Chapter 62: Making a Nation
Chapter 62 – Making a Nation
Kosut could send people to block Austria’s representatives in the open, but they could do nothing about the people who were secretly on Austria’s side.
The Hungarian revolution was not achieved through bloodshed, which meant that a large number of people inclined towards the Vienna government were retained in the country, and it was not that Kossuth did not think of purging, but it simply could not be done. (The casualties of a handful of men were negligible)
The internal relations within the Kingdom of Hungary were intricate and complicated, and the newborn Hungarian regime was fragile and could not withstand the storm.
Vienna.
After receiving the news that Hungary had expelled the Austrian delegates, everyone knew that the countdown to war had begun and that the Austrian government could not let Hungary become independent.
“Prime Minister, how are the supplies being prepared?”
After entering the era of hot weapons, the war is about supplies, and now Austria has to take care of the Italian battlefield, Franz is most worried about the logistical supplies.
“Your Highness, the Hungarian counter-insurgency battle has yet to be fought, at the moment we are prioritizing in meeting the Italian battlefield, if the mobilized army exceeds two hundred thousand, we will not be able to secure the logistical supplies.” Felix thought about it and said
It’s not that Austria can’t take out this batch of strategic materials, as a member of the Great Powers, the Vienna government is not short of such a small amount of materials, the most critical problem is: it’s impossible to guarantee that it will be able to deliver the materials to the troops that need them on time.
The first major problem is transportation, to support hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, but also consider the post-war refugee relief problem, which requires the transportation of large quantities of materials.
The new cabinet was working on this from its inception. After the suppression of the Vienna Rebellion, Austria entered into a wartime economic system, and all government departments were working for the war.
“We cannot wait any longer, the Hungarians have rejected our goodwill, and all eyes are on us at this time.
The military operation can be postponed, but the political offensive cannot be delayed, what do you suggest?” Franz said seriously
We all play politics, naturally we know there is a word called chain reaction, if the government in Vienna does not pay any attention to Hungary, which has declared independence, will other ambitious people not scramble to follow suit?
No, it seems that by this time the ambitious people in other regions were already finished, and if it wasn’t for Franz’s intentional indulgence, the Hungarians wouldn’t have been able to become independent so smoothly.
Historically, the Hungarians’ independence was based on: the fall of all the Austro-Italian regions, the occupation of Vienna by the revolutionaries, and the outbreak of the Austrian civil war at their own peril.
At that time, everyone thought Austria was going to be cold, so they put their hearts on the line and simply revolutionized as well.
Even with the revolt, they didn’t forget to return the work to the Emperor, explaining the reasons for the revolt and leaving themselves a way out.
Now that the Italian battlefield was still continuing PK, and the Austrian regional rebellion had been suppressed, the Vienna government still had a strong power in its hands.
Capitalists and aristocrats are not outlaws, everyone has a family and a job, under normal circumstances, this time they will not jump out to find death, but the Hungarian revolution is still successful.
On the surface, it seems that it was the rise of Hungarian nationalism that succeeded, thanks to the efforts of Kossuth and others.
In reality, smart people know that this is very abnormal, the reaction of the government in Vienna was too slow, if the troops were sent out earlier to suppress the rebellion, the Hungarian Republic would not have had time to establish itself.
Austria had a standing army of 350,000, and the Vienna government mobilized another 200,000 reserves, expanded the city defense army by 30,000, and used only 100,000 people in the Italian battlefield.
Austria deployed 40,000 men in Galicia, another 50,000 in Bohemia and 20,000 in Slovenia.
There were still 120,000 Austrian troops in the Kingdom of Hungary, spread across Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Transylvania.
Even if part of the army was influenced by Hungarian nationalism, the vast majority were still loyal to the Emperor, and if the rebellion had been suppressed at the first opportunity, it would have been a different situation now.
“Your Highness, I think it’s time to immediately declare the Hungarian government illegal, and at the same time convert all of Croatia, Transylvania, and Slovakia into direct imperial provinces.” Foreign Minister Metternich said murderously
Wallbangers can kill, splitting up the Kingdom of Hungary was something he had always wanted to do but was afraid to do, and now the opportunity had come.
The Hungarians actually dared to rebel, then there is no more to say, it must be split ah! If you miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it will be difficult to encounter it again later.
The Austrian Empire was a multi-ethnic state, and the Kingdom of Hungary was likewise multi-ethnic, and the fact that the Hungarians wanted to be independent didn’t mean that the Croats, Romanians, and Slovaks wanted to be independent after them.
“Mr. Metternich is right, but while splitting up the Kingdom of Hungary, the National Equality Bill we are drafting can now be released to the public ahead of time.
Don’t the Hungarians advocate nationalism? We can also make use of it by categorizing all the serfs and civilians in the Hungarian region into the Austrian race, and make a direct kettle call.” Finance Minister Karl suggested
Franz’s eyes lit up, the finance minister’s suggestion was undoubtedly to artificially create an ethnicity out of it, dividing the Hungarian nobles and commoners.
If you open a history book, you will know that the so-called nationalities are artificially divided based on culture, language, history, geography, economy and other factors.
If you really talk about blood, it’s a false proposition. In the changes of human history, basically all ethnic groups are of mixed blood, which is simply not strokable.
Of course, the aristocracy would never recognize their blood as commoners, just as the current “Hungarians” do not recognize the serfs as one of them.
Because of their literacy level, most of the serfs in southern Europe in this era had no ethnicity, or were not told what ethnicity they belonged to.
In Franz’s view, this was an opportunity to integrate Austria.
“Mr. Karl, I don’t see any positive significance in doing so, there are already many nationalities in Austria, adding another will only make our rule more troublesome!” Archduke Louis said with a frown
He had already heard Karl’s words, creating an Austrian nation was a fake, the real purpose was to want to integrate all the Austrian nations all together.
But this was not what Archduke Louis wanted, once all the Austrian nationalities merged, then the Germans would likewise not be an exception, and from then on, Austria and Germany would be divided, which would be nothing short of a catastrophe for the Greater Germanists.
(End of chapter)