Chapter 1603: Stormy Hungary 3
Chapter 1603 The precarious Hungary 3
In fact, before coming to Vienna for the second time, the Hungarians also planned to follow the Kaiser's path. After all, the purpose of sending General von Seeckt to command more than 70,000 German troops on the Eastern Front was to help the Hungarians. But the situation at this time was completely different from before. The Kaiser helped Hungary in order to support Archduke Karl to ascend to the throne. But now, after Borusinov's offensive, it was impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to allow a man who had suffered such a major defeat to inherit the throne. , therefore, the Kaiser would naturally not invest in Hungary in vain.
The German military was also "impressed" by the Hungarian army's traitorous teammates and "amazing combat effectiveness." They believe that there is no difference between having such teammates and not having them. And after all, this is the internal affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Hungarian army cannot stop it. Isn’t there also the Austrian army? You should talk to Fritz about this first, not the Kaiser!
After the Germans rejected the Hungarian request, Prime Minister Tisza had to come to Vienna for the second time. When he met with the Austrian Emperor, he requested the Austrian army to help counter the rebellion, and also requested the central government to provide funding and material support. But this time, Emperor Fritz was obviously a little impatient.
Regarding the rebels in Romania, the Austrian Emperor expressed his willingness to help suppress them. However, regarding various national resistance issues that originally belonged to Hungary, the Austrian Emperor stated that it was not appropriate for the Austrian army to intervene. As for funding and supplies? The Austrian Emperor provided some, but in the eyes of the Hungarians, this was just a matter of attitude and could not fundamentally solve the difficulties faced by Hungary.
During this meeting, the Austrian Emperor made demands for Hungary's internal affairs for the first time. He said that Hungary should ease domestic ethnic conflicts, give other ethnic groups appropriate autonomy, and at least guarantee non-interference in their culture and beliefs. At the same time, he expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the Hungarian army's insistence on using Hungarian as the first pronunciation and not even allowing the use of German.
If Austria's lax policy towards the Czechs in history caused the Czechs to be unable to lose in Bohemia before the war, then the Hungarian ethnic policy is exactly the opposite. Taking the language policy as an example, in Bohemia, All civil servants must be able to speak Czech before they can hold office. This caused many Germans in Bohemia to lose their original positions, so that before World War I, Czechs accounted for 100% of the positions held in government agencies in Bohemia. For the most part, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's ruling system was directly taken over by the Czechs after the empire collapsed...
Hungary's policy was just the opposite. During the old Tisza period, the entire Kingdom of Hungary implemented strict ethnic policies. All public schools could only teach in Hungarian, and all railways and postal systems must also be in Hungarian. Not even German is allowed. By 1890, Hungary stipulated that all government and business agencies must use Hungarian as the official language. Even in Transylvania, a region dominated by Romanians, the history of the country was not even allowed to be taught in history classes!
A Transylvanian parliamentarian once asked Tisza why his country's history was not taught in local classrooms. And Tissa answered very simply,
"For people who live in Hungary but not the Magyar nation, there is no history of other nations!" Hungary's harshness on ethnic issues is evident!
Both the extreme left and the extreme right of national policies are wrong. Although the prince relied on money as bait and military power as a big stick to change the right-leaning capitulationist national policy in Austria's history, he also implemented bilingualism on language issues. Both German and Czech are taught in Bohemia. Czech history is also taught in schools. (After all, the Czech Republic has been a loyal servant of the Habsburg Dynasty for hundreds of years.) It will definitely not go as far as Tisza did.
However, this request made by the Austrian Emperor was undoubtedly a provocation to the entire Hungarian nation in Tisza's view. If it were in peacetime, Hungary's counterattack would follow, and they would veto the policy from Vienna. Refuse to build any army not owned by Hungary, etc. But now, Hungary, which is already suffering from internal and external troubles, obviously does not have this ability. However, Tisza still rejected the Austrian Emperor's suggestion without hesitation on this issue. He believed that "the Hungarian government has used this method to rule here for 1,000 years." , then in the future, this kind of dominance and assimilation can continue!”
Prime Minister Tisza's reply made Emperor Fritz lose the last trace of his kindness to Hungary. In fact, raising the national issue this time was just a test. If Hungary wants domestic stability, it needs more than just solving an ethnic issue! The people's livelihood and political problems in Hungary are even more serious! Emperor Fritz hasn't said this yet. Just throwing out a bait to bring up old things has made the Hungarians furious. Do you want Hungary to reform? What are you thinking about? !
If a country wants to solve domestic problems, it must have a reasonable distribution system and relatively abundant living supplies. In other words, a country's middle class should account for a larger proportion of both the domestic population and wealth. In Europe before World War I, the so-called middle class was mainly skilled workers, teachers, doctors, and small entrepreneurs. These middle classes are closely related to industrialization from an occupational perspective.
However, look at the proportion of Hungary’s industrial population. At the turn of the 20th century, the number of workers in Hungary accounted for approximately 13.7% of the total population. In Austria, it is 31% (historically 24%), in Germany, it is 38%, and in the UK, it has reached 46%! Looking at this ratio, you can never have much hope for Hungary's distribution system. In fact, Hungary is a typical aristocracy, big capitalists, and landowners who occupy a large amount of resources.
If it wants stability, Hungary must solve two problems. First, industry must develop to accommodate more workers and related industries, establish a relatively complete social security system, and cultivate a middle class. Second, the land problem of farmers must be solved. That is to solve the feeding problem of most people.
However, the second problem is even more serious. The country's 1.28 million small farmers only occupy 5.5% of the country's cultivated land, and 54% of the land is owned by landlords. Among them, 4,000 large landowners with more than 1,000 holt of land own 31.18% of the country's land! Hungary is different from Germany. Germany is already a completely industrialized country and the people do not depend on the land. But in Hungary, this situation is different.
Most of Hungary is still a farmer. They rely heavily on land, and the scarce land directly determines their income. Historically, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians immigrated to the United States, but what about this dimension? Most of them went to Austria and Bavaria. Even workers, many go there because the wages there are higher and there are benefits!
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