There was no fear now lest the other Powers interfere.  Each Continental monarch was over-busy at home.  Rebellion was everywhere.  Every one of the lesser German States secured a constitution; and the inhabitants summoned those of Prussia and Austria to join them in establishing a single central government, either republic or empire, a “United Germany.”  On March 18th the Prussian capital, Berlin, was the seat of a savage street battle between citizens and the royal troops.  Not until it had raged all day and upward of two hundred persons had been slain did the Prussian monarch, Frederick William IV, weaken and proclaim a constitution. [Footnote:  See Revolutionary Movements in Germany.]

Austria, the stronghold of autocracy, the land of Prince Metternich, high-priest of repression, had proven as little ready as her neighbors to withstand the sudden storm.  On March 13th the people of Vienna rose in most unexpected revolt, and Metternich, escaping from the city in a washerwoman’s cart, fled to England.  “We were prepared for everything,” he lamented, “but a democratic pope.”

The whole heterogeneous empire of Austria seemed to fall apart at once.  The Hungarians rose in arms to fight for independence.  The Bohemians expelled the Austrian troops from Prague.  In Italy the Northern Provinces followed the example set them in the South.  The people of Milan attacked the Austrian garrison and expelled it after four days of fighting.  Venice reasserted her ancient independence.  The King of Piedmont and Sardinia, declaring himself the champion of Italian unity, ordered the Austrian armies to leave the country, and marched his forces against them.  The other little States hastened to accept his leadership and add their troops to his.

Yet against all these difficulties the military power of the Austrian Government began to make determined headway.  The Bohemians were crushed by force of arms.  In Italy the Austrian general-in-chief withdrew slowly before his many foes, until his Government could reenforce him.  Then he turned on them, completely defeated the Sardinian King at Custozza and the next year at Novara, and therby restored Austrian supremacy in Northern Italy.

Meanwhile Rome, from which Pius IX had fled in horror, proclaimed itself a republic.  Mazzini, the earliest hero of Italian unity, and Garibaldi, its greatest champion, were both members of the Government.  The Austrians marched against them; but French troops had also been despatched to defend the Pope, and it was the French who, first reaching Rome, stormed and captured it.  The republic was overthrown by a republic. [Footnote:  See Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic.] Venice was the last Italian city to hold out, and surrendered to the Austrians only after a siege of many months had reduced it to starvation.

The Austrian revolution had also collapsed at home.  In October, 1848, Government troops stormed the city of Vienna as if it had been a foreign capital, and defeated the students and citizens, who fought the soldiers from street to street.