alternatehistory.com

Right from the get go I will state Austrian history is not my primary interest, therefore my following questions are probably inherently flawed, but that is why I ask.

Working from a departure point in 1836 or 1837, I am trying to come up with a hypothetical plan to bring Austria forward somewhat intact, and in a much better position generally than historical.

In the long term I wish mainly to work towards Austria as a fully constitutional monarchy with Hungary still in the fold, either as historical or otherwise, with extra freedoms for the Slavic peoples if possible; and to create an overarching "Austrian" culture opposed to the current German/Hungarian/Slavic mixture, similar to other empires through history.

I do not have this fully planned out however, so any suggestions would be welcome, but there is a few short term (in comparison) things I wish to accomplish.

It is no doubt impossible the fully avoid the 1848 tumults, but I think it would be worthwhile to try and blunt them, mainly by loosening the grip that the government now has on the populace (it is practically a police state), and doing away with the peasant system that still is in widespread use throughout Austria (though being banned in Hungary by the Diet from what I recall.) I do not think there would be a tremendous amount of opposition to the latter, however I am not sure how to proceed in bringing the vices of it to the attention of Metternich, and how to carry on from there. Any suggestions?
The justice system is quite bad off; entire trials, including examination of witnesses, is entirely private; the decisions of judges are not published so there is no way to determine a standard on rulings, and other things, however I do understand this may not be plausible until Metternich is no longer in power, though I do think his reactionary nature in terms of internal politics is exaggerated by a certain amount.

One other thing I would like to set up before the revolutions of 1848, if possible, is a peerage with a sort of Diet of our own that would take over control of different aspects of the government. This would be composed of Hungarians as well, but it would not replace the Hungarian Diet so they should not be opposed to the idea as it is not in any way affecting their rights and if anything is giving them more say in matters (however this works as a reason the German groups may not welcome it).
However, after the revolution I might consider expanding it in some way and not reconstituting the Hungarian Diet down the line, instead working towards a national Parliament or Diet.


For the revolution itself I do not think there will be many areas in which one could do things differently, but after it is squashed, i.e. once Hungary is under military control I intend to handle the aftermath differently; instead of treating poorly those races and people groups which sided with the Austrians against the Hungarians (out of fear of the Hungarian nationalism program), they will be split off directly from Hungary so to leave Hungary no sense that they are rightfully part of Hungary. This should help down the line as Hungary will not feel as much like resisting me over them due to them being divorced entirely from those areas. Which territories this will encompass is still to be determined, though Croatia, Illyria and the Military Frontier come to mind, perhaps even Transylvania.

To help create a more 'Austrian' culture the intent is to merge the army fully and entirely at this time as well.

Now, I will not pretend both of these are going to make them more amiable in the short to mid term, so, as well with the rest of the Empire, I am thinking that keeping some of their reforms or putting in reforms of our own would act as the carrot end of the bargain. What reforms exactly I am not sure yet, but more extensive and far reaching changes to the justice system, abolition of serfdom (if that is not already accomplished by the time and was historically done at this juncture), and generally leaving them their freedoms from before the revolution, but also bringing the level of freedom for the rest of the Empire towards the Hungarian level, partly as a reward to those loyal to us, partly to keep people happier and work towards the end goal.


To boil it down, my questions are as follows:

-How long until serfdom can be abolished and what paths should one take to accomplish this?
-What type of reforms would it be reasonable for one to have Metternich to do to loosen slightly the police state which, as we must remember, he himself played a hand in setting up?
-When would it be possible, and how long would it take, to set up a Diet of nobles-cum-peers?
-What negative effect to the Hungarian attitude will splitting off the different provinces and removing entirely any say they had in their armed forces have remembering that one of their demands pre revolution was to control their own army?
-What positive or negative effects to the Hungarian attitude will Austria leaving their freedoms generally intact and not revoking everything they did have post revolution?
-How many freedoms would it be possible to give the population from the rest of the empire immediately after the revolution, both in reward and to win them over?
-How will treating those who assisted Austria better effect their attitude over the long run?

Any comments welcome.
Top