Münchengrätz Convention

(1833)

   A set of agreements reached by Count Metternich and Tsar Nicholas I in a meeting at the village Mnichovo Hradištˇe, then Münchengrätz, in the presentday Czech Republic. They agreed that the Russian Empire and Habsburg Empire would cooperate in sustaining the Ottoman Empire against collapse but to act in concert if such a collapse became imminent. They also agreed to guarantee their respective possessions in Poland and pledged mutual assistance in the event of a Polish rebellion. At the time, Austria’s problems in Central Europe required Russian cooperation, but Metternich wanted simultaneously to restrain Russian territorial opportunism over Ottoman decline. He therefore sought a Russian commitment to the maintenance of the diplomatic status quo generally and linked it to a shared fear of liberal revolt. A month later a third agreement was added when Prussia, too, declared a willingness to assist the Habsburg and Russian monarchies in defeating a liberal revolt.

   See also <>; <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Schroeder, Paul. W. The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE