Chapter 62: Creating a nation

Kossuth could send someone to block Austrian representatives on the surface, but they couldn't do anything about those who were secretly on Austria's side.

The Hungarian Revolution was not achieved through bloodshed, which means that there are a large number of people who are inclined toward the Vienna government. (Ignore human casualties.)

The internal relations of the Kingdom of Hungary are intricate, and the whole system is affected. The newly-born Hungarian regime is fragile and cannot withstand the wind and rain.

Vienna

After receiving the news that Hungary had expelled the Austrian representative, everyone knew that the war was inevitable, and the Austrian government could never allow Hungary to become independent.

"Prime Minister, how are the supplies preparations going?"

After entering the era of hot weapons, a battle is all about supplies. Now Austria has to take care of the Italian war. What Franz is most worried about is logistical supplies.

"His Royal Highness, the Hungarian counter-insurgency campaign has not yet started. At present, our priority is to finish the Italian war. If the mobilized army exceeds 200,000, we will not be able to guarantee logistical supplies." Felix thought for a while and said.

It's not that Austria can't come up with this batch of strategic supplies. As a member of the great powers, the Vienna government was never short on logistical supplies. The most critical problem is that it cannot guarantee that the supplies can be delivered to the troops on time.

The first major problem is transportation. To support hundreds of thousands of troops in combat, and to consider the issue of refugee relief after the war, it is necessary to transport a large number of supplies.

The new cabinet has been working hard for this since its establishment. After the suppression of the Vienna Rebellion, Austria entered a wartime economic system, and all government departments worked hard for the ongoing and upcoming war.

"Can't wait any longer, the Hungarians have rejected our goodwill and all eyes are on us at this time. Military operations can be postponed, but political offensives cannot. What advice do you have?" said Franz seriously.

We all play politics, and we naturally know that there is a word called a chain reaction. If the Vienna government ignores Hungary, which has declared its independence, will other careerists rush to follow suit?

No, it seems that the careerists in other regions are finished at this time. If it wasn't for Franz's intentional indulgence, the Hungarians would not have achieved independence so smoothly.

Historically, the independence of the Hungarians was based on the fall of Austrian Italy, the occupation of Vienna by the Revolutionary Party, and the outbreak of the Austrian Civil War.

At that time, everyone felt that Austria was going to be finished for good, so they all decided to step out, and begin a revolution.

Even if they rebelled, they did not forget to repay the emperor for their work, explained the reasons for the rebellion, and left a way out for themselves.

Now the Italian battlefield is still having a continuous confrontation, the rebellion in the Austrian region has also been suppressed, and the Vienna government still held an expressive might.

Capitalists and nobles are not reckless human beings. Everyone has a family and a business. Under normal circumstances, they would not jump out and seek death at such a time, but the Hungarian Revolution was shown to be successful.

On the surface, this is the success of the rise of Hungarian nationalism thanks to the efforts of Kossuth and others.

In fact, smart people know that this is very abnormal. The response of the Vienna government is too slow. If troops were sent to suppress the rebellion earlier, the Hungarian Republic would not have had time to establish itself.

Austria has a standing army of 350,000, and the Vienna government has mobilized another 200,000 reserve troops and expanded the city defense army to 30,000. The Italian battlefield only used 100,000 people.

Austria has deployed 40,000 people in Galicia, 50,000 in Bohemia, and 20,000 in Slovenia.

There are still 120,000 Austrian troops in the Kingdom of Hungary, distributed in Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Transylvania, and other regions.

Even if part of the army was affected by Hungarian nationalism, the vast majority of people are still loyal to the emperor. If the rebellion is suppressed in the first place, it will be another situation now. "His Royal Highness, I think it is necessary to immediately declare the Hungarian government illegal, and at the same time convert Croatia, Transylvania, and Slovakia into provinces directly under the Empire." Foreign Minister Metternich said murderously.

Splitting borders can also kill people. Splitting the Hungarian Kingdom is something he has always wanted to do but has never dared to do, and now the opportunity has come.

If the Hungarians dared to rebel, there is nothing to say, it must be split! If you miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it will be hard to come across again later.

The Austrian Empire is a multi-ethnic country, and the Kingdom of Hungary is also a multi-ethnic country. The Hungarians want independence, but it does not mean that the Croats, Romanians, and Slovaks also want to follow the Hungarians down the road called independence.

"Mr. Metternich is right, but at the same time as the division of the Kingdom of Hungary, the "National Equality Act" we are drafting can now be announced in advance.

Don't the Hungarians advocate nationalism? We can also use it to classify the serfs and commoners in the Hungarian region into the Austrian ethnic group, and directly draw wages from the bottom of the pot." suggested Chancellor Karl.

Franz's eyes lit up, the finance minister's suggestion was undoubtedly an artificial creation of a nation to separate the Hungarian nobles from the commoners.

If you open a history book, you will know that the so-called nationalities are artificially divided according to factors such as culture, language, history, region, economy, and so on.

It is a false proposition to talk about bloodline. In the vicissitudes of human history, all ethnic groups are mixed blood, which was never clear in the first place.

Of course, the nobles would definitely not recognize their bloodline as the same as the commoners, just like the current "Hungarians" do not recognize the serfs as one of them.

Because of their cultural level, most of the serfs in southern Europe in this era had no nationality, or no one told them which nationality they belonged to.

For Franz, this was an opportunity, an opportunity to bring Austria together.

"Sir Karl, I don't think there is any positive significance to doing this. There are already many nations in Austria. Adding another nation will only make our rule more troublesome!" Archduke Louis said with a frown.

He has heard Karl's implication, that creating an Austrian nation is false, and the real purpose is to integrate all Austrian nations together.

But this is not what Grand Duke Louis wants. Once all the nations of Austria are merged, the Germans will also be no exception. Since then, Austria and Germany will be divided, which is a disaster for the Germans.