The North German Confederation Treaty (in German ''Augustbündnis'', or Alliance of August) (also called the North German Federation Treaty and the Treaty of 18 August 1866) was the

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

between the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

and other northern and central German states that initially created the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...

, which was the forerunner to the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. This treaty, and others that followed in September and October, are often described as the ''August treaties'', although not all of them were concluded in August 1866. The treaties followed the Austro-Prussian War of Summer 1866, after which the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

of 1815 was dissolved. The treaties established: * a military alliance, and * an agreement to transform the alliance into a nation state, based on the Prussian reform plan for the German Confederation The German states involved arranged the election of a North German parliament in February 1867. The parliament on the one hand, and the governments on the other, agreed on a constitution for the North German Confederation on 1 July 1867. This Confederation, a federal state, was expanded in 1870–71 with the south German states and became the

. The August treaty of 1866, therefore, can be seen as the first legal document that established the modern German nation state.

Signing and contents

The treaty was signed at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 18 August 1866, between the preliminary and the final peace treaty between Austria and Prussia, which formally ended the Austro-Prussian War. Initially, the treaty bound the parties into a military alliance and an agreement to negotiate the creation of a formal federation. The treaty specified that if no agreement on confederation had been reached by August 1867, the duty to negotiate would expire after one year. The full name of the treaty, translated to English, is ''Treaty of Alliance between Anhalt, Bremen, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lippe, Lübeck, Oldenburg, Prussia, Reuss-Schleitz, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Grand Duchy of Saxony, Schaumberg-Lippe, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, and Waldeck and Pyrmont, signed at Berlin on 18 August 1866''. The leading Prussian politician was

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

, who had been chancellor since 1862. While the national liberals of Prussia urged him to force a national constitution on the smaller states of Northern and Central Germany, Bismarck had the intention to spare their feelings and to create the new state based on formal agreements. It was also a signal to the South German states, which Bismarck wanted to incorporate later. Bismarck drafted the constitution, which was changed by the allied governments and by the Reichstag, the North German parliament.

Parties

The

was the dominant party to the treaty. The other parties to the treaty pledged their military forces under the command of the King of Prussia. The following states signed the treaty on 18 August and submitted ratifications on 8 September 1866: * Duchy of Anhalt * * Duchy of Brunswick * *

Principality of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...

* Free City of Lübeck * Grand Duchy of Oldenburg * *

Principality of Reuss-Gera The Principality of Reuss-Gera (), officially called the Principality of the Reuss Junior Line () after 1848, was a sovereign state in modern Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. It was one of the successor states of the Imperial C ...

Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilometers and a populati ...

* Saxe-Coburg and Gotha * * Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe *

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. History Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of House of Schwarzburg, Schwarzburg dy ...

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county (earldom) until 1697. In that year, it became a principal ...

* Principality of Waldeck The following states submitted ratifications or accessions to the agreement at dates later in 1866: * Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-SchwerinThe two Mecklenburgs signed a separate treaty with Prussia on 21 August 1866 which allowed them to join the Confederation. Ratifications for this treaty were exchanged on 10 September 1866. * Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz * (northern parts only) * Principality of Reuss-Greiz * Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen *Acceded to the treaty on 21 October 1866. The Duchy of Lauenburg was not formally a member of the treaty, but it was implicated in the agreement because its duke was, from 1865, the Prussian king. At the same time, the original East Prussian cradle of the Prussian statehood as well as the Prussian-held Polish- or Kashubian-speaking territories of Province of Posen, West Prussia, the Lauenburg and Bütow Land and Draheim were formally annexed into Germany.

Notes

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References

*Clive Parry (ed), '' Consolidated Treaty Series'' (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana, 1969) vol. 133, pp. 39–48 (text of treaty in German and English). *James Wycliffe Headlam, ''Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire'' (New York: Putnam, 1899), ch. 12. 1866 treaties 19th-century military alliances Military alliances involving Prussia * Treaties of the Duchy of Anhalt Treaties of Bremen (state) Treaties of the Duchy of Brunswick Treaties of Hamburg Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Treaties of the Principality of Lippe Treaties of the Free City of Lübeck Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Treaties of the Duchy of Oldenburg Treaties of the Kingdom of Prussia Treaties of the Principality of Reuss-Gera Treaties of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz Treaties of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Treaties of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Treaties of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Treaties of the Kingdom of Saxony Treaties of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Treaties of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Treaties of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Treaties of Waldeck (state) 1866 in Prussia 1866 in the German Confederation August 1866