Pillnitzer Declaration
The Pillnitzer Declaration , also Pillnitzer Punctation , of August 27, 1791 was a declaration by the two German great powers Austria and Prussia in support of King Louis XVI. of France during the French Revolution . It was the result of an assembly of princes from August 25 to 27, 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden and became an important factor in the complex development that led to the outbreak of the First Coalition War .
Pillnitz Princely Assembly
Participants in the meeting were Leopold II , Archduke of Austria and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. There were also several conversations with Charles Philippe , Count von Artois and brother of the French ruler Louis XVI, at the time one of the leaders of the French emigrants. The host of the meeting Elector Friedrich August III. von Sachsen was not involved in the negotiations.
The main subjects of the negotiations between the two German great powers were the “ Polish question ” and the end of Austria's war against Turkey .
Pillnitzer Declaration
Only at the very end of the conference and at the insistence of the French emigrants present was the Pillnitz declaration made. The goal formulated therein was "to enable the King of France to establish in complete freedom the basis of a form of government which corresponds to the rights of the sovereigns and the welfare of France" , i. H. reinstate him in his old rights as absolute monarch . Military action against the revolution was made dependent on the emergence of a unified opinion among the great powers. This could not be assumed because of Great Britain's negative attitude.
The declaration was nevertheless perceived as a concrete threat of war in France, as it also provided for the use of military means. It was a welcome argument for propaganda by those forces who wanted to radicalize the French Revolution with the help of war.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Otmar von Aretin : From the German Empire to the German Confederation. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993, ISBN 9783525335833 , p. 24.
- ↑ Dagmar Sommer: Princely buildings on Saxon medals. Lukas Verlag, 2007, ISBN 9783867320146 , p. 346.