In the year 1848, revolution seemed to have become the trend in Austria; there was no longer any region of Austria where peace and order prevailed.
On March 28, a revolution finally broke out in the region of Dalmatia. Fortunately, the influence of the Habsburgs was strong in Dalmatia and its neighboring Croatia as the local Croats suppressed the revolution themselves before the Vienna government had even decided to deploy troops.
After reading the intelligence report in his hand, Franz learnt that the local City Defense Force had led the rebellion, but it was suppressed by the capitalists and released serfs in Dalmatia. In other words, the nobles and nationalists had started the rebellion while the capitalists and serfs had helped suppress it.
According to the intelligence report, the rebellion was started due to the dissatisfaction of the local nobles with the Vienna government for passing the land and serfdom reforms which had harmed their interests. With the incitement of the radical nationalists, the nobles had foolishly rebelled.
It was hard to believe, but there were many such foolish nobles in Europe at the time. These idiots were lucky to have been born in Europe where nobles were united, at least in the face of the king. As a result, the king usually ignored them as long as their foolishness didn’t cause any serious harm to the kingdom and they publicly apologized for their actions. Rebellion, however, was one thing that could not be ignored or forgiven.
In addition, it was normal for the released serfs to help suppress the rebellion initiated by the nobles. The Vienna government had already announced the abolition of serfdom and had broken the chains which fettered them, but the nobles wanted to continue to enslave them. Needless to say, they had to oppose the nobility if they wanted freedom.
The most amusing part was that these rebellious nobles had actually armed the serfs whom they previously owned in order to form their own personal armies, which was also the reason that Franz found them foolish.
One thing which did catch Franz by surprise was that the Dalmatian capitalists, who had always been close with the Dalmatian nobles, had supported the Vienna government and contributed to the suppression of the rebellion. And the efficiency of this suppression was startling. However, Franz believed that these capitalists had likely realized that a revolution led by foolish and incompetent nobles was impossible to succeed, so they betrayed the nobles to get in his good graces.
After all, Dalmatia had a low sense of belonging in Austria, as a seemingly dispensable border province. It was economically underdeveloped and did not have much strategic value, so it was easy to ignore.
Looking at Franz's confused expression, Minister-President von Schwarzenberg said, “Your Imperial Highness, this Dalmatian rebellion was carried out by the noble officials in the local government after their interests were slightly damaged due to our reforms.
These bastards even wanted to get Trieste involved in their rebellion to build a country bordering Lombardy-Venetia and obtain support from the rebels and Sardinians there. However, they failed to realize that the local City Defense Force was loyal to the Empire and their rebellion was doomed to fail, sooner or later.
Moreover, their geographical location leaves them heavily dependent on the Empire economically, so if they became independent, Dalmatia’s economy would plummet very quickly. It was inevitable that the capitalists would go their own way to protect their own interests.”
Franz nodded thoughtfully. It seemed that the most likely possibility was that the capitalists felt that the rebellion was hopeless and they would not obtain any greater benefits, so they simply sold out their partner.
Franz could only think of a few reasons the nobles of Dalmatia would be so stupid: general lack of knowledge, too many ignorant people among them, and loss of reason due to greed, all of which were common among nobles that had grown up being pampered and wasting their days away in debauchery and profligacy.
“Deploy the soldiers to confiscate the rebels’ property and land, and immediately implement the abolition of serfdom.
As a reward for those who helped suppress the rebellion, exempt the capitalists from this year’s tax and reward the released serfs with a part of rebels’ land. Also, give a pension to the families of the deceased and wounded.”
Franz was setting an example: no matter what their purpose or motive was, anyone who helped the Vienna government suppress rebellion would be rewarded. In particular, the reward given to the serfs needed to be publicized. Franz had decided to provide land as a reward to encourage the numerous workers and peasants to fight against the rebellious nobles and capitalists.
“Your Imperial Highness, I advise against that. It is fine to reward the capitalists, but we have already given the serfs their freedom, so there’s no need to give them land, as well! It’s simply too much!”
Due to being a landowning nobles himself, Minister-President von Schwarzenberg did not want to set such a dangerous precedent. If Franz decided to use this as a weapon to weaken the nobles, the monarchy’s power would be further expanded at the expense of the nobles.
Franz asked, puzzled, “Lord Minister-President, this is for the sake of expediency. The rebellion in Lombardy-Venetia has not yet been suppressed, and some people want to loot the burning house.
A rebellion may break out at any time in Prague, and the Poles in the region of Galicia are also ready to make trouble. Meanwhile, the ambitious Hungarians are preparing to divide the Empire.
Currently, we need to unite all our forces and cleanly wipe out all the rebels, so it is natural to reward heroes. Why is it too much to use a little land to accomplish our grand goal?”
There was no doubt that Franz was just pretending to be puzzled. As long as he used the rebellion as a shield to advance his plans, the nobles had no legitimate method to oppose him. If no nobles had taken part in the rebellion, Franz wouldn’t have been able to employ his plan. However, many nobles had rebelled, so as the Crown Prince, he had reason to doubt their loyalty.
In this context, it was reasonable that he would support the serfs who would soon obtain the status of free citizens. They were hard-working, but simple-minded. If Franz gave them land, for the next few decades, they would remain his most loyal subjects, and even their descendants would be supporters of the Habsburgs for centuries to come.
All rulers needed support of the common people as a foundation of their authority. The foundation of the Austrian Habsburgs was the nobility, which wasn’t going to change easily, but that didn’t mean Franz couldn’t didn’t want the commoners to be his supporters, as well. Unlike most rulers, he was not jealous of Napoleon’s military genius, but his popularity amongst the commoners.
Nevertheless, this was something only experienced and shrewd politicians would understand. The vast majority of nobles or kings would not have such a long-term vision. Even if they were told his reasoning, they wouldn’t understand or attempt to copy it.
After a moment of hesitation, Minister-President von Schwarzenberg chose to retreat. After all, unlike in history, he had been appointed to the position of Minister-President by Franz himself, so he didn’t hold too much influence, especially not in front of him.
Seeing that he had acquiesced to his words, Franz chose not to push him any further. After all, it was not easy for Minister-President von Schwarzenberg to take the blame for Franz again and again, so Franz had to show respect to him publicly.
As a result, the policy of “distributing the nobles’ land” began, though it was better to call it “distributing the rebels’ land.” After all, only the rebels’ land would be distributed to the commoners; others had no need to worry.
Thank you for this chapnya!