The House of Habsburg

robou said:

Update update update update!

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It's coming, but I don't have regular access to the internet until I'm back at work. Updates should start coming by the end of the week.

Hungarian Revolution

During the mid 1840’s political opponents at the Diet of Bratislava began sparring with their policies for the future of Hungary. Istvan Széchényi was propagating a national spirit of Austro-Hungarianism. He was a believer in Metternich’s system and his symbol of policy was the bridge across the Danube built by taxes raised on the noble lands of Magyars and Austro-Germans alike. Széchényi envisioned a modern Hungary built on the industrialism and capitalist investments being seen in the Austrian heartlands. He had little sympathy for Hungary’s aristocracy and wished to see Hungary prosper under central imperial governance with economic reforms and inclusion in the Austrian programmes of railroad building. Széchényi might have made progress too if it wasn’t for Lajos Kossuth, the saviour of the Magyar gentry. Kossuth was elected to the Hungarian Diet in 1847 and deeply impressed all who knew him with his fervent bent for nationalism. Hungary was a Magyar national state, this simple fact carried Kossuth to political victories over Széchényi’s policies. As politics and economics continued to widen the growing gulf between Vienna and the Bratislavan Diet, Kossuth set forth his doctrine of nationalism to claim all the lands of St. Stephen for an independent Hungarian nation. He called upon Vienna to grant reforms including a Hungarian constitutional seat of government in Buda-Pest, a Hungarian national bank and an independent military. On 5 March 1848 when Vienna refused the final calls for reform, Hungary declared its independence. The Habsburgs were deposed and Kossuth named as Regent-President of the new nation. Metternich called upon Schwarzenberg, his minister for War to prepare plans to subjugate the Hungarian seperatists and deliver Kossuth to the court of Vienna.


The Austro-Hungarian War

Vienna refused to accept an independent Hungary. In the ensuing weeks Emperor Ferdinand watched his duel kingdom descend into a state of civil war fought between the imperial government and the Magyar nationalists. By September, Austrian divisions were fighting on Hungarian soil. By this time nationalism was spreading throughout the Danubian principalities. Romanians in Transylvania were on the verge of rising up in Wallachia and Moldavia against their Turkish overlords. The Porte reacted by suppressing Romanian nationalism by force. With instability in Transylvania and Poland, the increase in Ottoman divisions being deployed and war in Hungary, Russia reacted by offering an aid to Austria. Tsar Nicholas could not allow for nationalism to spread along Russian borders, nor would he stand by and watch Polish generals being appointed to the head of Hungarian armies. Russian arms and other war materials were sent to Austria to prosecute the war against Hungary. By November aid was received from Berlin too. Frederick William wished to contribute to the stabilising of central Europe and in doing so to quieten the stirrings of liberalist radicals within Prussia.

With revolution and nationalism weakening Austria and her fellow German States the radicals of Vienna called for reforms to appease the masses. A call for the end of socage was made. Socage was the system that kept the peasantry tied to the land in return for tenure to be made to land owners. An end to socage would mean the abolishment of serfdom and compensation requirements for landowners that would have to be paid by central government. The government held strong and dismissed the panic of liberal and absolutist radicals. Metternich’s chancellery was strengthened and his chief political rival, Kolowrat, retired from politic life.


On 23 December, Metternich’s position was reinforced further with receiving news of Field Marshall Jelic’s victory over the Hungarians at the Battle of Budapest. The Magyar cause was lost and independence slipped away. All of the break-away Hungarian provinces were repatriated into the Austrian Empire once more.

France

France too succumbed to revolution in February of 1848. Stability was achieved with the victory in June of the royalist légitamistes and the ancien régime over the militias of the second republic. The légitamistes proceeded to restore the Bourbon Monarchy.

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March 5: event> Revolution in Hungary
March: event> Recognize Hungarian Independence?
April 2: Hungary had the April Laws.
July 6: event> Romanian nationalism spreads to Transylvania
July: Capitalist begin a steel factory in Ostereich.
Sept 4: event> Revolution in Hungary. War vs Hungary
Sept 8: event> The final abolishment of serfdom
Sept 24: Hungary deploys its reserves.Total army =10 divs
Sept: event> Russian Assistance to defeat Hungarians
Sept: event> Russia offers temporary alliance = gain alliance with
Nov 9: event> Prussian assistance to defeat Hungarians Dec 23: event> Austria defeats Hungarian rebels = con-2/mil-4 for Hungarians
Dec 23: event> Hungarian revolution is over. We annex Hungary.
Dec 27: discover strategic mobility begin phenomanalism

Wars being fought at the end of 1848=
UK&BI vs France, Two Sicilies and Ottoman Empire
UK vs Xhosa
Netherlands vs Bali

Novea, robou, Raden Shaka and jeffg006 - thank you all for reading and for your kind comments.

robou said:

An exellent update. The Hungarians dealt with, perhaps you can once again turn your attention on Italy.

