Aristocrats and the Crowd in the Revolutionary Year 1848: A Contribution to the History of Revolution and Counter-Revolution

260 Pages·6.649 MB·English

by  Josef Polišenský, Frederick Snider

Aristocrats and the Crowd in
the Revolutionary Year 1848
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE
HISTORY OF REVOLUTTON AND
COUNTER-REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA
by Josef Polifiertsk)?
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Aristocrats and the Crowd in
the Revolutionary Year 1848

This One

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Aristocrats and the Crowd in
the Revolutionary Year 1848
A CONTRIBUTIONTOTHE
HISTORY OF REVOLUTION AND
COUNTER-REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA
[osefP01i§enskfr
translated byFrederickSnider
State UniversityofNew YorkPress
ALBANY, NEWYORK
Publishedby
StateUniversityofNewYorkPress
°1980StateUniversityofNewYork
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Nopartofthisbookmaybeusedorreproduced
inanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermission
exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedin
criticalarticlesandreviews.
Forinformation,addressStateUniversityofNewYork
Press, StateUniversityPlaza, Albany,N.Y., 12246
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationData

Polis/ensky,JosefV
Aristocratsandthecrowdintherevolutionaryyear1848.
TranslationofRevoluceakontrarevolucevRakousky, 1848.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Austria—History—Revolution. 1848—1849.
2.Europe—History—1848-1849.I.Title.
SB83.PS913 943.6'04 79-14765
ISBN0-87395-398-3
Contents
IntroductoryNote vii
TheLongRoadTowardstheProblem
1. Bohemia, Austriaand theEuropeanRevolution
2. In SearchoftheProblem
3. Marxism and theTheoryofRevolution 12
4. NewProblemsandNewSources 21
II. BetweenTwoRevolutions 29
1. TheAgeofIndustrialand PoliticalRevolution 29
2. WhatwasAustriaBefore 1848? 40
3. PragueandViennainJuly 1844 52
4 The “CzechQuestion” andEuropeanPolitics
attheBeginningof 1848 61
III. TheAutumnoftheOld Orderand the
SpringtimeofthePeoples 71
1. Metternichand the SpectreofRevolution 71
2. FicquelmontandThunontheEveoftheRevolution
IV. TheMarchRevolution inAustria 94
1. March 13, 1848: TheBlackDayfortheOldOrder 94
2. TheIngloriousFlightofPrinceMetternich 101
3. TheRevolutionaryCrisisinItaly 103
4. TheSocialBasisof theRevolutioninBohemia 109
TheRetreatoftheOld Order: March-May 1848 116
1. KolowratandFicquelmont 116
2. TheOriginsoftheSocial andNationalityQuestions 124
VI. TheFirstCenterofCounter-Revolution 136
1. Politicsand theArmy 136
2. Prague, ViennaandInnsbruck 141
VII. TheFirstVictoryoftheCounter-Revolution:
Prague, June 12-18, 1848 148
1. Windischgrfitz andLobkowitz 148
2. The SixDays 153
3. TheResultsofWindischgritz'sVictory 162
VIII. TheWeaknessoftheRevolutionand the Strength
oftheCounter-Revolution 169
1. The Government'sUnsteadinessand theArmy’s
GrowingMight 169
2. TheBohemianGermansandTheirCongressat
Teplitz 178
“TheArmyTakesOvertheProtectionofthe
CourtandGovernment” 185
1. TheRoadtoOlomouc 185
2. The SecondVictoryoftheCounter-Revolution:
ViennainOctober 1848 193
Austria’sFutureisDecided 199
1. TheRiseofFelixSchwarzenberg 199
2. Austriaand the "BohemianQuestion" atthe
End of 1848 206
Epilogue: From theRevolutionof 1848 totheParis
CommuneandtheFirstInternational 211
. Notes 216
Index 241
vi
IntroductoryNote: What this Bookis About
Thebookyouhavebeforeyouisthelastofatrilogyofstudiesabouttherela
tionshipofCzechsocietytorevolution—morespecificallyto threeofthe “early
bourgeois" revolutions. The Thirty Years' Warand theEuropean Crisisofthe
17th Centuryexplored the connections between Bohemia and the Dutch and
English revolutions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Napoleon and
the Heart ofEurope traced the divided reaction of Bohemian society to the
French Revolution and the dictatorship of Napoleon. This book will describe
the revolutionary springtime which eventually arrived, full of twists, in
Bohemia itself, and it will focus upon two antagonistic social forces: the
retreating aristocracy and the proletariat. scarcely aware yet of its identity but
alreadyfightingwithitspassionanditsblood.
At this point it would perhaps be well to warn the reader not to search for
things in this book that are not going to befound. First. therewill be nothing
ofthatwhich isavailable in outline in every textbook. There is no general pro
traitofsociety, forthatwouldrequireanexaminationofathirdsocialclass. the
