The first International Postal Union

The first international postal union was formed in 1850 between Austria and several German states.

It included Austria-Hungary, Baden, Bavaria, Brunswick, Hanover, Oldenburg, Prussia, Saxony, Thurn and Taxis, and Württemberg. It also covered the North Italian states of Modena, Parma, and Tuscany, which were under Austrian influence at the time.

As part of this agreement, postage stamps across these regions were broadly standardised—especially in terms of colors for different postal rates. In fact, Baden, Thurn and Taxis, and Württemberg even mentioned the German-Austrian Postal Convention directly on their stamps.

This union faced major disruption during the Italian campaigns of 1859–60, and eventually came to an end during the Seven Weeks’ War between Austria and Prussia.

It was later partly replaced by the North German Postal Confederation in 1867. The experience gained from this system, along with the unification of German postal services under the German Empire in 1871–72, played an important role in shaping a bigger idea.

That idea was proposed by Heinrich von Stephan, leading to the creation of the General Postal Union in 1874, later renamed the Universal Postal Union in 1878.