In 1848, the Hungarian Revolutionary Party was not, in essence, a mere revolutionary political party. It had rapidly grown from a small faction of barely a hundred or so people into the leader of the Hungarian Republic, and far too many opportunists had flooded into its ranks.
Getting aboard was easy; getting off was hard. The Austrian Empire, once gasping its last, had now come roaring back to life, and many people were on the verge of collapse.
If the Vienna Government issued an amnesty at this moment, Budapest would most likely surrender without a fight.
Obviously, that was impossible. Neither the Austrian Cabinet nor Franz, the crown prince, would give up this chance to strike at Hungary's powerful factions.
Suppressing the rebellion was the perfect pretext for action. The wider this rebellion spread and the more nobles it implicated, the more beneficial it would be to Austria's future rule.
When it came to the concentration of wealth, Hungary would likely rank first. Nominally, five percent of the population belonged to the ruling class, but in reality, less than one-thousandth of the population controlled ninety percent of all social wealth. Even serfs and workers fell within the scope of their property.
For such a bizarre social order to remain unbroken would be an outrage against heaven itself.
This revolution was, in truth, still a struggle for power within that five percent of the population. The remaining ninety-five percent had merely been passively swept into it.
That was also why Kossuth could turn a blind eye to the army's ravaging of the populace. His supporters came from that five percent, while the other ninety-five percent were all expendable.
"Are you sure the enemy will use water to attack the city? In our current state, even if they do nothing, Budapest will