Recaps

Franz and his ministers discussed ways to undermine the Frankfurt Assembly while Austria handled its internal unrest. An urgent report revealed Austria had lost Milan and most of Lombardy, leaving Franz to suspect Marshal Radetzky was luring the Italians deeper into Austrian territory.

• Archduke Louis proposed convening a federal parliament of German states, but Felix warned that their conflicting interests would prevent agreement.
• Metternich suggested that Austria declare the Frankfurt Assembly illegal, while Franz proposed sending representatives to stall it and sow discord.
• Metternich recommended attacking the assembly through public opinion by portraying its representatives as capitalists who did not represent the German people.
• An officer delivered military intelligence reporting that Milan had fallen, most of Lombardy was lost, and fighting had spread to Venice.
• Franz noticed that Radetzky's vague report requested no immediate reinforcements and inferred that the marshal was drawing the enemy deeper into Austrian territory.

Franz and his ministers debated the political fallout from Marshal Radetzky’s withdrawal from Lombardy and how Austria should respond to foreign and domestic threats. Franz left the army in Venice without reinforcements and ordered heightened vigilance against rebellion at home.

• Franz directed the Foreign Ministry to seek British and French neutrality or support, while Metternich argued that Britain would favor a unified Italy and could not be trusted to back Austria.
• Metternich explained that France was too distracted by internal conflict to intervene effectively, while Russia and Britain remained wary of the Paris government.
• Finance Minister Karl warned that Austria’s greatest danger was domestic rebellion, especially in Hungary, after the setback in Italy.
• Franz ordered the troops to heighten their vigilance and suppress any rebellion immediately, noting that Austria had expanded its military to 578,000 men.
• Franz rejected sending reinforcements to Marshal Radetzky, judging that his troops could hold Venice and that the Kingdom of Sardinia had limited forces.

After Sardinia entered Lombardy, the provisional government discovered Milan had no grain and could not supply the Sardinian army. Casati suspected Sardinia had helped burn the grain to pressure Lombardy into annexation, while Sardinian soldiers waited for food and their officers celebrated.

• The Kingdom of Sardinia entered Lombardy as the people welcomed its troops and Casati led a provisional government.
• Ciraya told Casati that Milan’s granaries had been burned and the city could not provide food for Sardinia’s army.
• Casati accused the Sardinians of deliberately creating the shortage to force Lombardy into annexation, and he ordered the people to stay alert.
• King Charles Albert and Sardinia’s leaders celebrated their acquisition of Lombardy without recognizing the crisis.
• Colonel Manstu tried to calm hungry soldiers in Milan and sent men to demand food from the provisional government.

President Casati yielded Lombardy’s provisional government to the Kingdom of Sardinia after the Sardinian army demanded food, while General Badoglio claimed credit for the destruction of the Austrian granaries. King Charles Albert ordered grain sent to Milan and rewarded Badoglio by granting him the title of Marshal.

• Manstu soothed the hungry Sardinian troops, and their officers demanded an explanation from Casati the next morning.
• The Kingdom of Sardinia pressured Casati into accepting its terms, and General Badoglio took control of the local militia.
• Local nobles and capitalists contributed grain, while Badoglio claimed that he had arranged the burning of Austrian granaries and shared the credit with other generals.
• Badoglio reported Lombardy’s food shortage to the homeland, and King Charles Albert ordered Castanto to send grain to Milan.
• King Charles Albert promoted those who had rendered merit and awarded Badoglio the title of Marshal of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Marshal Badoglio struggled to feed Milan after the Austrians’ defeat, while corruption and ration cuts worsened the city’s food crisis. In Paris, the provisional government’s policies fueled unrest between workers and the bourgeoisie.

• Badoglio gathered grain from Lombard estates and awaited supplies from the Kingdom of Sardinia, but the available food could feed Milan for only a few days.
• Badoglio ordered residents to receive seventy percent of their rations and hoped incoming grain would arrive before supplies ran out.
• Local nobles, capitalists, and some Sardinian officers diverted relief grain into an open underground market, leaving residents with less than half their allotment and adulterated bread.
• People with money bought grain at prices over ten times the prewar level, while the poor endured hunger and trusted Badoglio’s promise that the shortage would last only a few days.
• In Paris, Blanquists led 150,000 demonstrators on March 17 as the provisional government’s policies against savers and peasants intensified class conflict.

After Sardinia occupied Lombardy, Alphonse de Lamartine negotiated with Austria over Italy and France’s diplomatic standing. The two governments agreed to a proposed division of Sardinia’s territories, though Austria intended the deal as a delaying tactic and left France with a blank check.