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How true. The Italian question is forced upon me whether I like it or not in the next update.

The Italian Revolution

Austria had survived 1848 intact, despite revolution and war with Hungary. But any hopes of stabilising the empire in 1849 were dashed as soon as the new year rolled around. In January, the Italian question was brought to the political forefront once more. Austria's almost eight million Italians in the Tirol, Lombardy and Venetia were stirring again. The Conti di Cavour, Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmonte called for an Italian conference in Turin. Sardinia-Piedmonte, the Papal States, Tuscany, Modena and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were each represented. Cavour called upon Italian leaders to support calls for independence of Lombardy-Venetia from Austria. Cavour also looked outside of Italy to Paris and to London to apply political pressures upon the Habsburgs to recognise the rights of Italians everywhere to be free to shape their own futures. Though France and Britain had no wish to upset the balance of power in Central Europe, the freedom of the 7.7 million Italians from Austrian rule was discussed on the political agenda of all meetings with Austrian diplomats for the first months of the year. Tensions following the Turin conference took its toll on the long standing friendly relations between Vienna and Naples. Diplomatic relations were broken and Austria and the Two Sicilies severed their alliance. King Ferdinand instead now pledged his full allegiance to the Italian cause headed by Cavour.


On 14 November matters were brought to a head, revolution broke out in towns and villages all across Lombardy and Venetia. Metternich suspected Sardinian agents at work in the orchestration of the revolts. It was no surprise to find that Cavour was well prepared for this eventuality as he called upon the Italian states to show support for their Italian brothers living under the oppression of Habsburg rule. Lombardy and Venetia declared their independence as Hungary had done so the previous year. The difference between the Hungarian revolution of 1848 and the Italian revolution of 1849 being that the Italians had allies prepared to prosecute war upon Vienna. The Italian alliance delivered its declaration. Sardinia, the Papal States and the Two Sicilies fielded 17 divisions, but the Duchies of Tuscany, Modena and Parma shied from military involvement.

The war began well for the Italian alliance. By the end of January 1850 the army of the Papal States had occupied the city of Siena in Austrian-Tuscany and Charles Albert, King of Sardinia had seen his troops liberate the lands of Piedmonte from Austria. The heaviest fighting was seen on the fields of Lombardy-Venetia. The Austrian armies were commanded by Field Marshall Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, by the end of January 1850 his command was fully 29 divisions strong. Radetzky held a reserve in the Tyrol but committed most of his divisions to the front. On 9 February Radetzky defeated the rebel resistance in Lombardy and after securing the province Radetzky split his forces. More than half of his divisions moved against the Sardinians to recapture Piedmonte, while he himself marched onward to Verona, capital of Venetia. On 13 April he achieved total victory over the rebellion, Lombardy and Venetia were repatriated into the Austrian Empire, four days later the Italian Alliance ceased its war. Peace was concluded and all nations involved agreed to observe the status quo. For Metternich, the Italian question abroad was put to bed for now but within Austria’s borders the peoples of Lombardy-Venetia would continue to demonstrate their unrest against the Imperial government for many more months. Localised rebellions and rioting would break out at frequent intervals though most would peter out by the middle of 1851.


Aftermath of the War

The after affects of the war saw more than one and a quarter million Italians leave Austria, most of them as refugees. The cost of prosecuting two wars in as many years meant a huge reduction in government investment into infrastructure and industry. The only positives that Metternich could take was to see a huge swing towards conservatism from the growing sector of Austrian patriots within the empire and international respect for Austria’s strength. In Sardinia, failure to achieve all that he had promised to his people meant that Charles Albert was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel. Elsewhere, Pope Pius IX who had originally been councilled to show favour for a war of Italian insurrection now looked to heal the wounds opened up between catholic nations of Austria and Italian states.


Olmutz

November 9 1850 saw the next challenge to Austria emerge. Frederick William, King of Prussia made his move towards German hegemony. After being trumped by Austria over the Schleswig question, Frederick William now sought the opportunity to reassert Prussian claims to leadership in Germany. He first aired his plans for closer unity of the German Federation of States under one leadership at the Assembly in Frankfurt. This was followed by an official declaration of his plans in Moravia, at Olmutz. Frederick William had support from several of the minor German principalities but was desperate to romance Bavaria, Hanover and Saxony in order to force Austria to recognise his challenge for leadership within the greater German state. But Hanover wavered, the liberal King, Ernest Augustus was too heavily influenced by the liberals of Britain and France who were desperate to avert unification of Germany. Bavaria displayed loyalty and support to Vienna and not Berlin. Prussia’s influence failed to force concessions from Austria. Alexander Bach, Metternich’s delegate at Olmutz instead forced Frederick William to retract his plans for a Prussian-lead German state. Austria was the stronger of the German nations and the only leadership Austria would recognize was the House of Habsburg. Following the Olmutz debates, Austria, in a demonstration of strength, redeployed five infantry divisions to Bohemia. Prussia backed down, Vienna had once more politically trumped Berlin.

