A forradalmak kihívása Közép-Európában 1848-ban
The challenges of the revolutions in Central Europe in 1848

Summary/Abstract: The essay gives a survey of the political ideas in Central Europe during the period between the middle of March and May, 1848. The victorious European revolutions in 1848 surprised not only the followers of the ancien régime , but also the liberals who found themselves in power. In Austria, that is in the western part of the Hapsburg Empire, the abolition of serfdom was recognized as the most urgent task, but its realization began very slowly although several people called attention to the necessity of following the Hungarian example. The laws passed by the Hungarian Diet in April made governmental factors in Vienna modernize the state administration. Most people in Vienna started to regard joining the process of German unification as the road to political stability. The liberals of the Czech provinces were, on the other hand, for the survival and federalization of the Hapsburg Empire; similar views were expressed by the Polish liberals in Galicia. The Hungarian liberals found themselves among orderly, constitutionally secured conditions from April 1848, and all that connected Hungary to the Empire was the personal union , the person of the king. The emancipation of serfs had been proclaimed and put into effect by that time, and, apart from the nationality issue, the stability of the country had been. The demand to control Transylvania and Croatia, that is the objective to create a centralized Hungarian state, however, heightened national antagonisms. The paper describes the ideas of the German language leaflets and the German language press in March and April which indicate that some of them regarded the dissolution of the Hapsburg Empire as a fact, while others deemed it desirable or at least possible. However, concrete aspects of economy, hegemony and legitimacy were hardly mentioned: the events were seen as realizing the "spirit" of history (Weltgeist), and their views were seen rather as exposed to than as able to influence historical processes. Looking for support, the government in Vienna accepted the invitation to the German Diet at Frankfurt and pretended to be for German unity, when it was in fact playing for time. This became quite clear when, forestalling the plans regarding Frankfurt, they issued a constitution for the western part of the Empire on April 25.

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