!!!Preußen - Österreich

Prussia - Austria: The relations between Austria and 
Brandenburg-Prussia, which had risen to an important power within the 
Empire, became closer at the end of the 17%%sup th/%  century. 
With the approval by Leopold I, Elector Friedrich III 
assumed, on January 18, 1701, the title of "King in 
Prussia" for the Duchy of Prussia outside the bounds of the Holy 
Roman Empire. After the conquest of the Austrian province of Silesia 
by King Friedrich II (1740), the relations between Austria and 
Prussia were marked by several wars ( Austrian Succession, War of the 
1740-1748,  Seven Years´ War 1756-1763,  Bavarian Succession, 
War of the 1778/79) and a hostile rivalry between the two states. The 
Reichenbach Convention of July 27, 1790 ended the conflicts. 
Austria and Prussia concluded an alliance against France at Pillnitz 
on August 27, 1791; however, this alliance proved a failure 
during the First Coalition War and Prussia left it in 1795 ( 
Napoleonic Wars). It was only in 1813 that another alliance against 
France was formed between the two states, which eventually led to the 
overthrow of Napoleon. At the 1815 Congress of  Vienna the rivalry 
between Austria and Prussia, which lasted throughout the existence of 
the German Confederation, broke out again. After the 1863/1864  
German-Danish War, in which they cooperated again, the decisive  
Austro-Prussian War followed in1866, which led to the dissolution of 
the German Confederation after the Austrian defeat near  Koeniggraetz 
and enabled Prussia to establish the Deutsches Reich. After this was 
proclaimed in 1871, the monarchs resumed friendly relations (meeting 
in Gastein in August 1871 and March 1879), and on October 7, 
1879, they formed an alliance which made them brothers in arms during 
the First  World War. The political conflicts were accompanied by 
scholarly disputes, especially among historiographers, where the 
kleindeutsch (Small German) Prussian (H. Sybel, H. v. Treitschke) 
and the grossdeutsch (Large German) Austrian Schools (J. v.  
Ficker) competed with each other.

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After the establishment of  railways and the increase of industrial 
activities the two countries maintained strong economic ties which, 
however, were not restricted to Prussia and extended all over Germany.

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The relations  Germany-Austria developed under different conditions in 
the 20%%sup th/%  century. After the end of World War II the 
German Democratic Republic became the geographic successor state of 
Prussia until Germany´s reunification in 1990.

!Literature
A. Kohler, Das Reich im Spannungsfeld des 
preussisch-oesterreichischen Gegensatzes, in: Wiener Beitraege zur 
Geschichte der Neuzeit 2, 1975.


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