Slavic people had resisted foreign influence in their internal affairs for as long as anyone can remember. Understanding this leads to a greater understanding of why World War I happened, and therefore today’s world. This article describes Prague’s Pentecostal Uprising in 1848 to help put some things into context.

Background

At the end of the Thirty Years’ War, the peace of Westphalia had laid down an important principle: Rulers had exclusive sovereignty over their own lands and their people. In other words, no one could interfere in your country.

I’ve written about the Thirty Years’ War and how it shaped modern Europe.

This was an important point for peace, but it led to the next question: how do you define “land” and “ruler”?

The 19th century Napoleonic wars changed Europe as much as the Thirty Years’ War had in the 17th century. Prussia became an important geo-political force in Europe. Austria suffered a huge defeat in a war with Prussia and needed to reassert itself. A confederation of German states inherited what used to be the Holy Roman Empire.

The Empire, in other words, ruled over a large number of different people. Each had their own culture, traditions and language.  Why shouldn’t they have a say in how to rule themselves, they wondered?

I’ve written more about this confederation of German states and how it led to the Punctation of Olomouc.

The year of revolutions

In 1848 Europe saw many revolutions. The French revolution is the one everyone remembers but similar ones happened across the continent. A fairer society was the overall theme, together with self rule and liberty.

In Prague, the revolution took place between 12 and 17 June 1848¹.

The Czechs were prepared to live within a federal superstate provided they had autonomy over Bohemia^{1 2}. With a power vacuum in Vienna, the governor of Bohemia Leo Thun-Hohenstein seized the opportunity to declare provisional self-rule on 28 May 1848¹. He hoped to prevent a revolution because he could see the similarities between countries suffering revolutions and Bohemia – a poor underclass, high unemployment due to industrialisation, and a bourgeoisie democratic movement¹.

The governor of Prague was the hated Prince Alfred von Windischgrätz¹. He was a traditionalist, which is to say, he was in favour of absolute monarchy and against granting autonomy to any minority³.

On 7 June he provoked Prague by parading his troops around the city, and setting his artillery on hills around Prague^{1 3}. I can only imagine how fenced in Praguers must have felt at this stage. While the New Town walls had been demolished, large sections of it were still in place in 1848.

My walking guide to the lost New Town walls will show you where they were.

As a result, residents were either claustrophobically walled in, or faced artillery in places like the top of modern-day Wenceslas Square.

The Uprising

12 June 1848 was Whit Monday, the day after the Christian celebration of Pentecost. Nervous imperial troops were on high alert. After mass on the Horse market (modern day Wenceslas Square) people formed a procession and headed towards nearby Celetna Street where the Provincial Military Headquarters was based³. They were confronted by the military^{1 2}.

Soldiers – 10,000 strong – attacked and stabbed the crowd using their bayonets¹. This was all the people needed to revolt against their rulers. They put up 400 barricades around the city to prevent the army from taking control³. They defended their positions with no more than 3 000 guns¹. Heavily outnumbered, the rebels continued fighting until the early hours of 13 June when the governor ordered heavy artillery into the squares to support his soldiers^{1 3}.

The army managed to gain control of Nově Aleje, which is modern day Narodni street. It coincides with the Old Town Walls of Prague and shows how fenced in the rebels were. The army marched across the Chain bridge and set up their positions on the left-bank of Prague^{1 3}. The insurgents defended the Old Town between the Karolinum and the Klementinum^{1 3}. It took the army a further 2 days to withdraw completely from the Old Town. When they did, they used heavy artillery to shell the rebels, forcing them to surrender^{1 3}.

Altogether 43 rebels died in the process, with 60 wounded³ – all apprentices, construction and railway workers¹. Considering their inexperience with military tactics, its surprising there weren’t more casualties.

Aftermath

Newspapers reported this as a struggle of nationalities against Germans which was unfair¹. This fake news can’t have helped the situation. The various ethnic Slavic peoples in the region continued to work for autonomy but this was always refused.

This sense of Germans vs the rest of us persisted till after World War I. It fuelled the sentiments which led to Germany annexing the Sudetenland before World War II.

Sixty years later the Archduke Franz Ferdinand sympathised with them but Vienna refused to consider this.

I wrote about Franz Ferdinand’s love for Bohemia and his life near Prague at Konopiste castle.

Alternate History

It seems obvious now but if the House of Hapsburg had agreed to an autonomous federal superstate, the revolutionary Black Hand wouldn’t have existed. Without them, neither World War I nor, arguably, would World War II have happened.

I let you imagine what would have happened in that case and what kind of world we would be living in today.

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Share this with people who question self-autonomy in the Middle East today

References

1. Prague June uprising; Encyclopedia of 1848 revolutions; (Retrieved 2019-07-23) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. The course of German history, a survey of the development of Germany since 1815; Taylor, A. J. P; Taylor, A. J. P. (Alan John Percivale); 1945[↩][↩]
3. Prague 1848 – 1918 Exhibition; City of Prague Museum; (As witnessed by author 2018-07-15) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.