Buda-Pest

Since the Bohemian corps had surrounded the two cities, the residents had been in turmoil. If the Republic hadn't assured the people that their ally, the Kingdom of Sardinia, would strike Austria from the other side, most people with the means would've escaped by now. Of course, the presence of the Bohemian corps outside the city also served to deter any who wished to escape.

In order to cover the large area of Buda-Pest, the Austrian soldiers had been forced to spread out thin. Keeping this in mind, General Haynau had even prepared a regiment of detached cavalry in case the Hungarians attempted to exploit this weakness to break through the Austrian line. The Hungarians, however, had remained surprisingly quiet.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hungarian Minister of War, Lázár Mészáros, reported, distressed, "President, I've just received word from our spies that the Croatian traitors led by Jelačić will reach the city by tomorrow. At that time, the enemy forces will exceed 100,000, and our chances of victory will plummet!"

Count Lukács, a major critic of Kossuth and one of the leaders of the reactionary forces in Hungary, asserted, "Minister Mészáros is right. We can no longer fend off the enemy forces and it won't be long before they enter the city. Gentlemen, I propose that we begin peace talks with the Vienna government in order to preserve as much of Hungary as possible!"

With the successive military defeats of the Republic, many supporters of the revolution had lost faith in the elected government, which had strengthened the voice of the reactionary forces led by the nobles, who had opposed harsh measures against Austria from the beginning. At this point, they sought to preserve their interests through negotiations with the Vienna government.

Kossuth and the Republicans were currently in a terrible position. Outside, the Austrians were "liberating" cities and villages daily, freeing the serfs and redistributing the land to them in order to gain the support of the common folk. Inside, he was being opposed by the nobles and the military officers, who were mostly of noble descent, and was unable to pass any effective legislation.

As a result, in just over a month, the Hungarian Republic had become an oppressor in the eyes of most minorities. In the eyes of poor farmers and liberated serfs, the Hungarian Republic in Buda-Pest was just a tool for the nobles and capitalists to exploit them while the Emperor, who was far away in Vienna, was like a benevolent father who protected them. 

Sándor Petőfi, who belonged to Kossuth's camp, hurriedly retorted, "Impossible! Hungary has been in turmoil due to the trickery of the Austrians. The Vienna government intends to divide Hungary along ethnic lines into Croatia, Slavonia, Slovakia, Vojvodina, Transylvania, and central Hungary. They only plan to leave us with central Hungary! Even in this province, we will have no autonomy. Not to mention, the Vienna government already holds the high ground in this war. Their terms will surely be extremely harsh!"

Trans_Later

TL Note: In fact, Hungarians, or rather Magyars, were the majority only in central Hungary, which is pretty much modern-day Hungary. Croats populated the west; Romanians, or Wallachians, populated Transylvania in the east; Slovaks populated the northern Carpathians; and Serbs populated Vojvodina in the south.

In fact, the revolutionaries were not opposed to compromising with the Vienna government, but the difference between the conditions of the two sides was too large. It was no secret that Croatia and Transylvania had already been declared as autonomous provinces while Slavonia, Slovakia and Vojvodina were also preparing to create their own governments. Once all the provinces became autonomous, the once-powerful Kingdom of Hungary would be history.

Count Lukács snorted and replied, "Mr. Petőfi, the real problem is that we simply cannot win this war. Well, you're just a poet so you might not understand matters of the military. Let me explain it in simple terms: each day that passes, brings Hungary closer to extinction.

In the long river of history, nations that were many times larger and stronger than Hungary have been forgotten. I ask you, as a patriot, do you wish for such a fate for our Hungarian nation?"

Sándor Petőfi was shaken by these words and couldn't figure out how to respond. Noticing the grim expressions on the faces of many of his supporters, Kossuth hurriedly replied, "The great Hungarian nation will never disappear. History will note that Austria's schemes and conspiracies were futile. As long as we persist, we will surely win in the end!"

