Austrian consular representation in the ports of the maritime Danube and Black Sea in 1833-1916
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to analyse the dynamics of the Austrian consular representation in the ports of the Maritime Danube and the Black Sea as an expression of the geopolitical and economic interests of the Habsburg Empire in this region. We will highlight biographical and professional milestones of the Austrian officials who framed the consular network in the port cities of Galați, Brăila, Ismail, Tulcea, Sulina and Constanța.
The scientific novelty is given by highlighting the connection between the Austrian consular representation in these ports and Vienna’s geopolitical interest in the economic and strategic potential of the Danube and the Black Sea.
Conclusions. In the aforementioned time period, the Habsburg Empire (Austro-Hungarian) directly interested in the geopolitics of the Danube and the Black Sea, operationalised a vast consular network in the region, staffed with qualified personnel who had rich diplomatic experience. For the reference period, the bibliographic resources accessed indicate the presence in the port cities of Galati, Brăila, Ismail, Tulcea, Sulina and Constanța approximately 72 Austrian consular officials.
The analysis of their biographical and professional elements highlights a rich consular dynamic in the mentioned ports, as an indicator of Vienna’s special interest in the strategic potential of the Danube and the Black Sea. The lack of technical means of information in the 19th century necessarily imposed an increased human presence in the points of economic and political interest that are the subject of the study. The pole of Austrian consular representation in the region was the port of Galați.
Most of the Austrian diplomats were members of noble families, graduates of the Oriental Academy (later the Consular Academy), a prestigious institution in Vienna dedicated to the training of diplomats, and had satisfactory military experience. Some of them served in the Imperial Army in Vienna, being assigned to diplomacy after participating in military operations. The analysis of the biographical elements of the Austrian diplomats confirms the direct connection between them and the representations of the two Austrian shipping companies, DDSG and Austrian Lloyd, confirming the binomial influence of navigation – consular representation, actively used by Vienna on the Danube and the Black Sea.
We can also note the principle of rotation of consular staff between the offices in the mentioned port cities, enunciating the principle of the need for the best possible knowledge of the realities in the country. At the same time, the Austrian officials who worked in the presented port cities also performed functions in Romanian inland cities.
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