Prussian-Italian alliance treaty

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Prussian-Italian Alliance Treaty was signed on April 8, 1866 in Berlin between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Kingdom of Italy . With the treaty, both states entered into an offensive and defensive alliance : in the event of war, it was directed against the Austrian Empire . It was supposed to last for three months and then expire if there was no war. Just a week later, the ratification documents were exchanged by representatives of both countries. The contract had been kept secret because it was directed against a member of the German Confederation and thus violated federal law.

In fact, the conflict between Prussia and Austria over the joint condominium in Schleswig-Holstein escalated in June . Austria, which had formed an alliance with France , got caught up in a two-front war . The alliance treaty thus became significant for the German war .

prehistory

After the tensions between Austria and Prussia at the beginning of 1866 about the future status of the so-called " Elbe Duchies " Schleswig , Holstein and Lauenburg intensified, both sides looked for allies in the event of an armed conflict. In March, the Italian general Giuseppe Govone traveled to Berlin on behalf of the Italian government to negotiate an alliance with the Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck . The first meeting took place on March 14th, at which both sides presented their positions.

Govone declared that if there should be a war between Prussia and Austria, Italy would be willing, under certain conditions, to enter the war on the side of Prussia in order to bring about a solution to the Venetian question. The Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto belonged to the Austrian Empire , but was claimed by Italy. The negotiations dragged on for several days. Only after a renewed tightening of the Prussian-Austrian relations in early April 1866 and the benevolent attitude of Napoleon III. Italy decided on April 8th to sign the alliance agreement. A protocol was annexed to the treaty in which both powers promised to keep the content and existence of the treaty secret.

With the conclusion of the alliance, the Kingdom of Prussia violated Article XI , Paragraph 3 of the German Federal Act , which obliged the federal states not to enter into any connections that are directed against the security of the German federal or individual federal states. Austria also disregarded federal law by signing a treaty with France ( Austro-French secret treaty of June 12, 1866), which granted its neutrality at the price of ceding Veneto and subsequently approved potential Prussian territorial losses.

In fact, while the treaty was still in force, the German War began between Prussia and the German Confederation, which was dominated by Austria, and the Third Italian War of Independence between Italy and Austria. After Prussia had victoriously ended the German War, Austria was to cede Veneto to Italy in accordance with Article II of the Peace of Prague (23 August 1866). The settlement was then confirmed in the Peace of Vienna (October 3, 1866) between Austria and Italy. In Article III of the Vienna Peace Treaty, Austria finally ceded Veneto to Italy.

Complete content

“Their Majesties the King of Prussia and the King of Italy, inspired by the desire to fortify the guarantees of general peace and in consideration of the needs and legitimate aspirations of their nations, have to adopt the articles of an offensive and defensive alliance to regulate, appointed as your instructed agent. "

Article 1 "There will be friendship and alliance between His Majesty the King of Prussia and His Majesty the King of Italy."

Article 2 “If the negotiations which His Majesty opened for the King of Prussia with the other German governments with the intention of a reform of the Federal Constitution corresponding to the needs of the German nation should fail, and as a result His Majesty would be able to To take up arms in order to assert his proposals, his Italian Majesty will, after the initiative taken by Prussia, as soon as she is informed of this, declare war against Austria in force of the present treaty. "

Article 3 "From this moment on, the war will be waged by Her Majesties with all the forces that Providence has placed at their disposal, and neither Italy nor Prussia will make peace or armistice without mutual consent."

Article 4 "This consent cannot be refused if Austria has consented to cede the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom to Italy and Austrian regions with populations equivalent to this Kingdom to Prussia."

Article 5 "This treaty expires three months after its signature if the case provided for in Article 2 has not occurred during these three months, namely that Prussia has not declared war on Austria."

Article 6 “If the Austrian fleet, whose armament is now under way, leaves the Adriatic Sea before the declaration of war, His Italian Majesty will send a sufficient number of ships to the Baltic Sea, which will stop there in order to join the Prussian fleet To be ready to break out of hostilities. "

See also

literature

  • Heinrich von Srbik : German Unity - Idea and Reality from Villafranca to Königgrätz. F. Bruckmann, Munich 1942 (volume 4, pages 340-347).
  • Michael Stürmer : The establishment of an empire. in: German history of the latest time. DTV, Munich 1984; ISBN 3-423-04504-3 (pages 140-142).
  • Heinrich von Sybel : The establishment of the German Empire by Wilhelm I. R. Oldenbourg, Munich / Leipzig 1889 (volume 4, pages 293-313).

supporting documents

  1. ^ A b c Heinrich von Sybel : The foundation of the German Empire by Wilhelm I. Volume 4, pages 293-313
  2. ↑ Johannes Kunisch : Research on Brandenburg and Prussian history - Bismarck and his time. Page 69
  3. ↑ German Federal Act , Article XI , Paragraph 3: The federal members retain the right of all kinds of alliances; however undertake not to enter into any connections which would be directed against the security of the federal or individual states.
  4. ^ Jürgen Angelow : From Vienna to Königgrätz. Oldenbourg, Munich 1996; ISBN 3-486-56143-X . Page 247.
  5. ↑ Peace of Prague , Article II: For the execution of Article VI of the peace preliminaries concluded in Nikolsburg on June 26th of this year and after His Majesty the Emperor of France officially attested to Nikolsburg on July 29th by his ambassador to His Majesty the King of Prussia ejusdem, has had it declared: "Qu'en ce qui concerne le Gouvernement de l'Empereur, la Vénétie est acquise à l'Italie pour lui etre remise à la paix", - His Majesty the Emperor of Austria adopts this declaration on his part and gives his consent to the unification of the Lombardy-Venetian Kingdom with the Kingdom of Italy without any burdensome conditions other than the liquidation of those debts which are recognized as being liable to the ceded parts of the country, in accordance with the proceedings of the treatise of Zurich.
  6. ↑ Peace of Vienna , Article III: His Majesty the Emperor of Austria gives his consent to the unification of the Lombard-Venetian kingdom with the kingdom of Italy.
  7. ↑ Michael Stürmer : The establishment of an empire. in: German history of the latest time. Pages 140-142.