threatened positions on the banks of the Raab and marched for Vienna.
Windischgraetz, with his garrison, set out from Prague. Revolutionists of
all races flocked into Vienna. Among them were the German delegates Froebel
and Blum, and the Polish general, Bem. The Hungarians pursued Jellacic no
further than their frontier. The regiments expelled from Vienna, under the
command of Count Auersperg, joined forces with Jellacic. The insurgents at
Vienna manned their fortifications as well as they could, and called upon
the people throughout Austria to take up arms. Emperor Ferdinand, at
Olmuetz, offset this by an imperial proclamation to his people in which he
guaranteed all peasant rights. Prince Windischgraetz was created a field
marshal, with full command over all the forces in the empire, except those
under Radetzky in Italy. Windischgraetz took immediate steps to effect a
junction with Jellacic by seizing the bridges at Krems and Stein. In vain
did the delegates from Frankfort, who now appeared upon the scene, present
their offer of intervention. Windischgraetz would not listen to them. On
October 23, the Austrian army, 80,000 strong, appeared before Vienna. The
defence of the city had been intrusted to Captain Messenhauser, an officer
of the regular army, and to General Bem. Robert Blum, the German
Parliamentarian, fought in the ranks. While Windischgraetz was wasting his
time in parleys, an army of 18,000 Hungarians crossed the frontier and
threatened Jellacic's rear. On October 28, twenty-four hours after the time
fixed in Windischgraetz's last ultimatum, he began his assault on the city.
In the course of an all-day fight the troops succeeded in taking the
suburbs. The scenes of that night were frightful. The troops bivouacked on
the ramparts. The following Sunday was spent in further parleys. Already
the terms of capitulation had been settled, when Messenhauser, from the top
of the church of St. Stephen, made out the approaching columns of the
Hungarians. The news of their arrival was signalled to the city by a column
of smoke rising from the top of the tower. All negotiations for surrender
were dropped. The Hungarians attacked Jellacic on the banks of the
Schwechat, within a few leagues of the capital. The boom of their artillery
could be plainly heard in Vienna. In a frenzy of enthusiasm the Viennese
resumed the struggle. A corps of students attempted a sortie. Unfortunately
for them, the engagement on the banks of the Schwechat turned against the
Hungarians. Shortly after noon they gave way all along the line and fell
back toward Hungary. On the ramparts of Vienna the hopeless fight of a few
thousand civilians against an army of 90,000 men was continued until
nightfall. At six in the evening the troops broke into the city.
[Sidenote: Fall of Vienna]
[Sidenote: Stadion's Ministry]
[Sidenote: Abdication of Ferdinand]
On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgraetz declared Vienna
under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours.
Arrests and courts-martial followed in profusion. Robert Blum was one of
the first to be shot. His colleague, Froebel, owed his life to a political
pamphlet signed with his name, in which he had defended the interests of
Austria against those of a united Germany. A new Ministry was installed,
under the leadership of the notorious Prince Felix Schwarzenberg and Count
Stadion. They announced their programme to be the maintenance of a strong
central government and the integrity of the Austrian Empire, with quick
suppression of the civil war in Hungary. A new Reichsrath was convoked at
the village of Kremsier, near Olmuetz. On December 2, it was announced that
Emperor Ferdinand had resolved to abdicate his throne. His brother,
Archduke Francis Charles, renounced the succession. The Archduke's son,
Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen, was declared by a family council to
have attained his majority. In virtue of this he ascended the throne as
Emperor.
[Sidenote: Francis Joseph, Emperor]
[Sidenote: The war in Hungary]
The Hungarian Diet, on learning of this transfer of the crown, refused to
acknowledge Francis Joseph as King of Hungary. The whole nation was
summoned to arms. The command of the army was given to Goergey. His first
serious problem was a rising of the Roumanians in Transylvania against
Magyar rule. The Roumanian peasants committed all conceivable atrocities.
When they raised the standard of the Empire, the Austrian commander,
General Puchner, espoused their cause. Transylvania was lost to Hungary.
