Bohemia had once been a place where the word "wealth" had no connection at all. But after the Austrian Empire lost the prosperous region of Silesia, Empress Theresa shifted the empire's economic focus to Bohemia.
What followed was a massive influx of capital. Handicrafts, glassmaking, steel mills, and all kinds of shops sprang up across Bohemia like mushrooms after rain.
But that had merely turned it from a village into a city. With the arrival of the industrial age, Bohemia's status rose once again.
Historically, however, it would not enjoy major development until after 1850. Franz had brought that progress forward.
Joining the Zollverein sent Bohemia's economy soaring. Coupled with Franz's investments and planning, it became one of the fastest-growing economic regions in all of Europe.
Driven by enormous profits, German merchants, local nobles, and officials worked together to revive Czech nationalism.
But unlike in history, Franz had found them an opponent: German nationalists. Guided by the belief that one side's gain meant the other's loss, neither Czech nor German nationalism managed to gain the upper hand in Bohemia.
The Czech nationalists were even at a disadvantage. Although they coveted the Magyars' special status, the conditions for a national uprising were not yet ripe.
Palacky, leader of the Czech nationalists, even warned, "Blind recklessness will destroy everything we have achieved so far."
At this point, Palacky was more like Szechenyi than Lajos Kossuth, so his hint was very tactful, not at all sharp.
But the facts proved that a rational individual could rarely stop a frenzied crowd. The fierce clashes between Czech and German nationalists instead gave birth to something newer and more powerful.
Pan-Slavism. The so-called Czech nationalists had realized that their strength was nowhere near enough to defeat the German nationalists, whose numbers were simply too great.
Although