• Alphonse de Lamartine learned that Sardinia had occupied Lombardy without fighting and received the Austrian ambassador, Mentened.
• Alphonse told Mentened that Lombardy should become independent, but Mentened insisted it belonged to Austria and proposed dividing Sardinia instead.
• Mentenend offered Austria Genoa and Turin while France took the remaining Sardinian territories, and Alphonse objected that Sardinia’s core regions were concentrated in those cities.
• Mentenend negotiated to keep France from supporting Sardinia, while Austria had no intention of expanding until it resolved its internal problems.
• Alphonse and Mentened began drawn-out negotiations over dividing Italy, securing Austria’s recognition of the provisional government, and ending restrictions imposed on France by the Vienna System.

John Russell and Palmerston weighed Britain’s response to the collapse of the Vienna System and the Austrian-Sardinian War. Palmerston favored ambiguous promises to Austria and limited support for Sardinia, leaving Britain free to benefit whichever way events turned.

• Palmerston proposed backing a unified Italian dynasty to weaken Austria and block French expansion, but John Russell warned that Austria’s collapse could let the Habsburgs or Prussia unify Germany.
• John Russell argued that Austria was needed to contain Russia in the Near East and feared that denying Austria British support would push it toward the Russians.
• Palmerston proposed giving Austria vague assurances while offering Sardinia only limited support and allowing France and Austria to restrain each other.
• Palmerston concluded that Britain should avoid committing itself to either side and keep its diplomatic options open.

Franz and Felix prepared to exploit Russian support and Prussia’s ambitions, while the Austrian government set a trap for Czech revolutionaries in Prague. Rennes’s uprising seized the city but found the arsenal empty, leaving him to realize the rebels had been used as pawns.

• Franz told Felix that they could close the net after Tsar Nicholas I publicly offered to help Austria suppress the Italian Revolution.
• Corsen told Rennes that the Austrian government planned to execute more than a hundred political prisoners, prompting the revolutionaries to prepare an uprising.
• Rennes’s group gathered weapons from local nobles and capitalists and planned to act two nights later, unaware that their meeting had been reported to Prince Windisch-Grätz.
• Prince Windisch-Grätz pretended not to know of the plot and organized a field exercise that drew most of Prague’s police and troops away.
• On April 12, 1848, the revolutionaries seized Prague, but Corsen discovered that the arsenal was empty and Rennes realized the uprising had been set up.

Seven Czech nobles feared the Vienna government would punish them for their ties to the rebellion, and Count Kangdelai arrived as Prince Windisch-Grätz’s envoy to present the government’s terms. The nobles gathered to hear the conditions, which Kangdelai said were final and nonnegotiable.

• Count Kaluoqi urged the nobles to help suppress the rebellion and deny direct involvement to protect themselves.
• Count Scott warned that the Vienna government could confiscate the nobles’ fortunes and strip their families of titles and property.
• Count Kasiqi admitted Prince Windisch-Grätz’s envoy and sent the other nobles into an adjoining room to listen.
• Kangdelai revealed that he was Count Kasiqi’s cousin and had brought the Vienna government’s conditions.
• Count Kasiqi called the hidden nobles into the reception hall, and Kangdelai began to state the terms.

After suppressing the Prague uprising, Prince Windisch-Grätz appointed Kangdelai to direct German-language education in Bohemia, using nobles and state factories to spread German. The Vienna government then crushed the Galicia rebellion, purged Polish powerholders, and redistributed land to those who had helped suppress the revolt.

• Prince Windisch-Grätz retook Prague and ordered the execution of the uprising’s leaders, while public trials exposed notorious local elites.
• Prince Windisch-Grätz appointed Kangdelai Director-General of Education for Bohemia and tasked him with spreading German through schools, nobles, and factories.
• Kangdelai accepted the post and recognized that promoting German was likely to become Austrian national policy.
• Rebels seized much of Austrian Poland and formed a Polish Provisional Government before Austrian troops crushed the uprising in less than a week.
• The Vienna government executed more than twenty thousand people, confiscated land from rebel supporters, and gave plots to those who had helped suppress the revolt.

After news of Austria’s violent suppression of rebellions reached Hungary, Kossuth faced pressure to resist Vienna’s attempts to divide the country and undermine his government. He ordered legal lecturers sent by Vienna expelled, while his authority remained weakened by opposition at home and Ferdinand I’s continued claim to the Hungarian throne.

