Return of Vienna’s Emperor:

August 12, 1848

The following is an excerpt from our text, Light to the Nations II:The Making of the Modern World. It continues our series on the 1848 revolutions in Austria. You may read these posts here, here, here, and here. For information on ordering this or our other texts, please go here.

Emperor Ferdinand I

The revolutionaries in Vienna cheered when they heard of Radetzky’s victories in Lombardy. Why did they cheer? After all, Radetzky’s enemies should have been their friends. Both the Viennese and Lombard revolutionaries were Liberals. Both battled what they thought was tyranny. Yet the Viennese radicals welcomed the news of Radetzky’s victories. Why?

The answer is simple. The Viennese revolutionaries were Liberals, but they were also nationalists. They cheered Radetzky, for he had led German and Austrian arms in triumph over people of a different nation. The success of Liberal ideals meant less to the Viennese insurgents than their nation’s glory.

Such nationalism could be found as well in the German and Hungarian diets. The German and Magyar Liberals wanted liberty and citizen rights for themselves, but not necessarily for other nationalities. Kossuth fought for Magyars but wanted to keep down the Slav minorities in Hungary. This only alienated the Slavs from the cause of Hungarian independence. The Viennese revolutionaries also alienated the Slavs by cheering the news that in June the imperial Austrian army under Alfred, Prince zu Windischgrätz, had crushed the Czech revolution in Prague.

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The Holy Roman Empire’s Quiet End: August 6, 1806

The crown of the Holy Roman Empire, in use from the 11th century until the empire’s dissolution in 1806

Napoleon … left the pope alone for a time because, once again, war threatened the French empire. Prussia was growing restless. King Friedrich Wilhelm III had discovered that betraying the Russians and the Austrians had not paid off; Napoleon’s power was growing and was extending into the lands Prussia wished to dominate—the numerous duchies, principalities, and kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire.

Since his rise to power, Napoleon had seized several German imperial lands. He had made German territories west of the Rhine part of France. He had taken Hanover from King George III of Great Britain. He had made the kingdoms of Württemberg and Bavaria his allies. And, now, in July 1806, he threatened to force most of Germany to acknowledge his overlordship.

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The Battle of Churubusco:

August 20, 1847

This text comes from our high school text, Lands of Hope and Promise: A History of North America. Please visit our webpage to peruse sample chapters of our book. For ordering information on Lands of Hope and Promise and our other texts, please click here.

General Zachary Taylor

While Taylor rested at Saltillo, and General Scott was planning his strategy for the war, the U.S Navy under Commodores Sloat and Stockton seized, one by one, the coastal pueblos of California. Both Castro and Pico were making plans to resist the invader; but, finding little support among the Californios, both men fled California without firing a shot. For a time it seemed the Californios would acquiesce to the conqueror; but then Archibald Gillespie, whom Stockton had left in command at Los Angeles, proclaimed martial law and imprisoned 20 Angelenos who had spoken out against American rule. Incensed by Gillespie’s high handedness, Californios under Andrés Pico and José Maria Flores rose up against the Americans. Having few arms besides long lances tipped with metal points, the Californios used their superb horsemanship to bloody the noses of the invaders in a few small engage­ments. Further resistance, though, was futile, and in mid-July 1847, Californio leaders signed the Cahuenga Capitulations, surrendering to the United States forces.

The conquest of California, however, was merely a sideshow to what became the main act of the war — General Winfield Scott’s invasion of Mexcio. Scott’s plan of war was a daring one (though some might have called it foolish); he would take Veracruz, and following Cortés’ old invasion route, march across the sultry plains, climb the lofty sierra, and assault Mexico City. Relying as it did on a 350-mile supply line, Scott’s strategy tempted disaster, for the enemy could easily cut off the American supply line. Fortunately for “Old Fuss and Feathers,” the Mexicans were so disunited that they could not muster sufficient numbers at any one time to crush Scott’s small force of 12,000 men. (more…)