The Roumanians led by Puchner co-operated with Jellacic's forces in
Croatia, and moved on Hungary from that quarter. On December 15, the main
Austrian army, under Windischgraetz, crossed over the River Leitha and
invaded Hungary. Goergey declared from the first that Pesth would have to
be abandoned. Kossuth's frantic efforts to prevent this only served to
hamper Goergey's able campaign. One line after another had to be abandoned.
At last, toward the close of the year, Kossuth and his Magyar Diet were
compelled to evacuate Pesth. The Hungarian army fell back over the River
Theiss, upon the fortress of Comorn, and the mountainous regions of
northern Hungary. Kossuth's government was established at Debreczin.
1849
[Sidenote: Bem's aggressive campaign]
[Sidenote: Goergey and Dembinsky]
On January 5, Windischgraetz and Jellacic made their triumphant entry into
Budapesth. The Vienna "Gazette" announced "the glorious end of the
Hungarian campaign." Prince Windischgraetz rested on his arms. During this
interval the Polish general, Bem, who had escaped from Vienna, aroused his
countrymen in Siebenbuergen and carried the war into that region. The
Austrian troops under General Puchner were beaten in a series of
engagements. Goergey, aided by another Pole, Dembinsky, repulsed the
Austrian troops under General Schlik in the north. While Windischgraetz
remained idle at Pesth, Klapkah, the new Hungarian Minister of War,
organized the Magyar forces and created new defences for his country.
[Sidenote: Afghan war]
[Sidenote: Chilian Wallah]
[Sidenote: Lord Gough superseded]
[Sidenote: "Battle of the Guns"]
[Sidenote: Punjab annexed to England]
Prince Metternich, whiling away his idle hours among other notable refugees
at London and Brighton, now had the satisfaction of seeing the dangers of
revolt brought home to the people of England. The tidings of a disaster in
Afghanistan provoked an outburst of alarm and indignation in England. On
January 13, Lord Gough had advanced on Sher Singh's intrenchments at
Chilian Wallah. They were held by 30,000 Sikhs with sixty guns, screened by
a thick jungle. As the British imprudently exposed themselves the Sikhs
opened fire. Lord Gough ordered a general charge. The drawn battle that
followed proved the bloodiest affair in the history of British India.
Driven from their first line of defences, the Sikhs stood their ground in
another stronger position, and repulsed the British attack. Nearly 2,500
British officers and men fell in the fight. In the face of the Afghan
rejoicings Lord Gough claimed a victory. The British War Office, however,
hastily despatched Sir Charles Napier to India to supersede Lord Gough.
There was still time for that commander to retrieve himself. General Whish
captured the town of Multan, and by terrible bombardment of the citadel
brought Mulraj to surrender. General Whish then joined forces with Lord
Gough in his final struggle with Sher Singh. At Guzerat, on February 22,
Lord Gough achieved the crowning victory known as "the battle of the guns."
For two hours a terrific artillery duel was maintained, the Sikhs firing
with all their sixty pieces. Finally the British stormed their batteries in
a combined charge of bayonets and cavalry. The Sikh forces were scattered,
and their camp, with most of their standards and guns, were captured by the
British. Dost Muhammad Khan and his Afghans were driven out of Peshawar and
narrowly escaped to Kabul. Mulraj was imprisoned for life. The whole of the
Punjab was annexed to British India. A successful administration of this
hostile province was Lord Dalhousie's first great triumph.
[Sidenote: President Taylor inaugurated]
[Sidenote: Development of Western America]
[Sidenote: The "Forty-Niners"]
About the same time, General Taylor, the conqueror of Buena Vista, was
inaugurated as President of the United States. One sentence in his
inaugural address provoked derision: "We are at peace with all the world
and the rest of mankind." The old Spanish missions in the conquered
territory were deprived of their wealth and influence. The name of San
Francisco was adopted in place of Yerba Buena. Besides California, the new
territory included the subsequently admitted States of Nevada, Arizona,
Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas. The Apache and
Navajo Indians in those regions gave immediate trouble. The gold seekers
tracking across the plains were the first to suffer from the Indians. Still
the stream of immigrants poured into California. Their halfway stations on
the Missouri River developed into the two thriving towns of Omaha and
Council Bluffs. The Bay of San Francisco was soon surrounded by a
settlement of tents and sheds. A Vigilance Committee took affairs into its
own hands, and administered justice without fear or favor. Six times the
new city was destroyed by fire. Within two months all traces of the
disaster would be lost. California soon had a population entitling it to
Statehood. President Taylor eagerly seconded the wishes of the people for a
government of their own. The first Constitutional Convention of California
declared against slavery. More than $40,000,000 worth of gold was produced
in the new State, and the first gold dollars were coined.
