ERFURT UNION PARLIAMENT

German Erfurter Unionsparlament (March 20April 29, 1850), conference called by Prussia to form a union of German states headed jointly by Prussia and Austria. Opposed by Austria, the plan failed to win the adherence of the other large German states and had to be renounced by Prussia in the Punctation of Olmtz on November 29. The revolution of 184849 had forced the dissolution of the old Austrian-dominated German Confederation. In 1850 Prussia's chief minister, Joseph Maria von Radowitz, suggested the formation of a new union, in which Austria and Prussia would share leadership, and called a meeting of German states at Erfurt on March 20 to discuss the plan. Saxony and Hanover at first backed Prussia but withdrew when Bavaria and Wrttemberg failed to send representatives to the parliament. Meanwhile, Austria, which had no wish to accord Prussia equality with itself, sidetracked the Prussian plan by declaring the old confederation reconstituted. The Prussian rout was complete when Austria forced King Frederick William IV of Prussia to replace Radowitz with the more pro-Austrian Baron Otto von Manteufel and to sign the Punctation of Olmtz, withdrawing its proposal. Prussia's humiliation began an intense rivalry between the two German powers that ended with Austria's military defeat in 1866.