Zollverein

Common card · No. 259540

The Zollverein (German: [ˈtsɔlfɛɐ̯ˌʔaɪn]), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 Zollverein treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had been in development from 1818 with the creation of a variety of custom unions among the German states. By 1866, the Zollverein included most of the German states. The Zollverein was not part of the German Confederation (1815–1866). The foundation of the Zollverein was the first instance in history in which independent states consummated a full economic union without the simultaneous creation of a political federation or union. Prussia was the primary driver behind the creation of the customs union. Austria was excluded from the Zollverein because of its highly protectionist trade policy, its unwillingness to split its customs territory into the separate Austrian, Hungarian and Galician-Lodomerian ones, as...

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