Chapter 3: The Early Building Years
1849-1850
1849
Kulick's advice concerning industrialization had been taken by the Jezek administration. On January 5th a nearly constant state of construction was initiated. The government expanded the steel and cloth factories and built a regular clothes factory over the course of the first year. Railroads were also laid down in Plzen and Troppau bringing them up to the quality level of the other provinces. Needless to say, construction costs a lot of money which left little for an expansion of the army or the addition of more social programs.
While the Industry was being built, the legal and governmental systems were being defined in the parliament. Schmidt lived up to his reputation as a brilliant lawyer as he worked closely with the mp's and on May 8 the constitution was formally finalized. Bohemia's government, as outlined in the constitution, was the most radical of those in Central Europe.
The central rights granted were:
1. The press was granted complete freedom in what they were allowed to print, barring the exception of libel of course.
2. All male citizens the age of 20 and over were allowed to vote regardless of class, ethnicity and religion.
3. A reaffirmation of Habeas Corpus and the right for the accused to adequate legal representation.
4. All male citizens were allowed to run for political office once they reached the set age for that position.
Another major part to the constitution was the formation of the legislative branch of government. Each province had a small parliament which would meet to discuss and deal with regional issues as well as elect one man to go to one of the houses of the main parliament in Prague. The second house in Prague was filled with mps directly elected by the people of their districts.
Easing the process of getting this document passed was the fact that an overwhelming majority of the mps belonged to the liberal party. The general population of Bohemia was sixty percent liberal, 37 percent conservative, and 3 percent anarcho-liberal. Of course, it took around 3 years for suffrage to come into effect, partly due to political moves of the Liberal Party, so the actual voting population was about 80 percent liberal and 20 percent conservative.
As summer approached the Bohemians had a new constitution and increased income from the expanded factories. During the month of July Parliament assessed the government benefit system and decided to do a wholesale increase. The minimum wage was raised; work hours were reduced; and health, pension, and unemployment benefits were increased. To pay for all of these programs taxes were raised to 43.67 percent for the rich, middle, and poor classes. The government income from taxes and the export of manufactured and raw goods was able to peak at around 15 Pounds per day in August.
The year ended with the expansion of the regular clothes factory and a small rebellion in Karlsbad by Aristocrats who felt cheated. The rebels were quickly put down due to the fact that the army was stationed there, on the border with Saschen, for some unnamed reason.
1850
The year began peaceful enough, but in late January the first real crisis emerged. A scandal had occurred in the top ranks of the Parliamentary leaders involving a goat and a shipment of bananas. While the complete details remain unclear, what is known is that the immediate impeachment of the offending members followed by a nationwide election was called for. The Jezek administration had no choice but to comply, so on Febuary 20th an election was held. Surprisingly, the Liberal Party swept the election and only came back with one less seat then they had prior to the scandal.
Construction continued, as more immigrants continued to pour into the country. The majority of the immigrants were, in fact, from the Austrian Empire, and needless to say the Austrian government was quite concerned with the loss of so many clerks and craftsman. Fortunately for Bohemia, Austria had just finished the costly war with Hungary and was now dealing with the Slovenes and Italians. These wars not only weekend Austria directly, but soldiers also joined the factory workers in their exodus to the freer, and more peaceful, Bohemia. In February the parliament raised the defense spending to around 50 percent and the available manpower pool jumped to 50,000 men, due to the immigrant soldiers. The time was right for the first aggressive act of the new country.
On April 3, 1850 the Bohemian Parliament passed in both houses a declaration of war against Sachsen. Fortunately for the Bohemians, the Sachsen government had fallen during the Liberal Revolutions of the 1840's, and they had lost their alliance with the other German states. For some reason, Sachsen had also neglected to rebuild an army, making them an even easier target.
On April 11 General Cerny led the 1st Corps into Dresden and encountered no resistance. By April 21, the city was under Czech control and Cerny re-supplied briefly and then headed for Leipzig the next day. Just as the 1st Corps arrived in Leipzig, the Sachsen reserves were deployed and a battle ensued.
The first battle that the Czech army had against a foreign power was a quick victory. At the loss of 100 men, the Czechs had managed to inflict an estimated 500 to 700 casualties on the Germans. The opposing army withdrew to Chemnitz where it faced a rebel army. The battle ended after 2 days of fighting and left the Germans in command of the field but weakened and demoralized. On the day following the battle, May 3, the Sachsen commanders ordered there men to attack Leipzig.
The Second Battle of Leipzig was a lot more bloody then the first. The Germans hit the Czech lines with all the ferocity they could muster, but were beaten back. Three times they charged, and three times they fell back, broken and bloody. On the second day of the battle the Germans came from the left flank, thinking it would be weaker then the center of the Czech line. They were wrong. Cerny had sent 2 additional regiments to the left in preparations for a counter attack. Neither side expected to see the other as they advanced through the thick fog of early morning. The numerically superior Czechs managed to route the Germans completely form the field. This victory came at a high cost though. Jezek's nephew had been a Colonel in the lead regiment in the advance and was cut down in the first volley. The death affected Jezek deeply, and he mourned the loss of his last relative for 2 weeks.
The young man's sacrifice was not in vane, and by May 20th the war was over and Sachsen was annexed. It turned out that Sachsen had also been receiving an influx of immigrants, and the acquisition nearly doubled Bohemia's population. Factories were added and expanded to Sachsen, and the railroads were brought up to par with the rest of the country.