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1849
Jan. Alliance with K of Two Sicilies expires
Nov 14: Revolution in Italy
WAR= Austria vs Lombardy, Venetia, Papal States, Sardinia-Piedmont and the Two Sicilies.
1850
Feb 9- Lombardy had ‘Italian Revolution is over here’. Lombardy is annexed.
April 13- Venetia had ‘Italian Revolution is over here’. Venetia is annexed.
April 17 event> ‘Austria Defeats the Italian Rebels’. Peace concluded.
June 20- ** End of the Liberal Revolution**
June 25 event> Demoblisation. 40% of all soldiers convert to farmers, 30% to labourers and 5% to craftsmen. 18 divs were destroyed, leaving me with 37. Lots of MP is lost.
June- End of temporary alliance with Russia. (From event vs Hungary in 1848).
July 16- Peace treaty with Tuscany ends.
Nov 2- discover Phenomenalism begin High & low Pressure Steam Engines.
Nov 9 – event> Humiliation of Olmutz - we went with demand Prussia retract the plan. > Prussia went with back down in the humiliation of Olmutz.

Changes since 1836: No government changes. No reforms enacted

Monarch: Emperor Ferdinand I
Head of Government: Chancellor Klemens von Metternich
Government: Conservative Metternich Faction
Monarchy, laws by decree, two party system, national value is order. Interventionalist economy, protectionist trade laws, moralist, residence, pro-military.

1850
Population: 41,882,000 millions
Population growth: Since 1845 (41.5m) +1.0%;
Plurality 21.8%; Literacy 35.5%; MP 49 (+1.54 pm); LP 14 (+0.48 pm); RP +0.68 pm
Prestige 377; DIP +2.5 pa; Factories 19; Provinces 98.

Population: 41.9 millions
National culture: South German 8.4m (20%)
Non-National Cultures: Hungarian 6.7m (16%), North Italian 6.3m (15%), Czech 4.2m (10%), Romanian 3.3m (8%), Polish 2.5m (6%) and others.
- 47% farmers, 33% labourers, 10% soldiers, — 84% conservative, 15% liberal – 73% catholic, 16% orthodox, 7% protestant — Dom issue= moralism 79%; Secondary issue= Laissez-faire 49%.

Roughly 1.4 million less Italians than in 1845 are now living in Austria. There has been a significant swing towards conservatism.

Economy

1850
Production
Daily production…………War materials……base £
Wool +20………………..Steel +0.32…….£25.73
Cattle +19..……………..Arms +0.19…….£113.37
Fruit +17………………..Ammo +0.18…...£37.50
Grain +14..……………..Artillery 0……...£211.61
Coal +12………………..Explosives 0…...£100.48
Iron +5.…..……………..Clippers 0….…£100.22

All production has increased since 1845 except for a slight reduction in iron. Output of steel almost doubled in Austria during the last five years. Base prices of all war materials dropped indicating a world wide surge in production. Austria is not a world leading producer of any particular commodity.


6th highest exporter in the world
Daily export: £241 per day…[1845 £155]…growth since 1845: +55.5%

1850 Financial Report
Cash Reserves: £8k
Income: £47,092……[1845=£33,694…growth since 1845: +39.7%]
Expense: £41,218…….[1845=£53,518…growth since 1845: -22.9%]

Budget expense spending 1850
Army and Defence: £20,828…..[1845=£14,284..growth: +45.8%]
Education: £9,994…..[1845=£10,478..growth: -4.8%]
Development: £3,000…..[1845=£11,875..growth: -295.8%]
Crime: £2,309…..[1845=£2,442..growth: -0.05%]

Military

Divisions
Standing Army: 37……30 inf, 3 cav, 4 irr 176,832 men
Mobilisation Pool: 8

Army Comparison
France 73, UK & BI 61, China 42, Austria 37, Russia 32, OE 25, USA 15, Japan 15, Netherlands 12, Spain 10, Egypt 10, Prussia 10.

Navy Comparison
UK & BI 163, Russia 77, Netherlands 31, USA 25, Prussia 22, OE 13, France 13.

Current wars at end of 1850:
1. British India vs Punjab. 2. Brazil vs Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Technologies researched since 1845:
1846: Iron Muzzle-Loaded Artillery
1847: Army Professionalism
1848: Strategic Mobility
1849: Nothing
1850: Phenomenalism
Under research High & Low Pressure Steam Engines.


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asd21593 said:

*i always mix this aar up with Divided But United, there both so similar in style, i often find myself checking to see which AAR i'm reading saying to myself "this didnt happen!" :rofl:

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Yes. I've been enjoying reading KanaX's aar too and our styles are very similar. I can see how it can be a little confusing reading one then the other but it also very interesting to see how two Austrian games can turn out differently based on the decisions we take.