Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 16: The Brewing Revolution

After establishing the Vienna system, keeping the European continent stable for over 30 years, holding the position of the Austrian prime minister for more than 20 years, and firmly pinning down political enemies, how was it possible for the one and only Prime Minister Metternich to be a nobody?

Count Koloft was obviously trying to goad him today. People were fallible under external stimulation. How could he not know that?

It was a conspiracy. But though he surely recognized it, Prime Minister Metternich felt the pressure nonetheless. It was coming in from all directions, exerted on him not only by Count Koloft, but also by Austrian conservatives, as well as the Vienna Court.

Prime Minister Metternich already knew that Franz had played an important role in this conspiracy based solely on his rich experience with political struggle; he didn't need any evidence of it to be sure.

As much as a year earlier, Franz had discussed this issue with him, but Metternich had wanted to maintain the balance of powers inside the country then, choosing not to suppress the capitalist class.

The fact that Franz teamed up with conservatives showed, without a doubt, that the Vienna Court's tolerance for the reformists had reached its limit.

Not to mention the fact that the royal family, and even Prime Minister Metternich himself, were disappointed with the reformists. The reform proposals they put forward were too idealistic, ignoring the facts.

The capitalist class wanted to seize power so badly that they didn't even bother to cover up their ambitions. The requests they made were simply not possible for the Government to accept.

Metternich was sure that if the capitalist class's conditions were accepted in full, the Austrian Empire would come to an immediate end.

In order to be strong enough to seize power, the capitalist class had been united with the separatist group, yet their so-called American-style autonomy had not taken into account the realities of the situation.

Once decentralization appeared in Austria, social disruption would follow rapidly due to their many enemies, which meant the countries of Europe could not possibly let go of this opportunity.

A group of idealists, encouraged by the capitalist class, became the forerunners of the reform. They put forward any proposals they wanted and never considered consequences. Who could stand a group of reformists like that?

"Someone go inform the relevant people of tomorrow's cabinet meeting. Especially the Regent council, make sure they appear in the meeting tomorrow!"

Obviously, Metternich had made up his mind: Since the reformists were out of his control, they could certainly be sacrificed for political necessity.

No, it was not a "sacrifice" per se; rather, it was bad luck for the capitalist class. A class division had split these idealistic intellectuals, and some of those who were less involved with the capitalist class were also in support of the Labor Protection Act.

In addition, some even felt like going further with the terms of the Act. The workers' wages should be paid according to the profit of their factories, and everyone would share profit, including the working class.

Well, when it came to such idealists, Metternich had nothing to say. He would bet that the one who brought up this idea to the public wouldn't have the balls to go outside their room.

The Labor Protection Act was driving the capitalist class crazy already. If anyone dared to deprive the capitalists of most of their profits, they would surely tear him apart!

"Yes, Prime Minister!" the attendant replied instantly.

...

After the triumph of the July Revolution, the progress of capitalism in France made most of the workers, farmers, and low-level capitalists more impoverished.

On the other end of the spectrum, the development of the industrial revolution had given the capitalists tons of wealth, and with the growth of their wealth, thousands of handicraftsmen and small farmers went bankrupt from the competition.

The social crisis in France was deepening, while the cries for the transformation of society were growing louder and louder; however, none of this had attracted the attention of the July Monarchy.

(July Monarchy: After the July Revolution in France in 1830, the Orléans dynasty was founded, representing the French financial group, and the usurer empire started then.)

By 1847, Franz had been keeping an eye on France closely, because, as the weather vane of the European revolutions, almost every revolution had its outbreak in Paris.

Based on the news from France, Franz knew that a revolution was brewing, because the prelude to the revolution, the "banquet campaign," had begun to flourish.

(French Banquet Campaign: a political struggle by the French reformists and various social forces against the rule of the July Monarchy, who gathered under the guise of a banquet to give speeches and preach political opinions.)

Without a doubt, the upcoming revolution was still under the leadership of the capitalist class, which, in Franz's view, was due to the uneven distribution of interests among French capitalists.

The capitalists who failed in the competition were unwilling to be robbed of benefits, so they united all the anti-government forces and took advantage of the public's dissatisfaction with the Government. They launched the February Revolution.

Franz knew the climax of a new wave of revolutions was about to come, and historically, in 1848, all European cities with a population of more than 100,000 would break out in revolution.

The spark of this wave of revolutions was the February Revolution in France. The success of revolutionaries in France gave everyone a model. As a result, everyone followed suit, and then the whole of Europe fell into chaos. The only exception was Russia, which was still an agricultural country.

"Taylor, we have to get inside the social groups in Vienna to keep up with their movements at all times, including the low-level laborers' groups!" Franz said, with caution.

"Yes, your excellency!" replied Taylor, the head of intelligence.

This intelligence organization was the secret army of the royal family, and after working with them several times, Franz incorporated them into his own forces.

Of course, the appointment letter that Franz gained from his uncle Ferdinand I played a crucial role in the incorporation.

It had come at a cost: Franz had to pay 800 Austro-Hungarian guldens a month to get the intelligence, not a small amount to him.

Even though most of the agents were doing their work compulsorily, the intelligence needed money to operate.

But it was all worth it: because of them, Franz finally grasped enough information about Austria's domestic situation to find that the capitalist class in Vienna, surprisingly, had not yet planned a revolution.

This meant that the March Revolution in Vienna had not been planned long in advance, but was instead a group of people acting on impulse because of the influence of the outbreak of the February Revolution in France.

Many of these people were not even members of revolutionary parties, being steadfast capitalists, students, and workers. This could be proved from the terms put forward by revolutionary groups after the March Revolution.

The majority of the population still had expectations of the Vienna Government, because of the Labor Protection Act that government had introduced.

They were still waiting for the law that would improve their difficult living conditions to be enacted.

Franz saw a new possibility in the fact that the impending March revolution might die for lack of supporters once the Government published the Labor Protection Act.

The workers might even stand by the Government and help to suppress the capitalist class rebellion, because of the conflict of interests between the working class and the capitalist class.