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 146 AUSTRIA pecially so since the death of the palatine, Archduke Joseph (1847); similar movements appeared in Bohemia, while even in Austria proper the states insisted upon some participa- tion at least in the administration of the gov- ernment. From all these elements a storm arose in 1848 which brought the entire Aus- trian monarchy very near its ruin. On March 13, shortly after the revolution in Paris which drove Louis Philippe from his throne, the people of Vienna rose against the ministry, which made but a feeble show of resistance; Metternich was compelled to resign, and the emperor pledged himself to convoke an assem- bly of representatives of the people, to form a constitution for the empire. But at the same time the Hungarian diet, led by Kossuth, demanded and obtained an independent con- stitutional government, leaving merely a dy- nastic union with Austria. Outbreaks in Italy followed closely; Radetzky was driven from Milan, and Palfly surrendered Venice to the people. While thus momentarily successful in the provinces, the revolution created the direst confusion in the centre of the empire. Of the revolutionists, some were in favor of uniting those provinces in which the German national- ity predominates to Germany, leaving Hungary to herself, and favoring the union of the Ital- ian states under a national government ; while others were unwilling to hazard the position of Austria as one of the great powers, against the vague hope of a reconstruction of Germany. In Vienna the ministry of Count Ficquelmont, which had succeeded Metternich, proved its incapacity to grapple with the pending difficul- ties, and the political power fell into the hands of a central committee of the national guard and the students' legion. The emperor, un- willing to resort to extreme measures, fled to Innspruck (May 17). Another unsuccessful at- tempt of the ministry to break the power of the students led to the organization of a committee of public welfare (May 25), which, until the meeting of an Austrian parliament (July 22), exercised an almost unlimited control, compel- ling the ministry to make room for successors more subservient to the masses (July 8). When utterly prostrated in the capital, the imperial power began to gather strength in the prov- inces. A popular outbreak at Prague was suppressed, after a bombardment of the city (June 15-16), by Prince Windischgratz. In Lombardy, Radetzky, who had retired to Ve- rona, opened an aggressive campaign in June, captured Vicenza, Padua, and other important places, and routed the Sardinian army (the king of Sardinia, Charles Albert, having taken sides with the revolted provinces) near Custoz- za, July 25. The national Hungarian ministry of Batthyanyi and Kossuth. preparing the way for an independent Magyar kingdom, awakened the fears and national antipathies of the Slavic races which would necessarily have formed part of this kingdom. Jellachich, the governor (ban) of Croatia, strengthened by the conni- vance of the imperial court, pronounced against the Hungarian government. Count Lamberg, the imperial commissioner despatched to Pesth, was there killed by the people (Sept. 28). Im- mediately the emperor ordered the dissolution of the Hungarian diet, and appointed Jellachich supreme military commander of Hungary. The diet, denying the authority of the emperor, organized a committee of safety, with Kossuth at its head. When the garrison of Vienna (Oct. 6) was departing for Hungary, the people of the capital, sympathizing with the Hun- garians, rose once more. They took the ar- senal, and hung the secretary of war, Count Latour, at the window of his office. The par- liament declared itself permanent, and sent an address to the emperor asking for a new min- istry and the removal of Jellachich. The em- peror, who in June had returned from Inns- pruck to Vienna, again fled to Olmutz. The masses of the capital armed themselves under the leadership of the Polish general Bern, pre- paring to resist the impending attack of the army. The garrison, joined outside the city by the remnants of the army of Jellachich, which had been beaten near Bnda, and by the army corps of Prince Windischgratz, assaulted Vien- na, Oct. 23 ; but the people made a desperate resistance until the 31st, when, the Hungarians having the day before been defeated almost before its gates, the city was taken by storm with immense slaughter. Many of the popular leaders were shot, among others Robert Blum, member of the parliament of. Frankfort, Mes- senhauser, commander of the national guard, and Jellinek, editor of the "Radical." On Nov. 22 a new ministry was formed, of which Prince Felix Schwarzenberg was president. The emperor Ferdinand was induced to resign, Dec. 2, 1848, in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, a youth of 18 years, whose mother, the archduchess Sophia, had been the leading spirit of the counter-revolutionary movement. The campaign against Hungary was com- menced at once, but carried to a successful termination only by the powerful intervention of Czar Nicholas, the Hungarian main army, under Gorgey, surrendering (Aug. 13, 1849) to the Russians at Vilagos. (See HUNGARY.) Hungary, which had declared its indepen- dence, was treated as a conquered country. Many military and parliamentary leaders were shot or hung, and the prisons crammed with the unhappy victims of imperial re- venge. Simultaneously with these occurren- ces the war in Italy had been terminated. Within a few days Gen. Radetzky routed the Sardinian army twice, at Mortara (March 21, 1849) and Novara (March 23), and obtained a peace by which Sardinia was obliged to reim- burse Austria for the expenses of the war (15,000,000 livres). Venice, where an inde- pendent republican government had been or- ganized under the lead of Manin, was invested by Radetzky, and forced to surrender, Aug. 23, 1849. The revolution having been con-