While Lajos Kossuth and the entire Hungarian government were doing everything in their power to turn Buda-Pest into an impregnable fortress.
The Austrian army was helping farmers reap their wheat, gathering refugees, repairing houses, and restoring damaged roads.
In truth, Franz was in no hurry to resolve the Hungarian question. Even reclaiming Hungary itself ranked low on his list of priorities.
If it weren't for the enormous military expenditures and the high cost of militarism, Franz could easily have worn them down over several years, draining the last vestiges of vitality from the Hungarian nation.
In truth, the military expenses for six or seven hundred thousand men were nothing much for the Austrian Empire. What really gave Franz a headache was militarism.
The peace-loving Austrians, after a string of continuous victories, were rapidly swinging to the opposite extreme.
According to incomplete statistics, investment in the Austrian Empire's military-industrial sector had risen by 700% in 1848, while the size of the army had grown by 75%. And that was after Franz had forced a large number of the old, weak, sick, and injured into retirement.
Although private investment in society still lagged behind state investment, there was no doubt that a great many private arms manufacturers would spring up like mushrooms after the rain.
If the Austrian Empire could not absorb this production capacity, its weapons would flow into other countries, and the spread of technology would be all but inevitable.
Worse still, investors and merchants would certainly do everything they could to avoid losses, and the best way to sell weapons in great quantities was to start a war.
Merchants could not start wars themselves. To achieve their ends, they had to go through politicians or Franz, the emperor.
Franz might be able to hold fast to his principles or