26 Chapter 85: Dark Turn of Events

Budapest, since the Austrian army besieged the city, people in the city have been panicking. The new government still has illusions that their ally, the Kingdom of Sardinia will come help them, otherwise many would have already started packing their bags and leaving the city.

Of course, those who did not run were also preparing to run. The city of Budapest is not small. In order to prevent the enemy from jumping over the wall, the Bohemian Legion strictly enforced the walls.

It is easy for a person to run away, as long as the large army does not leave the city, the Austrian army will not notice.

Gorge, Minister of Army of the Republic of Hungary, said in embarrassment: "Mr. Kossuth, I have just received information that the Croatian traitors will join the Austrians outside the city tomorrow. At that time, the number of enemy troops besieging the city will rise to 150,000 and Budapest will not be able to hold back anymore!"

"General Gorge is right. Budapest can't stop the enemy's attack. This revolution has failed. In order to recover the losses as much as possible and keep Hungary, I propose to negotiate with the Vienna government!" spoken by the ones in the meeting.

With the military close on being defeated, the Hungarian revolutionary forces also began to raise their opinions.

The bourgeois aristocrats headed by Shemir and the military compromisers headed by Gorbachev tried to negotiate with the Austrian government to protect their own interests.

This is undoubtedly a huge piece of bad news for Kossuth. As early as before the Bohemian Legion besieged the city, he advocated taking the initiative to attack while the enemy's foothold was not stable, but unfortunately he was opposed by the military.

Now the enemy is fighting the local governments to divide the land outside the city, and the Austrians have been very busy. By liberating the serfs and distributing the land, the Austrian army has gained the support of the local people.

On the contrary, the Hungarian Republic is hostile to the local people. In the eyes of ordinary people, the emperor in Vienna is their protector, while the Hungarian government in Budapest is just a tool for the nobles and capitalists to squeeze them dry.

Education Minister Sándor Petőfi hurriedly objected: "No, if we have peace talks with Austria now, Hungary will be divided. The Vienna government is conspiring to divide Hungary, and then we will only have one province left! Even this one province, we will have no autonomy. The Vienna government have the upper hand, how could a compromise be made?"

Compromise, in fact, the revolutionaries do not mind compromising with the Vienna government, but the gap between the two sides is simply too large.

The Austrian government headed by Franz plans to divide Hungary into five provinces: Croatia, Slavonia, Vojvodina, Transylvania and Hungary.

It is no secret that Croatia and Transylvania have become independent provinces, and the provincial governments of Slavonia and Vojvodina are also beginning preparations to do so.

Once this plan is successful, the Kingdom of Hungary will become history. Because of national relations, they will only have the only remaining Hungarian province if they want to become independent. The difficulty to continue to survive will increases several times.

Shemir asked back: "Mr. Petőfi, but the real problem is that we can't win the war at all! If there is no negotiation with the Austrian government, the final result may be even worse, and they will instead decide to wipe the country called Hungary from the maps and into the history books. In the long river of history, there are countless people who have disappeared. You don't want to watch the Hungarian nation disappear, right?"

Kossuth said excitedly: "The great Hungarian nation will not disappear. History will prove that the enemy's intrigues are futile. As long as we persevere, we will surely win! In order to win this war, I have invited the famous polish general Henryk Dembiński, I believe we can win this war!"

Shemir's face darken and he didn't speak. Although he hated Kossuth's tendency to go into speeches, the revolutionaries were in power now, and he did not intend to have direct conflict with them.

The war has reached this point, how can it be changed by the power of individuals?

They had dared to establish the Hungarian Republic independently, that's because Hungary was a whole at that time, and the Austrian Empire was already crumbling, and the reform measures of the Vienna government violated their interests. Who knew that it was not long before independence, Austria stabilized domestically, but Hungary was torn apart under the political offensive of the Vienna government, and the balance of power between the two sides has undergone a complete change.

No one is a fool, except for the illiterate people of the Revolutionary Party, the rest of the people are thinking about how to return back to Austria. The Vienna government did not show any mercy to the rebels this time. Who would be willing to go all out with their families and businesses?

...

What the big man thinks, the people at the bottom of Budapest don't care anymore. They are worrying about be able to have three meals a day. Since the Austrian army have started to besiege, the food and supply transportation channels between Budapest and the outside world has been cut off.

Hungary is the main grain producing area in Europe. Budapest is surrounded by farmland, and there is no shortage of grain in the city.

It's a pity that prices are soaring! Don't talk about the overall situation with the capitalists. There are many people who want both money and life. At this juncture, what they want is not to tide over the difficulties together, but to take advantage of the situation.

Taking the cheapest brown bread as an example, it is now 58 percent higher than it was before the revolution, and the price of coal for cooking fires has risen by 100 percent.

To save fuel, many families have to cook together. Even so, rising prices are making it difficult for them.

To make matters worse, the Hungarian republican government also issued republic coins, pushed out debts, and plundered private wealth.

Since the establishment of the Hungarian Republic, the people of Budapest have not lived a comfortable life for even a few days. How can the nation, the state, and freedom be comparable on having three meals a day?

On April 18, 1848, a labor movement broke out in Budapest. Starving workers and poor citizens took to the streets, demanding the government to lower prices, severely punish profiteers for price gouging, implement the Labor Protection Law, and solve the problem of unemployment.

As the spokesman of the bourgeoisie, the Hungarian republican government naturally ignored their demands, and the Kossuth's government carried out brutal suppression immediately.

On April 23, 1848, Austria's bill to abolish serfdom was passed to Hungary. The Hungarian serfs who could not bear to be exploited and oppressed have decided to riot. The insurgent army captured the manor, killed the overseer, and divided up the land.

The uprising soon spread along the Danube, terrifying the Hungarian nobles, who turned to Vienna and Budapest for help.

Undoubtedly, the Austrian government, which wanted to suppress the Hungarian aristocracy, refused on the grounds that it was too far to reach. In order to win the support of the nobles, the Kossuth government once again stood against the people.

After the suppression of the workers' and peasants' movement, the Hungarian republican government won the support of the capitalists and nobles, the cohesion of the Hungarian nation increased, and at the same time, the lower class trust in the government has officially been broken.