Chapter 78: Chapter 77 – Hungarian Liberators

The Hungarian revolutionary poet , one of the leaders of the Hungarian revolution whose poem had inspired the revolution, couldn't help but say, "Lord Count, even if our chance of victory is slim, we can't just stand aside and watch the Austrians destroy our Hungary! If you don't do something now, you will surely regret it!"

Count Széchenyi frowned and curtly said, "I only regret that I failed to stop you in time. If I had been a little tougher, this situation might have been averted.

At this point, there's nothing I can do. In terms of military command capabilities, both Count Lukács and Margrave Pulszky are superior to me. They're much more vital to the survival of Hungary than I.

And Kossuth, you are a much more skilled orator than I, so you don't need my help in spreading your propaganda. The only advice I can give you is that Hungary will only have a future if you handle the ethnic issues more delicately and, for that, Kossuth, you must put away your nationalist agenda!"

Kossuth gritted his teeth to calm his anger. He was annoyed at Count Széchenyi for giving such "great advice." In fact, if given a choice, Kossuth would distance himself from nationalism, but this was 19th century Europe. The moment he did that, he would lose all support and his political career would be over.

Unlike what was recorded in history books, there was more to nationalism than creating separate states for people of separate nationalities. In fact, the darker part of nationalism was that capitalists needed cheap labor, so they pushed for a state where few people would be citizens and given rights while the majority would become unprotected cheap labor whom they could exploit for profit.

In fact, Kossuth's Hungarian nationalism excluded not only ethnic minorities, but even the serfs and rural farmers. Apart from the 500,000 "Hungarians" who constituted the bourgeoisie, the nobility and the upper middle classes (descendants of nobles), the rest would be the target of oppression. Of course, on the surface, they only excluded the ethnic minorities, but through their land, wealth, titles, and culture, the poor ethnic Hungarians would be covertly sidelined.

Theoretically, all the ethnic Hungarians had the right to participate in the working of the Republic, provided that they were wealthy enough to buy the political privileges. Even if the poor wanted to change their destiny, they lacked the money to send their children to schools and Hungary had no system of universal basic education, yet.

In fact, the Hungarian Revolutionary Party which governed the Republic of Hungary had no members from poor backgrounds. Even Petőfi, who had the lowest background, had never been poor. At least, his family had the economic strength to send him to school in a time when tuition at school cost a fortune for those of common background.

His mother had been a nobleman's maid which meant that Petőfi had been exposed to the nobility from a young age. His father was a butcher who owned slaughterhouses and inns in several towns in southern Hungary and could be considered one of the smaller capitalists.

Prior to the start of the in ancient China, , the Grand marshal and regent of the late , and his younger sister , consort of , had been born into a family of butchers. They had become idols of the common people as they represented the social mobility in Chinese society. However, they had hidden the fact that their family held a monopoly over the meat supply of most of Nanyang County, a county almost the same size as modern-day Belgium.

Unsurprisingly, one's background determined their position in the hierarchy of society. The leaders of the Hungarian revolution may sympathize with the plight of the people at the bottom, but the position of their class in society meant that they would never sacrifice their own interests for the people at the bottom.

Count Széchenyi was a grand noble of Hungary. From his standpoint, it was obvious to leave the military issues to other nobles such as Count Lukács and Margrave Pulszky. In Kossuth's opinion, however, this was too risky since he was already at odds with the nobility.

On top of that, if the Austrians promised them amnesty, the nobles could very well turn against the Republic since nobles, as members of a privileged class would naturally prefer a monarchy which could guarantee their prerogatives rather than a democracy where everyone was equal.

Since he failed to achieve his goal, Kossuth would naturally not continue to stay in the company of a man whom he hated.

"Mr. Kossuth, what do we do now?" Petőfi asked expectantly.

Petőfi had once wrote a poem which stated,

"Liberty and love

These two I must have.

For my love I’ll sacrifice

My life.

For liberty I’ll sacrifice

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My love."

This poem of his was unsurprisingly popular among intellectuals, but it also cemented his identity as an impetuous man who lacked the stability required to be a leader and a statesman. In fact, this was not surprising since Petőfi, who was born in 1823, was only 25 years old.

Kossuth sighed and said, "I have sent someone to contact the Kingdom of Sardinia. At this point, we can only expect them to defeat the Austrian army in Venice as soon as possible to force the Austrians to deploy the troops in Hungary to Venice."

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Outskirts of Budapest

After receiving the order from Vienna, General Haynau, the commander of the Bohemian Corps, felt confused. Budapest was close at hand, but he had been barred from launching an attack, which seemed very unreasonable.

One of the young officers asked, dissatisfied, "Lord Commander, why has Vienna barred us from attacking Budapest? Even at this juncture, are they planning to negotiate with the Hungarians?"

General Haynau thought for a while before he replied, "That's for the government and the General Staff to decide. Our only job is to execute our orders!"

This was his greatest strength. He always completed the task assigned to him by his superiors without asking any questions. Even if he had any doubts in his heart, he had never let it affect the completion of the task.

Another young officer complained, "Lord Commander, doesn't that mean we have nothing to do now?"

No battle meant no military merit. Currently, among the four Austrian divisions deployed to Hungary, the Bohemian Corps was in the position to obtain the most merit since Budapest was within its reach. If they conquered Budapest and quelled the rebellion, each officer would be promoted by at least one rank.

Lieutenant-General Hernburg, General Haynau's deputy, berated the young officers, "Since you all have so much free time, spread your soldiers to the nearby regions, take control of the manors owned by the rebellious nobles, and liberate the serfs. This is also one of our important tasks this time!"

Franz had commanded each of the four corps to liberate the serfs in Hungary. Throughout the medieval era, the reason that nobles had significant autonomy in their fiefdoms thanks to the presence of serfs who could be enlisted to fight for the noble at any time. Thus, even for kings, it became tough to exert much influence outside their own lands, especially in Germany where people had been warlike since the Roman Era.

Influenced by the German nobles, the Hungarian nobles had also become accustomed to living like kings of the mountain inside their fiefdoms. In fact, even if Franz quelled the Hungarian rebellion, if their serfs remained, the Hungarian nobles would always remain a threat to his authority, especially if they aligned themselves with foreign invaders.

General Haynau nodded and sternly declared, "All of you, listen up! This time, we are here to liberate Hungary and bring freedom and joy to the oppressed Hungarians. During our time here, whoever dares to violate the military discipline will be executed without mercy!"

This time, they came to Hungary as "liberators" to win the support and loyalty of the Hungarians for the emperor, therefore, good military discipline was necessary to avoid any accidents.

 

-TO BE CONTINUED-

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