!!!Märzrevolution

March Revolution, the first in a series of risings generally referred 
to as the Austrian  Revolution of 1848. Crowds of people spontaneously 
protested against the oppressive regime enforced by Metternich in 
Vienna during the  Vormaerz. In the first days of March 1848 the Lower 
Austrian Association of Tradesmen sent a petition to the imperial 
government in which they asked for a democratization of the system. 
This petition was followed by a number of others framed by the Vienna 
Association of Publishers, the "Juridisch-politischer Leseverein" (an 
association of liberal minded, educated members of the upper middle 
classes), by the citizens themselves and by students (on March 12, 
1848). People demanded participation in government matters, the 
administration of justice in open court, trial by jury, municipal 
self-government, a full emancipation of the peasants (which included a 
clear title to their land without obligation of service to their 
lords), the stipulation of the fundamental rights of Austrian 
citizens, the abolition of censorship, freedom of the press, freedom 
of teaching, freedom of learning, the expulsion of the Jesuits and 
equal treatment of the members of all denominations. Since the 
imperial government did not react to these petitions, students and 
university professors decided to take to the streets on March 13, the 
day when a session was held by the representatives of the Estates. The 
students forced their entry into the Lower Austrian Landhaus in 
Vienna. The physician A. Fischof addressed the assembly and negotiated 
with the representatives of the Estates. Workers from the suburbs 
courageously joined the students in their rising. On the afternoon of 
March 13, the Commander of the Vienna Army, Archduke Albrecht, ordered 
his soldiers to crush the revolt, which led to bloodshed and claimed 
numerous victims among the insurgent masses. Thereupon people armed 
themselves and erected barricades; they set fire to factories in the 
suburbs and destroyed machinery. This time the crown reacted at once 
to the demands of the population. Metternich was forced to resign and 
had to flee abroad in disguise. On the next day the citizens of Vienna 
formed a  National Guard while the students founded the  Akademische 
Legion; members of these two paramilitary forces formed a joint 
committee which represented the revolutionary democratic power in the 
months to follow. Forced to calm his subjects, the emperor abolished 
censorship, passed liberal laws concerning the press and promised the 
drafting of a liberal constitution. The Police Minister, J.  
Sedlnitzky and the Mayor of Vienna, I.  Czapka, had to resign; the 
mortal remains of the victims of March 13 were appropriately buried 
(sermon held by the army chaplain, A. Fuester; memorial set up in the 
Vienna Zentralfriedhof cemetery). The Vienna revolution of March 13 
triggered off similar risings at Venice (March 17) and Milan (March 
18), as well as the  Sardinian War. Revolts in Austria were limited to 
the territory around Vienna (except for some small risings at Graz).

!Literature
A. Becher, Album der Maerzereignisse in Wien, 1848; W. 
Haeusler, Von der Massenarmut zur Arbeiterbewegung, 1979; G. 
Pfeisinger, Die Revolution von 1848 in Graz, 1986.


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