onewhose interestswere primarily atstake in 1848 incentralEurope: themid
dle classes. This central theme is currently being studied by historians who
know far more about it than I, and from them we may look forward to some
significant contributions. They include Josef K08. author of a valuable
biography of Emanuel Arnold; Zden‘ék Sarnberger, author of pioneering
studies of the radical democratic movement, particularly in 1849. Both have
been most generous to me with their expertise, and without their encourage
ment this book would not have been undertaken. But they bear none of the
responsibilityforwhatevershortcomingsmaybefoundinthepresentvolume.
ItwillsoonbeapparentthatIhavenotplacedtheCzech-Germanproblemat
thecenterofthestage. inspiteofitsimportance—evencrucialimportance—in
the years that followed. It will be apparent, too, I trust, that there are good
reasons for this. In any case. Arnost Klima has recently completed a lengthy
study which explores this problem far more thoroughly than is possible to do
here. On the other hand, I have placed great stress on the relations between
Austria and the Czech lands, between Vienna and Prague. In recent years
MarxisthistoriansfromSlovakiaandHungaryhavealsobeenreconsideringpro
blemsof 1848, whichuniteratherthandividethehistoryofthese two peoples.
Since some of their broadly conceived work is reade available,‘ there is no
needformet0dealdirectlywith theHungarianandTransylvanianpartsofthe
Austrian Monarchy in the present study. At the same time, the events in the
vii
AristocrarsandtheCrowdintheRevolutionaryYear1848
Polish part of the Monarchy (Galicia) and the Italian (Lombardy, Venetia, Il
lyria) are brought in only where necessary. Because the revolutionary struggles
of the Hungarian and Italian bourgeoisie reached their climax only in 1849,
and because I have come to the conclusion that the fate of the revolution was
essentially decided already by December, 1848, I do not go beyond the end of
theyear. Thus I fearthat, against all tradition, I have largelydismissed theIm
perialDietatKremsier (Krom‘éiiz) aswellastheMayUprisingof 1849.
What can I offer in place of all this that will be interesting. important,
possibly even new? Chiefly, perhaps, the fact that I have not studied the
revolutionmerelyinPrague, ormerelyin PragueandVienna. Ihaveattempted
to establish the wider connections and to suggest why traditional views are
often only partlycredible. The revolutionarywave of 1848 traversed practically
all theEuropeancontinent, andweshould beabletoviewit in aperspectiveat
least as broad as thatoffered the readers Nirodnr'noviny, Prastkvvecerm’listor
Obcv‘anské noviny, periodicals published in Prague in 1848. You will see that
the “Czech question" was not completely unknown in the rest of Europe
before 1848 and that its stormy progress during the revolutionary year placed
the Czech nation on the map of Europe with such force that it could not be
erased. This is not tosuggest that aCzech historian ofthe lattertwentiethcen
turyoughttoviewtheeventsandthepoliticsof 1848withanyparticularpride.
Ratherthereverse, infact, istrue. Itseemstome that itshould notbeourtask
to defend established legends, however sacred they may be, the actions of the
liberal-nationalist "fathers of the Nation" or even those of their radical
democratic opponents. Thestructureofthesocietyinwhichweliveisquitedif
ferent from that of 1848. Nor should it be forgotten that at the beginning of
this same year the CommunistManifestofirst saw the light. If the bourgeoisie
wasalreadyatthistimeundergoingdifferentiation, therewerealsoelementson
thefringes ofsocietywhowere livingunderthepressure oftwo revolutions, in
dustrial and political. Until now they have been perceived only schematically.
Butwhatwas theactual strengthof theoldorder, whichwasablesoeffectively
to mobilize itsforces in 1848? Whatform didthe “crowd." the “rabble," the
“working classes," the “proletariat” assume in 1848? In other words, who
stood on the barricades in Prague, Vienna. or Milan? Who shed their blood in
March and October in the streets of Vienna, or in Prague and Paris in June?
Was thisfighting "crowd" any different in itscomposition from that involved
intheChartistmovementinLondon?
Perhaps there is another way in which this book is not traditional. It is in
tended, of course, for readers who are interested in history, but it is not for
them alone. Ihave come to thepossiblypreposterousconclusionthatthisbook
should interest every otherkind of reader aswell. Is it possible toinfuse an in
viii