Federal War

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Federal War 1848: Federal troops or imperial troops in the Schleswig Aabenraa

A federal war was a war that was waged by the German Confederation . Although the federal government was not a nation state, according to the federal act it could declare wars and make peace. The decision about war and peace was incumbent on the German Bundestag and thus the member states that were represented in the Bundestag. The federal government did have an army , but that consisted of contingents from the member states. A federal general was only used in the event of war.

During the federal period, i.e. from 1815 to 1866, there was only one Federal War: In the First Schleswig-Holstein War (1848 to 1850 or 1851) federal troops fought against Denmark. Further armed conflicts of the era were legally not a federal war.

Regulations and measures

The federal government had the task of protecting its member states from foreign states, but also from other German states. In principle, the Vienna Final Act only provided for wars of defense (Art. 35). From the wording it was to be understood, however, that the defensive war could also be of a preventive or offensive nature. This should make it possible to ward off an imminent attack. The federal government forbade itself and its member states from wars of aggression. A member state was also not allowed to remain neutral, but at least had to help with the military means specified in the federal register. A federal law, the “ Federal War Constitution ”, determined more details about the military organization .

The federal government was able to react to conflicts by:

  • diplomatic support if a member state got into a conflict or if its rights were violated,
  • Defense measures, such as the mobilization of the armed forces, following a decision by the Bundestag Select Council,
  • the federal war, namely
    • as a preventive defense against an impending attack, which the plenum of the Bundestag decided with a two-thirds majority,
    • or as an automatically occurring state of war in the event of an attack on the federal territory.

Some member states such as Austria were only part of their national territory within the borders of the German Confederation. If there was a war, this was only considered a federal matter if the federal territory was actually affected. Otherwise the war was "foreign to the Federal Republic". However, the narrower council was able to decide with a majority that the federal territory was also threatened.

Delimitations

The theory thus separated non-federal wars from federal wars. In the event of an attack on the federal territory, the state of war automatically entered, otherwise a decision of the Bundestag was required. In reality, however, these distinctions can hardly be made. A European war would have blurred the dividing lines. If the Bundestag had waited until a war with Austrian or Prussian participation reached the federal borders, it might have been too late for an effective defense.

Federal execution and federal intervention were also to be distinguished from federal wars . A federal execution was directed against a member state that broke federal law or had to be disciplined in some other way (for example because of an attack on other member states). A federal intervention, on the other hand, came to the aid of the government of a member state when insurgents threatened order.

Armed conflicts

There was only one federal war in the history of the German Confederation. The Danish king was Duke of Schleswig and Duke of Holstein at the same time. According to the Ripener Treaty of 1460, the two duchies could not be separated from each other. In March 1848, however, the Danish king announced that Schleswig would be incorporated into the Kingdom of Denmark. A German government was formed in Holstein and asked the Bundestag for help. On April 4 and 12, 1848, resolutions of the Bundestag were passed which approved the defensive measures of the states in the 10th Federal Corps (Prussia and other states) and ordered the occupation of Schleswig. This is how the rights of Holstein, a federal member, should be defended.

The Bundestag ceased its activities in July 1848 , but its powers were taken over by the Provisional Central Authority . In December 1849, the Federal Central Commission took the place of the central authority . The Federal War ended on July 2, 1850 with a peace treaty that Prussia signed on behalf of the Confederation. The war itself lasted until 1851, but during this time the Schleswig-Holsteiners were on their own.

The Second Schleswig-Holstein War, the German-Danish War of 1864, however, was not a federal war. The Bundestag decided on a federal execution against the sovereign of Holstein (the Danish king). The war between Austria and Prussia against Denmark in the same year in which Schleswig was occupied, however, was legally an alien war.

The German War of 1866 was told from the perspective of Austria, simplified, a federal execution. More precisely, it was a “provisional measure” against unauthorized self-help (Art. 19 Vienna Final Act) by Prussia, which had seen its rights with regard to Holstein violated and therefore marched into Holstein. Prussia, on the other hand, considered the federation to be dissolved at that time and saw the military conflict as a war in the purely international legal sense.

The situation during the Crimean War is a special case . At that time, there was a real risk that Austria would get into a military conflict with Russia. On April 20, 1854, Austria and Prussia concluded a protection and defensive alliance that applied to the entire territories of these two states. The German Confederation joined this alliance (July 24th); On top of that, he decided (December 9th) that the Austrian troops in the Danube principalities also had to be protected. In the Sardinian War of 1859, however, Prussia prevented the determination that the federal territory was threatened. This war remained an alien dispute in which only Austria was involved on the German side.

See also

supporting documents

  1. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume I: Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830 . 2nd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1967, pp. 607/608.
  2. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume I: Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830 . 2nd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1967, p. 607.
  3. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume I: Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830 . 2nd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1967, p. 608.
  4. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, p. 543.
  5. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume II: The struggle for unity and freedom 1830 to 1850 . 3rd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1988, p. 669.
  6. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume I: Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830 . 2nd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1967, pp. 608/609.
  7. ^ Michael Kotulla: German constitutional history. From the Old Reich to Weimar (1495–1934) . Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 391.
  8. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, p. 543.
  9. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume I: Reform and Restoration 1789 to 1830 . 2nd edition, Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1967, p. 609.