Autumn Crisis of 1850

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Autumn Crisis or November Crisis is the name given to a political-military conflict in Germany in 1850. In this conflict, the ultra-conservative Austrian Empire led those German states that wanted to restore the German Confederation after the revolution of 1848-1849, while Prussia wanted to create a new federal-state (the Erfurt Union). This almost led to war in Germany, which was finally avoided by Prussia's backing down.

This Austrian-Prussian opposition had arisen in the spring of 1849: although the Frederick William IV of Prussia rejected the Frankfurt Constitution, he promptly made the German states an offer to establish a German empire on a more conservative basis. The king's half-heartedness had already caused this Erfurt Union to fail, de facto, in the spring of 1850. Still, the conflict with Austria and its allies came to a head in the course of that year. The core of the conflict was the situation in the state of Kurhessen.

Austria and Bavaria intended to invade Kurhessen on behalf of the German Confederation in order to assist the beleaguered prince there. However, the military roads that connected the western part of Prussia with the eastern part ran through Kurhessen. Prussia wanted to protect these roads militarily.

After there had already been an exchange of fire in Hesse, the Russian tsar, Nicholas I, mediated between the two sides. Prussia had to fear democratic uprisings in the event of war; moreover, Russia would have supported Austria. Therefore, in the Punctation of Olmütz of November 29, 1850, Prussia abandoned its Union policy and agreed to the restoration of the German Confederation. Prussia negotiated conferences in Dresden to discuss a possible reform of the Confederation. However, these conferences resulted in only minor changes, so that in the summer of 1851 the old German Confederation was essentially restored.