The Viennese government suppressed the Bohemian and Galician rebellions successively. After this news reached Hungary, the opposition in the Lower House and the Upper House led by Lajos Kossuth and Lajos Batthyány, respectively, could no longer sit still.

Judging from their actions, the Viennese government had no intention of compromising with the revolutionaries. The suppression of rebellions in Vienna, Lombardy, Bohemia, and especially the bloody suppression that took place in Galicia had already terrified many people.

Lieutenant General Ludwig von Benedek, who was responsible for suppressing the Galician rebellion, had even allowed the oppressed serfs to retaliate against the oppressive nobles and capitalists. In fact, the majority of the more than 20,000 deaths that took place in Galicia were due to mob lynching.

It was impossible for the Viennese government to execute more than 20,000 people at one time. After all, Austria was not Russian or the Ottoman Empire. In addition, Franz didn’t want to be called a “butcher” by future generations.

Therefore, for the long-term stability of Galicia which had a large population of Poles, killing with a borrowed knife was the only option. One the one hand, the loyalty of the Polish population was strengthened while on the other the weeds were rooted out.

Trans_Later

Galicia is the land Austria obtained during the 1st and 3rd partition of Poland; Austria didn’t participate in the 2nd partition of Poland since it had to worry about the French Revolution in the west.

Afterwards, the Viennese government continued to use this tactic. They backed the local militia in rebellious regions, and exploited the conflict between the rebels, who were controlled by the nobles and the capitalists, and the far more numerous common folk to clean up the reactionary elements who opposed the abolition of serfdom etc.

As a result, throughout the vast Austrian Empire, except for the war against Sardinia on the Italian front, all other rebellions had been suppressed along with the blood of the rebels which meant that the Hungarians would have to fight alone.

Less than a month ago, when the Hungarian Diet had not yet been established, there had still been a possibility of compromise between Austria and Hungary. Even before the declaration of independence on April 14th, the Hungarians still had the chance to turn back.

Now, however, the Viennese government had refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Hungarian Diet, and had ordered them to disband their illegal government which had cornered the Hungarian rebels.

Even though Kossuth had always advocated leaving Austria and establishing an independent Hungarian republic, this plan had very limited support in Hungary. Most nobles are worried about their security after independence. After all, the main reason that Hungarians had merged with Austria was to ensure their safety.

They were more willing to be sheltered by the Austrian Eagle than the Russian Bear or the Ottoman Wolf. It was just that the Viennese government had grown weaker over the years and was no longer able to deter the Hungarian nobles and capitalists who wanted to get rid of the restrictions of Austria and make greater profits.

Kossuth used the nationalism exported by France and his anti-Austrian forces began to grow. Nevertheless, this didn’t mean that Hungary had the ability to escape from Austria's grasp, so many people remained skeptical of an armed revolution.

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A young man hurried into Kossuth's office and said, "Mr. Kossuth, I’ve got bad news. The Viennese government has sent a legal lecturer here. I'm afraid they're targeting us!"

Hearing this news, Kossuth's face fell. What was the purpose of the Austrian legal lecturer coming here? Is it just to popularize the law in Hungary?

If Franz were here, he would say--yes, the purpose of sending a legal lecturer is really just to popularize the law. Of course, declaring the Hungarian Diet to be unconstitutional is also indispensable, but this can only be considered a secondary purpose. The main reason is to cause a divide within Hungary. The needs and interests of different classes are naturally different.

The series of laws promulgated by the Viennese government over the past month were essentially to win over the ordinary people. In fact, the Viennese government had been forced to take this step. Initially, they had wanted to win over the ruling elite since it was easier to win over the minority than the majority, but the problem was that the minority's asking price was simply too high and beyond the affordability of the Viennese government.

In March, a delegation led by Batthyány arrived and requested that the Viennese government allow them to establish an independent government in Hungary and also abolish the feudal system. Franz had guaranteed that more reform legislation would soon be passed. However, the delegation was made up of spokespersons of the capitalists, so the two sides obviously failed to reach an agreement.

If the Viennese government had accepted their outrageous terms, there would’ve been a revolution in Austria. Equal rights did not equal privileges. Franz was willing to give an equal status before the law to everyone, so he would never give the Hungarians the special privileges which they had demanded.

There was another reason for this. Hungary had a population of 13 million of which over 500,000 were nobles, an outrageously high proportion. If they were given special privileges, the common folk who had been freed from serfdom would be no different from serfs without rights to guarantee their safety and livelihood.

In addition, the Hungarian capitalists were almost all descended from nobility which meant that the relationship between the capitalists and nobles was very complicated. In fact, the nobles were closer to 2% of the population but there were more than 500,000 aristocrats and capitalists with many privileges.

These people were the ones exploiting the rest of the people in Hungary as they occupied more than 95% of society's wealth. To a certain extent, Austria was not a truly autocratic empire like Russia, but a large alliance of high nobles similar to France. Therefore, the central Viennese government's authority over the people came through the local nobles.

The Hungarian nationalist movement which was currently in full swing mainly consisted of the small and medium nobles and capitalists. They had combined the concept of a sovereign state with their own interests and put on the disguise of nationalism for their own selfish benefit.

As a result, the Hungarian Diet headed by Kossuth, while shouting for reform, refused to implement the reforms legislation passed by the Viennese government. Even if the Viennese government had abolished serfdom, it was not enforced in Hungary, and the nobles even went as far as to isolate the common folk from the rest of Austria.

This censorship was one of the few things for which Kossuth was not guilty. After all, his entire persona was built around his radical rhetoric and skills of oration like Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution of 1789. Similarly, he didn’t become the figurehead of the Hungarian revolution by virtue of his superior skills, but as a product of a compromise.

The lacking extent of his authority became evident on April 12, 1848 when a popular election with universal male suffrage took place in Hungary. Although Kossuth had declared that the elections would be held throughout Hungary, the election was only held in Pest where only 262,000 were eligible to vote.

Apparently, according to the nobles and capitalists only they were true "Hungarians," so it was only natural that only the men within them vote. But, in the end, the actual voter turnout was just 5,176. Kossuth was elected after receiving 1,639 votes. Of course, the voter turnout announced to the public was at least 100 times the actual voter turnout.

Kossuth sh, "Nándor, kick that legal lecturer out of the country immediately; tell him we in Hungary don't welcome them!"

As someone who became the Prime Minister through a compromise, there are many people in Hungary who look down on him. In fact, according to them, this Hungarian Republic is a joke which was made evident from the pathetically low voter turnout during the elections.

Kossuth's anger was not without reason. Even though the Hungarian Republic had been established, Ferdinand I was still widely accepted as the King of Hungary. After all, without the king, there is no aristocracy.

For their own benefit, the Hungarian nobles vehemently opposed the abolition of the monarchy which forced Kossuth to compromise. As a result, despite being the Prime Minister, he was forced to serve under the King of Hungary, which greatly reduced his rights.

-TO BE CONTINUED-