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| 1854–56 |
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| THE CRIMEAN WAR weakened Austria's international position and ruined finances through prolonged mobilization. | 1 |
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| 1855, Aug. 18 |
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| Concordat gave the Catholic Church extensive power as the state religion. Jurisdiction on matrimonial questions of all those baptized as Catholics was moved from secular to ecclesiastical courts. In education, the church also had the right to ensure that courses other than religion classes did not conflict with church doctrine and could censor any publication it believed to be dangerous to Catholics. | 2 |
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| 1859, April 29–July 6 |
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| War with France and Piedmont (See 1859, March 8) ended because of financial difficulties and fear of revolt in Hungary. The government was forced to abandon the Bach system. | 3 |
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| 1860, Jan. 6–10, Feb. 18 |
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| Austrian Jews were allowed to own real estate; oppressive laws were annulled. | 4 |
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| 1860–61 |
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| Constitutional reforms. The emperor enlarged the Reichsrat (March 5, 1860), appointing some Magyars, Croats, and Serbs. The October Diploma (Oct. 20, 1860) extended limited legislative powers to this Reichsrat and decreed that its members would be selected by the diets in each land. The February Patent (Feb. 26, 1861) established a bicameral legislature with an upper house of aristocrats with hereditary seats and members appointed by the king for life. The lower house consisted of members elected by state diets, but the reforms favored the German bourgeoisie. | 5 |
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| 1861, April 8 |
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| Civil and political rights were granted to Protestants. | 6 |
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| April 29 |
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| The Reichsrat met, but Magyars, Croatians, and Italians boycotted it. The Hungarian Parliament called for recognition of the Hungarian constitution of 1848. The government continued to try to rule with this rump Reichsrat until the government suspended the constitution (Sept. 21, 1865). | 7 |
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