Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 34: Panic of the Royal Archdukes

In the Palace of Hofburg, after receiving the news, a group of Royal Archdukes was anxiously thinking about countermeasures. It was not that they didn’t want to run, but that they couldn’t.

Before the situation had gotten out of control, the Vienna court was holding a secret meeting to consider whether to dismiss Prime Minister Metternich and calm the anger of the people.

As a result, the sudden chaos prevented many people from leaving. Suddenly, there were rebels everywhere outside, and they dared not risk leaving.

The French Revolution taught them that it did not matter what noble status they had: the rebels’ aim was all nobles.

In actuality, at the time, as long as the court guards went out to calm the chaos, there was still a good chance to put off the rebellion before it really even got started.

Unfortunately, not even one of these nobles would take responsibility. No one dared make this decision, and no one even had the courage to go out and command the City Defense Army.

The attitude of Emperor Ferdinand I could be ignored, as he was suddenly stimulated by such an intense situation, so much so that he had another seizure due to his epilepsy, so he could not be expected to make a decision.

No one wanted to take the blame. Queen Anna was not stupid. She never liked to be involved in politics. At that time, she would certainly not express her position.

Archduke Franz Carr, who was second only to the Emperor, was also pale with fear. It was obviously impossible for him to make a decision.

Archduke Louis, who was the only one with some ability, was also incapable of dealing with this kind of big issue; otherwise, he would not be suppressed by Prime Minister Metternich in the Regent Committee.

“The news has been sent out. Within two days, the City Defense Army will come back to counter the rebellion, so just order the troops to stand against the rebels until aid arrives!”

……

Archduke Louis with a frown finally made a decision–if you could call it that.

Give up Vienna and run away?

No one could bear the aftermath, even Archduke Louis.

Once Vienna was abandoned, the impact would be enormous. Maybe the Hapsburg family would lose the throne and be in exile overseas, like the royal family of Orleans from France.

At that moment, everyone looked at the child-like Ferdinand I, and everyone felt that the future was dark.

If Ferdinand I had been a normal person, he could have summoned the leader of the rebel army to negotiate. After all, most of the rebels in the city revolted in the name of the Emperor.

By using political means, it could still be possible to convert some rebels, and after that, the rest would be easy to handle.

They thought that they had the ability to fight politically and would not lose to a bunch of upstarts. As long as everybody played by the rules, they would find a way to deal with it.

This kind of situation was favorable to Franz. For their own benefit, the nobles then needed a promising monarch to reshape the empire’s majesty and protect their rights and interests.

…

The news of the Vienna rebellion had reached Franz, but it came one day later than the government order.

“Albrecht, something is happening in Vienna. On March 7, the demonstrators and the army that intercepted them clashed. That night, a rebellion broke out in Vienna.”

Hearing the news, Albrecht’s face changed, and he hurriedly asked, “What is the situation now? Has the rebellion been suppressed?”

Franz shook his head and said, “I don’t know yet. However, the possibility of the rebellion being suppressed is very small. Prime Minister Metternich is already old, and no one else in the Vienna government has the courage!”

The Austrian Empire was old, and no one was willing to take responsibility for suppressing the rebellion.

When the emperor could not administer normally, whoever made the decision instead of him would face the end of his political life, and he might have to go to prison.

This would come not only from the enemy, but also from the internal attack: executioner, butcher, and many other charges would be put on the head of the government.

Because of this, in order to avoid becoming a scapegoat, many officials were timid at the beginning of the rebellion and dared not order a bloody suppression.

Basically, they had to wait for things to get completely out of control, so everyone was aware of the threat, and then the Conservatives could work together to suppress the rebellion.

That was the commonality of the old empires in Europe. Take the Paris revolution as an example: the death toll was less than ten, which did not even look like a revolution but just a small fight in a village.

The March revolution in Vienna was almost the same. The casualties caused by the fight between the rebels and the government forces were absolutely below those caused by the local ruffians and hooligans.

In many history books, the so-called Army sympathized with the revolution. In fact, they remained neutral in the revolution because no one gave them orders to suppress it.

In that era, when “traffic depended on legs, and communication depended on mouths,” information transmission was very inefficient. There was no order to suppress at the beginning, but once the rebellion was out of control, the order couldn’t even get through.

This was European politics: the officers at the bottom didn’t dare to make decisions. The suppression of the rebellion had to be reported from the bottom to the top, and then they had to wait for the Cabinet to make a decision. When they finally made a decision, it was too late to carry it out.

Albrecht sighed and looked at the direction of Vienna. He said helplessly, “Then let’s speed up!”

“No need! At our current speed, we can arrive in Vienna the day after tomorrow. Even if we speed up, we can’t launch an attack at night!

And Vienna will not fall so soon. There are still so many policemen and five thousand soldiers of the City Defense Army in the city. Even if they are all useless, they should at least be able to delay things.

I have given the order to the court guards, and let them raise their alert. A mob cannot break through their defenses!” Franz explained.

It was impossible to march overnight. The troops must maintain sufficient physical strength; otherwise, how could they ensure combat effectiveness?

Although Franz’s military command ability was only average, he still knew that tired soldiers could not fight.

The main reason why Albrecht wanted to speed up was out of political consideration. Already, the City Defense Army hadn’t suppressed the rebellion in the first place because they’d been out for training, and he, as the commander of the City Defense Army, was the one to blame.

Then, after they got the news, he did not rush back at the fastest speed, which would be another political stain.

All these responsibilities would be taken by him, and none by Franz, because it was he who was the commander of the City Defense Army.

Franz surely knew his concerns, but at the moment he could not take risks. It was the most important thing to proceed steadily and surely and suppress the rebellion.

As for the problem of taking the blame, what subordinates did not take the blame for their leader?

“However, the rebel party is still a mob, but it will not take a long time for them to be united, and then they will not be easy to fight!” Albrecht thought for a moment and said.

“Albrecht, don’t worry about that. I can guarantee that the longer the time, the more chaotic the party will be, and it will be impossible to unify them!” Franz said with confidence.