Before the Austrian army had even been deployed, the new Hungarian Republic had already fallen into a precarious position due to the Viennese government political and economic maneuvers.

The Hungarians were forced to watch as their Crown Lands of Croatia, Slavonia and Transylvania were pulled into the Austrian camp.

Before war had even begun, the Hungarian Republic had lost more than half of its land, and even now it continued to lose more land. The Hungarian Prime Minister Kossuth was annoyed, but he felt powerless. Due to the "bloodless revolution," the Hungarian Republic was full of internal conflict which led to it being unable to maintain a strong grasp on its Crown Lands.

**********

Buda, Hungary

Prime Minister Kossuth passionately orated, "Do you still have any illusions about the Austrians? Wake up! The Austrians won't give us independence!

Since the establishment of our great republic, we have lost nearly 60% of our lands. If this continues, it won't be long before our millenia-old capital is also lost to the Austrians.

By now, we should all be aware of the attitude of the Viennese government towards the revolution. From Vienna to Venice, from Prague to Kraków, the savage Austrians have murdered tens of thousands of martyrs, who fought for freedom.

Do you think that they will make an exception for Hungary? If our revolution is toppled, everyone in Hungary, without exception, will either be exiled after being dispossessed of their lands and titles, or lose their head to the stone cold guillotine blade!"

The reactions of everyone present varied: some frowned, some panicked, while some were dismissive.

A representative of nobles suddenly stood up and interrupted, "Mr. Kossuth, we all understand the situation! We all feel the threat of Austria, but what good does that do us? Can we deal with the Austrians by talking and arguing here?!"

There was no doubt that the lack of productivity was the greatest flaw of the Hungarian Republic. All Republics had a common characteristic: endless talks and arguments.

The future Republic of Finland might be the only exception. After the term of the presidency ended, the citizens were too lazy to vote. If it were not for constitutional restrictions, the president could continue to serve indefinitely.

Trans_Later

IDK the veracity of this statement, so take it with a grain of salt

It was clear that the Republic of Hungary had not yet reached such a high (or low?). From the beginning, there had been internal conflicts amongst the various interest groups who indirectly controlled the Republican government. Even now, there were still many people who opposed leaving Austria despite the declaration of independence.

In addition, the revolutionaries led by Kossuth had no administrative experience, which led to endless problems as soon as they came to power. From the standpoint of those who considered themselves to be pure-blooded Hungarians as the descendants of Magyars, he was a patriot. However, from the standpoint of the various minorities in Hungary, he was nothing more than an oppressor.

Due to the influence of extreme nationalist ideology which was the basis of Kossuth's power, the Hungarian Revolution and the resultant Hungarian Republic had stood against the various ethnic minorities from the beginning, which allowed the Viennese government to become the protector of these ethnic minorities.

What was even more tragic, however, was the fact that the scope of the Hungarian nationality during this era was extremely narrow. Aside from the few hundred thousand members of the nobility, bourgeoisie, and the upper middle class, the serfs, workers, and peasants who made up the majority of the population were not considered Hungarians.

No matter how they tried to frame it, the Republic's government had not considered the interests of the poor. Moreover, the abolition of serfdom which had attracted much attention hadn't been implemented. It was reminiscent of how the Thirteen Colonies had claimed "that all men are created equal" in their Declaration of Independence but had still kept slavery legalized.

The decrees passed by the Republic's government were blatantly ignored and violated by the nobles and the capitalists. It was true that Prime Minister Kossuth was an outstanding orator, probably even one of the best alive, but when it came to practical action, he was worse than a novice. In essence, despite becoming the Prime Minister and the policy maker, he still had the mindset of a critic.

Prime Minister Kossuth frowned at being interrupted and said, "Count Lukács, the most important thing now is to organize the army and suppress the counter-revolutionaries. We cannot allow the situation to continue to deteriorate."

From the viewpoint of the Hungarian Republic, the fact that its Crown Lands had raised their support for Austria was indeed a betrayal. However, the people didn't think so. They believe that the Hungarian Republic was the traitor since the loyalty of the subjects had always been towards the Emperor of Austria who was also the King of Hungary.

Count Lukács sneered and retorted, "In that case, why hasn't the government deployed the army, yet? If the army had been there, the situation wouldn't have deteriorated as it has!"

As a grand noble, Count Lukács had suffered heavy losses since the Viennese government had confiscated a majority of his land as soon as Hungary announced its independence. Naturally, the Hungarians nobles had secretly sent correspondence to Vienna to come to an agreement.

Unfortunately for them, under Franz's leadership, the Cabinet had berated them for their involvement in the rebellion and directly rejected their request to protect their property. Without land, there was no difference between a grand noble and a lower noble since a noble's influence was dependent on the size of their land.

A grand noble owned tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and thousands of serfs. As a result, their influence came from being able to form an army of thousands of men instantly and being able to feed them with the produce of their land.

Count Lukács' dissatisfaction with Kossuth's government was not surprising. After all, if it hadn't been for the revolution, he would still be a grand noble who lived majestically, unlike now.

At this time, the Hungarian Minister of War, Lázár Mészáros, explained, "Count Lukács, you should know that military preparation takes time, and we must also consider the influence of the Austrians.

If we take military action without preparation, it is likely that we won't be able to counter the Austrian offensive, and it will be difficult for us to win if we are caught off guard."

Many people dismissed his explanation as an excuse. The so-called military preparations were still being formulated on paper. On top of that, the revolutionaries had sidelined the nobles since they had no trust in the nobility. Therefore, after the founding of the Hungarian Republic, Kossuth had appointed a large number of generals of common birth.

Unfortunately, most of these commoner generals were inexperienced and, thus, vastly unqualified. Their military knowledge was much lower than that of noble officers. There was no way to solve this problem in the short term since it was necessary to educate and cultivate soldiers from a young age.

In Europe, only children of nobles had the resources and time to obtain military personnel training, which was why, prior to the 20th century, almost all officers in the military were of noble birth. While nepotism was a major factor behind this, it couldn't be refuted that they were more qualified than children of common birth who had never received military personnel training.

Under the Vienna system, the European continent had been peaceful for decades. Even if some commoners had the talent to become generals, they had no room to grow this talent in the absence of actual combat opportunities which would've earned them military merit.

This problem also plagued the Hungarian Republic. Finally, due to a lack of a qualified general, the Republic appointed a veteran Polish general as the commander of the Hungarian forces. Despite this, the Republic didn't take the lead to declare war against Austria.

On the one hand, they were worried that it would anger the Austrians, inviting the wrath of the complete Austrian army, and on the other hand, the revolutionaries were worried that the nobles would overthrow them as soon as the soldiers departed from Hungary.

-TO BE CONTINUED-