ould be plainly heard in Vienna. In a frenzy of enthusiasm the Viennese
resumed the struggle. A corps of students attempted a sortie. Unfortunately
for them, the engagement on the banks of the Schwechat turned against the
Hungarians. Shortly after noon they gave way all along the line and fell
back toward Hungary. On the ramparts of Vienna the hopeless fight of a few
thousand civilians against an army of 90,000 men was continued until
nightfall. At six in the evening the troops broke into the city.

[Sidenote: Fall of Vienna]

[Sidenote: Stadion's Ministry]

[Sidenote: Abdication of Ferdinand]

On the following day, November 1, Prince Windischgraetz declared Vienna
under military law. All arms had to be delivered within forty-eight hours.
Arrests and courts-martial followed in profusion. Robert Blum was one of
the first to be shot. His colleague, Froebel, owed his life to a political
pamphlet signed with his name, in which he had defended the interests of
Austria against those of a united Germany. A new Ministry was installed,
under the leadership of the notorious Prince Felix Schwarzenberg and Count
Stadion. They announced their programme to be the maintenance of a strong
central government and the integrity of the Austrian Empire, with quick
suppression of the civil war in Hungary. A new Reichsrath was convoked at
the village of Kremsier, near Olmuetz. On December 2, it was announced that
Emperor Ferdinand had resolved to abdicate his throne. His brother,
Archduke Francis Charles, renounced the succession. The Archduke's son,
Francis Joseph, a youth of eighteen, was declared by a family council to
have attained his majority. In virtue of this he ascended the throne as
Emperor.

[Sidenote: Francis Joseph, Emperor]

[Sidenote: The war in Hungary]

The Hungarian Diet, on learning of this transfer of the crown, refused to
acknowledge Francis Joseph as King of Hungary. The whole nation was
summoned to arms. The command of the army was given to Goergey. His first
serious problem was a rising of the Roumanians in Transylvania against
Magyar rule. The Roumanian peasants committed all conceivable atrocities.
When they raised the standard of the Empire, the Austrian commander,
General Puchner, espoused their cause. Transylvania was lost to Hungary.
The Roumanians led by Puchner co-operated with Jellacic's forces in
Croatia, and moved on Hungary from that quarter. On December 15, the main
Austrian army, under Windischgrae