Kraków Republic

Kraków Republic

 

(the Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków and Its Environs), created in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna of 1814—15. The republic, covering an area of about 1,000 sq km and with a population of 96,000 in 1815, comprised, besides Kraków, three small towns and 244 villages. Its independence was illusory, since the operation of the constitution—which was determined by the “trustee” powers Russia, Austria, and Prussia and consolidated the rule of the landlords and large merchants—was restricted by the power of the residents of the trustee states. The concentration of Polish insurgents (former emigres) in the republic and the activity of secret patriotic organizations served as the pretext for the occupation of the republic in 1836–1841 by Austrian troops. After the suppression of the Kraków Uprising of 1846, Russia, Prussia, and Austria signed an agreement on Nov. 6, 1846, abolishing the republic, whose territory was annexed by Austria.

REFERENCES

Rzeczpospolita Krakowska, 1815–1846. Wroclaw, 1950.