Don't know why, but something overtook me a bit ago resulting in this:
1848. The year that saw the effective end of one of the most powerful Houses in Europe. What began as protests during February in France soon spread to neighboring states. By March, Austria was feeling the pressure as well.
During one protest in Budapest, soldiers opened fired, killing several but inciting riots that soon spread out of Budapest into the rest of Hungary. Soldiers were forced to use force more and more often, resulting in more and more violence against them. By late April, protests, riots and even open revolution in some parts were gripping the entirety of the empire.
Soldiers soon began to defect to the rebelling sides during some of the riots, others fought on.On May 20, Hungarian nobles met in Budapest under extreme secrecy and declared the formation of the Kingdom of Hungary. Other Austrian territories followed suit, but the tide was beginning to turn against them, or so it seemed.
Prussia, eager to take more power in Germany proper from Austria, threw their support behind the Hungarians, as well as the Czechs, who had begun demanding more power in early May. Austria, dismayed, looked to Russia for assistance but found no help. In a secret agreement with Prussia, Russia would sit out of this foreign civil problem.
With no help, and with Prussia now assisting the Czechs and Hungarians (and others shortly), things complicated once more with Piedmont-Sardinia making more pushes into Lombardy. Things were quickly spiraling out of control.
Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate, Franz Joseph I was installed and peace treaties written up hastily so that Austria might hold on to something. Piedmont-Sardinia was ceded Lombardy, Bohemia became fully independent, and Hungary was joined to Austria in a loose union. It looked like peace might reign once more.
Or not. The Peace of 1848 only lasted for a year. Rioting and protests erupted once more in 1849, this time in Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Transylvania and Galicia. Even with the placation of the Hungarians, the going was difficult to try and maintain these territories. But things just kept getting worse for poor old Austria. Russia sprung in on the action by supporting the Kingdom of Galicia. Hungary, not wanting to be invaded by Russia and busy trying to keep Croatia and Transylvania, officially ended their union with Austria and recognized the Kingdom of Galicia, but it was too late for them as was.
With support (and partial occupation) from Russia, the Transylvanians declared unification with Moldavia and Wallachia. Russia then flooded the region with forces.
Britain and France however, were becoming fearful of Russia taking so much land in the Balkan region, fearing that the Russians may be forcing their way south to the Dardanelles. Shortly after the formation of the Grand Principality of Romania, Britain and France declared war.
Austria attempted to unite it's forces with the French and British, but they weren't really there for Austria so much as to put a check on Russian expansionism. The war ended quickly by 1851 with the destruction of the Russian Black Seas fleet and Russian withdrawal of Galicia and Romania. However, Austria failed to bring their plans of reunification to fruition, Hungary was barely able to hold Croatia and Slovakia after the war, and Italy was now rapidly nibbling up most of Northern Italy while France was abroad and Austria crumbling.
The Galicians, as per their portion of the treaty, were forced to remove the Russian puppet Mikhael Nikoaevich from their throne, leaving them without a monarch until Bohemia offered to unite with Galicia.
Hungary was attempting to hold down a hornets nest as the saying goes, trying to maintain their control of the coast and mountains simultaneously. However, the situation for them would be similar now to Austria. Bohemia-Galicia soon heeded the distress call of their fellow Slavs in northern Hungary and, with the assistance of Prussia, launched an invasion of Hungary in 1855.
The war lasted two years and killed many thousands of young men and numerous civilians, but Slovakia officially joined Bohemia-Galicia via treaty in 1857, forming the United Kingdoms of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia and Rusynia, or the United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia (UKZ). Italy was more-or-less unified by 1859, with only Rome being a holdout, Romania was now on the map, and
Austria had disintegrated in less than a decade. With its moral and economy broken, Austria officially petitioned to join the Prussian dominated German Trade Union. Within another decade, Austria would simply be another state within the German Empire.
1848. The year that saw the effective end of one of the most powerful Houses in Europe. What began as protests during February in France soon spread to neighboring states. By March, Austria was feeling the pressure as well.
During one protest in Budapest, soldiers opened fired, killing several but inciting riots that soon spread out of Budapest into the rest of Hungary. Soldiers were forced to use force more and more often, resulting in more and more violence against them. By late April, protests, riots and even open revolution in some parts were gripping the entirety of the empire.
Soldiers soon began to defect to the rebelling sides during some of the riots, others fought on.On May 20, Hungarian nobles met in Budapest under extreme secrecy and declared the formation of the Kingdom of Hungary. Other Austrian territories followed suit, but the tide was beginning to turn against them, or so it seemed.
Prussia, eager to take more power in Germany proper from Austria, threw their support behind the Hungarians, as well as the Czechs, who had begun demanding more power in early May. Austria, dismayed, looked to Russia for assistance but found no help. In a secret agreement with Prussia, Russia would sit out of this foreign civil problem.
With no help, and with Prussia now assisting the Czechs and Hungarians (and others shortly), things complicated once more with Piedmont-Sardinia making more pushes into Lombardy. Things were quickly spiraling out of control.
Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate, Franz Joseph I was installed and peace treaties written up hastily so that Austria might hold on to something. Piedmont-Sardinia was ceded Lombardy, Bohemia became fully independent, and Hungary was joined to Austria in a loose union. It looked like peace might reign once more.
Or not. The Peace of 1848 only lasted for a year. Rioting and protests erupted once more in 1849, this time in Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Transylvania and Galicia. Even with the placation of the Hungarians, the going was difficult to try and maintain these territories. But things just kept getting worse for poor old Austria. Russia sprung in on the action by supporting the Kingdom of Galicia. Hungary, not wanting to be invaded by Russia and busy trying to keep Croatia and Transylvania, officially ended their union with Austria and recognized the Kingdom of Galicia, but it was too late for them as was.
With support (and partial occupation) from Russia, the Transylvanians declared unification with Moldavia and Wallachia. Russia then flooded the region with forces.
Britain and France however, were becoming fearful of Russia taking so much land in the Balkan region, fearing that the Russians may be forcing their way south to the Dardanelles. Shortly after the formation of the Grand Principality of Romania, Britain and France declared war.
Austria attempted to unite it's forces with the French and British, but they weren't really there for Austria so much as to put a check on Russian expansionism. The war ended quickly by 1851 with the destruction of the Russian Black Seas fleet and Russian withdrawal of Galicia and Romania. However, Austria failed to bring their plans of reunification to fruition, Hungary was barely able to hold Croatia and Slovakia after the war, and Italy was now rapidly nibbling up most of Northern Italy while France was abroad and Austria crumbling.
The Galicians, as per their portion of the treaty, were forced to remove the Russian puppet Mikhael Nikoaevich from their throne, leaving them without a monarch until Bohemia offered to unite with Galicia.
Hungary was attempting to hold down a hornets nest as the saying goes, trying to maintain their control of the coast and mountains simultaneously. However, the situation for them would be similar now to Austria. Bohemia-Galicia soon heeded the distress call of their fellow Slavs in northern Hungary and, with the assistance of Prussia, launched an invasion of Hungary in 1855.
The war lasted two years and killed many thousands of young men and numerous civilians, but Slovakia officially joined Bohemia-Galicia via treaty in 1857, forming the United Kingdoms of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia and Rusynia, or the United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia (UKZ). Italy was more-or-less unified by 1859, with only Rome being a holdout, Romania was now on the map, and
Austria had disintegrated in less than a decade. With its moral and economy broken, Austria officially petitioned to join the Prussian dominated German Trade Union. Within another decade, Austria would simply be another state within the German Empire.