• After the Prague and Galician rebellions were crushed, Kossuth and his opposition prepared for Hungary to face Austria alone.
• Kossuth learned that Vienna had sent legal lecturers into Hungary and suspected they intended to target his government.
• The chapter explained that Vienna’s reforms aimed to win ordinary people over, while Hungarian nobles and capitalists resisted changes that threatened their privileges.
• Kossuth’s election had drawn few voters, and many Hungarians remained indifferent to the republic.
• Kossuth ordered Nagy to send people to expel the legal lecturers from Hungary.
• Kossuth remained constrained by Hungarian nobles’ defense of the monarchy and Ferdinand I’s continued position as king.

In Vienna, Franz and his ministers debated how to respond to Hungary’s rebellion while Austria prepared for war on the Italian front. They considered breaking up the Kingdom of Hungary and using national policy to weaken Hungarian unity, but Archduke Louis warned that the plan could separate Austria from Germany.

• Franz asked Felix about supplies, and Felix said Austria could not reliably support more than 200,000 troops while prioritizing the Italian front.
• Franz insisted that Austria launch a political offensive against Hungary without delay.
• Metternich proposed declaring the Hungarian government illegal and turning Croatia, Transylvania, and Slovakia into provinces of the Empire.
• Finance Minister Karl proposed announcing the National Equality Act early and classifying Hungarian serfs and commoners as Austrians to undermine Hungarian nationalism.
• Archduke Louis objected that merging Austria’s peoples into one nation could sever Austria from Germany.

Franz proposed creating an Austrian nation encompassing the empire’s many ethnic groups while shifting Austria’s strategic focus away from the German lands and toward domestic affairs. His ministers debated the risks, and Metternich learned that Austria would target the Kingdom of Sardinia only as an incidental measure.

• Prime Minister Felix and Metternich questioned whether an Austrian identity would force Austria to abandon its German ties, and Metternich suggested emphasizing Austria without replacing existing ethnic groups.
• Franz supported Karl’s proposal, arguing that a shared Austrian nation could reduce ethnic conflict and potentially prevent the Hungarian rebellion.
• Archduke Louis warned that abandoning German leadership would undermine Austria’s foundations, but Franz argued that Austria gained little from its costly rivalry with Prussia and should preserve influence rather than pursue unification.
• Franz declared that Austria’s next strategic focus would be domestic affairs, not Italy, though he intended to cripple the Kingdom of Sardinia if an opportunity arose.

Marshal Badoglio faced growing public pressure to send Sardinian troops into Venice, though he knew his forces were unprepared and Austria remained formidable. King Charles’s nationalist propaganda had left the Kingdom of Sardinia trapped by expectations of another victory.

• Badoglio received another petition demanding that troops recover Venice and agreed to hear its student representatives, Rim and Thompson.
• Badoglio accepted the petition and explained that preparations and reinforcements were still needed before an offensive could begin.
• Rim and Thompson praised Badoglio and insisted they believed in victory, while Badoglio privately dismissed an attack on Venice as reckless.
• Badoglio recognized that his nominal 150,000 troops included poorly trained Lombard recruits, leaving only 80,000 Sardinian soldiers to face 100,000 Austrians.
• King Charles faced mounting pressure from nationalists after publicizing Sardinia’s victory in Lombardy, leaving the kingdom unable to back away from demands to take Venice.

Austrian agents Carmelo, Amor, and Cecilio stoked Sardinian nationalism and anti-Austrian propaganda to push the Kingdom of Sardinia toward invading Venice. Facing public pressure and the cost of occupying Lombardy, King Charles-Albert ordered preparations for an offensive by May despite warnings that Austria’s forces might respond.

• Carmelo checked on Amor’s efforts, and Amor reported that patriotic fervor was rising in the Kingdom of Sardinia.
• Cecilio said his anti-Austrian articles had appeared only in street tabloids, and Carmelo told him to intensify the propaganda.
• Carmelo revealed that he and his recruits were acting under false British intelligence identities to serve Austria’s plan to provoke a Sardinian attack on Venice.
• Azeglio reported that allied reinforcements were moving slowly, with Naples’ forty thousand troops expected to arrive only partly by May.
• Charles-Albert ordered the allies to hurry and set May as the deadline for an offensive into Venice, citing public pressure and the expense of occupying Lombardy.
• Ricci warned that a decisive battle should wait until Austria’s civil war worsened and more Neapolitan troops arrived, but Charles-Albert said political and financial pressures left little room to delay.

The Kingdom of Sardinia’s leaders confronted a severe shortage of war funds after occupying Lombardy and expanding their army, while British loans and French aid offered no easy solution. Ricci pressed the government to find more money as Charles-Albert asked how Azeglio planned to cover the shortfall.

