Free City of Cracow
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory Wolne, Niepodległe i Ściśle Neutralne Miasto Kraków i jego Okręg(Polish) | |||||||||||
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1815–1846 | |||||||||||
![]() Location of the Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory within Europe | |||||||||||
![]() Territory of the Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory (orange) and its three neighbours (Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire and Russian Empire) | |||||||||||
Status | ProtectorateofAustria,Prussia,andRussia | ||||||||||
Capital | Cracow(Kraków) | ||||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholic,Judaism | ||||||||||
Government | Constitutional republic | ||||||||||
President of the Senate | |||||||||||
• 1815–1831 | Stanisław Wodzicki | ||||||||||
Legislature | Assembly of Representatives (Kraków) | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
3 May 1815 | |||||||||||
29 November 1830 | |||||||||||
16 November 1846 | |||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||
• Total | 1,188.8 km2(459.0 sq mi) | ||||||||||
Currency |
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Today part of | Poland |
History ofPoland |
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TheFree, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory,[a][b]more commonly known as theFree City of Cracow,[c]and theRepublic of Cracow,[d]was acity republiccreated by theCongress of Viennain 1815, which included the Polish city ofCracowand its surrounding areas.
It wasjointly controlledby its three neighbours (Russia,Prussia,andAustria), and was a centre of agitation for an independent Poland. In 1846, in the aftermath of the unsuccessfulKraków Uprising,the Free City of Cracow was annexed by the Austrian Empire.[1]It was a remnant of theDuchy of Warsaw,which waspartitionedamong the three states after the Congress in 1815.
The Free City of Cracow was an overwhelmingly Polish-speaking city-state; of its population 85% were Catholics, 14% were Jews, while other religions comprised less than 1%. The city of Cracow itself had a Jewish population reaching nearly 40%, while the rest were almost exclusively Polish-speaking Catholics.[2]
History
[edit]The Free City was approved and guaranteed byArticle VIIof theTreaty between Austria, Prussia, and Russiaof 3 May 1815.[3]The statelet received aninitial constitutionat the same time,[3]revised and expanded in 1818, establishing significant autonomy for the city. TheJagiellonian Universitycould accept students from the partitioned territory of Poland. The Free City thus became a centre of Polish political activity on the territories ofpartitioned Poland.
During theNovember Uprisingof 1830–1831, Kraków was a base for the smuggling of weapons into the Russian-controlledKingdom of Poland.After the end of the uprising the autonomy of the Free City was severely restricted. The police were controlled by Austria and the election of the president had to be approved by all three powers. Cracow was subsequently occupied by the Austrian army from 1836 to 1841. After the unsuccessfulKraków uprisingof 1846, the Free City was annexed by Austria on 16 November 1846 as theGrand Duchy of Kraków.
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Granting of the constitution of the Free City of Kraków, 1815–1818. (Painting from the mid-19th century).
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Galician slaughter(Polish"Rzeź galicyjska" ) byJan Lewicki(1795–1871).
Geography, population, and economy
[edit]The Free City of Cracow was created from the southwest part of theDuchy of Warsaw(part of the formerKraków Departmenton the left bank of theVistulariver). At is smallest, the city encompassed an area of 1164 to 1234 km2(sources vary). It bordered theRussian Empire,theKingdom of Prussiaand theAustrian Empire.It comprised the city of Kraków and its environs; the other settlements in the area administered by the Free City included 224 villages and three towns (Chrzanów,TrzebiniaandNowa Góra).
In 1815, its population was 95,000; as of 1843, it had a population of 146,000. 85% of them were Catholics, 14% Jews, while other religions comprised 1%. The most notableszlachtafamily was thePotockifamily ofmagnates,who had a mansion inKrzeszowice.
The Free City was aduty-free area,allowed to trade with Russia, Prussia and Austria. In addition to noduties,it had very lowtaxes,and various economic privileges were granted by the neighbouring powers. As such, it became one of the European centres ofeconomic liberalismand supporters oflaissez-faire,attracting new enterprises and immigrants, which resulted in impressive growth of the city. Weavers fromPrussian Silesiahad often used the Free City as acontrabandoutlet to avoid tariff barriers along the borders of Austria and theKingdom of Poland,but with Austria's annexation of the Free City came a significant drop in Prussian textile exports.[4]
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Free City of Kraków, 1815-1846.
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5 groszy coin displaying the coat of arms of the Free City, and 1 złoty coin of 1835.
Politics
[edit]The statelet received an initial constitution in 1815 which had mainly been devised by PrinceAdam Jerzy Czartoryski.The constitution was revised and expanded in 1818, establishing significant autonomy for the city. Legislative power was vested in the Assembly of Representatives (Izba Reprezentantów), and the executive power was given to a Governing Senate.
In 1833, in the aftermath of theNovember Uprisingand the foiled plan by some Polish activists to start an uprising in Cracow, the partitioning powers issued a new, much more restrictive constitution: the number of senators and deputies was lowered and their competences limited, while the commissars of the partitioning powers had their competences expanded.Freedom of the presswas also curtailed. In 1835 a secret treaty between the three partitioning powers presented a plan in which in case of additional Polish unrest, Austria was given the right to occupy and annex the city. That would take place after theKraków Uprisingof 1846.
The law was based on theNapoleonic civil codeandFrenchcommercial and criminal law. The official language wasPolish.In 1836 the local police force was disbanded and replaced by Austrian police; in 1837 the partitioning powers curtailed the competences of the local courts which refused to bow down to their demands.[citation needed]
The Free City of Cracow was the first purelyrepublicangovernment in thehistory of Poland.
See also
[edit]- History of Poland (1795–1918)
- Former countries in Europe after 1815
- Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
- Grand Duchy of Krakow
- Galician slaughter
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Degan 1997,p. 378.
- ^Censuses of the Austro-Hungarian Statistical Central Commission,cited in Anson Rabinbach,The Migration of Galician Jews to Vienna.Austrian History Yearbook, Volume XI, Berghahn Books/Rice University Press, Houston 1975, p. 46/47 (table III)
- ^abHertslet 1875,p. 127.
- ^Feuchtwanger 1970,p. 157.
References
[edit]- Degan, Vladimir Đuro (1997),Developments in International Law: Sources of Internat'l,Developments in International Law Series, vol. 27 (illustrated ed.), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p.378,ISBN9789041104212
- Feuchtwanger, E. J. (1970),Prussia: Myth and Reality,Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, p. 262,ISBN0-85496-108-9
- Hertslet, Edward(1875), "No.15",The map of Europe by treaty; showing the various political and territorial changes which have taken place since the general peace of 1814,London: Butterworths. (No. 12), p.127
Further reading
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Media related toFree City of Krakówat Wikimedia Commons
- EB staff,"Republic of Kraków",Encyclopædia Britannicaonline,retrieved12 December2012