Punctation of Olmütz
treaty between Austria and Prussia 1850

The Punctation of Olmütz (German: Olmützer Punktation), also called the Agreement of Olmütz, was a treaty between Prussia and Austria, dated 29 November 1850, by which Prussia abandoned the Erfurt Union and accepted the revival of the German Confederation under Austrian leadership. The treaty concluded the Autumn Crisis of 1850 in Germany.
The treaty was the result of a conference held in Olmütz in the Austrian Margraviate of Moravia (now Olomouc, Czech Republic). It is also known as the "humiliation of Olmütz", as the treaty was seen by many as a capitulation of the Prussians to the Austrians.
The reason for the treaty was a conflict between Prussia and Austria about the leadership in the German Confederation. The confederation, dominated by Austria, had been dissolved in the Revolutions of 1848 and partially succeeded by the Frankfurt Assembly. After the Frankfurt Assembly failed, Prussia, in early 1850, took the initiative of the Erfurt Union, a Prussia-led federation of most of the German states.
A conflict between the Elector of Hesse and his subjects was the cause for the Austrian chancellor Felix zu Schwarzenberg to isolate Prussia further. Austrian and allied armies advanced into the Electorate of Hesse. On 8 November 1850, the Prussian army had come close to war with Bavaria, an ally of Austria, near Fulda-Bronnzell.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Punctation of Olmütz” as treaty between Austria and Prussia 1850. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as treaty between Austria and Prussia 1850. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 27, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q708601. The first chronological checks are 1850 and 1848.
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This entry incorporates text from “Punctation of Olmütz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.