Chapter 1183 Kossuth's Choice
Proclaiming himself emperor was not a decision made by Kossuth on the spur of the moment. In fact, it was the last choice he made after careful consideration and under forced circumstances.
Although the national crisis was at hand, Hungary's domestic political struggle was intensifying. The assassination of Duke Banjat in front of the Parliament seemed to have a far-reaching impact at this time.
The battle between factions has turned into a brutal life-and-death struggle. On the other hand, power and status are also corroding the original revolutionaries.
Most of the people who follow Kossuth are from single-clothed nobles. They were once so poor that they only had one piece of clothing. Now, although they have left the prosperous Budapest, they can still enjoy the power and status in the eastern capital of Debrecen as long as they put some thought into it. Come the benefits.
Public tools are for private use. Once Pandora's box is opened, it is difficult to close. Withholding frontline supplies and squeezing civilians are just basic operations. Selling strategic supplies to the Austrians or even the Ottomans in exchange for luxury goods is outrageous.
Some officials who control the military even have a tendency to transform into warlords.
In Kossuth's view, many of his orders were not effectively implemented. If these people could have implemented their orders in time, they might have cleared away the remaining enemies in the territory of St. Stephen's Crown, and even joined forces with Britain and France to attack the Austrian mainland.
If there were no constraints from other factions, he would not be timid.
As president, Kossuth felt that his power was limited. The opposite example was that Franz came to the throne and quickly took control of the situation.
In times of crisis, the strong only believe in their own judgment.
Kossuth believed that he was undoubtedly such a strong person. After all, the royal families in Europe were all mentally retarded and incestuous, so how could they compare to a man of great luck like himself, who climbed to the top step by step.
In addition, it was Napoleon's proclaimed emperor that ended the chaos caused by the French Revolution and brought France to its peak.
Kossuth even wrote a book to support his views
Of course, he had other considerations when he proclaimed himself emperor, one of which was to ease conflicts with monarchical countries.
This sounds a bit fanciful, but there is a country that secretly guarantees that if he becomes emperor, at least he will not directly participate in the war between the two sides, and is even willing to provide some help at critical moments.
The cronies around Kossuth have changed one after another at this time, and many of his followers have now become leaders of other factions.
In order to proclaim himself emperor, Kossuth has even made plans to massacre the entire Hungarian senior leadership.
However, what he didn't expect was that the reaction of the Congress and various factions to Kossuth's declaration of emperor was surprisingly calm, and some people even appeared very relieved.
At this time, Kossuth himself was a little hesitant, so he staged a farce of "three requests and three resignations" in Europe.
In the end, Kossuth ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Debrecen's Provisional Parliament (Debrecen Grand Theatre). Since no priest was willing to crown him, he was even more afraid that extreme fanatics would take the opportunity to stab him.
After all, Kossuth confiscated the church's property as soon as he came to power, and the subsequent secular reforms were also bloody. The two sides had long been in a fight to the death, so he could only ask actors to wear monk robes.
Kossuth also imitated Napoleon, snatching the crown from the actor's hand and crowning himself to show that he was different from the previous monarchs.
And the first thing he said was: "I proclaimed myself emperor to save the Republic. I hope you don't misunderstand me."
Vienna, Hofburg Palace.
"The Hungarian Empire?"
Even Franz couldn't hold back at this moment. Did he push Kossuth too hard and become insane? Where did he get his legal basis?
Franz was stunned for a moment when this idea popped into his mind. His thinking was becoming more and more assimilated to this era and he began to look at problems from the perspective of a superior.
Legal question? This is not a problem at all. After all, Napoleon did not have any legal basis at that time, but it did not prevent his family from being extremely noble for a while, and even made a comeback thirty-seven years later.
From the perspective of traditional European monarchs, Napoleon undoubtedly set a precedent for "princes, generals, and ministers would rather have their own kind". This was undoubtedly a destruction of order and system.
At this time, Kossuth can proclaim himself emperor, and cats and dogs can jump out and proclaim themselves emperor. This is a huge impact on the monarchy.
But looking at the bright side, wouldn't Kossuth's proclaimed emperor be an impact on the European republics? Does this prove from the side that the end of European republics is monarchy?
However, it was impossible for Franz to be exiled like the British did to Napoleon, because the exile of Kossuth was equivalent to a disguised recognition of Kossuth's identity and Hungary's independent status.
The British could profit from exile of Napoleon, but Austria would be playing with fire and burning itself if it allowed Kossuth to be left alone.
There was only life and death between the Austrian Empire and Kossuth, and there was no room for compromise.
Although it is a pity, Franz must do this. He cannot embarrass the country just because he wants to see a joke.
Seeing that Franz's expression returned to normal, Prince Schwarzenberg continued.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Kossuth has announced the establishment of the Hungarian Empire on February 1, with Debrecen as its capital. What should we do?"
Prince Schwarzenberg was not a person without opinions, but Franz's reputation, judgment and strength were completely beyond his imagination.
In the past, as a high-ranking member of the imperial military and the head of a top family, Prince Schwarzenberg knew that Franz was extraordinary.
After experiencing 1848, in his eyes, even if there are saints in this world, they are no more than this. However, only when he climbed to the high position of Prime Minister did he know how terrible the new emperor of the Austrian Empire was.
"Increase troops."
"Increase troops? Your Majesty, we have already invested nearly 400,000 people in the Hungarian battlefield. Although the Magyars claim to have an army of 200,000, they have been defeated by us.
And will continuing to withdraw troops to Hungary lead to instability in the rear?"
What Prince Schwarzenberg said was true. These days, more than 200,000 prisoners of war have been captured, and the pressure on logistics is increasing as the front line advances.
If it weren't for the existence of the Danube, just maintaining the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops would be an astronomical figure.
"How many 200,000 have we defeated?" Franz asked back.
Prince Schwarzenberg suddenly realized that if calculated according to the war report from the front, one out of every two people of the six million Hungarians had been defeated by Austria in the past year.
However, Hungary was still able to quickly gather troops at this time, which was enough to prove that the war potential of the Magyars had not been exhausted.
But the Austrian army did not lie about military intelligence. Take prisoners of war as an example. Initially, the prisoners were sent to road construction teams and mines after a simple trial.
However, these two places were soon filled with prisoners of war, and even because too many prisoners of war affected the wages of miners, it triggered several small protests.
The reason why it was small was that the miners were really desperate, but if they dared to strike, they would be replaced by prisoners of war immediately.
Everyone knew that the Hungarian prisoners of war were doing hard labor, even they themselves knew it.
However, what most Austrians did not know was that due to Franz's mining reforms and the design to prevent prisoners of war from uprisings, life in the mines was better and more promising than being serfs.