On the role of Russian diplomacy in resolving the autumn crisis of 1850: diplomatic correspondence between Peter von Meyendorff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the punctation of Olmütz, 29 November 1850

During the Autumn Crisis of 1850, Russian diplomacy played a significant stabilising role. In particular, the Russian envoy to Vienna, Baron Peter von Meyendorff, made a considerable contribution to the peaceful resolution of the Austro-Prussian conflict, which threatened to escalate into a pan-European war. The author analyses Meyendorff’s political correspondence with Chancellor Nesselrode from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, a translation of which is appended. These papers outline the course, results, and evaluation of the negotiations held at Olmütz between the heads of the Prussian and Austrian foreign ministries on 28–29 November 1850. Meyendorff, who accompanied Austrian Minister Schwarzenberg on this trip, sent important and valuable information to St. Petersburg in an attempt to present both Vienna’s and Berlin’s position in a positive light in order to dispel Nicholas I’s mistrust of Prussian intentions. At the same time, Meyendorff’s role and contribution to the conclusion of this agreement are still a matter of debate among historians, with some of them considering Meyendorff’s mediation to be only a minor factor in the positive outcome of the negotiations. Far from claiming to bring complete clarity to this issue, this article is meant to put into the academic circuit new archival sources on this crucial event, which determined the further course of the German question and postponed Austria-Prussia’s armed confrontation for leadership in Germany for a decade and a half.