Treaty of Vienna (1866)

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This article is about the Treaty of Vienna of 1866. For other treaties, see Treaty of Vienna (disambiguation).
Treaty of Vienna
TypePeace Treaty
Signed3 October 1866
LocationVienna, Austria
Signatories
Ratifiers
  •  Austrian Empire
  •  Kingdom of Italy

The 1866 Treaty of Vienna was an agreement signed on 3 October 1866 and ratified on 12 October by the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire that concluded the hostilities of the Third War of Italian Independence,[1] a theatre of the concurrent Austro-Prussian War.

The treaty confirmed the terms of 12 August

sixth great power of Europe.[1]

Background

Nice and Savoy in pink, the land given to France by Piedmont within the current French borders.

Since 1848 Italian nationalist societies[2] and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia[3] had been trying to unify the post-Napoleonic Italian states into a single Italian nation. The main obstacle to Italian Unification was the Habsburg monarchy, which directly or indirectly controlled much of Italy[4] and was actively invested in keeping Italy divided.[2]  To overcome Austrian military might Piedmont (then Italy from 1861) would need to rely on foreign intervention by other European nations to overcome Austria. To this end the Piedmontese Prime Minister, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, forged an alliance with France, agreeing to turn over the French speaking province of Savoy and the province of Nice to France in exchange for military support against Austria.[4] This support would be vital to Italian success in the Second War of Italian Unification, which resulted in the Austrians ceding Lombardy to Piedmont.

In mid-June 1866 war broke out between Austria and

Schleswig and Holstein and the future of the German Confederation.[5] Italy took advantage of the situation by siding with Prussia in the conflict, declaring war on Austria on 20 June. The Italian government hoped that the ongoing Austro-Prussian campaign would allow their armies to flank the Austrian forces, seizing Venice, Friuli, Trentino, and Trieste with little difficulty. Austrian forces defeated the Italian Army at the Battle of Custoza[1] and the Italian Navy at Battle of Lissa;[6] however, in the meantime, Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers had advanced in the direction of Trento in the invasion of Trentino, winning the battle of Bezzecca. Later, the Habsburgs were forced to seek an armistice with Italy due to the collapse of their northern armies following the decisive Battle of Sadowa and the rapid Prussian advance into Bohemia and towards Vienna. On 12 August, an armistice was signed by Austria and Italy at Cormons bringing an end to the fighting.[1]

Provisions of the Treaty

The land ceded to France by Austria per the terms of the treaty shown in Dark Blue. Later incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy following a plebiscite.

During the negotiations of the treaty, Austria agreed to surrender the land of the former

plebiscite to let the population express their will about being annexed or not to the Kingdom of Italy;[10] this was held on 21 and 22 October, and the result was overwhelmingly in support of joining Italy.[11][6]
The treaty also forced Italy to pay a cash indemnity for each Austrian fort present in Venetia, as well as requiring them to assume the state debt Venetia had accumulated while under Austrian control.
Iron Crown of Lombardy, the crown used by the medieval Kings of Lombardy
.

Consequences of the Treaty

For Austria the Treaty of Vienna and the concurrent Treaty of Prague with Prussia were national humiliations, one Austrian general remarked ‘that we [Austria] have sunk to the level of Turkey’.[1] As a result of the twin defeat to both Prussia and Italy the Austrian government incurred a massive state debt, throwing the government into turmoil. With the Empire on the brink of collapse the Viennese government was forced to partake in the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise, which forced the Austrian government to grant significant autonomy to the Hungarian portion of the Empire. This resulted in the Empire being renamed as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and brought about greater equality between Hungarian and German speaking peoples of the Empire.[1] With the loss of Venetia Austrian influence on the Italian Peninsula established by the Congress of Vienna was brought to an end. All this combined reinforced the idea that Austria had become a second-rate great power.

The treaty brought the Italian state greater prestige and elevated its diplomatic position in Europe as a great power. However, due to Italy’s poor performance in the war Austria was able to retain several strategic mountains passes and mountain peaks in the Alps. This would have serious strategic implications for Italy during the First World War when fighting on the Alpine Front against Austria.[1]

Italian Unification

Giuseppe Garibaldi leading Italian soldiers in the Battle of Bezzecca, in modern day Trentino-Alto Adige.

The Treaty of Vienna was a major milestone for the Unification of Italy, bringing Venice and the Veneto into the Italian State. After the war the Italian King,

Victor Emmanuel, proclaimed that ‘Italy was made but not complete’.[12]
Although the treaty secured Venetia for Italy, sects of the Italian government and many Italian nationalists, including
Fascist Italy occupied the Dalmatian coast, an acquisition that was reversed following the end of the Second World War
.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-521-56059-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  2. ^ a b Berkeley, G. F.-H. (1932). Italy in the Making 1815 to 1846. Bently House, 200 Euston Road, London, N.W.1: Cambridge University Press. p. 10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ Guilherme, de Oliveira. "Extractive states: The case of the Italian unification". International Review of Law & Economics. December 2018, Vol.56: 144 – via Science Direct.
  4. ^ a b Salvadori, Massimo (1861). Cavour and the Unification of Italy. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. pp. 74–76.
  5. ISBN 9781440855993
    .
  6. ^ a b King, Bolton (1912). History of Italian Unity 1814-1871 Volume II. Edinburgh: Ballantyne Press & Co. p. 299.
  7. ^ A. Samonà (1932). L'irredentismo nelle lotte politiche e nelle contese diplomatiche italo-austriache. Vol. I: 1866-1882. Bologna: Zanichelli. pp. 5–8.
  8. OCLC 86075148
    .
  9. ISBN 978-88-548-1733-3
    .
  10. ^ Full text of "A Monograph on Plebiscites: With a Collection of Official Documents"
  11. ^ Cronaca della nuova guerra d'Italia del 1866. 1866. pp. 573–574.
  12. ISBN 9781315846293
    .
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