Historically, the Austrian Empire's conduct in military affairs had been especially foolish. It had transferred every Hungarian officer and soldier in its army to postings elsewhere, and even replaced the local police with gendarmes from other ethnic groups.
Garrisoning a large army, establishing military exclusion zones, and making a show of hunting down Hungarian remnants—aside from the risk of letting interested parties exploit the situation, such actions were propaganda for Hungarian nationalists. They also pushed people who were either neutral or uninterested in politics into the opposing camp.
Franz thought that garrisoning a large army and setting up military exclusion zones were both pointless. Hungary, already badly weakened, would have a hard time launching another rebellion.
Moreover, by the Austrian Empire's usual practice, the army required the local population to provide a certain share of its food. That would place a tremendous burden on postwar reconstruction.
Rather than stationing a large army there, wasting food and breeding popular resentment, it would be better to disband the troops on the spot, keeping only a small number of soldiers who were loyal to the Austrian Empire and still in their prime.
Demobilized soldiers were both laborers and consumers. They were young and strong, and they also had some money in their pockets. This would not only reduce the strain on logistics but also help revive local industry.
Once these people had settled down, the Hungarian problem would naturally cease to exist.
Imposing German-language education through compulsory use of German in schools and government alone was far from enough. At the time, literacy rates in the Austrian Empire were pitifully low.
Even in a large city like Košice, it was impossible for everyone to be literate. If they hadn't arranged for insiders in advance, the leaflets' impact would have been greatly diminished, and