Then, he turned to an older gentleman who was garbed in military attire and introduced him, "For this task, I have invited the esteemed Polish general, Henryk Dembiński, a successful leader during the Polish Uprising. General Dembiński has fought for independence his whole life, so he will surely lead us to victory"

A few sporadic and half-hearted claps resounded throughout the hall. It was clear that few were optimistic about Hungary's prospects. It was no longer possible to turn the tables at the individual level. The Republic of Hungary had been established because the Vienna government's reforms had violated their interests. In addition, at that time, Austria seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Who would've thought that Austria would be stabilized in just a few months. Instead, the Republic of Hungary, which seemed mighty, would be torn apart by the political maneuvers of Franz Joseph and his government. The balance of power had dramatically shifted in favor of Austria. Many agreed with Count Lukács' words that it was time to put aside their stubbornness.

* * * * * * * * * *

The common people living in the cities of Buda and Pest were unaware of the thoughts of the titans of Hungary. Frankly, even if they had known, they wouldn't have cared. Unlike the wealthy, the biggest worries of the common people was being able to eat three meals a day and being able to stay warm at night with a roof over their head.

Since the Austrians surrounded the city, Buda-Pest and the outside world had been cut off. Fortunately, the golden plains of Hungary had the most fertile soil in central Europe and it was one of Europe's grain production hubs which meant that there was no shortage of food in the city. Unfortunately, even though there was enough food, the price of food had soared far beyond the affordability of most people.

In Hungary, the largest grain producers and exporters were the nobles who owned most of the land on the plains of central Hungary. However, despite knowing the repercussions of hoarding food, the nobles couldn't help themselves when enticed by the massive profits that could be made from creating an artificial food shortage.

For example, the price of the cheapest kind of black bread was currently more than 58% higher than it had been before the revolution. In addition, the price of coal used for cooking fires had more than doubled. In fact, to save fuel, many families had begun to cook together. Even so, the daily rise in prices had made it difficult for them to survive. The worst part was that there seemed to be no end in sight to these price hikes.

Since the founding of the Hungarian Republic, the people in Buda-Pest had not lived even a single day comfortably. In a situation where they couldn't even afford three meals a day, how could common people be expected to care about complex topics such as nation, language and freedom?

Fed up with this situation, on May 13, 1848, a massive labor strike broke out in the city of Pest. The hungry and impoverished workers took to the streets and demanded that the government calm prices, punish the profiteers and hoarders who raised prices, and implement the Labor Protection Law passed in Austria to solve the problem of unemployment.

As the spokesperson of the bourgeoisie, the Kossuth-led government rejected their demands, and immediately ordered a ruthless suppression of the strike. In the end, the strike turned into a tragedy where close to 250 people died and another 600 were injured in the stampedes that followed.

An eye-witness account of this tragedy was described in an article by Henri Touchard, a Frenchman who had arrived in Buda-Pest a few nights ago to witness and write about the Hungarian revolution, unaware that he would soon experience a day that would go down in history of Hungary as truly one of the vilest of days.

"I decided to step out of my inn after the shouting in the streets had subsided… Standing at the entrance of my inn, all I could smell and see was the dust in the air from the stampede, and a strange smell, reminiscent of iron. As I stepped out on the streets, I felt something sticky on my shoe. I looked down but I was unable to determine the identity of the sticky substance due to the dust. Then, as if it were fate, a sudden strong gust of wind appeared and blew away all the dirt with it… There… I saw hell… I had stepped into a river of blood... Everywhere I looked, there was blood. There was enough blood to paint a whole house crimson. The blood seemed so viscous, almost like some sort of syrup, until I noticed the pieces of flesh stuck within. I began to wonder whether it could ever be washed away from the street... As I looked around, I saw the street, or at least where the street should've been. Instead, all I could see were corpses… dozens of corpses. The arms, legs, and even heads of the corpses were horribly disfigured, evidence that they had been stepped on by hundreds of people. Inadvertently, I muttered the Lord's name and looked up to the sky which was filled with an endless sea of crows, ready to feast…"

-TO BE CONTINUED-