The assassination of Franz Joseph in 1853 had seen his young and broadly liberal brother Maximilian ascend to the throne as emperor, providing hope to the radicals of 1848 that the empire would isntrument reform and shift away from the repression enacted under Franz Joseph's rule. Maximilian dismissed the military government which had been in place since 1849 and appointed the noted liberal jurist Anton von Schmerling as Prime Minister, before calling the "Prague Convention" which would seek to establish a new constitutional order for the state. [1] The new government loosened restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly and gradually eased back the vast police state established during his brother's brief reign.
Emperor Maximilian, around 1864
Schmerling's govenrment began the Prague Convention by inviting delegates from the Crownlands in order to discuss the formation of a new federal structure, which would replace the centralised realm introduced under Franz Joseph, though for the meantime Schmerling's government focused primarily on economic reform shfting away from protectionism to the creation of a more equal customs union, which began the project to expand the empire's railway network, connecting Trieste to Venice (plans to connect Trieste to Milan were dropped indefinitely following the Sardinian annexation of Lombardy.) The new government introduced several economic reforms aimed to modernise the economy, though it was hindered in this by the vested agrarian interests which had dominated the empire since the feudal era. The country's vast debt as a result of the revolutionary wars and the need to maintain a standing army further hinded development. Diplomatically, the nation remained neutral in the Russo-Turkish War of 1853-1854, and maintained this neutrality in general during the decade, though it maintained a broad military presence in Veneto, in fear of further Italian military action. In the mean time Maximilian married his cousin Princess Helene of Bavaria in 1854. [2]
The Convention of Prague, met for the first time in December 1853 and established the "State Committee" to propose very loose reforms, which would have granted limited authority to the imperial territories. [3] The emperor took a strong interest in the navy granting it military independence from the army [4], helping to establish and develop the facilities built in Trieste, and commissioned the
Minerva Expedition [5] in 1854, which saw it become the first Austrian vessel to circumnavigate the globe. The return to civilian government, and the loosening of the autocracy marked the first of very small steps towards reform, though plans to introduce more wider ranging reforms were hamstrung by the hostility of the traditional nobility and vested interests of the "Four Pillars." [6] The emperor widened access to the imperial court [7], and threw himself into constructing a new summer residence in Trieste, while attempting to lighten the somewhat oppressive air of the Vienna Court, though the entrenched position of his mother made this difficult.
Finally after a year and a half of negotiations between representatives of the Crown, central government and the Crownlands themselves, a new, loosely federalised structure was created, though the general area of authority was retained in Vienna. The proposals of what became known as the "March Edicts" were the following:
- The Emperor's previous autocratic powers were reduced, though he retained the powers to appoint and dismiss the government, dissolve parliament, sign legislation into law and operated a veto which could temporarily annul legislation.
- The Imperial Diet was reconsititued as a federal parliament with limited legislative powers, composed of the directly elected Chamber of Deputies and the appointed States Council which was composed of delegates from the various imperial territories. The new parliament was elected by men over the age of twenty-one who paid a certain threshold in tax. Originally there had been a proposal for universal manhood suffrage based on the German model though this was rejected following strong opposition.
- The federal parliament was granted limited authority. It had legislative authority over financial matters, transportation and communications, and was granted limited authority over foreign affairs and the military, though neither the military or the government were directly responsible to the parliament. Permanent committees for the army, navy, duties and taxes, commerce and trade, railways and communications, justice, accounts and foreign affairs granting parliament limited oversight in this area, though the veto held by the emperor and the executive ensured that legislative power was limited.
- The new convention established limited autonomy for the Crownlands, with each Crownland granted an assembly. The autonomous nature of these assemblies was limited in scope, with the local governments granted responsibilities for agriculture, education, health, language and limited tax powers. Elections to the local parliaments were held under the same franchise system as the Imperial Diet.
- The convention agreed to liberalise the reactionary laws on freedom of press and expression and began to dismantle the vast military and police state apparatus established by Maximilian's predecessor. Freedom of religion was also granted with the convention emancipating the Jewish population of the empire, though the Catholic Church was still granted preferential treatment within the new system.
The convention was accepted by the moderate conservatives and liberal elements who supported Maximilian's proposed reforms. Hungary proved the great thorn in the negotiations due in part to the power of the local aristocrats, and the complex ethnic situation. The assassination of the Kaiser by a Hungarian nationalist and the general antipathy towards the Hungarians on the part of the other nationalities played into Maximilian's hands however, and they were eventually coerced into the new federal structure. [8] The government, as part of it's economic reforms, established a central bank which provided small loans to industrialists and manufacturers in order to boost production, though despite pressure from more radical elements it avoided the thorny issue of land reform for fear of disrupting the hard-won and fragile Prage Compromise.
Moderate plans to reform the military were proposed but gradually delayed due to fear of reactionary opposition. While the Compromise was unpopular with the more radical liberals and the reactionary elements of court, Maximilian's support of decentralisation and granting of autonomy to "the loyal subjects of empire" won him popularity with a broad swathe of the population, and his government's cautious reforms ensured that the state didn't collapse into anarchy, despite the opposition of conservatives claiming it would do just that. The new emperor and his government, as well beginning the gradual reform of the Habsburg state maintained a general neutrality in European affairs, though the Austrians maintained a large force in Veneto to deter any potential Italian aggrandisement, and had raised an army in the event that the Sardinian led invasion of the Two Sicilies spilled into Veneto. The emperor remained ambivalent towards the empire's northern neighbour: Germany embodied the liberalism he wished to establish in Austria, and yet he felt it should be under the command of the Habsburgs. These tensions would continue to linger between the two countries, though the two agreed to the development of trade and economic relations.
Austria, under the command of a young, committed monarch seemed to be on the very slow path to reform.
BRIEF NOTES
[1] The convention was open to delegates from the various nationalities of the empire and Maximilian took an active role. Schmerling, adopted a programme of cautious reform in order to appeal to nationalities of the empire, without alienating the vested interests of the power structure.
[2] The emperor's marriage was arranged at the behest of his mother who continued to dominate the court. The couple would go on to have five children.
[3] The Crownlands were granted local parliaments which were allowed to legislate for local affairs. Linguistic autonomy was also granted, though German remained the official language of the federal government.
[4] The navy received an increase in funds and began to commission modernisation plans, though these were limited in scope.
[5] OTL Novara Expedition
[6] The army, the bureaucracy, the church and the informants of the secret police.
[7] This access was extended to the minor gentry, as well as "the nobles in the fields of intellect, (…) of science and the arts, as well as the nobles of the civil life."
[8] The Hungarian realms had been under military occupation since 1849 with their parliament suspended under martial law. In exchange for supporting his proposals, the emperor agreed to return the region to civilian control and re-establish the Hungarian parliament with it's respective privileges.