Frankfurt Princely Day
The Frankfurter Fürstentag was an assembly of German princes that discussed a reform of the German Confederation . It met from August 17 to September 1, 1863 at the invitation of the Austrian Emperor in Frankfurt am Main .
The Austrian proposals were summarized in the Frankfurt Reform Act of September 1, which had been slightly revised by the other states. The federal government would have become more like a federal state , for example through the establishment of a parliamentary body. However, Prussia stayed away from the assembly, so that the other states did not dare to agree to binding agreements.
prehistory
Austro-Prussian rivalry
Austria had traditionally been the leading power in Germany. The Austrian envoy also presided over the Bundestag. Until 1848 Austria dominated the German Confederation under State Chancellor Metternich and also played an important role in Europe. It had come to terms with the next largest German state, Prussia. In the first phase of the German Confederation, the German dualism was such that Austria discussed the most important questions with Prussia and then represented them together in the Bundestag.
During the German Revolution from 1848 onwards , Austria was sidelined. Instead of a large German solution with the federally owned areas of Austria, the development resulted in a small German solution . Prussia, on the other hand, seemed to accommodate the national movement and in 1849/1850 even tried to make its own attempt at unification, the Erfurt Union . Austria published a Greater Austria Plan to counter the national movement with a positive offer.
Despite the unification plans, this phase ended without result in 1850/1851: At the Dresden Conferences , the medium-sized German states such as Bavaria and Hanover prevented a Prussian-Austrian unification over their heads, but also a solution in which one of the two great powers would have dominated. Incidentally, the Dresden Conferences remained the only conference after 1815 at which all German states were represented (Prussia was absent in Frankfurt 1863).
Situation since 1859
In the reaction era , Austria and Prussia worked together again. Around 1859, however, there were again profound conflicts as well as renewed attempts to reform the German Confederation. After the lost Sardinian War , Austria began tentative liberalization, also in order not to lag behind in terms of German politics.
After negotiations in 1860 to reject advances by the medium-sized states, an Austro-Prussian military alliance failed in early 1861. Austria turned back to the medium-sized states and agreed with them to reject any federal reform that would have pushed Austria out of the German Confederation. Prussia, however, stuck to its intention of uniting northern Germany under Prussian leadership. In 1861 it recognized the Kingdom of Italy and in 1862 brought about a customs treaty between the German Customs Union and France. By 1863 at the latest, Austria understood that it had to pursue a constructive federal reform policy that included Prussia.
Plan for a federal assembly of delegates
In August 1862 a conference agreed on a reform proposal in the Bundestag. Austria had invited the ambassadors of the German states in Vienna. After all, mainly medium-sized states were represented, but not Prussia.
The conference agreed on assemblies of delegates at the Bundestag to discuss upcoming federal laws. The delegates were to be elected by the state parliaments of the German states. In addition, a federal court should be set up. Prussia, on the other hand, wanted a directly elected federal parliament and threatened to leave the federal government and even go to war. He managed to gather enough support. On January 22, 1863, the Bundestag rejected the application. Austria then decided on a second, more comprehensive reform plan, which was available on July 9 and was to be presented to the German princes in Frankfurt in August.
Content of the reform act
The Austrian government draft was slightly revised at the Fürstentag and was finally available on September 1st as the “Frankfurt Reform Act”. The text took up some ideas from previous decades, for example from the four-king alliance of 1850. Austria wanted to accommodate the medium-sized states, which also rejected an actual federal state, but strived more than Austria to expand the German Confederation.
This included the long-discussed establishment of a federal court. Among other things, it should have settled disputes between the member states. The Bundestag was divided into a Federal Directorate (government) for the executive and other organs for legislation . Above all, however, the federal purpose was expanded in the reform act to include the welfare of the German people and a standardization of law.
Fürstentag and failure of the reform act
The Frankfurt Fürstentag began on August 16 with a gala dinner in the Bundespalais and a banquet in the Römer, followed by fireworks. The black, red and gold flag waved over the Federal Palace . King Wilhelm I of Prussia, who was staying in Baden-Baden , was missing at the opening . Franz Joseph of Austria visited him on August 3, 1863 in Gastein and invited him orally. Wilhelm called for a conference of foreign ministers to take place beforehand. Prime Minister Bismarck tried to prevent him from participating. Shortly after the conversation between Franz Joseph and Wilhelm, an imperial wing adjutant handed over the formal invitation, whereupon Bismarck was able to persuade his king to decline.
Consultations began on August 18 with the presentation of the Austrian proposals for reforming the German Confederation. After the emperor's opening speech, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin suggested sending a delegation to Wilhelm in order to persuade him to participate with a letter from all those involved. Then King Johann of Saxony , accompanied by his Prime Minister Friedrich von Beust , took a special train to Baden-Baden on August 19 . The plenary negotiations were suspended for this period.
Wilhelm was accompanied by his wife Augusta and his daughter Luise , who took sides against Bismarck. When Johann von Sachsen called on August 20, Bismarck was only able to persuade Wilhelm with great difficulty to stay away from the Prince's Day. Wilhelm suffered a nervous attack, but formulated a written rejection.
The other participants in the Princely Congress did not want to commit themselves without a clear statement from the Great Power of Prussia. The negotiations inevitably came to an end. The Austrian reform plan for the German Confederation had thus failed.
During the Prince's Day, a Congress of Representatives also met on August 21 and 22. These three hundred members of state parliaments did not consider the reform acts to be extensive enough and committed themselves to the Frankfurt constitution of 1849. The press in Prussia in particular was against the reform acts, as was the German Juristentag in Mainz and the German National Association . Even the Greater German German Reform Association saw the reform act at best as a basis for the renewal of the Federation.
Attendees
According to the final photo, the participants in the Princely Congress were:
- Ernst II , Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Friedrich , Hereditary Prince of Anhalt
- Friedrich Franz II. , Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- Friedrich Wilhelm II. , Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Adolf I. Georg , Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
- Samuel Gottlieb Müller , Mayor of the Free City of Frankfurt
- Karl Alexander , Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
- King John of Saxony
- Peter II , Grand Duke of Oldenburg
- King Maximilian II of Bavaria
- Karl Ludwig Roeck , Mayor of Lübeck
- Heinrich LXVII. , Prince of Reuss younger line
- Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria
- Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich of Orange-Nassau , Prince of the Netherlands (for Luxembourg )
- Nicolaus Ferdinand Haller , Mayor of Hamburg
- King George V of Hanover
- Georg Viktor , Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont
- Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel
- Friedrich Günther , Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
- Johann II , Prince of Liechtenstein
- Bernhard II , Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
- Günther Friedrich Carl II , Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
- Arnold Duckwitz , Mayor of Bremen
- Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden
- Adolph , Duke of Nassau
- Wilhelm , Duke of Brunswick
- Ludwig III. , Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt
- Karl (Württemberg) , Crown Prince of Württemberg
literature
- Norbert Wehner: The German medium-sized states on the Frankfurter Fürstentag 1863 , Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-631-44908-9
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ Jürgen Angelow: The German Confederation . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2003, p. 95.
- ^ Michael Kotulla: German constitutional history. From the Old Reich to Weimar (1495–1934) . Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 469/470.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm . 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, pp. 416-420.
- ^ Heinrich Lutz: The Germans and their Nation - Between Habsburg and Prussia - Germany 1815 - 1866 . Siedler Verlag 1985, p. 444/445.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm . 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, p. 426.