Croatia

After Kossuth's declaration of Hungarian independence, many Croatian nobles were hesitant to join the Hungarian Republic and remain in the Austrian Empire.

However, soon reality forced them to make a decision, and the Hungarian provisional government excluded the Croats from their powers, causing discontent among the local nobility.

Most of the land in Croatia was in the hands of the Hungarian nobles, who looked down on the Croatian buns, and the local small and medium-sized nobles and the Hungarian nobles were separated.

This provided an opportunity for the Viennese government, and Franz immediately showed goodwill to the local nobles and promised them a share in the future Austrian government.

Specifically, it is to establish an Austrian National Federation to exercise the rights of the Parliament, in which the representatives belonging to the Croats will have 2~5 seats.

The exact number depends on their performance, anyway, this pre-national integration transitional institution is one of the highest power institutions of the Austrian Empire for some time to come.

If you want to have a voice in politics, you have to get involved. Theoretically, it is based on one percentage point of the total population to occupy a representative seat.

Croats make up less than three percent of Austria's population, and if they were to win five delegates, their political influence would be greatly increased.

After winning over the upper echelons of the Croatians, Franz did not give up winning over the people at the bottom, and it was the ordinary people at the bottom who really wanted to work for him.

After Hungary's independence, the Vienna government authorized Governor Josip Jelačić to confiscate the land of the Hungarian nobility and free the serfs.

The number of people who supported the Viennese government instantly became dominant. By May, Governor Josip Jelačić had 80,000 Croat volunteers in his hands.

On 1 May, Franz issued a decree granting land for military merit, and since ordinary people had helped the government to suppress the rebellion, they could receive land, and soldiers loyal to the emperor were no exception.

Now there is a lot of confiscated land in the hands of the Vienna government, there is still a lot of land to be confiscated in the Kingdom of Hungary, and there is still a lot of land in the Austrian Empire that can be developed, and it is not a big problem to allocate some of it to the soldiers.

Of course, in order to curb land annexation, there is a limit to the land grant order, and the maximum grant cannot exceed 50 hectares.

For the average person, fifty hectares is already a huge number. Especially for the newly freed, landless serfs, this was enough to make them sell their lives to the emperor.

After the promulgation of the decree on the granting of military merits, there was an endless stream of people joining the army, and for the vast majority of the people, the cost of ransomed land was too great, and it was better to go to the battlefield for a while.

As the day began to dawn, many people had already gathered at the Morkes recruiting site.

"Matic, you're here to sign up too?"

"Yes, Grorich. After thinking about it carefully, I still think that men should go to war! Matic's replied solemnly

"But Madic, didn't you say last time that you wanted to be a great blacksmith?" Groerich asked, confused

The spring breeze of the Industrial Revolution has not yet blown to Croatia, ordinary agricultural tools are still hand-made, and blacksmithing is a well-paid job for ordinary people.

"No, I've changed my mind now, the blacksmith can do it at any time, now I'm going to battle, I'm going to be a great knight!" Madic replied earnestly

No one wants to be a nobleman, and a knight is the lowest nobleman, and for ordinary people, this step is the highest pursuit of life.

Before the Revolution of 1848, the whole European world was dominated by the sons of the aristocracy being the nobles, the sons of the merchants being merchants, the sons of doctors being doctors, and the sons of serfs still being serfs.

In an ancient country like Austria, there are already a lot of nobles, and these people occupy the position of the upper strata of the whole society, and the lower people have no further channels.

The Hungarian rebellion seemed to many ambitious people to be an opportunity, an opportunity to transcend class constraints.

Like most young people, Matic's ambition is that he is not willing to be a blacksmith like his father for the rest of his life, but he had no chance before and had to face reality.

……

The wave of joining the army that took place in Croatia was only a small episode, and these armies were only local units and were not in the army formation of Austria.

In other words, these troops do not need to be paid by the central government, and their main job is not to fight wars, but to be responsible for logistics and transportation.

Governor Josip Jelačić apparently failed to explain, or deliberately did not explain, that the central government's control of so much land in its hands was not in line with the development of the bourgeois economy.

To cultivate a local market, it is natural to need the largest number of peasants to have money in their hands, and land is their main source of income.

Austria did not carry out a complete agrarian revolution, and the aristocracy still held a large amount of land, so it was impossible for Franz to distribute it for free.

Since this is the case, then the only way to distribute the land to the subjects who are loyal to the emperor is very simple, and those who are willing to fight for the emperor are naturally loyal ministers.

As long as they go to the battlefield once, there is no merit and hard work, and when the time comes, the emperor's grace is great, and the land they want to pay for redemption can be turned into a reward and fall directly into their hands.

Specific standards are still being formulated, and these people who get land will soon be able to get rid of abject poverty, and when they have money in their hands, they will naturally consume, and if they have consumption, they will have a market.

After the market boom, it is necessary to supplement the industry, and the government can get more tax revenue for industrial growth, and the cost of the upfront investment will be slowly recovered, which is a virtuous economic cycle system.

This war to suppress the rebellion has now been turned into a tool for Franz to reform Austrian society. Under the cover of war, the social system in Austria was being reshaped.

Croatia is just a microcosm of the social changes in Austria, and it is also happening in Slovenia, Transylvania, Bohemia and other regions.

It can be said that the Hungarian rebellion had just begun, and the heaviest losses were the great Hungarian nobles, whom Franz sold without even thinking about it.

The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty.

Whether they participated in the rebellion or not, it was the original sin to own a large amount of land, and the most important thing was that they were waiting for a price in Vienna and the Republic of Hungary.

Greed has led people into the abyss, and they want greater benefits, and now Franz simply took the black hand and divided their land first.

Even if it turns out that they have nothing to do with the rebellion, they will not be able to get their land back, and the government will pay them a land ransom money.