Chapter 360: The Outbreak of National Independence
In fact, the Allied Powers such as Britain and France are not willing to talk about the desire for peace talks between Austria and Hungary. Because all the countries participating in the war have suffered heavy losses (except the United States and a certain wall), and they urgently need to find a place to make up for their losses. And Austria-Hungary, the one who caused the war, has
The main culprit, its domestic conflicts, became the best target of the Allied Powers.
And after experiencing the lessons of this war, many people have discovered that there are too many big countries in Europe. If the frictions and disputes among the big countries are amplified, it may trigger a war. Therefore, for the sake of stability and peaceful atmosphere in Europe, then
Let’s break up a big country first. Therefore, Austria-Hungary’s peace talks completely failed. Britain, France, the United States and other countries completely ignored its requests.
In China, Queen Zita's charity activities to improve the image of noble ladies were also tepid. There is no denying that their actions have benefited many people, and their influence on the Habsburg family has been somewhat improved.
But amidst the overwhelming opposition, these people are completely unable to make waves. Moreover, Queen Zita does not have the approachable image of Princess Sissi, nor does she have the flexibility and changeable methods. And her deliberately imitating posture makes many people feel uncomfortable.
satisfy.
One of the newspapers in Prague commented: Empress Zita's behavior of deliberately imitating Princess Sissi in front of the public makes people feel very uncomfortable. Moreover, when faced with various emergencies, the empress will only act like a puppet.
Following other people's arrangements is completely uncharacteristic of a queen of a country.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's diplomatic and domestic response did not play its due role at all, which made nationalists and careerists everywhere become more unscrupulous.
On July 12, members of the Prague Parliament were holding a key meeting, where they were discussing the independence of the region.
"independent."
This is such a word that haunts Czech people, and the blood of many martyrs has been stained on this word.
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Slavs moved westward to the Czech and Slovak regions, and slowly formed the Czech and Slovak nations today.
From the end of the 9th century to the first half of the 10th century, after the disintegration of the Great Moravia Empire, the Przemys family established the Czech Principality centered in Prague. And the name Czech also appeared in front of the world.
In 1086, the German King Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, granted the Czech Prince Vladislav II the title of King of Bohemia (Bohemia is the Latin and Germanic name for the Czech Republic). After that, the Czech Principality surrendered
in the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1620, the combined forces of Bohemia (Czech Republic) and the Palatinate failed in the Battle of White Mountain, and the Czech Republic entered the territory ruled by the Habsburg Dynasty until today.
During the time when it was ruled by the Habsburg family, the Czech national awakening was not too slow. In the early 19th century, Czech national culture gradually developed, and many intellectuals devoted themselves to studying Czech history and language, which promoted the national awakening. In 1845
, the petty bourgeois radical revolutionary political group "Rebili" began to carry out activities, and its leader was named Fritsch.
In 1848, the February Revolution in France inspired the whole of Europe, and all countries declared a bourgeois revolution, and a revolution also broke out in the Czech Republic. However, due to various reasons, this revolution made the Czech Republic still obey the Habsburgs.
Under the rule of the Burg family, Fritsch's remarks about Czech independence were also ignored by everyone.
Today, these Czech parliamentarians will cast a valuable vote for the region's independence.
On the podium of the parliament, Masaryk, the leader of the Czech Progressive Party who secretly returned from abroad and who will serve as president of the Czech Republic for three terms until he can no longer serve, is standing here, making an impassioned speech to the members and the crowd who are pouring in.
speech.
"My compatriots, today is a holy day. This is the day when we Czechs decide our own destiny. From today on, we do not have to kowtow to anyone, nor do we need to obey the emperor's will when we do anything. Today
We want to cheer for our independence: long live the Czech Republic, long live the people.”
"Long live the Czech Republic, long live the people."
Masaryk's words successfully aroused the voice of the people. Everyone made their own shouts. This voice was so real and full of their hope.
Masaryk was very satisfied with this situation. After the shouting subsided, he announced loudly: "It is now up to the members of the parliament to vote whether our Czech region should be independent."
After Masaryk finished speaking, someone in the crowd shouted, "Independence."
This sentence ignited the enthusiasm of the crowd, and then the voices became louder and louder and more uniform.
"independent."
"independent."
"independent."
Faced with this situation, the congressmen present knew what choice to make. Many of them gestured to the crowd with their votes for independence before throwing them into the ballot box. The actions of these congressmen,
Let the voice of 'independence' become louder.
Masaryk stepped aside and watched the votes of these MPs with his deputy Štefánik and the leader of the National Party Benes.
"I have spoken to leaders in other parts of the country and they will also hold independence votes in the last few days."
Benes, who stood on Masaryk's side, told him what he had done.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. This is all to ensure the independence of the Czech people. I didn't expect your decision to be the right one."
Faced with Benes' words, Masaryk replied: "I can't say that my decision is correct. This is the people's choice. I just let the people express their inner voices."
"Yes, this is the people's choice."
Benes thought of the days when they fought for Czech independence, and now that he finally saw Czech independence happening before his eyes, he felt that everything was worth it.
And Masaryk felt the same as him. And he knew that now was the first step towards Czech independence, and there were many things they needed to do next. But there was one very important thing at the moment, which was considered a top priority.
Masaryk turned to Štefánik on the other side and asked: "We must hurry up about the next conscription."
"I have almost finished the process. We have prepared the quota of 200,000. We are just waiting for the independence vote to be completed and it will be issued immediately with the order of the provisional government."
Štefánik's words temporarily calmed the hearts of Beneš and Masaryk. All three knew that the current vote was just a matter of legal situation, and no one could stop Czech independence.
However, after independence, defending the achievements was a top priority. The result of their deliberations was to recruit soldiers to form the Czech Republic's own armed forces. As for the Czech soldiers and officers in the Austro-Hungarian army, they were mainly mobilized with patriotic enthusiasm. In this way,
After mobilization, the Czech Republic will at least have a certain ability to protect itself. This will allow Austria-Hungary and Germany to have more concerns when considering intervening in Czech independence.
The result was not unexpected. All the MPs present voted for independence. Then the newly minted Czech government was announced in the parliament. There was a picture of Masaryk, Benes, and Štefánik hugging each other.
The photo of them cheering for Czech independence appeared in the newspaper the next day. At the same time, there was a bold title on it, 'The Big Three of Czech Independence'.
After the independence of the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia also declared their independence, and each formed its own government. The successive independence finally caused strong dissatisfaction in Hungary (Croatia and Slovenia are both territories of the Kingdom of Hungary). For this reason, the Kingdom of Hungary Tisza
The Prime Minister sent a message to Charles I, demanding that the empire must take action in this regard.
And Karl is completely distracted now, because a big event happened in Austria.
