![]() By the summer of 1865, the two powers were on the brink of war, but Bismarck was not ready to enter a conflict at this time-a convention of sorts was arranged and a deal struck at Gastein in Austria, to paper over the cracks and allow a breathing space, during which both sides began to organize their military forces for the showdown that was bound to come.īismarck made full use of the lull to win over the Prussian King Wilhelm I and his advises. Such a condominium between Austria and Prussia could not be expected to work without friction. The two duchies were placed under the control of Prussia and Austria, Holstein going to Prussia and Austria administering Schleswig. By the terms of the Treaty of Vienna, the Danes ceded their rights over both Schleswig and Holstein. In January of that year the Danes were defeated and their king, Christian IX, was compelled to sue for peace. In 1864, Austrian and Prussian troops under the overall command of Austria invaded the duchies. For some years, the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein had been a thorn in the side of both Austria and Prussia, with the kingdom of Denmark claiming sovereignty over both. The crushing of democratic Prussian liberalism in 1862 had left the way clear for a confrontation with AustriaĪ situation now arose that gave Bismarck his chance to inaugurate a series of diplomatic manoeuvres that would nudge Austria along the road to war. For Bismarck, as it was for the Prussian military theorist Karl von Clausewitz, war was an extension of state policy by other means. ![]() His policy of aggrandizement was based largely on a strong military program. From the moment he came to power in 1862 until the outbreak of hostilities in 1866, Bismarck pursued a course whose main objective was securing Prussian domination over Austria and the smaller German states. To this end, Count Otto von Bismarck, first minister of Prussia, addressed all his efforts. Perhaps what the small monarchy of Piedmont-albeit with French assistance-had recently done for a unified Italian cause might also be achieved by a German confederation under Prussian control? By 1859, however, the squeaking cogs of the Austrian military machine had been heard by the Prussian General Staff in Berlin. She seemed far inferior to Austria both in military strength and total population. Prussia had emerged from the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 as the weakest of the five great European powers (England, France, Austria, Russia and Prussia). The Austrian cavalry, meanwhile, despite the fearful toll exacted by the Prussian needle gun (named for its needle-shaped firing pin), did indeed prove itself a most disciplined and able force in delaying the advance of the victorious Prussian infantry but the days of the old fashioned cavalry regiments were clearly numbered when set against rapid rifle fire. Within this space the Austrian artillery maintained a rate of fire seldom witnessed before, portending the massed barrage fire of the Great War of 1914-1918. Well over 450,000 men were on the field in an area of less than eight square miles. As a battle alone, with no frills attached, Königgrätz (sometimes called Sadowa) was by far the largest battle fought in Europe during the 19 th century. ![]() Likewise, the use made of the electric telegraph and railways pointed to the future importance of communication and transport. The Seven Week’s War, as the campaign in Bohemia became popularly known, was the first occasion in which the steel-rifled cannon and the breech-loading rifle were seriously put to the test The Danish War of 1864 had seen the Prussians on campaign with their breech-loading rifles, but no real understanding of its full potential was realized, both by the Austrians, or the various … Continue reading. ![]() While this may be a debatable supposition, the battle and the campaign demonstrated the power of Prussian science and military art. It has even been suggested that the rise of Adolf Hitler could not be explained without the events of 1866. It is not difficult to understand why the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866 is still considered to be one of the decisive battles of the modern era.
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