Diplomacy, and the Revolution of 1848

The key aspect of Austria’s international affairs was the fact that the country tried to be a mediator in most situations. Thus gaining support from Britain who also supported Austria because the two countries had common interests favoring a strong Austrian presence in Germany, limited French influence in Italy, and the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire to prevent Russian advances in the Balkans. To gain support of Russian and Prussia, political mastermind Clemens von Metternich[1], illustrated the danger of liberalism. Citing revolutions in Spain and Naples and strong revolutionary activity in Germany. With out spilling any blood of its citizens, and at the same time hiding the weak military, Austria was able to calm the situation in Europe.

The need for a peaceful Europe was essential to Austria’s power. After the Congress of Vienna, Austria ended up as one of the stronger empires in the region. However, most of the countries that Austria was ahead of possessed colossal military powers, and thus possessed the keys to taking Austria apart.

In the late 1820’s the fine diplomatic arguments of von Metternich began to backfire, as Britain’s policy started seriously reflecting its strong liberal beliefs. At the same time Russia was become more and more assertive in the Balkans. The wave of diplomacy was not crashing ashore though. The initial scrutiny of liberalism brought back much support from the other powers, as revolutionary liberalism went back on the rise.

The main concept of mid-Nineteenth Century clearly became the battles of monarchs against the fast uprisings of revolutionary liberalism. Finally in 1848 liberal and nationalist ideologies sparked revolutions across Europe. The fact that Austria had such close ties to all the major powers in Europe shook its political structure in the year of 1848. While revolutionary movements were ongoing in most countries, France was hit the hardest, as a full-scale revolution broke out. A month after The Second Republic was declared in France, popular expectations of war caused a financial panic in the Habsburg Empire that worked to the advantage of the revolutionaries.

Soon after seeing the growing revolutionary trends in Europe, Von Metternich took flight. However his flight only brought more uneasiness and more demands from the public. The mentally incompetent Ferdinand formally abdicated the throne, and paved the way for the most successful monarch in Austria’s history- Franz Joseph I. The young emperor, who took over after the revolution of 1848, faced three pressing tasks: establishing effective political authority in the empire, crushing the rebellion in Hungary, and reasserting Austrian leadership in Germany.

To accomplish the first, the government promulgated a secretly prepared constitution in March 1849, thus undercutting the constituent assembly. This constitution contained guarantees of individual liberties and equality under the law, but its greatest significance lay in provisions that established a centralized government based on unitary political, legal, and economic institutions for the entire empire. The Hungarian diet deposed the Habsburg Dynasty and declared Hungarian independence. Although Austria could have eventually restored order on its own, the need to deal simultaneously with events in Germany prompted Emperor Franz Joseph to ask for and get Russian military assistance, thus accomplishing his second objective. The rebellion was effectively, if brutally, ended by September 1849.

At first, the new Austrian government apparently intended to implement the constitutional political structures promised in March 1849. However, to just before the start of the New Year, Franz Joseph formally denounced the constitution, only leaving in place those provisions that established the equality of citizens before the law and the emancipation of the peasants. After revoking the constitution, in order to strengthen the political base supporting the neoabsolutist rule, the government also eliminated the Josephist religious regulations that had been the source of continuing conflict with the church. In 1855, the government signed a concordat with the Vatican, to show that religion would be a part of public life.

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