Chapter 422

The Government of Vienna had suppressed the rebellions in Prague and Galicia. After the news reached Hungary, the opposition led by Kossuth could not sit still.

Judging from the current situation, the Government of Vienna had no intention of compromising with the revolutionaries. They only suppressed them, especially the bloody suppression in Galicia, which frightened many people.

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

It was impossible for the Government of Vienna to execute more than 20,000 people at once. Franz also wanted to save face. For the long-term stability of Austria Poland, the only choice was to kill with a borrowed knife.

He gathered a group of local militias and used the conflict between them and the exploitative groups to clean up the group of reactionaries.

Throughout the country, except for the Regions of Italy, where the war was still going on, almost all the rebellions had been suppressed. Hungary was about to fight alone.

If the time was a month earlier, the Hungarian cabinet government had not yet been established. There was still a possibility of compromise between the two sides. There was even a chance to turn back before the declaration of independence was issued on April 14.

Now the Government of Vienna had not recognized the legitimacy of the Hungarian cabinet and ordered them to dissolve the illegal government.

Kossuth had always advocated breaking away from Austria and establishing an independent Hungarian Republic. Unfortunately, this idea had a limited market in Hungary.

Most of the nobles were worried about security after independence. After all, Hungary was incorporated into Austria. In addition to the marriage with the House of Habsburg, they needed Austria's protection.

Compared to the Hairy Bear and the Osman, they were more willing to follow Austria. However, in recent years, the central government of Vienna had been weak and gradually lost its prestige. After a series of tests, they found that the crying child had milk.

In order to get rid of Austria's restrictions and gain greater benefits, the capitalists accepted nationalism from France. The Austrian opposition, led by Kossuth, began to grow.

However, this did not mean that Hungary had the strength to break away from Austria. Many people were still skeptical of a revolution by force.

A young man hurriedly said, "Mr. Kossuth, something bad has happened. The Government of Vienna has sent a legal speaker into Hungary. I'm afraid he's coming for us!"

Hearing the news, Kossuth's face changed. What was the purpose of Austria sending a legal speaker? Was it just to educate the Hungarians?

If Franz had been here, he would have said, "Yes, it is really only for the sake of the law that the lecturers are sent out."

Of course, it was necessary to declare the establishment of the Hungarian cabinet illegal, but this was only in passing. The main purpose was to divide the Hungarian Kingdom.

The interests of different classes were also different. The Government of Vienna issued a series of laws to buy ordinary people.

It wasn't that Franz didn't want to bribe the elites, but it was always easier to bribe the few than the many. The problem was that their asking price was too high. They couldn't afford it at all.

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

The two sides went through a round of difficult negotiations. Franz was very open-minded and did not reject the reform. He even advocated for a more thorough reform.

However, when he encountered a group of idealists and representatives of bourgeois interest groups, the two sides obviously couldn't come to an agreement.

If the Government of Vienna accepted their conditions, it would be the Austrians' turn to make a revolution.

Equal rights did not equal privileges. Franz could give equal status to all ethnic groups, but he could never let the Hungarian nation be superior to other ethnic groups.

This involved the national conditions of the Hungarian Kingdom. The country had a population of more than 13 million, of which more than 500,000 were nobles. It could be said that nobles were everywhere.

Hungarian capitalists also had another identity — nobles. Therefore, the relationship between Hungarian capitalists and nobles was very complicated. Less than 2% of the population accounted for more than 95% of the wealth of the society.

The Hungarian nation of this period actually referred to the more than 500,000 nobles and capitalists. These people had many privileges and were the real exploiting class of the country.

To some extent, Austria was not a real autocratic empire. It was just an alliance of great nobles. The central government's control of the local area was based on the will of the nobles.

The main force of the Hungarian nationalist movement was small and medium-sized nobles and capitalists. They combined the concept of the country with their own interests and put on a layer of nationalist aura when competing for interests.

This was also the reason why the Hungarian government, headed by Kossuth, shouted for reform while refusing to implement the reform bill of the Government of Vienna.

Even the abolition of serfdom, which everyone had reached a consensus, was not implemented in Hungary. The nobles concealed the abolition bill of the Government of Vienna.

Well, this responsibility could not be counted on Kossuth. After all, he was the same leader as the Cannon Gang. He was only the product of everyone's compromise, not the result of strength.

This could be seen from the Hungarian election on April 12, 1848. Although it was said that the national election would be open, in fact, the Hungarian presidential election was still limited to Budapest.

There were only 16,200 people in Budapest who had the right to vote. According to the understanding of the "Hungarian nation" at that time, it could almost be regarded as a citywide universal suffrage.

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

Judging from these numbers, Franz's butterfly effect had worked. There were more people who chose to be indifferent than in history.

"Nagy, send someone to expel them immediately. We don't welcome them in Hungary!" Kossuth said with a gloomy face.

As a compromised president, too many people in the Kingdom of Hungary did not buy his words. In the eyes of many people, the Republic of Hungary was even a joke. This could be seen from everyone's indifference to the election.

Kossuth's anger was not without reason. The Republic of Hungary was established, but Ferdinand I still held the Kingdom of Hungary.

Without a king, there would be no nobles. For their own interests, the Hungarian nobles insisted on opposing the abolition of the king. Under the circumstances, Kossuth was forced to compromise. Now there was a king above him, and his power was greatly reduced.