WI Hasburgs accept the Frankfurt Parliament's "crown from the gutter"?

True true, Maximilian of Mexico though? Hope I didn't come off snippy. But we'd need a massive change to get him as head of house at the time. Maybe if Francis I had allowed Metternich go with his proto-devolution plan the revolutions of 1848 wouldn't hit the Habsburg realms as hard. And FJ wouldn't be so arch conservative? Or could we bypass Emperor Ferdinand (surviving son of FI) completely allowing for some progress rather than stagnation?

What was Metternich's plan?
 
What was Metternich's plan?

Limited political autonomy granted to the Crownlands - coupled with the establishment of Parliaments in each. So, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Lombardy, Galizia would each be made into ... somewhat autonomous units. They'd have limited powers - mostly about infrastructure and more local concerns.

He also envisioned a pan-Imperial parliament in Vienna, which would have advisory powers only - to be consulted by the Emperor and his ministers, but without the authority to making any binding decisions.

Not exactly a bastion of liberal ideas, but this kind of arrangement was a popular idea among many of the conservatives at the time in the Empire. Kolowrat had similar ideas, but his focus was more on the cultural sphere (education and culture granted to Crownlands). Others were big fans of centralized absolutism ... they ultimately won.
 
Germany sans the Rhineland, silesia and basically all of North eastern Germany?
Umm... Maybe.
OTOH, The German Confederation, what would be come the Reich in this scenario, was/would be a strange place.
The ruler of Holstein (a land within this Reich) was the King of Denmark.
The King of the Netherlands owned something, too, I forget what.
And Austria owned bits over by the French border.

This would have been a very feudally confused entity. Person X is subordinate to Person Y as ruler of territory A, but the relations might be reversed in territory B, and certainly they'd be co-equal in their main territories.

It would encourage, IMO, the growth of self government in these contested lands.

Prussia in 1848 is not too hard to pound into the ground (at that date their army was still quite obsolete), and I could see them eventually separated from their Western half (which did not like too much being under Prussian rule anyway).

Indeed. If Prussia isn't willing to allow its western land to fully participate in the new Reich, while the Austrian Emperor, the Dutch King and the Danish King all do, then Prussia might end up LOSING said western territories.
 
True true, Maximilian of Mexico though? Hope I didn't come off snippy. But we'd need a massive change to get him as head of house at the time.


Franz Joseph was present at the battle of St Lucia (Verona) in May 1848. I dare say his minders kept him as safe as they could, but you never know.
 
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