[Sidenote: Death of Poe]
[Sidenote: Posthumous poems]
[Sidenote: "The Conqueror Worm"]
The death of Edgar Allan Poe, the American poet, was as tragic as his life
had been. After the death of his wife, Poe had engaged himself to marry a
wealthy lady in Richmond, and the wedding day was fixed. On his way to New
York to settle up affairs in anticipation of his marriage, Poe fell in with
some of his companions in dissipation at Baltimore. He became drunk,
wandered through the streets, and was finally taken to a hospital in an
unconscious condition. Later he became delirious and finally expired,
saying: "Lord, help my poor soul!" After Poe's death the simplest and
sweetest of his ballads, "Annabel Lee," and the wonderful poem of "The
Bells," were published. His former friend and editor, Griswold, published a
scathing denunciation of the dead man in the New York "Tribune." Poe's fame
as a master of the weird and fanciful in literature was already established
wherever his thrilling tales and superb poem "The Raven" had penetrated. He
was one of the few poets of America at that period who had succeeded in
achieving an international reputation. The best of his poems were rendered
in choice French by Baudelaire, while his short stories were translated
into almost all European languages. As his biographer, Woodberry, has said:
"On the roll of American literature Poe's name is inscribed with the few
foremost, and in the world at large his genius is established as valid
among all men. Much as he derived nurture from other sources, he was the
son of Coleridge by the weird touch in his imagination, by the principles
of his analytic criticism, and the speculative bent of his mind." Most
characteristic of Poe's genius perhaps are these lines from his famous
poem "The Conqueror Worm":
Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
* * * * *
That motley drama--oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.
* * * * *
Out--out are the lights--out all!
And over each quivering form
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
And the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.
[Sidenote: Abortive Spanish rising]
[Sidenote: Italian republics]
[Sidenote: Situation in Sicily]
In Europe, the startling upheavals of the previous year were followed by an
aftermath no less startling. Even in Spain, where a first attempt at
revolution had easily been crushed at Madrid, Don Carlos deemed the time
ripe to join Cabrera's revolutionary rising in Catalonia. On his way there
he was arrested at the French frontier. Deprived of his support, Cabrera
himself had to remove his forces to French soil. In Italy, the
revolutionary movement spread. On February 7, Duke Leopold of Florence was
driven out of Tuscany. A republican government was established at Florence
under the triumvirate of Guerazzi, Montanelli and Manzoni. Taking refuge on
a British man-of-war, the Duke of Tuscany fled to Gaeta to share the Pope's
exile there. On the same day that the new republic was proclaimed at
Florence a popular assembly at Rome formally deposed the Pope from temporal
power and proclaimed the Republic of Rome. The armistice in Sicily was
about to expire. King Ferdinand's final concessions to his rebellious
subjects were repudiated. Lord Palmerston, who had vainly offered British
mediation to Ferdinand, on the floor of Parliament openly defended the
uncompromising attitude of the Sicilians. In preparation for the inevitable
conflict, Filangieri gathered an army of 20,000 Neapolitans, while
Mierolavsky, a Pole, took command of the Sicilian insurgents.
[Sidenote: Hungarian defeats]
[Sidenote: Austrian reverses]
[Sidenote: Windischgraetz "Reconcentrates"]
[Sidenote: Hungarian declaration of independence]
Meanwhile the tide of war set against the Hungarians. On February 4, Bem
was defeated on the site of his former victory at Hermannstadt. While
retreating he was defeated again at Paiski. By the middle of February the
Austrians succeeded in taking the fortress of Essek from the Hungarians.
