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The Academic Legion () was a military organization formed by university students in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
during the
Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
. It played a key role in toppling the government of Clemens Metternich and precipitating his retirement on 13 March 1848. The Legion dissolved in October 1848 when the Vienna Uprising was crushed.


History

The Legion, formed in 1848, was composed of about 6,000 university students. Although students were well represented in the revolutionary vanguard of most cities affected by the revolution during this time, nowhere had the university students played so important and prominent a part in the revolutionary movement as in Vienna. The students exercised a preponderant influence in the “central committee,” the administrative body of the revolutionaries, which consisted of an equal number of students and members of the citizens' militia. Deputations of citizens and peasants came from all parts of
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
to present their grievances and petitions to the "Aula", the headquarters of the students, which had suddenly risen as an authority omnipotent in the opinion of the multitude. When the imperial ministry was about to promulgate a new press law, which abolished the censorship but still contained many restrictions, its chief, Franz von Pillersdorf, requested the students to express their judgment about that law. And on 15 May 1848 the students, at the head of the revolutionaries, obligated the government to revoke the constitution it had imposed, and to promise the convocation of a constituent assembly to formulate a new constitution. The students successfully fended off various attempts of the government to dissolve their organization. They compelled the ministry to agree to the removal of the soldiery from the city of Vienna and to the formation of a committee of public safety, which was to consist principally of the members of the students' organization. So independent and so comprehensive a power was confided to it that in several important respects it was the equal of the ministry. Without its consent, for instance, no military force should be employed in the city. Thus it might have been said without much exaggeration that for a certain time the students of Vienna governed Austria. In his ''Reminiscences'', Carl Schurz describes the uniforms of the Academic Legion worn by the Viennese representatives at the Eisenach Student Conference of 25 September - 4 October 1848: News of events which would develop into the end of the Legion's domination of Austrian politics came during the course of this conference. In the face of the reports they received, the Viennese representatives returned home. The imperial government had dispatched troops to
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
to quell disturbances there. In response, the Viennese revolutionaries took to the streets. They lynched the imperial minister of war, Theodor Franz, Count Baillet von Latour, and drove government troops under Count Auersperg from the city. On 23 October, Austrian field marshal Alfred Windischgrätz arrived with a large body of reenforcements, and by 31 October the rebellion was crushed, the Legion members having all fled or been killed or captured.


List of members

* Joseph Matthäus Aigner * Hans Balatka * Adolf Fischhof * Robert Hamerling * Friedrich Hassaurek * Eduard Lasker It is debated whether Oswald Ottendorfer was involved or not.


See also

* Vienna Uprising * Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{Authority control Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire 19th century in Vienna 1848 in the Austrian Empire Student politics 1848 establishments in the Austrian Empire 1848 disestablishments in the Austrian Empire Military history of Vienna