alternatehistory.com

During the 1848 Revolutions, the Hungarians chose to keep their troops fighting against the Sardinians, who were trying to unify Italy, in the hopes that the Austrians would reward them with more freedoms. By the time they realized this wouldn't happen, declared independence, and pulled their troops from Italy, the Sardinians had been defeated allowing the Austrians to focus on crushing the Hungarians (with help from the Russians). If Austria loses both Italy and Hungary, it's probable that Wilhelm I of Prussia would accept the "crown from the gutter" and we'd have a unified Germany 20 years before we got it IOTL and a democratic Germany 70 years before we got it IOTL. Needless to say, it would be a big deal. So if the Hungarians had declared independence just a few years earlier, would it do the trick?
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