Toward the close of the month a disastrous defeat was inflicted upon the
Hungarians under the command of General Dembinsky at Kapolna. Kossuth had
made the mistake of superseding Goergey by that commander. Now Goergey was
reinstated. The Hungarians rallied. On March 5, the Magyar Csikos, or
irregular cavalry, under Janos Damjanies, defeated the Austrians under
General Grammont at Szolnok. A few days later the Hungarian army in
Transylvania, under General Bem, retrieved their ill-fortune by another
glorious victory at Hermannstadt. A Russian contingent from Wallachia,
which had crossed the frontier to assist the Austrians, was defeated by Bem
at Brasso. General Puchner and his Russian allies sought refuge across the
border. Goergey relieved Komorn. The ablest of the Austrian generals,
Schlik, was beaten at Hapvan, while Jellacic was overthrown at Isaszteg and
Goedoelloe. Prince Windischgraetz had to give up Pesth, or, as he put it in
his immortal thirty-fourth bulletin: "Reconcentrate the army in front of
Budapesth, a movement hastily imitated by the enemy." Goergey added another
touch of humor by attributing the Hungarian victory solely to the activity
of Windischgraetz and Jellacic. On March 4, Emperor Francis Joseph had
annulled the old Hungarian constitution. Kossuth retaliated in kind. Under
his influence the Magyar Diet at Debreczin pronounced the deposition of the
House of Hapsburg from the throne of Hungary and declared the independence
of Hungary and the adjoining southern provinces. While the Hungarian army,
instead of marching on Vienna, lost valuable time before Ofen, the Austrian
Government improved the interval to perfect its long-threatened alliance
with Russia.
[Sidenote: Sardinia renews war]
[Sidenote: Polish leaders]
[Sidenote: The "Five Days' Campaign"]
[Sidenote: Battle of Novara]
[Sidenote: Italian retreat]
[Sidenote: D'Aspre's heavy losses]
[Sidenote: Charles Albert abdicates]
In the interim war had broken out anew in Schleswig-Holstein and in Italy.
Before the expiration of the Austrian-Italian armistice, Charles Albert of
Sardinia, in a spirited address on February 1, announced his determination
to renew the war. To this desperate resolve he was driven by the increasing
turbulence of Italian affairs. The spread of the revolutionary movement to
his dominions could be forestalled only by placing himself once more at the
head of the Italian movement. In some respects the moment appeared
propitious. Charles Albert's army now numbered a hundred and twenty
thousand men, while Radetzky had little more than seventy thousand
Austrians. A characteristic note of the times was the appointment of Poles
to command the Italian troops. Prince Chrzanovsky, who had fought under
Napoleon at Leipzig and Waterloo, and had subsequently commanded a Russian
division at Varna, was put in supreme command, seconded by Alexander La
Marmora. Another Pole, or half Pole, Ramorino, who had figured in the
unfortunate rising of 1833, commanded the legion of Lombardy. On March 12,
the pending termination of the truce was officially announced. At noon on
March 20, hostilities were to be resumed. The campaign that followed lasted
but five days. Radetzky, by his preliminary feint, made the Italians
believe that he would evacuate Lombardy as heretofore; but at the last
moment he quickly concentrated his five army corps at Pavia. At the stroke
of noon, on March 20, he threw his army across the Tessino on three
bridges. While the Italians believed that Radetzky was retreating on the
Adda, the Austrians were already bivouacking on the flank of the
Piedmontese army. Three bloody engagements at Mortara, Gambola and
Sforzesca, on March 21, ended in a retreat of the Italians all along the
line. Ramorino had received orders to move northward and to destroy the
bridges behind him. Out of accord with his countryman, Chrzanovsky, he
disobeyed his orders and lingered at Stradella. Radetzky flung his army in
between, and cut off the Italian line of retreat upon Turin and
Alessandria. It was then that Benedek, an Austrian colonel, distinguished
himself by leading his troops far in advance of the Austrian army, and
cutting his way through an Italian brigade, under the cover of night. At
midnight of March 21, Charles Albert had to order a general retreat on
Novara. There Chrzanovsky determined to make a stand with his main column
of about 50,000 men. Radetzky was in doubt whether the Italians had fallen
back on Novara or Vercelli. To make sure he sent his troops in either
direction. He himself remained at his headquarters, so as to be ready to
ride either way. The roar of artillery from Novara, on the morning of March
23, told him where the battle was to be fought. There General D'Aspre,
commanding the second Austrian army corps, undertook to win some laurels on
his own account by a bold attack on the superior position of the Italians.
