Chapter 75: War is to serve Political Agenda
Kossuth does not engaged in economics, and the top level of the Republican Government also lacks economic focused leaders. They have never thought about what 200 million krone[1] means to Hungary!
They don't know, and it doesn't mean that everyone sitting here doesn't know either. Howell, the representative of the banking group, asked: "Sir Kossuth, do you know what 200 million krone means?"
This question directly confused Kossuth. He also thought that these nobles and capitalists would bargain, but he did not expect them to ask this question.
Calculated in terms of currency value, 1 krone is about 11.69 grams of silver, and 200 million krone is 46.76 million taels [2] of silver. Silver has not depreciated in this era, and it is more than 20 million in pounds. (Gold and silver 1:10 or so)
In 1847, Austria's fiscal revenue was only 155 million gulden[3] (except Hungary), and the British's fiscal revenue was only more than 50 million pounds.
In Hungary before the revolution, it was good to have 100 million gulden in fiscal revenue. After the establishment of the republican government, 100 million gulden of wealth was spent.
The money is basically the sale of a large number of state-owned assets, plus government taxes. (The emperor's property and the public property of the populace)
No one has raised this question before, that is, everyone is a vested interest, buying property at a low price, and no one will refuse to having money sent to their door step.
It doesn't matter if you don't know. The first element of a politician is being thick skin. If you don't want to be shameless, don't be a politician, especially a politician in a republic.
"Of course, 200 million krone is indeed a large number, but it is not impossible for everyone sitting here to come up with it!" Kossuth replied calmly.
Indeed, for the people sitting, not to mention 200 million krone, even if it is increased by three or five times, they can still afford it.
Affordable and willing to take out, these are completely two concepts, no one is willing to take their own money out, even if the interest is high and impossible to borrow and not repay it.
According to the speed of spending by the new government, no amount of money can fill this bottomless pit, which is why many revolutionary governments in the world failed.
An idealized government wants to do too many things, and as a result, the country's money is the first thing that gets emptied out.
"Sir Kossuth, when you were in school, you probably failed in economics. Please check how many currencies are in circulation in the Hungarian market, and then answer this question!" Howell sneered.
How much wealth there is does not mean how much money there is. In fact, the currency in circulation in the market is also limited. Too much currency in circulation will depreciate, and if there is less currency in circulation, money panic will occur.
From an economic point of view, if 200 million krone of currency is withdrawn from Hungary at once, there will be a money panic in Hungary, followed by a bank run[4] - bank bankruptcy - financial crisis - the Great Depression.
This era is no different than later generations. Everyone plays with credit currency. It is enough to transfer money directly in the bank. To buy bonds, you have to make currency.
(Data: In 1848, the total national savings of Austria was 48 million guldens, and the United Kingdom was 28.2 million pounds, 1 pound ≈ 9.6 guilders)
There is no doubt that Kossuth got humiliated this time, or that his team were all novices and made such an obvious mistake.
Of course, there are still many people who have made similar mistakes. This is the commonality of slanderers. When thinking about problems, they are often very one-sided.
...
Before Kossuth could solve the financial problems, the war had already begun.
On May 8, 1848, Austrian troops in the Croatian province took the lead in attacking the Republic of Hungary.
On May 9, Austrian troops on both sides of Bohemia and Transylvania also attacked the Hungarian Republic.
May 10, the anti-insurgency army led by Albrecht arrived at the front, and the Austro-Hungarian War went into full swing.
If there is no refueling tactic[5], this time Kossuth's prophecy has come true. The four-way army launched an attack at the same time. If the logistics transportation force is added, the total force has really exceeded 400,000.
Of course, only half of the troops that went into the battle was the ones fighting, and even than the Republic of Hungary couldn't hold them back.
Vienna
They have been receiving good news from the Hungarian Theater[6], and under absolute strength, it is no longer possible for the Hungarian Republic to reverse the unfavorable situation by shouting slogans.
