Stalled Compromises
The negotiations had broken down, and the compromises continued to run on parallel tracks. Hungary's persistent opposition was obvious. If autonomy expanded for the Austro-Slavs starting with Bohemia, the next in line wouldn't be preserving the privileges of the Hungarian nobility—it would be erasing any reason for them to be nobility at all. Unlike Vienna, Prague, or Milan, Hungary was still an agrarian nation, with noble power built on land and peasants. And the fact that most of those peasants were Slavs was the problem. The real issue was that they thought I didn't know, just because they weren't telling me outright.
Part of me wants to just blurt it out myself. But rumors of the empress meddling in politics wouldn't do, so I held my tongue.
"Your Majesty, the breeze feels especially gentle today. How about a short rest at the pavilion?"
I nodded and set out for a walk. When I went out alone, even Franz Joseph didn't approach first.
"...Are you really going out like that?"
"Pardon?"
The new maid must not have heard my reputation yet.
"Lady Kinsky, how about switching to shoes with lower heels, even now?"
With Mother's former maids pushed aside, there were far too many newcomers.
"Let's go."
Aside from Hunyadi, Ida, and Königseck, you could say they'd all been replaced.
The summer weather in Bad Ischl was refreshingly cool. Sunlight filtering through the trees. Ripples on the pond stirred by the wind. The calm surface blended sky and branches—
"Let's head back."
It was suffocating.
*
"Hmm, I suspect a fractured rib."
No wonder it felt so tight. Schoda removed his stethoscope and calmly diagnosed me with a fractured rib. Königseck paled and asked,
"What caused it? His Majesty seemed perfectly fine even this morning."
"Postpartum rib fractures aren't uncommon. The fact that it's the first issue so far is proof of Her Majesty's robust constitution."
Schoda reassured me it was no big deal. But how could I feel reassured...? It meant I was getting old, my stamina finally giving out.
"Guess the Bavaria trip's canceled."
At least I could ditch that stifling corset until it healed—maybe I should think positive. All the official events right before the compromise and tedious audiences could be postponed on recovery grounds. I could just chat with Franz Joseph and offer advice like now.
Sacrificing one rib for freedom? Pretty good deal, right? Nothing safer than the image of a frail empress.
Ah...!
"No riding, of course."
My one remaining hobby I actually poured affection into. Not that I'd meant to ask about that anyway.
While Schoda organized his diagnosis notes, I leaned back against the bed and asked,
"Schoda, are you investing in Bohemia lately?"
Rumors had reached me that he was scouting factory sites.
"If you're referring to Emil, he's my nephew."
Ah, nephew.
"If it's your nephew, I can take an interest."
"It's an honor, but what he does won't benefit Your Majesty."
"Favor isn't doled out based on utility."
Schoda, who threw himself into charity work in Vienna while juggling grueling schedules as a university professor and imperial physician, could handle this much help. If anything, he deserved a medal.
"We're still just scouting factory sites. Right now, he's chief mechanical engineer at Count Baltštáin's factory."
"Count Baltštáin's factory... that means heavy industry."
He had sugar refineries and breweries too, but as chief engineer, it was likely steam engines and railway parts.
"Your Majesty knows your stuff."
"After the war with Prussia, His Majesty the Emperor took a deep interest in that field."
"It's small-scale for now, but Emil wants to build a bigger factory using techniques he learned in Prussia."
"A bigger factory—don't Bohemian textile mills need machines, not just cotton?"
Reasons to invest in Emil Schoda were easy to find.
"We're just planning and refining the tech at this stage."
That's why I valued Schoda. He could leverage the empress's influence for more, but he didn't—that restraint was reason enough.
"Don't misunderstand. Better machines for Bohemian subjects mean more cloth produced, more jobs created. All for the empire. Next time, I'd like to meet your nephew too."
Schoda couldn't break my stubbornness and bowed his head.
"I shall remember, Your Majesty."
Shortly after Schoda left, Franz Joseph opened the door and appeared. I dismissed all the maids, leaving us alone.
"Sisi, are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
A little crack in a rib—what's the big deal?
"Did you talk with Andrássy?"
Franz Joseph pulled up a chair near the bed and muttered listlessly as he sat.
"Even the count can't ignore pressure from the magnates. He might agree with me personally, but at the table, he's just parroting their line like a parrot."
"Demanding preservation of St. Stephen's Crown territories?"
"Not preservation. In there, it's them playing emperor."
Franz Joseph furrowed his brow. Oh, my husband looks so worn out.
I gently massaged his furrowed brow with my fingertip.
"How far are they pushing?"
"Still demanding recognition of the April Constitution based on the Pragmatic Sanction."
"Should we delay our compromise a bit more?"
"Delay?"
"If even Vienna can't speak with one voice, why expect Hungary to?"
The hardline stance now came solely from the magnates. And those magnates were the ringleaders of the '48 revolution.
"The Pragmatic Sanction means a contractual relation with Hungary, not limiting your imperial authority."
The biggest clash between Vienna and Hungary was the 1713 Pragmatic Sanction. Hungary cited clauses against the king infringing on noble privileges and the constitution; Vienna countered it was mere compensation for throne approval, not limiting absolute imperial power. The April Constitution to begin with...
"Forcing the late emperor to sign it—what's that different from Cromwell or the Jacobins?"
Franz Joseph took my hand and sighed. He must be really stressed.... No wonder Britain and France love it. Feels like brotherhood when they make constitutions the same way, right? Ever see the US accept the Articles of Confederation? Why should Korea uphold North Korea's constitution? If it had succeeded, it'd be a revolution; they were just failed rebels. The problem was those rebels made up half the empire.
"Even after the Olmütz Constitution made it moot, they cling so stubbornly—it chokes me."
There was already a new constitution? ...So they're just imperial subjects who don't follow the constitution.
"Yosha, what if we try passive resistance too?"
"What do you mean?"
"Infrastructure improvements are on hold now, right?"
"No taxes coming in."
"Protection from crime requires taxes too, doesn't it?"
"Sisi."
Franz Joseph shook his head.
"Slavic nationalism might harden further."
Pressuring the magnates would hurt the peasants, risking ethnic issues exploding again—too risky. But though he said that, Franz Joseph favored Bohemia. A strange favoritism. He cherished Croatia to check Hungary, supported the Banat Serbs under the table, but not like Bohemia.
"You crowned that Slav too."
"Not at separationist levels like Hungary."
That's why I didn't push him to wear the Hungarian crown. Other places got coronations under centralization pretexts, but what nerve did Hungary have?
Italian revenues held steady, the Prussian war ended in a draw, and he still kept the German Confederation presidency.
But without Hungary, the empire can't hold.
That's why Franz Joseph extended the olive branch first.
"If I knew any friendly magnates, I'd help."
Deák wasn't a magnate to begin with, and Andrássy, though one, had lost influence in Hungary after fleeing post-revolution.
"Andrássy said we don't need him anymore, so the magnates are pushing harder...."
Franz Joseph drew me into a light embrace.
"Have all my efforts to protect the empire only divided it, Sisi?"
I patted his back.
"You're doing great."
Barring hypnotizing the Hungarians, I didn't expect a quick fix.
"Still, no dual monarchy like they want. Their parliament meddling in Vienna's is obvious."
It looked equal on the surface, but when the Austrian government tried expanding Bohemian autonomy, Hungary branded it empire-splitting and opposed. The biggest case was Hungarian delegates pressuring to kill Austrian constitutional reforms.
I pulled back and met his eyes.
"Yosha, we yielded to them—not the other way around. You don't need to let them sway you."
That night, I heard the Austro-Hungarian compromise had ultimately collapsed.