The most important consequence was that it would drive the people to oppose the royal family. The cleverest thing House of Habsburg had ever done was to cultivate a favorable image in the people's hearts.
So even though the Austrian Empire had long since vanished, plenty of people still longed for the days when House of Habsburg ruled.
At this point, Metternich's order to disperse the gathering was pure folly. No one would be frightened by him; instead, it would make him the target of everyone's fury.
Yet Metternich's decision was only human. After all, how could a man who had spent decades as a powerful minister fear a few commoners and the nationalists he had always kept under his thumb?
As Metternich himself had put it:
"I have fought the greatest soldiers. I have brought emperors, kings, tsars, and sultans, monarchies and republics, to compromise. I have been entangled in and untangled the tangled threads of court conspiracies a good twenty times."
In fact, this was exactly how a powerful minister would act. In this peculiar country, Metternich seemed more like an emperor than Ferdinand I.
But Metternich did not know that this time, he was not facing university students who would only cry when arrested, or Carbonari who would inform on one another. He was facing a group of people who would make all Europe tremble.
The karmic debts accumulated over the years needed someone to take the blame, and Prince Metternich was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.
Franz still hoped the old chancellor could have a more dignified ending, though. Escaping in women's clothes was a little too humiliating.
February 17, 1848.
Le National announced the new venue for the banquet: the Élysée Palace.
The Élysée Palace had been built in 1718. After Napoleon I was soundly