Chapter 71: Reforms in the dark

  Chapter 71 – Reform in the Dark

Croatia

After Kossuth’s declaration of Hungarian independence, many Croatian nobles were in a state of hesitation when it came to the question of joining the Hungarian Republic and remaining in the Austrian Empire.

However, reality soon forced them to make a decision, and the exclusion of the Croats from the scope of rights in the Hungarian Provisional Government triggered the discontent of the local nobility.

The vast majority of land in Croatia, are in the hands of Hungarian nobles, Hungarian nobles look down on the Croatian bumpkin, the local small and medium-sized nobles and Hungarian nobles were cut off from the list.

This provided an opportunity for the Vienna government, Franz first released to the local small and medium-sized nobles of goodwill, promising to have a share in the future Austrian government.

Specifically, an Austrian National Federation was to be established to act as a parliament, in which Croatian representatives would have two to five seats.

The exact number will depend on their performance. Anyway, this excessive body before the national integration is one of the highest power bodies in the Austrian Empire in the coming period.

If you want to get a say in politics, you have to get involved. Theoretically, it was one representative seat for one percentage point of the total population.

Croats were less than three percent of the total Austrian population, so if they could get five representative seats, their political influence would increase greatly.

After pulling together the upper echelons of the Croats, Franz did not give up on pulling together the lower echelons of the population, and the ones who really want to work for him are still the ordinary people of the lower echelons of society.

After the independence of Hungary, the government of Vienna authorized Governor Josip Jeláčić to confiscate the land of the Hungarian nobility and liberate the serfs.

The numbers in favor of the Vienna government were instantly dominant. By May, Governor Josip Jelacic had 80,000 Croatian soldiers volunteers in his hands.

On May 1, Franz issued an order for the granting of land for military service. Since ordinary people could receive land for helping the government to suppress the rebellion, soldiers loyal to the Emperor were naturally no exception.

Now there was a lot of land confiscated in the hands of the Vienna government, the Kingdom of Hungary still had a large amount of land waiting to be confiscated, and there was still a lot of land available in the Austrian Empire, so it was not a big problem to take out a portion of it and distribute it to the soldiers.

Of course, in order to inhibit land annexation, this order to grant land is limited, the maximum grant of land shall not exceed fifty hectares.

For the general public, fifty hectares was already a very large number. Especially for the newly freed, landless serfs, it was enough to make them sell their lives to the emperor.

After the order of granting land for military service was issued, there was an endless stream of people joining the army. For the majority of the people, the cost of buying land was too high, so they might as well go to the battlefield.

As the day began to dawn, many people had already gathered at the Morquez conscription point.

“Maditch, you’ve come to sign up as well?”

“Yes, Glorich. After thinking about it carefully, I still think that men are the ones who should go to war!” Madic replied in a serious manner

“But Madic, didn’t you say last time that you wanted to be a great blacksmith?” Glorich asked suspiciously

The spring winds of the Industrial Revolution had not yet reached Croatia, ordinary farming tools still relied on hand building, and blacksmithing was a well-paid job for ordinary people.

“No, I’ve changed my mind now, blacksmithing can go anytime, now I’m going to the battlefield, I’m going to become a great knight!” Madic replied seriously

There was no one who didn’t want to become a noble, and a knight was the lowest grade of nobility, for ordinary people this step was the highest life pursuit.

Before the 1848 Revolution, the entire European world was a place where the son of a nobleman was a nobleman, the son of a merchant was a merchant, the son of a doctor was a doctor, and the son of a serf was still a serf.

In a country as old as Austria, the aristocracy was already so numerous that these people occupied the entire upper echelons of society, and there was no further avenue for the lower classes.

This Hungarian rebellion was seen by many ambitious people as an opportunity, a chance to cross the class limitations.

Like most young people, Madić also has ambition, he is not willing to be like his father to do a lifetime of blacksmithing, before that is no opportunity, had to face reality.

……

The wave of enlistment that took place in Croatia was just a blip on the radar, these armies were just local units and not part of the Austrian military establishment.

In other words, it means that these troops don’t need the central government to shell out military rattles, and their main job is not to fight wars, but to take care of logistics and transportation.

Governor Josip Jelacic apparently did not explain clearly, or rather deliberately did not explain clearly, that the central government’s control of so much land in its hands was not in line with the development of the bourgeois economy.

To cultivate the local market, it is natural to need money in the hands of the largest number of peasants, for whom land is the main source of income.

Austria did not have a complete agrarian revolution, and the aristocracy still held a large amount of land in their hands, so it was impossible for Franz to distribute the land for free.

Therefore, the only way to distribute land was to give it to subjects who were loyal to the emperor. The criterion was very simple: those who were willing to fight for the emperor were naturally loyal subjects.

As long as they went to the battlefield, there was hard work without merit, and when the time came, the emperor’s grace was so great that the land they had to pay for could be turned into a reward and fall directly into their hands.

Specific standards are still being developed, get the land of these people, can soon get rid of the state of abject poverty, the hands of the money will naturally consume, with consumption there is a market.

After the market boom, certainly to complement the industry, industrial growth and the government can get more tax revenue, the cost of pre-investment will slowly be recovered, this is a benign economic cycle system.

The war to suppress the rebellion had now become a tool for Franz to reform the Austrian society. Using the war as a cover, unknowingly the Austrian social system was being reshaped.

Croatia was only a microcosm of the Austrian social change, which was also taking place in Slovenia, Transylvania, Bohemia and other regions.

It can be said that the Hungarian Rebellion had just started, and the ones who lost the most were the great Hungarian nobles, whom Franz sold out without even thinking about it.

The pipsqueaks were not guilty, but the pipsqueaks were not guilty.

Whether they are involved in this rebellion or not, the hands of a large amount of land is the original sin, the most critical or they Vienna and the Republic of Hungary in the price to be sold.

Greed makes people fall into the abyss, they want to obtain greater benefits, and now Franz simply under the black hand, first divided their land.

Even if it is proved afterward that they had nothing to do with this rebellion, the land will not be taken back, the big deal is that the government will pay them a land ransom.

(End of chapter)