Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 44

It was impossible to distribute land freely to all, so the nobles could never keep a psychological balance.

Too much generosity would arouse hatred, and Franz had heard too many stories of this kind. Such reforms were fairly advanced for their time, and too much was as bad as too little.

With the advancement of industrialization, Austria also needed to turn farmers into workers, and if everyone had land, who would be willing to work in the city?

Unlike in Asia, the land area per capita was very high in Europe, and the income out of such land was enough for its owners to be adequately fed, so the living standard of workers in that era was not as high as that of farmers.

After listening to Franz’s reform plan, everyone breathed a sigh of relief: obviously, this plan had taken care of the interests of the nobles.

Even though they would lose some of their benefits, everyone could accept this plan. As for the nobles who had participated in the rebellion, they were not taken into consideration.

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“Your Highness, this reform plan generally has no problems, but about limiting the income from land leasing–can we just erase that article? We can let the market decide!” Archduke Louis suggested.

Franz shook his head and said, “No, if there is no restriction, I’m afraid this reform plan will become meaningless. We cannot guarantee that all nobles care about their moral integrity.

If a few greedy fools mess around, our reform will soon fail. The current serf riots are the best negative examples.”

Franz did not want to learn about the greed of the nobles. If it were hundreds of years ago, he might give it a try, but at this point, he just wanted to get rid of it.

Considering Austria’s special national conditions, he had already made concessions, actually. He’d done his best to take into account the interests of all people, and he had not yet proposed the abolition of noble privileges.

For the sake of social stability, Franz had to take a gradual approach and prioritize resolving the biggest issue in the country.

Prime Minister Felix thought for a moment and said, “About this reform… I think most of the nobles can accept it, and I think I can convince the rest.

If someone stands against the plan insistently, we will not force it. In case of rebellion, they will be responsible for their personal safety and property, for the empire will not protect greedy fools!”

There was nothing strange about Felix’s attitude, for his ideas derived from his position: as the prime minister of Austria, Felix must view a problem from the standpoint of the government.

As long as his own interests were undamaged, he had no good impression of the people who hindered the progress of the empire. In contrast, Archduke Louis had not changed his mind.

The former Prime Minister Metternich wore a wry smile. If he had insisted on reform in the first place, it was likely that the situation would be quite different.

On the serfdom reform, the Cabinet reached an agreement. That meant many people would be out of luck: the policies implemented by the Vienna government in the era of Metternich would be completely changed from then on.

Neither Felix nor Franz could tolerate the existence of a group of incompetent bureaucrats, and the Vienna government would soon face a great purge.

Franz had already even thought of the charge against them: corruption and bribery. There were few officials in Austria who were honest and upright. For this reason, more than 90% of the officials in Austria could be put into prison.

Of course, the range of investigation would not be quite so wide. Only those fools who were greedy, incompetent, and stupid would be investigated. As long as the official could efficiently complete his work, then he could be left alone.

Whether their crimes were retroactive depended on the financial situation of the Austrian government: only if the nation faced fiscal difficulties would Franz make trouble for them.

For the sake of national interests, at this time, the cabinet had to find ways to crack down on the nobles in Italy and Hungary.

If the local forces were too strong, they would go against the authority of the central government, which would be dealt with, even without Franz’s direct intervention.

The situation in Austria was already very serious: Lombardy and Venice had already rebelled and were, for the time, under suppression.

There was also rioting in the region of Galicia, while the Czech region still wanted to be autonomous, and the Hungarians had built a responsible cabinet, which was equivalent to a rebellion, without even announcing it.

Other places in Austria were not very peaceful, either. The Croats were very confused: originally they had been part of the Hungarian Kingdom, but all of a sudden, the newly built Hungarian nation excluded them from all rights.

There was polarization among the people: some wanted to stay in Hungary, while others wanted to join Austria as an autonomous province.

Fortunately, they were still loyal supporters of the Hapsburg family, which was worth encouraging.

The people in Dalmatia were barely surviving: already they were impoverished, and the nobles and capitalists exploited them harshly; as a result, the hunger riots were getting worse.

The Revolutionary Party had appeared in the Bosnian region; Transylvania and Slovakia were also in varying degrees of chaos. There was almost no peace in Austria.

This special situation in history forced the Austrian government to carry out reforms.

However, Vienna had been occupied then and was not recovered for a long time. The reputation of the Hapsburg family dropped to its lowest point, and they had to suppress the rebellion by relying on the power of the nobles.

This made the reform favor the noble class. At the same time, the government also made concessions to local forces, which planted the seeds of the collapse of the Empire.

The situation was different this time: the rebellion in Vienna was quickly extinguished, and the power of the nobles was also damaged, so the authority of the central government was not hit hard.

The military power under the control of the Austrian government was much stronger than in history. No troops were transferred from any local governments because of the suppression of the Vienna rebellion, which gave Franz confidence in coping with the crisis.

On March 19, 1848, the Vienna government issued the Abolition Act: all farmers automatically obtain free citizenship, and the corresponding rights and obligations.

The controversial issue of serfdom was finally resolved. From then on, Austria would ban all forced labor, with the exception of criminals.

On March 20 of the same year, the Vienna government introduced the Land Redemption Act, which encouraged the nobles to sell their land to the government, but did not make it mandatory.

The government would lease the land to the farmers and allow the farmers to purchase their own leased land in installments. The maximum period for installments would be 40 years. After the payment was finished, land ownership would be transferred to them.

If something happened midway, farmers could apply for a refund unconditionally, but land abandonment was prohibited during this period.

The Vienna government was still dominated by the nobles, and it was impossible for them to overthrow themselves.

Franz was a realist: he would compromise when he needed to. He did not want to confiscate the nobles’ land radically, and anyway, it was impossible.

Just by checking how many noble officers there were in the Army and how many noble employees in the government, he would know what to do next.