om Bohemia]

[Sidenote: Assault on Vienna]

[Sidenote: Arrival of Hungarians]

[Sidenote: Battle of the Schwechat]

As soon as the news of these events reached Jellacic he evacuated his
threatened positions on the banks of the Raab and marched for Vienna.
Windischgraetz, with his garrison, set out from Prague. Revolutionists of
all races flocked into Vienna. Among them were the German delegates Froebel
and Blum, and the Polish general, Bem. The Hungarians pursued Jellacic no
further than their frontier. The regiments expelled from Vienna, under the
command of Count Auersperg, joined forces with Jellacic. The insurgents at
Vienna manned their fortifications as well as they could, and called upon
the people throughout Austria to take up arms. Emperor Ferdinand, at
Olmuetz, offset this by an imperial proclamation to his people in which he
guaranteed all peasant rights. Prince Windischgraetz was created a field
marshal, with full command over all the forces in the empire, except those
under Radetzky in Italy. Windischgraetz took immediate steps to effect a
junction with Jellacic by seizing the bridges at Krems and Stein. In vain
did the delegates from Frankfort, who now appeared upon the scene, present
their offer of intervention. Windischgraetz would not listen to them. On
October 23, the Austrian army, 80,000 strong, appeared before Vienna. The
defence of the city had been intrusted to Captain Messenhauser, an officer
of the regular army, and to General Bem. Robert Blum, the German
Parliamentarian, fought in the ranks. While Windischgraetz was wasting his
time in parleys, an army of 18,000 Hungarians crossed the frontier and
threatened Jellacic's rear. On October 28, twenty-four hours after the time
fixed in Windischgraetz's last ultimatum, he began his assault on the city.
In the course of an all-day fight the troops succeeded in taking the
suburbs. The scenes of that night were frightful. The troops bivouacked on
the ramparts. The following Sunday was spent in further parleys. Already
the terms of capitulation had been settled, when Messenhauser, from the top
of the church of St. Stephen, made out the approaching columns of the
Hungarians. The news of their arrival was signalled to the city by a column
of smoke rising from the top of the tower. All negotiations for surrender
were dropped. The Hungarians attacked Jellacic on the banks of the
Schwechat, within a few leagues of the capital. The boom of their artillery
c