Kossuth thought so, but the very essence of Hungarian nationalism could not accept any of it.
After all, according to the classifications of Hungarian historians at the time, the Ottomans belonged to the lowest of the low.
The great descendants of the Huns would never join forces with the descendants of slaves, much less hand their land over to others.
But Ottoman Sultan Majid could not understand Kossuth's predicament. Although the British offer was extremely tempting, he had no intention of fighting a battle he wasn't sure he could win.
Majid would not declare war on Austria before Britain and France actually sent troops there.
The Ottoman Empire was already too battered to withstand more turmoil, so Majid needed to be certain of victory.
Tyrol, Innsbruck.
Archduke Charles considered the Ottoman army utterly incapable of putting up a fight.
Austria had plenty of intelligence on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman New Army had been modeled after the Prussian army.
But the government lacked funds, and its training and weapons were both inadequate. On top of that, traditional constraints held it back, leaving little room for meaningful reform.
The army had a total strength of nearly four hundred thousand, but in practice the Ottoman Sultan could mobilize no more than a hundred and fifty thousand troops.
The Ottoman Empire was already beset by domestic unrest. It had to defend against Russia in the north, Egypt in the south, and Persia in the east, while the Kingdom of Saudi was also rising in the southeast.
Then there was the Ottoman Empire's economic situation. At most, it could scrape together a hundred and fifty thousand troops.
But even with those hundred and fifty thousand troops, the Ottoman Empire was still no match for Austria.
Belgrade alone, after years of preparation by the Austrian