In order to ensure victory, Franz also transferred back the commander-in-chief of the Bohemian army, Prince Windisch-Grätz, as the Minister of War, and replaced Julius as the commander-in-chief on the grounds of overall needs.
Prince Windisch-Grätz picked up the baton and pointed at a map on the wall with high spirits:
"His Royal Highness, the Croatian Army, led by Governor Josip Jelačić, has now reached Lake Balaton and conquered Balatonkeresztur;
The Austrian Army, led by General Albrecht, was attacking Fort Kaop[7];
The Bohemian Army led by General Julius had just defeated the Hungarian People's Army and was now less than 100 kilometers away from Budapest;
The Transylvanian corps led by General Vinguigre[8] was still in Debrecen at this time because of traffic.
Overall, so far, the counter-insurgency war has gone very smoothly. The Bohemian Legion has 100,000 troops. If it goes well, the Budapest siege can be launched at most the day after tomorrow."
He has reasons for pride, and the war was fought under his leadership. Of course, because of the communication relationship in this era, the War Department is actually only formulating a strategy.
How to fight, are still up to the general on the ground, and the military orders are not subject to it.
Franz did not rush to a conclusion about the military capabilities of Prince Windisch-Grätz. Although he lost in the suppression of the Hungarian rebellion in history, the battle plan he has made now is still feasible.
"The operational plan to attack Budapest is postponed, and it is enough to let General Julius suppress the enemy, and wait for the Austrian Legion to join them before launching the attack!"
Don't look at the Hungarian rebel party being easy to bully. Historically, the Austrian army were defeated at the last minute, and finally asked the Russians to help due to the defeat.
At least the most powerful student army in the Hungarian Republic has not yet appeared on the battlefield.
Franz also doesn't know how the people's hearts of the Hungarian Republic are now. If the people fully support the government, then Budapest will be an absolute bloodbath.
"His Royal Highness, the rebel party is a group of rabble, at most one week, we can conquer Budapest and suppress this rebellion!"
Prince Windisch-Grätz said excitedly, as if he was accusing Franz of meddling in military affairs and delaying the rush tatics.
Franz explained calmly: "Your Excellency, the military serves politics, and war is only a means, not an end."
[1] in the previous chapter it was called rupiah and now in here it was called dong (or at least translated as such) I am research on what the past currency is (at least try to get the historical part correct, as much as possible) I used krone (Krone was the currency used by the Hungarians during the dual monarchy empire.) there is also, gulden (what Austria called Krone) during the Austria-Hungarian empire stage. The pengő (Hungarian: [ˈpɛŋɡøː]; sometimes written as pengo or pengoe in English) was the currency of Hungary between 1 January 1927, when it replaced the korona, and 31 July 1946, when it was replaced by the forint.
[2] taels is ancient China's weight and currency system 1 tael = 50 grams. This spread to other Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc.
[3] this was the currency used by the Austria's part of the empire.
[4] that is the official term according to what I googled, if there is a better or more "fancy" term tell me. It is basically when people think something bad will happen people rush to the bank to pull their money out, this was one of the causes of the Great Depression in the US. I can be wrong but it could be due to this US put in a law that if you have a certain amount (i think 200k now) anything over that will not be cover by the federal bank. This is to make sure people don't rush to the bank to pull money out because in this way, as long as you don't past that limit, even if the bank goes bankrupt, the government will pay that money to you.
[5]According to the US army, it is called "refuel on the move" (ROM), is a logistical action, for sustaining an army while on maneuver to reach a destination.
[6] from now on I will be changing from being called battlefield to theater. One, to make it less confusing when writing a sentence that have soldiers fighting on a battlefield. Two, that would be the correct modern term and would make more sense.
[7] I couldn't find any information on this place so I just leave it as whatever is translated as.
[8] no idea who this is, I tried googling this and couldn't find anyone remotely close to that name during the Austrian-Hungarian empire era list of important military personnel.