South German Zollverein

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The South German Zollverein on a map from 1872

The Süddeutsche Zollverein was the project of a uniform customs area of different states of the German Confederation . After several unsuccessful attempts, the negotiations resulted in a customs agreement between the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg . The Süddeutsche Zollverein is therefore also known as the Bavarian-Württemberg customs association.

First negotiations from 1820

On May 19, 1820, the southern German states of Baden , Bavaria, Hessen-Darmstadt , Württemberg and some small central German states signed a declaration of intent with the Viennese punctuation in which they undertook to negotiate a customs union. These talks began in September of the same year in the Hessian capital Darmstadt . However, at the Darmstadt customs negotiations it soon became apparent how different the interests of the individual states were. Bavaria and Württemberg pushed for a protectionist Zollverein with high external tariffs, while Baden, Nassau and Hessen-Darmstadt wanted a free trade course. The states were only united by the common fear of a political and economic superiority of Prussia .

At the end of November 1820, the Baden negotiator Karl Friedrich Nebenius submitted a draft customs union as a basis for negotiations. However, due to the different geographic and economic circumstances, no agreement could be reached. Nebenius' draft stipulated that the common customs revenue should be divided according to the number of inhabitants and border length, which clearly preferred Baden, while Bavaria, as the largest state in terms of area, pushed for a distribution according to number of inhabitants and area. Another point of contention was the location of the tariff. The greatest obstacle, however, was the diverging economic interests of the participating states. The states bordering the Rhine were interested in free trade policy due to their natural conditions, while for the same reasons the states lying off the important domestic German trade routes were interested in high protective tariffs in order not to endanger their domestic production, which had previously supplied their own market without any problems. In addition, the dispute over the possessions of the Palatinate , the Sponheim question , which were divided between Bavaria and Baden, constantly strained relations between these two states. After the negotiations got more and more bogged down, the host Hessen-Darmstadt ended its participation in the conference on July 3, 1823 in order to modernize its outdated customs system itself, as there was no longer any hope of an early community settlement.

Thus the Darmstadt customs negotiations had finally failed after the small Thuringian states had left the common line with the Treaty of Arnstadt in December 1822 and first wanted to try to reach an agreement among themselves. In the period that followed, there were several bilateral contacts. Negotiations between Hessen-Darmstadt and Baden resulted in a trade agreement on September 10, 1824, which, however, did not last long. It regulated the exemption from customs duties and tariff reductions for certain products in mutual trade and aimed at gradually harmonizing the mutual customs laws. These efforts resulted in most states being prepared to try again.

Second round of negotiations from 1825

Prussian Law Gazette with a copy of the Customs Union Treaty between the Hessian-Prussian and the South German Customs Union of March 22, 1833

Bavaria and Württemberg agreed on a joint draft in October 1824, Hesse-Darmstadt and Baden agreed on a joint approach in the Heidelberg Protocol in November of the same year. It was generally assumed that the states had learned from the Darmstadt events and were more willing to negotiate. In February 1825, renewed talks began in Stuttgart about a southern German customs union between Baden, Bavaria, Hessen-Darmstadt, Nassau and Württemberg. Again, however, no agreement could be reached on the tariff policy. Also, the relationship between Baden and Bavaria was so shattered by the Sponheim question that an agreement between these opponents was out of the question. Baden left the Stuttgart Conferences on August 6, 1825, Nassau followed suit, and Hesse-Darmstadt shortly afterwards. The changes made to the Baden customs system due to the early foreseeable failure of the Stuttgart negotiations meant that the Hessian government terminated the existing trade agreement at the beginning of 1826 and founded the Prussian-Hessian Customs Union with Prussia in 1828 .

As a result of these conferences, the customs unity efforts in the south continued to deepen. A preliminary contract was signed on April 12, 1827. The governments of Baden, the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Nassau, invited to join, refused. When no other state joined this, Bavaria and Württemberg signed the contract on January 18, 1828, establishing the South German Customs Union. From December 20, 1829, the Rhine district, later Palatinate (Bavaria) , was fully incorporated into the southern German customs union.

Provisions

The following provisions applied:

