Trade Gateway to the Habsburg Monarchy. On Trieste’s Status, Development and Importance to the mid-19th Century

This study presents and evaluates Trieste’s relationship to the House of Habsburg, or the Habsburg Monarchy, from its beginnings in the 14th century to the mid-19th century. The authors evaluate the port’s longstanding rivalry with the Republic of Venice, notes the Habsburgs’ initial only marginal interest, and their change in approach from the 17th century. The first peak in Trieste’s development occurred in the 18th century, when the city’s population grew, extensive construction work was undertaken, privileged societies were founded for trading overseas, and there were even attempts made at acquiring colonies. The wars with revolutionary and Napoleonic France had highly negative consequences, with the port occupied three times. The subsequent section provides an overview of developments from 1815 until the mid-19th century. Here an evaluation is made of trade in Trieste, its structure and trading connections. Attention is paid to the beginnings of steam navigation, in particular regarding the establishment of Austrian Lloyd’s second section. In the final section, the study framework is focused on the transformative events following the mid-19th century, with the essential inclusion of the defeats in the wars in 1859 and 1866, the February Patent of 1861 which brought a restoration of constitutional life and a new status for Trieste, the importance of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 including the involvement of Austrians in designing and funding its construction, with the eruption of the economic crisis in 1873 the final milestone