The Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas

In 1848, the Austrian Empire under the Habsburgs was confronted with the combined effect of economic, social class, and nationalities conflicts. Within its boundaries lived Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, Italians and Croats.

Revolution in the Austrian lands

A few early victories

The Paris Revolution filtered over to Vienna, raising the already-insistent calls for liberal reform. The Habsburg Court pressured Prince Klemens von Metternich to step down in order to placate the subject nationalities, and he resigned on March 13, 1848, fleeing to England. He had been in office too long, now 74, and was seen as a reactionary, having conducted foreign affairs for thirty years, notably with less competence since 1835. Revolts broke out across the Empire; Lombardy and Venetia were in arms.

Related Topics:
Vienna - March 13 - England - Reactionary - 1835 - Lombardy - Venetia

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Vienna had troubles as well. There was violence and Luddite destruction of property. Many employers later announced concessions; on March 14 the press was declared free.

Related Topics:
Luddite - Property - March 14 - Press

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Metternich's fall was deemed a great victory by at least some of the revolutionaries (and the revolutionaries were mainly students) -- Metternich was seen as a reactionary exemplar of the old order, and he had been ousted. But the Revolution increased unemployment over 1847, and Vienna seemed in a reign of terror; there was a crime wave. The Habsburgs were pushed towards reform, although for a short time. By April there was a constitution for parts of the empire.

Related Topics:
Unemployment - Crime wave - Constitution

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The Imperial Court fled to Innsbruck by May 17, while back in France, the old order was already re-asserting itself. Anarchy was looking less appealing.

Related Topics:
Innsbruck - May 17 - Anarchy

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Ethnic disputes

Of the hodgepodge of nationalities -- Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, and Hungarians, the Hungarians and Italians pushed hardest for self-determination.

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In Hungary a new national cabinet took power under Lajos Kossuth and the Diet (parliament) approved a sweeping reform package (referred to as the March Laws) that changed almost every aspect of Hungary's economic, social, and political life, giving the Magyar nobility and lower gentry in the parliament control over its own military, its budget, and foreign policy.

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The Czechs held a congress in Prague, asking for greater freedom in the Empire, but their status as peasants and proletarians surrounded by a German middle class doomed their autonomy. They also disliked the prospect of annexation of Bohemia to a German Empire.

Related Topics:
Prague - Proletarian

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Both the Czech and Italian revolutions were defeated by the Habsburgs, by some means or other (more on the Italians in another page). Prague was the first victory of counter-revolution in the Austrian Empire.

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On the meeting of the peoples of the Empire that was held in Bratislava, the Serbs had pleaded for the acknowledgement of their nation, education in their language and their separate region. Lajos Kossuth, the leader of Hungary, rebuffed them, announcing that "the only nation that exists in the Hungarian Kingdom is the Magyar nation" and that "the rebels should be punished by sword".

Related Topics:
Bratislava - Serbs - Lajos Kossuth

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The revolters have some more successes

The early successes of the revolution in the Habsburg lands were easy -- perhaps too easy, for divisions in the revolutionaries soon showed, capitalized upon by the counter-revolution.

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On July 22, the Austrian Constituent Assembly gathered in Vienna, aware of the power of the revolutionaries, but frightened of mob rule and democracy. Something had to give, and here came a few of the accomplishments of the revolution -- the feudal system under which the peasants (the bulk of the population) lived was reduced; the widely hated robot rule of service to one's lord was abolished, and some hereditary rights of the nobility were cut. While the peasants achieved some of their goals, the monarchy was untouched, and when the revolutionaries murdered the unpopular minister of war, conservatives put Vienna under military rule by October 1848. The Constituent Assembly invited the royal family back from Innsbruck; Emperor Ferdinand I was replaced.

Related Topics:
Constituent Assembly - Mob rule - Democracy - Feudal - Military rule

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