Chapter 89: Chapter 87 – Austrian Plans

"So, afterwa-..." Franz stopped in the middle of his sentence as his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face. He turned to Minister-President Schwarzenburg and said, "Minister-President, I just thought of something that will make things a lot easier for us."

Minister-President Schwarzenburg looked at him with curious eyes.

Franz continued, "As we know, not long ago, a revolution took place in the Papal States, and Pope Pius IX was forced to escape to Naples. What if we deploy our army to the Papal States to help put the Pope back in power? I'm sure he would be very grateful to us… Of course, we would do this after subduing the Hungarian rebels and expelling the Sardinians."

Franz understood that they needed to proceed with caution when dealing with the Church. During the Middle Ages, religious power had dominated secular power. In the Modern Era, secular royal power had gained the upper hand, but religious  power still could not be underestimated. Although it had been in decline for quite some time, the Catholic Church was deeply entrenched with the local nobles.

The fact that most bishops and archbishops throughout Germany were second-born or third-born sons of nobles spoke volumes about this fact. Confronting the Church head on could have serious repercussions as it could turn the nobles against them, leading to another round of uprisings throughout the Empire. However, there was a single institution that could neutralize the clergy - the Holy See.

The Holy See still held the power to appoint and dismiss religious officials within Germany, especially in South Germany where Catholicism was dominant. Currently, the Pope and the Cardinals of Rome were at their lowest point, having been expelled from Rome like dogs. If Austria helped put them back in power, they could certainly expect generous repayment by the Holy See.

Anyways, since the Reformation, most parishes had stopped sending the required percentage of the local tithes back to the Holy See, so they wouldn't lose anything even if these parishes were ransacked. Who could resist a deal as sweet as giving away something that wasn't theirs in exchange for regaining something that they had lost?

Minister-President Schwarzenburg's eyes opened wide as he fell into deep thought. Franz sipped his tea while he waited for the older man to gather his thoughts. Soon, Minister-President Schwarzenburg looked up at Franz with admiration in his eyes. He said, "Your Imperial Highness, if you had been born a decade earlier, maybe Austria would've been able to avoid its current predicament."

Franz smiled and quipped, "Flattery will get you nowhere, Minister-President, but I take it that you think my proposal holds merit?"

Minister-President Schwarzenburg nodded and said, "Pope Piux IX had previously shown himself to be an enlightened liberal, but, after his first brush with the radicals amongst the liberals, he quickly revealed that he was quite similar to his predecessor. I'm sure he wouldn't mind selling out the clergy for his own interests."

Franz nodded. With the Pope's involvement, the pushback from the Austrian clergy would be significantly diminished.

"Alright, Minister-President, do inform Prince Windisch-Grätz that he can order the army to quickly deal with the Hungarian rebels." Franz ordered as he opened the files piled up on his desk.

Minister-President Schwarzenburg bowed and left.

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

With the order of the Viennese government, the siege of Buda-Pest finally began. General Julius Haynau had received word that, according to the government's plan, the cities of Buda and Pest would be deliberately sidelined and suppressed in the future, so he did not need to worry about the destruction of the two cities.

Buda-Pest was actually formed from the merger of Buda and Pest. During the Middle Ages, Buda had been the cultural and economic center of Hungary while Pest was a larger, but much less important, city on the opposite bank of Buda. After the Ottomans captured Buda, Pest and Pressburg eclipsed Buda in terms of population, culture and economy.

Since the recapture of Buda, Buda and Pest were usually referred to as Pest-Buda due to the contemporary significance and precedence of Pest over Buda. It wasn't until the establishment of the Hungarian Republic that the two cities were officially merged. After the war, Buda and Pest would be under the jurisdiction of two different provinces, so it was natural that they would be split.

"Ban Jelačić, the General Staff has issued a siege command and asked us to capture Buda-Pest as soon as possible. What's your opinion?" General Haynau asked.

The Bohemian and the Croatian Corps have separate commands. It was only during the siege of Buda-Pest that they had a temporary joint command. General Haynau needed to consider the opinion of Ban Jelačić, who was the Empire's proxy in Croatia and, thus, significantly outranked him.

Ban Jelačić held his chin in thought for a moment before he replied, "Commander, with the current state of the rebellion, it is only a matter of time before we capture Buda-Pest. The key is to ensure that we completely purge the revolutionaries within the city.

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Currently, the Transylvanian Corps has reached the banks of the Tisza, and the Viennese Corps is marching along the upper-Danube. As a result, outside our encirclement, an even larger encirclement is being formed. Therefore, the only escape for these revolutionaries is to flee to the Ottoman Empire in the south.

Considering the centuries of enmity between us and the Ottomans, it is very likely that they will give refuge to these revolutionaries in order to continue civil unrest in the Empire's rear. If they are allowed to converge, this would be very detrimental to the future administration of Hungary!"

Ban Jelačić was a politician before a general. Therefore, he looked at most problems with a long-term outlook in order to understand their political repercussions. In the long run, it was more meaningful to completely extinguish the Hungarian Revolutionary Party than to conquer Buda-Pest.

General Haynau nodded but he soon replied, wryly, "I agree, but this won't be very easy. Revolutionaries like to incite people and take the lead in protests, but once the momentum turns against them, they run faster than rabbits.

I'm afraid that they've already made plans to escape the city through the river or through secret exits once we begin the siege. Unless they can be blocked inside the city, it would be close to impossible to annihilate them."

As a loyal retainer of the Habsburgs, General Haynau was undoubtedly hostile to revolutionaries, and he did not mind executing even thousands of them, if possible. The reason that Franz appointed him as the Joint-Commander of the Bohemian and the Croatian Corps was to ensure that he would be able to kill any and all the criminals involved or suspected of participating in the rebellion.

Ban Jelačić replied, "Well, we have to turn the impossible into possible, or else innocent lives will continue to be lost in the future."

General Haynau nodded, determined.

Finally, on May 24, 1848, the Austrian army began the siege. As a result, the Hungarian Republic was entirely cut off from the outside world, and Buda-Pest became a lonesome city. Soon, the only sound that resounded was that of artillery fire.

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Buda-Pest

Since the siege began, this ancient city hadn't had even a minute of peace and quiet. The noble and revolutionary factions had also been arguing incessantly. Most revolutionaries such as Kossuth and Petőfi believed that it was better to fight until the end, regardless of the casualties, instead of surrendering to the Austrians. However, there were also a few revolutionaries who thought differently.

Inside a mansion, a clandestine meeting was taking place between two men. One of the men was pacing back and forth. Contrary to his robust appearance, characterized by his grand mustache, he looked anxious. He turned to the middle-aged man sitting opposite him and said, "Count Batthyány, Kossuth and his supporters are still unwilling to compromise! What should we do now?!"

Lajos Batthyány pondered the question for a while before he asked, "Minister Mészáros, how many people can you mobilize within the National Guard?"

Surprisingly, this secret meeting was taking place between Minister Mészáros, one of Kossuth's closest associates, and Lajos Batthyány, the original leader of the Hungarian Republic and one of the earliest supporters of Kossuth until he was replaced by the latter who managed to hijack the revolution due to being a populist leader.

"Kossuth has already begun to doubt me. He asked me to hand over command of the National Guard to Józef Bem a few days ago, and now he has invited Henryk Dembiński to preside over the city's defense.

If I were to act now, I could gather 13,000 men, but they're scattered amongst many different divisions and cannot be easily brought together!" Minister Mészáros replied, somewhat awkwardly.

 

-TO BE CONTINUED-

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