Revolution and Counter-Revolution; Or, Germany in 1848Marx, Karl
History
Revolution and Counter-Revolution; Or, Germany in 1848
Marx, Karl
Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1848-1849
We are known to harbor no unfriendly feeling toward Hungary. We stood
by her during the struggles; we may be allowed to say that our paper,
the _Neue Rheinische Zeitung_,[8] has done more than any other to
render the Hungarian cause popular in Germany, by explaining the
nature of the struggle between the Magyar and Slavonian races, and by
following up the Hungarian war in a series of articles which have had
paid them the compliment of being plagiarized in almost every
subsequent book upon the subject, the works of native Hungarians and
"eyewitnesses" not excepted. We even now, in any future continental
convulsion, consider Hungary as the necessary and natural ally of
Germany. But we have been severe enough upon our own countrymen, to
have a right to speak out upon our neighbors; and then we have here to
record facts with historical impartiality, and we must say that in
this particular instance, the generous bravery of the people of Vienna
was not only far more noble, but also more far-sighted than the
cautious circumspection of the Hungarian Government. And, as a German,
we may further be allowed to say, that not for all the showy victories
and glorious battles of the Hungarian campaign, would we exchange that
spontaneous, single-handed rising, and heroic resistance of the people
of Vienna, our countrymen, which gave Hungary the time to organize the
army that could do such great things.
The second ally of Vienna was the German people. But they were
everywhere engaged in the same struggle as the Viennese. Frankfort,
Baden, Cologne, had just been defeated and disarmed. In Berlin and
Breslau the people were at daggers-drawn with the army, and daily
expected to come to blows. Thus it was in every local center of
action. Everywhere questions were pending that could only be settled
by the force of arms; and now it was that for the first time were
severely felt the disastrous consequences of the continuation of the
old dismemberment and decentralization of Germany. The different
questions in every State, every province, every town, were
fundamentally the same; but they were brought forward everywhere under
different shapes and pretexts, and had everywhere attained different
degrees of maturity. Thus it happened that while in every locality
the decisive gravity of the events at Vienna was felt, yet nowhere
could an important blow be struck with any hope of bringing the
Viennese succor, or making a diversion in their favor; and there
remained nothing to aid them but the Parliament and Central Power of
Frankfort; they were appealed to on all hands; but what did they do?
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