Gastein Convention
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Type | Treaty |
---|---|
Signed | 14 August 1865 |
Location | Bad Gastein, Salzburg, Austria |
Signatories | Austrian Empire Kingdom of Prussia |
The Gastein Convention (German: Gasteiner Konvention), also called the Convention of Badgastein, was a treaty signed at Bad Gastein in Austria on 14 August 1865.[1] It embodied agreements between the two principal powers of the German Confederation, Prussia and Austria, over the governing of the 'Elbe Duchies' of Schleswig, Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg.
Background
The Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein had been united under
When in 1858 the Danish national liberal Council President Carl Christian Hall drafted the 'November Constitution' in order to link Schleswig more closely to the Danish kingdom, he sparked German protests, and troops of the German Confederation eventually occupied Holstein and Lauenburg in 1863. In the following Second Schleswig War, Denmark was defeated and according to the Treaty of Vienna signed on 30 October 1864 had to cede the Elbe Duchies to victorious Prussia and Austria.
After the war, the two powers faced the issue of governing the provinces formerly held by the Danish royal House of Glücksburg in personal union. Prussia aimed at the annexation of the territories as provinces with her state territory, against the strong resistance of the Austrians, who persisted on the status of autonomous duchies of the Confederation ruled as a condominium. To ease tensions, the Prussian minister-president Otto von Bismarck met with the Austrian envoy Gustav von Blome at the spa town of Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps.
Content
In the negotiations, the administration of the gained territories was split between the two powers: Prussia would rule over Schleswig and Austria over Holstein. Austria would officially renounce Saxe-Lauenburg, which would be ruled by the Prussian king in personal union for a purchase price of 2.5 million Danish rigsdalers.
The eleven articles of the agreement signed on 14 August 1865 covered:
- abandoning the shared administration (condominium) of Schleswig and Holstein
- Prussian control of Schleswig
- Austrian control of Holstein (which was sandwiched between Schleswig to the north and Prussian Lauenburg to the south)[1]
- the Prussian crown purchasing Austria's right to Lauenburg
- Prussian transit rights on military roads through Holstein to Schleswig
- Prussian rights to construct a canal and a telegraph-line through Holstein to Schleswig
- setting up a German Confederation Navy
- designating a headquarters for the proposed navy at Kiel in Holstein under Prussian sovereignty
- designating Rendsburg as a Fortress of the German Confederation.
The treaty was ratified by both parties on 19 August. King William I of Prussia went on to rule Lauenburg in personal union and assumed the ducal title.
Aftermath
Bismarck's negotiation skills had apparently been underestimated by Blome. Though Prussia benefitted from the treaty, the minister-president noted that the 'bonding of cracks' did not answer the
The Gastein Convention marked the end of all attempts to seek a peaceful solution of the German question. It soon collapsed due to Bismarck's successful efforts to provoke a war with the Austrian Empire as well as to eliminate Austria from the German Confederation. The Austrian government had tolerated the rule of Duke
The
References
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