Austria's annexation of Cracow in 1846: A Contribution to the history of Austrian-German relations in the Pre-March Period

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to analyse Austria’s annexation of Cracow in November 1846 and its influence on the development of Austrian-German relations in the second half of the 1840s. The decision to end the independent existence of the Free City of Cracow was a violation of the Final Act, signed at the Congress of Vienna on 9 June 1815, which was considered by many contemporaries as a crisis that seriously jeopardized the continuation of the European peace order. It was an event that had a number of serious consequences both political and international-legal, as well as economic and social. The text seeks to outline the main events leading to Austria’s decision to declare the incorporation of Cracow into the Habsburg Monarchy and then analyses the consequences of this act. It focuses primarily on the dispute between Austria and Prussia over trade and customs issues. Particular attention is given to the reaction triggered in the territory of the German Confederation by the announcement of the termination of Cracow and its incorporation into Austria. While acknowledging the legitimacy of the Austrian action against Cracow, smaller German states did not resist the fear that they might be caught by the same fate and lose their free status and be annexed by one of the larger German states. The governments of Vienna and Berlin had to make considerable efforts to convince them that the rule of law would be maintained within the German Confederation. Prussia initially resisted negotiations on Austria’s annexation of Cracow because of its own primarily economic interests there. Although in the end virtually none of the Prussian requirements for its approval of annexation were taken into account by Austria, the alliance between the two German powers was not disrupted.