War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Chapter 122 Istvan Szechenyi

Istvan Szechenyi was a Hungarian born in Vienna on September 21, 1791. His father was an enlightened nobleman, and his family had been loyal to the Habsburg family for generations.

Széchenyi once joined the army, participated in the anti-French war, and personally experienced the Battle of Leipzig.

Széchenyi clearly felt that the era of cavalry was over, and cavalry without infantry would be miserable wretches, just like Marshal Ney and his poor cuirassiers.

If the Hungarians went to war with Austria, they would only die in vain like those brave French cavalry.

Moreover, the gap between Austria and Hungary is not comparable to that of the French army and the anti-French alliance, because even in a cavalry battle, Hungary is not sure of victory.

In addition, there are many forces opposing Hungary in the Kingdom of Hungary.

The most important thing is that after Hungary becomes independent, it will have to face the surrounding powers alone, so he always feels that opposing Austria is asking for death.

After the war, Széchenyi traveled in Europe. He saw the power of Britain, France and other countries, and also saw the crux of Hungary's problems.

Szechenyi published "Credit" in 1830, which can even be regarded as a template for Napoleon III's subsequent reform of French agriculture. The establishment of small, long-term loans specifically for farmers was one of the driving forces behind French agricultural reform.

Count Széchenyi has always practiced his teachings. In 1825, he established the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to develop new technologies and promote new ideas.

He demanded the abolition of hereditary laws, the greatest obstacle to credit.

Szechenyi realized that in order to modernize Hungary's agriculture, serfdom must be abolished and proposed the abolition of serfdom; the abolition of guilds and price limits to make handicrafts more prosperous.

The prosperity of a nation cannot be separated from a large number of educated talents, and Széchenyi regarded education as a major reason for promoting national prosperity.

So he funded the establishment of the Academy of Sciences, restored the Hungarian language, promoted the development of science, and promoted the development of society. Of course, Hungarian was the worst language he could speak.

He advocated that Hungary must develop its economy, blamed the country's disasters on the nobility, and urged them to abandon their feudal privileges.

That's what Szechenyi did. He built many roads, improved transportation on the Danube so that ships could reach the Black Sea, and built the first bridge over the Danube in Budapest.

All his net worth was invested. In 1839, construction of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge would begin, and he was the first to connect Buda and Pest.

After Austria joined the German Customs Union in 1834, Széchenyi became even more convinced that he was right.

Austria's economy took off immediately without Hungary, while Hungary's economy was in a miserable state without Austria.

Széchenyi once became one of the leaders within Hungary. He demanded that Hungary join the German Zollverein for economic development.

His proposals had a large following, but soon a more radical reformer emerged.

He was once just a lawyer in Kossuth, but in Pojoni he suddenly thought of the idea of ​​issuing a communiqué, and vigorously advocated Magyar autonomy and rule over the ethnic minorities in the newspaper. His newspaper immediately caused a sensation and became very popular. welcome.

From then on, Kossuth's reputation was out of control, and his fierce reform rhetoric also gained him a large number of fans. After all, Széchenyi's reforms seemed too cautious.

At the same time, the great nobles also opposed Szechenyi, an outlier, and hoped that Kossuth could be used to suppress Szechenyi. Moreover, according to past experience, passionate people like Kossuth were more likely to be controlled by them.

At this time, Szechenyi also felt that he was being marginalized. He was very excited when he was invited by the royal family because he had always hoped for a top-down reform.

However, after arriving in Vienna, he was a little disappointed. It turned out that the royal family only wanted to purchase land in Hungary.

In Szechenyi's mind, royal families usually purchase land to build manors and villas, and he thinks this time will be no exception.

However, this time Mrs. Sophie made a request to purchase 300,000 hectares of land. Based on the lowest price of five florins per hectare, Mrs. Sophie needs to come up with at least 1.5 million florins at a time.

After deducting 40% of the 1.5 million florins paid to the Hungarian government, the remaining 900,000 florins can be said to be earned in vain. Széchenyi did not have to pay any price, but just used the wasteland The ownership is only given to Mrs. Sophie.

The signing, the transaction, everything went very smoothly. Széchenyi seemed a little unbelievable that the money he had spent for so many years was actually earned back in one day.

In fact, Count Széchenyi also specially prepared gifts for Mrs. Sophie and the three Grand Dukes. These gifts cost him a total of 9,000 florins, and now it seems that he is a little unable to afford them.

"Grand Duchess, I have a heartfelt request. I hope you can find a way to promote Hungary's reforms and allow Hungary to join the German Customs Union. Hungary cannot do without Austria, and Austria cannot do without Hungary. Both countries are loyal to Habsburg. Fort family.”

In the minds of Hungarians at that time, Hungary and Austria were two countries, but they were loyal to the same emperor.

Mrs. Sophie said with a smile as she opened the folding fan.

"You shouldn't say this to me, you should say it to the men of the Habsburg family. Even if you don't want to talk to them, you should go to the Prime Minister to talk to them. I'm afraid I can't help with this kind of national matter. "

"Aren't you the only man in the Habsburg family?" Szechenyi cursed in his heart. He felt helpless when he thought of the famous idiots in the Habsburg family at this time.

(Emperor Ferdinand I, the emperor's brother Archduke Franz Karl, the emperor's uncle Archduke Louis.)

Although Széchenyi was full of complaints in his heart, he still looked very humble on the surface.

Count Szechenyi felt that he could use his trump card to impress her with his talents.

Count Szechenyi took out several books from his bag and lined up his masterpieces one by one.

"What is this?" Mrs. Sophie was a little curious as to what the man in front of her was going to do.

"These are all books written by me. Please read them one by one."

Mrs. Sophie really wanted to roll her eyes at him on the spot, but considering her own image and cultivation, she held back.

Mrs. Sophie took a book casually, flipped through two pages, and then said something casually.

"It's very well written. You are very talented."

Upon hearing Mrs. Sophie's compliment, Széchenyi suddenly felt that an opportunity had come.

"Then you must understand what I mean. As long as you do what I say, the Austrian Empire will definitely regain its glory, and the people of the entire country will be grateful to you."

Madam Sophie was tired of the blabbering lunatic in front of her. She waved her hand and two guards came forward and said to Count Szechenyi.

"The Grand Duchess is tired. Count Szechenyi, please come back."

"I'm not finished yet."

The two guards did not pay attention to Count Szechenyi's words, and directly carried him out and threw him outside the palace gate.

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