Croatia
After Kossuth issued the Hungarian Declaration of Independence, many Croatian nobles were hesitant to join the Hungarian Republic and remain in the Austrian Empire.
However, reality soon forced them to make a decision. The Hungarian provisional government excluded the Croats from the scope of rights, causing dissatisfaction among the local nobles.
Most of the land in Croatia is in the hands of the great Hungarian nobles. The Hungarian nobles look down on the Croatian buns, and the local middle and small nobles are separated from the Hungarian nobles.
This provided an opportunity for the Vienna government, and Franz released his goodwill to the local small and medium aristocrats at the first time, promising to have their share in the future Austrian government.
Specifically, it is to establish an Austrian National Federation to represent the rights of the Congress, in which the representatives of the Croats will have 2 to 5 seats.
The specific number depends on their performance. Anyway, this transitional institution before the national integration is one of the highest authority institutions of the Austrian Empire for a period of time in the future.
If you want to have a say in politics, you have to get involved. Theoretically, one representative seat is occupied by one percent of the total population.
Croats make up less than three percent of Austria's total population, and if they can get five seats, their political influence will be greatly increased.
After winning the upper class of the Croats, Franz did not give up on winning the bottom people. It was the ordinary people in the bottom society who really wanted to work for him.
After Hungary became independent, the Vienna government authorized Governor Josip Jelacic to confiscate the land of the Hungarian nobles and liberate the serfs.
The number of people who supported the Vienna government instantly became dominant. By May, Governor Josip Jelacic already had 80,000 Croat volunteers.
On May 1st, Franz issued an order to grant land for military merit. Since ordinary people helped the government suppress the rebellion, they could get land, and the soldiers loyal to the emperor were no exception.
There is a lot of land confiscated by the Vienna government now. The Kingdom of Hungary still has a lot of land waiting to be confiscated. The Austrian Empire still has a lot of land for development. It is not a big problem to allocate some of it to the soldiers.
Of course, in order to curb land mergers, the land grant order is limited, and the maximum amount of land granted shall not exceed 50 hectares.
For ordinary people, fifty hectares is already a huge number. Especially for the serfs who had just been freed and had no land, this was enough to make them work for the emperor.
After the promulgation of the Military Merit Granting Order, there was an endless stream of people joining the army. For the vast majority of the people, the cost of buying land was too high, and it was better to go to the battlefield.
The sky just started to light up, and a lot of people had gathered at the Morquez Recruitment Point.
"Madic, are you here to sign up too?"
"Yes, Grorich. After thinking about it, I still think that men should go to war!" Madic replied solemnly
"But Madic, didn't you say you wanted to be a great blacksmith last time?" Grorich asked suspiciously.
The spring breeze of the Industrial Revolution has not yet reached Croatia. Ordinary farm tools are still made by hand. For ordinary people, blacksmithing is a well-paid job.
"No, I've changed my mind now, the blacksmith can do it at any time, and now I'm going to the battlefield, I'm going to be a great knight!" Madic replied seriously
No one wants to become a noble, and knights are the lowest nobles. For ordinary people, this step is the highest life pursuit.
Before the Great Revolution of 1848, the entire European world was that the sons of nobles were nobles, the sons of merchants were merchants, the sons of doctors were doctors, and the sons of serfs were still serfs.
In an ancient country like Austria, there are already a lot of nobles. These people occupy the upper class of the entire society, and the people at the bottom have no further channels.
The Hungarian rebellion was seen by many ambitious people as an opportunity, an opportunity to transcend class constraints.
Like most young people, Madic also has ambitions. He is not willing to be a blacksmith all his life like his father. Before that, he had no chance and had to face the reality.
…
The wave of joining the army in Croatia is just a small episode. These armies are only local troops, not in the Austrian army.
In other words, these troops do not need the central government to dig out the army, and their main job is not to fight, but to be responsible for logistics and transportation.
Governor Josip Jelacic obviously did not explain clearly, or did not explain clearly, that the central government controls so much land in its hands, which is not in line with the development of the bourgeois economy.
To cultivate a local market naturally requires money in the hands of the largest number of farmers, and land is their main source of income.
Austria did not carry out a thorough agrarian revolution, and the nobles still held a large amount of land, so it was impossible for Franz to distribute the land for free.
That being the case, then the only way is to distribute the land to the subjects who are loyal to the emperor. This criterion is very simple. Those who are willing to fight for the emperor are naturally loyal subjects.
As long as they walk on the battlefield, there is no credit or hard work. At that time, the emperor's grace will be great, and the land they want to pay for redemption can be turned into a reward and fall directly into their hands.
The specific standards are still being formulated. Those who get land will soon be able to get rid of extreme poverty. If they have money, they will naturally consume, and if they have consumption, there will be a market.
After the market is prosperous, the industry must be denied. The government can get more tax revenue when the industry grows, and the cost of the initial investment will be recovered slowly. This is a virtuous economic cycle system.
This war to suppress the rebellion has now become Franz's tool for reforming Austrian society. Under the cover of the war, the Austrian social system was being reshaped unknowingly.
Croatia is only a microcosm of the social changes in Austria, and this scene is also being staged in Slovenia, Transylvania, Bohemia and other regions.
It can be said that the Hungarian rebellion has just started, and the most heavy losses are the great nobles of Hungary. Franz sold them without thinking.
Every man is innocent, but he is guilty.
Whether they participated in this rebellion or not, it is the original sin to have a lot of land in their hands, and the most important thing is that they are up for sale in Vienna and the Hungarian Republic.
Greed makes people fall into the abyss, they want to gain greater benefits, and now Franz simply hacks and divides their land first.
Even if it was later proved that they had nothing to do with the rebellion, and the land would not be recovered, the big deal was that the government compensated them for the land ransom.