• Prime Minister Azeglio told Charles-Albert and Ricci that the war had already cost over 28 million lira and that weapons purchases and maintaining nearly 200,000 troops threatened bankruptcy within two months.
• Ricci questioned the spending, and Azeglio itemized costs in Lombardy, including bribes, food, refugee aid, and administrative institutions.
• Ricci asked whether Britain or France could provide further support, but Azeglio warned that British loans came with difficult terms and Charles-Albert said the French had withdrawn their promised weapons aid.
• Ricci argued that Radetzky could prolong the war by avoiding a decisive battle and urged the government to find additional funds.
• Azeglio agreed to address the funding problem and demanded victory, while Ricci praised Marshal Badoglio’s prospects.
• Charles-Albert asked Azeglio how he intended to make up the shortfall.

Charles Albert made Azeglio's cabinet responsible for resolving Sardinia's military funding crisis while ordering preparations for an attack on Venice to continue. In Venice, Radetzky suppressed the rebellion and seized laborers for military roadwork before receiving Rost, who approached him on behalf of the Venice Commercial Association.

• Azeglio presented a war tax or international borrowing as Sardinia's options, and Charles Albert left the funding decision to the cabinet.
• Charles Albert ordered the War Ministry to prepare an operation against Venice, and Ricci planned to use probing attacks to delay a decisive battle until June.
• Radetzky suppressed the rebellion in Venice, executed captured ringleaders, and sent more than seventy thousand people to build military roads.
• Rost met Radetzky on behalf of the Venice Commercial Association, and Radetzky warned that rebels would receive no forgiveness before inviting Rost to explain his business.

Marshal Radetzky refused Rotes’s request to release detained civilians before the screenings ended, but offered Venice’s capitalists a chance to dominate northern Italy’s trade after Austria defeated the Kingdom of Sardinia. Rotes accepted Radetzky’s proposal to stir up Sardinia and provoke an early attack on Venice.

• Rotes asked Marshal Radetzky when innocent civilians arrested during the uprising would be released, and Radetzky said screenings were ongoing while the government distributed grain to their families.
• The chapter described how Austria had suppressed the Venice rebellion, redistributed rebel nobles’ land and property, and won the support of freed serfs.
• Rotes warned that Venice’s damaged economy threatened tax revenue, but Radetzky said he had requested a tax waiver and refused to release detainees before the screenings were complete.
• Radetzky offered Venice’s capitalists the chance to fill the commercial void left by Lombardy if Austria defeated the Kingdom of Sardinia.
• Radetzky asked Rotes to stir up the Kingdom of Sardinia and provoke it into attacking Venice early, and Rotes agreed to the low-risk proposal.

The Kingdom of Sardinia launched its offensive against Austria ahead of schedule as Venetian capitalists and public pressure pushed Charles-Albert to commit his remaining troops, while Naples withheld most of its promised forces. In Vienna, Franz prepared for war and agreed to negotiate a treaty with France, though Austria’s leaders doubted they could annex the Kingdom of Sardinia without French support.

• Venetian capitalists joined the public campaign for war, prompting Charles-Albert to send another 40,000 troops and bring the Kingdom of Sardinia’s army to 190,000.
• Naples halted its promised 40,000 troops in the Papal States, citing heatstroke, and sent only several hundred men to fight.
• Franz reinforced Hungary as Austrian reservists gained combat readiness and conflict with Hungary drew closer.
• Nicholas I’s government announced that 300,000 Russian troops were ready to help Austria and Prussia suppress revolutions, alarming Kossuth’s Hungarian Republic.
• Metternich told Franz that France had ended its aid to the Kingdom of Sardinia and was negotiating with Austria over dividing its territory.
• Franz ordered Metternich to sign a treaty with France quickly, while Archduke Louis and Felix warned that Austria could not safely annex the Kingdom of Sardinia without firm French support.

Franz and his advisers weighed Austria’s war against the Kingdom of Sardinia, British involvement, and whether to accept Russian help against the Hungarian rebellion. After Sardinia avoided Radetzky’s trap, Franz ordered Austria to prepare to suppress the rebellion first and force Sardinia into a decisive battle.

• Metternich warned that British financial groups were secretly negotiating loans with the Kingdom of Sardinia, while Felix argued Britain could not join the war without support from other great powers.
• Franz rejected Russian troops suppressing the Hungarian rebellion, but said Russia could stage a troop movement to intimidate the rebels.
• The Minister of War reported that Sardinia was advancing cautiously and that Marshal Radetzky’s plan to lure its main force into a trap had failed.
• Franz decided Austria would attack the Hungarian rebellion first to pressure Sardinia into a decisive battle.
• Felix said Austria’s preparations were nearly complete and that the offensive could begin as early as Saturday, May 5.