  • The customs collection points previously existing at Community borders will be closed, and all customs duties will continue to be levied, both at the borders and at the internal customs offices, for Community account.
  • Both governments renounce unilateral orders and contracts with states that do not belong to the association.
  • The net income of the tariffs is divided according to the ratio of the population and their status from three to three years is determined by an exact census.
  • Each state has its own and independent customs administration and each of them has a permanent general representative of the other state of the association for control with certain limited powers.
  • A joint agency is set up for the comprehensive control of customs documents in all states of the association.
  • The annual billing according to the monthly accounts of the collection offices takes place between the Oberzoll administrations.
  • With the exception of urgent cases, general orders can only take place with mutual consent.
  • The various customs officers are under the exclusive supervision of the state to which they belong, but they are committed to the association according to an agreed formula.
  • The costs of the general administration, all pensions and retirement payments are covered by each government on private account, while the costs of the central control body, the external customs and supervisory authorities and other administrative costs are paid for by the association.
  • The police orders regarding the mutual visit of the markets, the domestic trade and the regulations on commercial privileges are reserved for the respective governments.
  • All duty exemptions, rebates or other allowances are for the account of the government granting them.
  • All stacking and handling rights are revoked. A maximum is set for warehouses and customs offices for each state, and any excess can be made at the government's own expense.
  • Road money, water tariffs, bridge and paving tariffs, crane, shipyard and similar fees are reserved for privative collection. Road money and water duty should never exceed 2 pfennigs per hundredth and hour.
  • Bridge and pavement tariffs should never be used as a source of finance
  • Consumption taxes, which are levied on certain domestic articles of enjoyment and consumption, can be levied in the same amount by each state of the association, also on items of the same kind that come from the territory of a neighboring country or country belonging to the association.
  • The salt racks are maintained on both sides and special provisions are made regarding the import and transport of salt.
  • A general congress is held annually for the promotion of community affairs, made up of two Bavarian and two Wuerttemberg delegates from alternating directorates. This congress has to unite on the necessary changes to the basic contract, the organization of the administration, the customs regulations and the tariff, to examine the administrative reports of the chief customs administrations, to determine the main accounts, to set the budget and the complaints and orders of the chief customs administrations to decide. In the latter case, the congress is constituted as a compromise court with the assistance of experts.
  • The Bavarian weight and measure are based on the common tariff and the customs duties are levied accordingly.

effect

The Süddeutsche Zollverein, however, had considerable problems. 44% of the income was eaten up by administrative costs. The income per head of the population was only 9 1/2 groschen, while the Prussian-Hessian customs union came to 24 groschen per capita. Overall, the area of ​​the two participating states was too small for a separate association. When it became clear that there would be no customs union with Austria and Prussia, Bavaria and Württemberg had to choose a partner. Since Austria could not give up its own protection system, all that was left was to join forces with Prussia. With a treaty dated March 22, 1833, Bavaria and Württemberg therefore concluded the customs union agreement with Prussia and Hesse-Darmstadt. On January 1, 1834, the Süddeutsche Zollverein became part of the German Zollverein .

The regulations on the Zollverein were the basis for the systematic census. An implementation can also be seen here in the standardization of dimensions and weights, which was implemented by the later German Customs Union in 1834.

literature

  • Hans-Werner Hahn : History of the German customs union (= small Vandenhoeck series. 1502). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984, ISBN 3-525-33500-8 .
  • Hans Peter Müller: The Grand Duchy of Baden and the German customs unification 1819 - 1835/36 (= European university publications. Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences. Vol. 217). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1984, ISBN 3-8204-5447-0 (At the same time: Frankfurt am Main, Univ., Diss., 1982).
  • CF Nebenius : Memorandum for Baden's accession to the Zollverein concluded between Prussia, Bavaria, Würtemberg, the two Hessians and several other German states. CF Müller, Karlsruhe 1833.
  • Heinrich von Treitschke : The founding of the German Customs Association (= Voigtländer's source books. Vol. 62, ZDB -ID 843108-5 ). Voigtländer, Leipzig 1913 (= excerpts from: Heinrich von Treitschke: German History in the Nineteenth Century. Volumes II - IV, Leipzig 1879 - 1894).
  • Hans-Peter Ullmann : Restoration Policy and Reform Blockade. In: Hansmartin Schwarzmaier , Meinrad Schaab (Hrsg.): Handbook of the history of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 3: From the end of the Old Kingdom to the end of the monarchies. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-608-91467-6 , pp. 63-78.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Treitschke, p. 73f.
  2. ↑ cf. Hahn, p. 38
  3. ↑ cf. Ludwig Kirsch: The Customs and Imperial Tax Administration in the Grand Duchy of Baden , Karlsruhe 1885, p. 38.
  4. ↑ cf. Hahn, p. 38f.
  5. ↑ cf. Ludwig Kirsch: The Customs and Imperial Tax Administration in the Grand Duchy of Baden , Karlsruhe 1885, p. 39.
  6. ^ Wilhelm von Weber: The German customs union (history of its formation and development) 2nd edition . Veit & Comp, Leipzig 1871, p. 50–51 ( on: books.google.de ).
  7. ^ Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg: Publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg: Research, Volumes 72-74 . 1972, p. 163 ( on: books.google.de ).
  8. ^ Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg: Publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg: Research, Volumes 72-74 . 1972, p. 163 ( on: books.google.de ).
  9. ^ Wilhelm von Weber: The German customs union (history of its formation and development) 2nd edition . Veit & Comp, Leipzig 1871, p. 51–52 ( on: books.google.de ).
  10. ^ Wolfram Fischer: The German customs union. Case study of a customs union. In: Ders .: Economy and Society in the Age of Industrialization. Göttingen 1972, ISBN 3-525-35951-9 , p. 120
  11. ↑ Customs Union Treaty of March 22, 1833 ( Memento of the original of November 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at verfassungen.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / verfassungen.de
  12. ^ Schmoller: Schmoller's yearbook for legislation, administration and economics in the German Empire . Duncker & Humblot, 1916, p. 78 ( on: books.google.de ).
  13. ^ Gerold Ambrosius: Regulative competition and coordinative standardization between states . Franz Steiner Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-515-08695-1 , pp. 147 ( on: books.google.de ).