Editing Vienna Uprising (section)

{{Short description|1848 Austrian Revolution uprising}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
[[File:RB-Hinrichtung.jpeg|thumb|280px|''Execution of [[Robert Blum]]'', painting by [[Carl Steffeck]]]]
The '''Vienna Uprising''' or '''October Revolution''' ({{langx|de|Wiener Oktoberaufstand}}, or {{lang|de|Wiener Oktoberrevolution}}) of October 1848 was the last uprising in the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire#Revolution in the Austrian lands|Austrian Revolution of 1848]].

On 6 October 1848, as the troops of the [[Austrian Empire]] were preparing to leave [[Vienna]] to suppress the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|Hungarian Revolution]], a crowd sympathetic to the Hungarian cause (of workers, students and mutinous soldiers) tried to prevent them from leaving. The incident escalated into violent street battles; blood was spilt in [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna|Saint Stephen's Cathedral]] and [[Theodor Franz, Count Baillet von Latour|Count Baillet von Latour]], the Austrian Minister of War, was [[lynching|lynched]] by the crowd. The commander of the Vienna garrison, [[Prince Adolf of Auersperg|Count Auersperg]], was obliged to evacuate the city, but he entrenched himself in a strong position outside it.<ref>{{ws|[[Carl Schurz]], ''[[s:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz|The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz]]'' (3 vols.), v. 1, [[s:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz/Volume One/06 Darkening Prospects—Resisting the Reaction|chap. VI]], p. 153}}</ref>

The Austrian Empire became familiar with Emperors and Foreign Ministers coming in and out of administration. The first victim to the Revolutions of 1848 was Klemens von Metternich, who resigned as the Foreign Minister on March 13, 1848. On 7 October, Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria|Ferdinand I]] fled with his court to [[Olomouc|Olmütz]] under the protection of [[Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz]]. Two weeks later, the [[Imperial Diet (Austria)|Austrian Parliament]] was moved to [[Kroměříž|Kremsier]].

On 26 October, under the command of General Windisch-Grätz and Count [[Josip Jelačić]], the Austrian and Croatian armies started a bombardment of Vienna, and they stormed the city centre on the 31st. The defence was led by the Polish General [[Józef Bem]]. Except for him, who managed to escape, all the leaders of the resistance were executed in the days following—including [[Wenzel Messenhauser]], the journalist [[Alfred Julius Becher]], [[Hermann Jellinek]] and the Radical member of parliament [[Robert Blum]], even though he had [[parliamentary immunity]].

The gains of the March Revolution were largely lost, and Austria began a phase of both reactionary authoritarianism—"[[neo-absolutism]]"—but also liberal reform.