The Vienna Monetary Treaty (also known as the Vienna Coinage Treaty) of 1857 was a

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

that set a currency standard for use across the German

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

states,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

. The official name of the treaty was Monetary Treaty Between the German States of 24 January 1857.

History

At the time there were three competing monetary systems in Germany, in Austria, Prussia and south Germany. The Mint Conference and Convention in Vienna sought to eliminate the problems from this, and the treaty was the result. The treaty remained in force until the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...

in 1871.

Main terms

Article 1: The pound, with a weight of 500 g, would serve as the basis of the coinage system. Articles 2 and 3: There would be a single silver standard, but three national coinage systems would be permitted: * The Prussian standard of 30 thalers per pound of silver, to replace the prior 14-thaler per Cologne Mark standard, for use in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) was a historical German state, created as a duchy in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been in personal union since 1741. It was raised ...

and the Duchies of

Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the 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 kilometer ...

Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Gotha) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha. History The duchy was established in 1640, when ...

, Brunswick,

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

(including Birkenfeld),

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into th ...

, and

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of ...

; in the

Principality of 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 until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which la ...

and the Subordinate Lordship of the

Principality of 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 Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since th ...

; in the Principalities of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Reuss of the senior line and Reuss of the junior line,

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

, and

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The d ...

. (The states had a total population of 23 million.) * The Austrian standard of 45 guldens per pound of silver, for use in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

and the principality of

. (The states had a total population of 35 million.) * The South German standard of 52.5 guldens per pound of silver, for use in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

, Grand Duchies of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

and

; in the

Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernest ...

, Principality of Saxe-Coburg, the Hohenzollern domains in Prussia,

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

, Overlordship of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the

Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg Hesse-Homburg was formed into a separate Landgrave, landgraviate in 1622 by the landgrave of Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt; it was to be ruled by his son, although it did not become independent of Hesse-Darmstadt until 1668. It ...

, and the

Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt was a city-state within two major Germanic entities: *The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt () (until 1806) *The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt ...

. (The states had a total population of between 9 and 10 million.) Article 4: The exchange rates of the system would bw 1 thaler convention piece (1/30 point) = 1.5 florins (Austrian currency) = 1.75 florin (South Germany currency). All coins made in accordance to the treaty were to be legal tender in all states. Article 5: Mintage by all states would be limited to silver coins as specified in this treaty, but Austria was allowed continue to coin the "Levantine Thaler" dated 1780 (better known today as the

Maria Theresa Thaler The Maria Theresa thaler (MTT) is a silver bullion coin and a type of Conventionsthaler that has been used in world trade continuously since it was first minted in 1741. It is named after Maria Theresa who ruled Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia fr ...

). The smallest fractional coins authorized under the three national coinage systems were * The one-sixth thaler piece in Prussian currency. * The one-fourth florin piece in Austrian currency. * The one-fourth florin piece in South German currency. States had to limit their coinage of fractional coin to their necessary requirements. Article 6: All coins shall be uniformly struck and of full fineness and weight. Article 7: The fineness shall be expressed in thousandths. In determining the fineness of silver coins, the assay would be performed by the liquid process. Article 8: For the accommodation and facilitation of international trade among the contracting states, two coins, answering to the specifications of the principal coins, provided for in Article 2 and on the monetary basis there contemplated, would be struck under the denomination of

Vereinsthaler The Vereinsthaler (, ''union thaler'') was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years before German unification. The Vereinsthaler was introduced in 1857 to replace the various versions of the North Ger ...

. Article 9: Coins of the old monetary union of 1838 would be full legal tender, and any discrimination against such coins was forbidden. Article 10: Coins would be 90% silver and 10% copper. A Thaler coin would be 33 mm in diameter, and two-thaler would will be 41 mm in diameter. Obverse and reverse devices were also specified. Article 11: Each state would coin at least 24 thaler coins per 100 people by 1862 and at least 16 pieces per 100 people in every four years from 1863. The number of two-thaler coins to be struck was left to the discretion of each individual state. Article 12: Provides for coinage testing. Article 13: Provided rules for withdrawal or devaluation. Articles 14-17: Provided for sub-thaler coins in silver and copper. Articles 18-20: Provided for golden crowns and half-crowns. Articles 21-27: Details on rules and duration. Article 28: The treaty would take effect, after timely ratifications, on 1 May 1857.

Aftermath

The Vienna Monetary Treaty failed to accomplish all of its intended results for two principal reasons. First, it ran counter to the monetary theories, most widely held at the time, which favored a gold standard. Second, unfavourable political events began soon after its adoption. The

Second Italian War of Independence The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...

broke out between Italy and Austria in 1859, less than two years after the conclusion of the treaty hampered its operation. After the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, Austria then withdrew from the monetary union. On 31 July 1867, it adopted to a gold standard by a treaty with the

Latin Monetary Union The Latin Monetary Union (LMU) was a 19th-century system that unified several European currencies into a single currency that could be used in all member states when most national currencies were still made out of gold and silver. It was establish ...

.Willis, Henry Parker. "The Vienna Monetary Treaty of 1857." ''Journal of Political Economy''
/ref>

References

{{reflist Treaties of the Austrian Empire 1857 treaties 1857 in the Austrian Empire Currency treaties Treaties of Liechtenstein Treaties of the Kingdom of Prussia Treaties of the Kingdom of Saxony Treaties of the Kingdom of Hanover Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Treaties of the Electorate of Hesse Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Treaties of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Treaties of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Treaties of the Duchy of Brunswick Treaties of the Duchy of Oldenburg Treaties of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Treaties of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Treaties of Waldeck (state) Treaties of the Principality of Reuss-Gera Treaties of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz Treaties of the Principality of Lippe Treaties of the Kingdom of Bavaria Treaties of the Kingdom of Württemberg Treaties of the Grand Duchy of Baden Treaties of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Treaties of the Duchy of Nassau Treaties of the Free City of Frankfurt Treaties of Hesse-Homburg Treaties of Anhalt-Dessau Treaties of Anhalt-Bernburg Treaties of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe

History

Main terms

Aftermath

See also

References