The Punctation of Olmütz (German: Olmützer Punktation), also called the Agreement of Olmütz, was a treaty between Prussia and Austria, dated 29 November 1850, by which Prussia abandoned the Erfurt Union and accepted the revival of the German Confederation under Austrian leadership.[1]
The treaty was the result of a conference held in Olmütz (Olomouc) in the Austrian Margraviate of Moravia. It is also known as the "humiliation of Olmütz", as the treaty was seen by many as a capitulation of the Prussians to the Austrians. The reason for the treaty was a conflict between Prussia and Austria about the leadership in the German Confederation. The confederation, dominated by Austria, had been dissolved in the Revolutions of 1848 and partially succeeded by the Frankfurt Assembly. After the Frankfurt Assembly failed, Prussia in early 1850 had taken the initiative of the Erfurt Union, a Prussia-led federation of most German states.
A conflict between the Electoral Prince of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and his subjects was the cause for the Austrian chancellor Felix zu Schwarzenberg to further isolate Prussia. Austrian and allied armies advanced into Electoral Hesse. On 8 November 1850, the Prussian army had come close to war with Bavaria (an ally of Austria) near Fulda-Bronnzell. Prussia decided thereupon to give in. This development had occurred also because Czar Nicholas I of Russia had chosen the side of Austria in the Warsaw negotiations in October 1850. In the Punctation, Prussia gave up its claim for the leadership of the German states. At the same time the German Confederation was restored. Prussia submitted to Austria leadership of the confederation, agreed to demobilise; agreed to partake in the intervention of the German Diet in Hesse and Holstein; and renounced any resumption of her union policy (abandoning the idea of the Erfurt Union).
References
edit- ^ Taylor The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of Germany since 1815, p. 101 (Chapter 5).
Category:1850 in Austria
Category:1850 treaties
Category:Olomouc
Category:Treaties of the Austrian Empire
Category:Treaties of the Kingdom of Prussia