May Conspiracy
Encyclopedia
May Conspiracy was an unsuccessful attempt of radical democrats in the Czech lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...

 to overthrow the government of Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 in 1849.

In 1844 group of Czech Radical Democrats (which included both Czechs and Czech Germans) formed a secret political club "Repeal" (named after mass Irish movement to repeal the Act of Union from 1800
Act of Union 1800
The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...

). Among the leaders were Josef Václav Frič, Karel Sabina
Karel Sabina
Karel Sabina , was a Czech writer and journalist.- Life :...

, Karel Sladkovský, Emanuel Arnold and Vilém Gauč. The club attracted radical students and local intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...

 and remained active after revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...

 were suppressed.

Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...

, a Russian Pan Slavic revolutionary, visited Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 in March 1849 and suggested to organize armed uprising in Prague and several German speaking cities as a response to post-1848 political reaction. Date of the uprising was set on May 12, 1849 but due to amateurish organization police took the organizers into custody on the night of May 9/10.

Prague and few towns were put under state of emergency (also called "the siege", stav obležení), press was put under censorship by military and a military commission was established up to investigate the conspiracy. The emergency was lifted only on September 1, 1853. 79 young radicals were sentenced to prison, most of them being released as in general amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...

on May 8, 1857.
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