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Czechoslovakia Revolutions of 1848
The Paris revolution of February 1848 precipitated a
succession of liberal and national revolts against autocratic
governments. Revolutionary disturbances pervaded the territories
of the Austrian Empire, and Emperor Ferdinand I (1835-48)
promised to reorganize the empire on a constitutional,
parliamentary basis.
In the Bohemian Kingdom, a national committee was formed that
included Germans and Czechs. But Bohemian Germans favored
creating a Greater Germany out of various German-speaking
territories. The Bohemian Germans soon withdrew from the
committee, signaling the Czech-German conflict that would
characterize subsequent history. Palacky proposed Austro-Slavism
as the creed of the Czech national movement. He advocated the
preservation of the Austrian Empire as a buffer against both
German and Russian expansionism. He also proposed the
federalization of the empire on an ethnographic basis to unite
the Bohemian Germans with Austria in one province and Czechs and
Slovaks in another. Palacky further suggested that the various
Slavic peoples of the empire, together constituting a majority,
should form a political unit to defend their common interests. In
June 1848 the Czechs convened the first Slavic Congress to
discuss the possibility of political consolidation of Austrian
Slavs, including Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenians (Ukrainians),
Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs.
In the Kingdom of Hungary, the 1848 revolution temporarily
toppled Hapsburg absolutism, and there was an attempt at
establishing a liberal constitutional government. Conflict soon
ensued between the Hungarians and several other nationalities as
to how Hungary was to be restructured. Hungarian liberals like
Louis Kossuth, who favored the overthrow of the Hapsburgs and an
independent Hungary, were at the same time opposed to the
aspirations of the non-Hungarian nationalities. The liberals
sought to create a national state solely for the Hungarians.
It was within this struggle that the Slovak National Council,
under Stur's leadership, drafted the "Demands of the Slovak
Nation." These included the establishment of separate national
legislative assemblies and the right of each national group to
employ its own language in the
Hungarian Diet, in administration, and in the education system.
The petition was presented to the Hungarian Diet in May 1848.
When it was rejected, armed conflict broke out, and the Slovaks
were crushed by Hungarian troops. Disappointed by the Hungarians
and hoping to take advantage of the conflict between the imperial
government and the Hungarians, Slovak patriots turned to the
imperial government, requesting recognition of Slovakia as an
independent crown land within the Austrian Empire. But after the
Hungarian revolt was suppressed with the aid of Russian troops,
Vienna lost interest in the demands of the Slovak and other nonHungarian nationalities.
National revival for both Czechs and Slovaks had been begun
by small groups of intellectuals. At first, the national
movements were confined to discussion of language, literature,
and culture. But during the revolutions of 1848, the Czechs and
Slovaks made bold political demands. The revolutions of 1848 also
revealed that the German and Hungarian liberals, who were opposed
to Hapsburg absolutism, were equally hostile to Czech and Slovak
aspirations. It had become clear that the Czech and Slovak
national movements had to contend not only with Hapsburg
absolutism but also with increasingly virulent German and
Hungarian nationalism.
Data as of August 1987
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