A career diplomat, Schwarzenberg joined the army of Field-Marshal Joseph Radetzky on the outbreak of the Revolutions of 1848. He persuaded the ageing Ferdinand I to abdicate in favour of his nephew, Francis I. Opposed to granting autonomy to Austria’s many states, Schwarzenberg drew up a constitution (1849) that transformed the Habsburg empire into a unitary, centralized, and absolutist state with strengthened imperial powers. The Hungarian nationalist uprising was crushed (1849) with Russian aid, and Habsburg supremacy was restored in northern Italy. He secured the revival of a strengthened German Confederation, which maintained a precarious balance of power with Prussia.