The leaders of the popular movement in Vienna were in sympathy with Hungary, and when the imperial troops were ordered to suppress the national rising there, the citizens again rose in insurrection. In the meantime the military forces had withdrawn from the capital in order to prevent the Hungarians coming to the aid of the Viennese. Vienna was now besieged, and surrendered at the end of October, after a resistance of eight days.
Francis Joseph Emperor.—The reaction was triumphant, and the leaders of revolt severely punished; but as Ferdinand had not shown sufficient vigor in the great crisis, he was persuaded to abdicate, and Francis Joseph was declared emperor at the age of eighteen. Thus restored, the central authority had now to [536] assert itself in Hungary and to complete the reconquest of northern Italy. With the surrender of Venice, which took place in August, the subjugation of Italy was complete.
Conquest of Hungary.—In Hungary, the Magyars, though the Germans and Slavs within the country itself were hostile to them, began the campaign of 1849 with decided success. But the government had already solicited the aid of Russia, whose armies, entering Transylvania and Hungary, added to the imperial cause the irresistible weight of numbers. Surrounded on every side by superior forces, the Hungarians were completely beaten. It was in vain that Kossuth transferred the dictatorship to General Görgei. Görgei, whether from treachery, as the other Magyar leaders maintained, or from necessity, as he himself averred, laid down his arms to the Russians at Vilagos (August 13). The surrender of Komorn, in September, completed the subjugation of Hungary, which was treated as a conquered country.
The ten years which followed on the revolutionary troubles of 1848 were a period of reaction and of absolutism. A constitution which had been granted in 1849 was soon annulled. The policy pursued was one of strong centralization under a bureaucratic government, by which the claims of nationality and of freedom were alike disregarded. Liberty of the press and trial by jury were set aside. A rigorous system of police was maintained. The aim was to Germanize the whole empire and to crush the aspirations of both Slavs and Hungarians. The Church pronounced against national freedom, and supported the central authority and received great privileges by the Concordat of 1855. The result of all these proceedings was only to irritate the national feeling in Hungary, Italy and Bohemia.
Struggle Between Austria and Prussia.—On the confused arena of German politics, the struggle for ascendancy was kept up between Austria and Prussia. In 1850 the two powers were armed and ready to come to blows with reference to the affairs of Hesse-Cassel; but the bold and determined policy of Schwarzenberg prevailed, and by the humiliating arrangement of Olmütz, Prussia gave way. For a few years longer the preponderance of Austria in the German Confederation was secured.
The rule of Austria in Italy had always been unsatisfactory. From her own provinces in Venice and Lombardy she controlled the policy of the courts of central and southern Italy, and her influence tended invariably towards the suppression of national feeling and popular liberty.
Loss of Italian Possessions.—Sardinia was the only state that worthily represented the spirit of the Italian people. In the spring of 1859 it began to arm against Austrian supremacy. Austria demanded immediate disarmament, on pain of war; but Sardinia refused. Austria accordingly commenced hostilities by crossing the Ticino at the end of April, 1859. Sardinia having secured the aid of France, the Austrians were defeated at Magenta, Solferino and elsewhere, and their emperor was fain to seek an armistice from Napoleon. On July 11 the two potentates met at Villafranca, and concluded a peace, ceding Lombardy to Sardinia. Venice was all that still remained of the Italian possessions of Austria.
Austro-Prussian War.—The rivalry of Prussia and Austria for influence in the Germanic body of states dated from the rise of Prussia to be a leading power. The arrangement of Olmütz in 1850 had left a painful feeling of humiliation in the minds of the Prussian statesmen. The long rivalry was now to be brought to a decisive issue. In 1864 the combined Prussian and Austrian forces drove the Danes out of Sleswick-Holstein, but the two victors quarreled about the subsequent arrangements. War was declared, and in 1866 the Austrian armies in Bohemia were completely beaten by the Prussians, in a campaign of seven days, which closed with the great defeat of Königgrätz or Sadowa.
Period of Reforms.—After the great war of 1866 the history of Austria has been concerned chiefly with two important interests. In the first place, the government had to attempt an arrangement of the conflicting claims and rights of the peoples constituting the empire; in the second place, it has had to establish working relations with the great neighboring powers, Germany and Russia, and especially with the latter, on the Eastern Question.
Union of Austria and Hungary.—Hungary’s claims to be recognized as a separate and distinct country were now, with great advantage, pressed forward. In 1867 its political rights were successful in being regarded as justified. This agreement was the famous Ausgleich, which has since been in force, and which has to a sufficient degree justified its adoption.