched, and when the revolutionaries murdered the unpopular minister of war, conservatives put Vienna under military rule by October 1848. The Constituent Assembly invited the royal family back from Innsbruck; Emperor Ferdinand I was replaced.
Revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary
- See also: History of Hungary
Hungary, at just over half the land area of the Empire, at the time was a bit like the American South of the time: agricultural, backwards economically, controlled by a conservative elite, and soon to fight a war of independence that would eventually fail due to ethnic, linguistic, and religious splits.
The Hungarians set out to form their own government, but restricted the new Pest Diet to speakers of Hungarian. This angered the Slavs and the Romanians who had their own desires for self-rule and saw no benefit in replacing one centralist government for another. Armed clashes between the Hungarians on the one hand and the Croats, Romanians, Serbs and Slovaks on the other hand ensued.
Croatia, the only province of the Hungarian Kingdom that already had some form of home rule, sided with the Habsburgs and severed relations with the new Hungarian government. Josip Jelačić, who had become governor of Croatia in March, led an army into Hungary by September 1848. Hungarians filtered over from Italy; many women served, but independent Hungary progressively shrunk.
On the Serb National Assembly in Sremski Karlovci in May, 1848, Serbs, aided by the Romanians and Croats, declared the unification of the regions of Srem, Banat, Bačka, and Baranja (including parts of the Military Frontier) into the province of Serbian Vojvodina and wanted to unite with the Ottoman autonomous principality of Serbia. Hungarians were outraged by this declaration and their army confronted the Serb army near Srbobran, where the Serbs and other peoples gained victory over Hungarians. Later Serbs and Croats reached an agreement to cooperate with Austria and Russia. Serbs gained their province, enlarged and much more ethnically diverse, containing more Germans and Romanians than Serbs. It was named the Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat and it was a big disappointment for the Serbian unity movement. Soon, both sides had successes of their own.
Basing his ideas on the American Declaration of Independence, Hungary's leader Kossuth declared independence. It lasted about four months. By May the Hungarian secessionists had recaptured all of their country except Buda, which they won after a three-week bloody siege. Hungary came close to independence in 1849.
However, it was not to be. The Austrians had enlisted the help of the Russians, while the Hungarians solicited help from as far away as the United States, to no avail. England did nothing; many in the U.S.A. and England at least privately favored Hungarian independence, but their governments did nothing. Finally, the Hungarians surrendered to the government troops.
Many of the rebels were hanged or shot. Some of the most active of the executed secessionists are called the 13 Martyrs of Arad (György Lahner, Lajos Aulich, János Damjanich, Károly Knezich, Károly Leiningen-Westerburg, Ernő Poeltenberg, Ignác Török, József Nagy-Sándor, Arisztid Dessewffy, Ernő Kiss, Vilmos Lázár, József Schweidel). Kossuth and others ultimately escaped to America, Kossuth giving speeches and collecting money for a new war to save his Fatherland. While Kossuth was safe, Hungary was punished extensively, with the punishments being administered from Vienna, and all local control abolished. But serfs were legally freed, one of a handful of victories for the serfs; moreover, Habsburgs couldn't keep industry from developing in Hungary any more.
Revolution in Bohemia
Nationalist feeling among the Czechs, Bohemians, had been smoldering for centuries. They demanded a constitution and autonomy within the Hapsburg Empire. A Pan-Slav Congress attempted to unite all Slavic Peoples, but accomplished little because divisions were more decisive among them than was unified opposition to Hapsburg control. In June 1848, Prague submitted to a military occupation, followed by a military dictatorship in July, after all revolutionary groups had been crushed.
In the end
The Habsburgs put Vienna under martial law, and reactionary activities spread throughout the Empire. The Habsburgs gave Baron Alexander von Bach an absolute mandate over the Kingdom of Hungary, including Croatia whose contribution to the quelling of the revolution was ignored.
Despite real successes, nationalistic antagonisms doomed further reform. Bach was later replaced after the "Compromise" of 1867 and the creation of Austria-Hungary. The Austrian Empire collapsed in 1918 at the end of World War I, splitting into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and several other states.
External links
Next: The German states als:1848er Revolution bei den Habsburgern
de:Die Revolution von 1848/49 im Kaisertum Österreich
hr:Revolucija u Mađarskoj 1848.