Franz used the Hungarian rebellion to win Croatian nobles and commoners to Vienna with promises of political representation and land, while reshaping Austrian society under cover of war. Croatian enlistment surged, and the chapter left the government preparing to extend its land and social reforms across the empire.

• Franz promised Croatian lesser and middle-ranking nobles seats in a future Austrian National Union, while Governor Josip Jelačić confiscated Hungarian nobles’ land and emancipated Croatian serfs.
• Franz issued the Military Merit Land Grant Decree on May 1, offering loyal soldiers grants of up to fifty hectares.
• Madic enlisted at Molkes despite his former ambition to become a blacksmith, hoping to become a knight and rise above his social class.
• Croatian volunteers enlisted in large numbers, though they served as local forces focused mainly on logistical transport rather than as part of Austria’s regular army.
• Franz used the war to redirect confiscated land to loyal subjects and planned to extend the same transformation across regions including Slovenia, Transylvania, and Bohemia.

President Kossuth urged Hungary’s leaders to organize an army as the republic lost territory to regions siding with Vienna, but political divisions and distrust hampered action. The chapter left the government unable to agree on military preparations as Austria’s influence continued to grow.

• Kossuth warned Hungarian representatives that Austria would crush the revolution and that Hungary had already lost nearly sixty percent of its territory.
• A noble representative challenged Kossuth to propose practical measures instead of delivering speeches.
• Kossuth called for an army to suppress the local governments that had defected to Austria.
• Duke Leopold blamed Kossuth’s government for failing to send troops sooner and complained that Vienna had confiscated noble lands.
• Minister of the Army Liszt said Hungary needed time to prepare and feared that premature action would provoke an Austrian attack.
• Kossuth’s government remained divided and wary of relying on noble officers, leaving its military preparations largely on paper.

Hungary’s leaders argued over whether to fight Austria or seek peace as the Vienna government dismantled their country. Kossuth won the capitalists’ support for war and urged a strategy of striking Austria while it was occupied in Italy, but his plan depended on securing money.

• Leopold challenged Kossuth to offer more than speeches, and Kossuth threatened to resign if someone else could lead Hungary through the crisis.
• Marquis Luoqi redirected the meeting toward deciding whether Hungary should fight or make peace.
• Kossuth argued that peace would leave Hungary with less than thirty-five percent of its territory and less than forty percent of its population, persuading the capitalists to support war.
• Marquis Luoqi displayed a map showing Hungary surrounded by Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria, and asked how Hungary could fight.
• Kossuth proposed holding off Hungary’s other enemies while Austria remained occupied in Italy, but Duke Leopold doubted the plan and Kossuth revealed that he needed money.

Kossuth defended a proposed third war tax by arguing that Hungary needed more troops to face Austria, but aristocratic leaders challenged the government’s spending and demanded oversight. He agreed to publish the accounts and issue 200 million forints in war bonds, though Hungary’s failed currency issue left its fiscal crisis unresolved.

• Marquis Luoqi reminded Kossuth that the government had already levied war taxes twice in less than three months.
• Kossuth argued that Hungary needed more money and troops because Austria could field 400,000 soldiers against the National Guard’s fewer than 300,000 poorly trained men.
• Duke Leopold demanded public oversight of government spending and warned that Kossuth’s expenses could ruin the republic before the war began.
• Kossuth agreed to disclose fiscal expenditures and proposed issuing 200 million forints in bonds at seven percent annual interest, threatening another war tax if they failed to sell.
• The government’s attempt to issue currency had failed, leaving the Hungarian Republic in a worsening fiscal crisis and dependent on repeated tax increases.

Kossuth’s government faced criticism for proposing a 200-million-forint loan that Hungary’s limited currency supply could not support. As Austrian forces invaded from four directions, Franz ordered Windisch-Grätz to delay the assault on Budapest until the Austrian corps arrived, insisting that war served political ends.

• Howell challenged Kossuth over the proposed 200-million-forint loan and warned that extracting so much cash would trigger a financial crisis.
• Austrian forces attacked the Hungarian Republic from Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, and Albrecht’s front, beginning the full Austro-Hungarian War.
• Franz recalled Windisch-Grätz from command of the Bohemian army and appointed him Minister of War, replacing him with Julius.
• Windisch-Grätz reported that Austrian forces were advancing toward Budapest and urged an immediate assault.
• Franz ordered Julius to hold the Hungarians in place and wait for the Austrian corps before attacking Budapest.