As Charles Albert rode out of the gate of Novara he received the last
cheers of his devoted Bersaglieri. After a three hours' fight the scale
turned against the Austrians. Count D'Aspre repented of his rashness, and
sent for help to Count Thurn at Vercelli. Fortunately for him, Radetzky and
Thurn had marched in that direction as soon as they heard the sound of the
cannon. It was a race between the two divisions. As Radetzky, at the head
of the first army corps, galloped through Nebola, the aged marshal met the
retreating columns of D'Aspre's second corps. Both the first and the third
Austrian corps rushed into the battle almost simultaneously. The Italian
advance was checked. At last, when Thurn's fourth corps arrived at sundown,
the Austrian bugles sounded for a general charge. The Italian line of
battle was overthrown. The Austrian cavalry circled around the flank. While
the Italians fled into Novara they suffered from the fire of their own
artillery. Charles Albert was one of the last who left the Bicocca to seek
refuge in Novara. The town itself was bombarded by the Austrian artillery
far into the night. Standing on the ramparts of Novara, Charles Albert
realized the disastrous nature of his defeat. His losses aggregated more
than seven thousand, of whom three thousand had been taken captive. Of the
Austrian losses of 3,158 men, five-sevenths fell to D'Aspre's corps. The
other Austrian divisions were practically intact. The Italians were in
confusion. Charles Albert, who throughout the day had exposed his person
with the utmost gallantry, had to be dragged from the ramparts by General
Durando. As the Austrian shells struck all around them he exclaimed, "Leave
me, General. Let it be the last day of my life. I wish to die." At last he
consented to send his Minister, Cadorna, to Radetzky's headquarters to sue
for an armistice. Cadorna was received in an insulting manner. Charles
Albert came to the conclusion that his own person was an obstacle in the
way of peace. That night he resigned his crown. In the presence of his
generals he pronounced his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia.
Accompanied by but one attendant he left Novara, and passed unrecognized
through the enemy's lines. Sending a farewell letter to his wife, he went
into exile. A few months later he died at Oporto in Portugal.
[Sidenote: Death of Charles Albert]
As Fyffe has said of this unfortunate Prince: "Nothing in his reign became
him like the ending of it. He proved that there was one sovereign in Italy
who was willing to stake his throne, his life, the whole sum of his
personal interests, for the national cause.... The man who, beaten and
outnumbered, had for hours sat immovable in front of the Austrian cannon in
Novara, had, in the depth of his misfortune, given to his son not the crown
of Piedmont only, but the crown of Italy."
[Sidenote: Victor Emmanuel yields]
[Sidenote: Italian Princes reinstated]
[Sidenote: French expedition to Rome]
On the day after the battle of Novara, King Victor Emmanuel sought out
Marshal Radetzky and came to terms. Venice and the Italian duchies had to
be relinquished to the Austrians. Austrian troops, in conjunction with
those of Piedmont, occupied Alessandria. Piedmont was to reduce its army to
a peace footing, to disperse all volunteers, and to pay a war indemnity of
75,000,000 francs. The Austrian demand that Victor Emmanuel should annul
the liberal constitution granted by his father was unconditionally refused.
For this Piedmont had to suffer a prolonged military occupation by Austrian
troops, but Victor Emmanuel, by the same token, retained his father's
claim to the leadership of the national cause of Italy. The victory of
Austrian arms was speedily followed by the return of the princes of
northern Italy to their petty thrones. Radetzky's troops undertook the
reconquest of Venice. To forestall an Austrian movement against Rome,
France undertook to reinstate Pio Nono in the Holy Chair of St. Peter. A
French expedition under Oudinot, a son of the famous marshal, disembarked
at Civita Vecchia. Mazzini and Garibaldi alone rallied their men to the
defence of the republic.
[Sidenote: Subjection of Sicily]