Chapter 37： war

Chapter 37 War

June 14, 1866.

Prussia declares war on the grounds of Austria's mismanagement of Holstein.

On the day war was declared, the Prussian army on the western front attacked the northern German countries with lightning speed, and quickly took over the government organizations and railway hubs of these countries.

Due to the power and marriage of the Habsburg family of the Austrian Empire for many years, the German states that supported Prussia had only a few small countries that basically had no military strength, and those countries that were slightly larger were all on the side of Austria.

At the last session of the German Confederation Parliament, Prussia's attempt to solve the German issue by force was rejected by many countries in the parliament.

This parliament made Prussia realize that it basically had no allies in the German region, so Prussia quickly declared war on these small countries in northern Germany after the war.

At this time, Prussia was divided into two parts on the map, and in the middle were these small scattered German countries.

Most of these small countries were surrounded by Prussia, and they dared to stand on the side of Austria. The Prussian army, which did not speak martial arts, would naturally not negotiate with these small countries and directly launch a war to take over their power.

This time Prussia's determination to unify the entire northern part of Germany to achieve a small German plan is unprecedented. If these small countries don't know how to flatter them, they can only be wiped out.

It’s okay to oppose Prussia with a little strength in the south. You small countries and free cities have basically no military strength, and you are in the hinterland of Prussia. How dare you make a fuss.

As the Prussian army on the western battlefield marched directly into the North German countries through the railway line, these small countries were naturally powerless to stop them, and Prussia successfully controlled its administrative authority.

Get rid of these ignorant small countries first to prevent them from being stabbed in the back, and at the same time completely ensure the traffic safety of the Prussian east-west railway network.

The Bohemian battlefield is the main battlefield of the Prussian-Austrian War. The two sides have gathered hundreds of thousands of troops here, but Prussia is obviously more efficient than Austria.

One is that in 1862 Prussian von Rohn implemented several military reforms that ensured that all Prussian citizens were obliged to be drafted.

Prior to this, the size of the army was determined earlier and did not take into account population growth, thus making conscription unfair and unpopular.

While some Prussians remained in the army or reserves until the age of 40, about a third (or even more in some areas where populations had increased significantly due to industrialization) were assigned minimal duties in the home army .

Introduced universal conscription within three years, increased the size of the active army, and provided Prussia with a reserve force comparable in size to Austria, but better.

Prussia considered that if France under Napoleon III tried to intervene in the actions of the Prussians, they could also call up an equal or greater number of troops against Napoleon III's army through the reserve system.

Prussian conscripts were a constant training and exercise, while some commanders of the Austrian army routinely sent infantry soldiers home on permanent leave shortly after conscripting, keeping only a group of permanent soldiers in barracks for long periods of time, or performing Task.

Therefore, Austrian conscripts had to train almost from scratch when they were called back to the army after the outbreak of war.

So the Prussian army was much better trained and disciplined than the Austrian army, especially in terms of infantry.

While Austrian cavalry and artillery were as well trained as their Prussian counterparts, and Austria had two elite heavy cavalry divisions, advances in weapons and tactics since the Napoleonic Wars made cavalry charges obsolete.

The Prussian army is based locally and organized in military districts, each of which contains a corps headquarters and its constituent units. Most reservists live near their regimental depots and can be mobilized quickly.

Austria's policy is to ensure that troops are stationed far from home to prevent their involvement in Separatist insurgencies.

Conscripts on furlough or reservists recalled to their units during mobilization faced journeys that could take weeks to report to their units, making Austrian mobilization much slower than that of the Prussian army.

At the same time, the railway system in Prussia is more developed than that in Austria. Railroads made it possible to supply more troops than ever before, and allowed troops to move quickly within friendly territory. The more efficient Prussian rail network allowed the Prussian army to concentrate faster than the Austrians.

Moltke, recalling his plans for Loon, said: "We have the incalculable advantage of being able to transport our 285,000 field troops on five rail lines and concentrate them in almost twenty-five days.  …Austria has only It will take her 45 days to assemble 200,000 people on one rail line."

Old Moltke also said earlier, "There is nothing more popular than having the war we must have now."

Austrian troops under Ludwig von Benedeker in Bohemia.

Previously considered to enjoy the advantage of a "central location" because they were able to concentrate on launching a continuous offensive along the frontier.

But the faster Prussian concentration offset this advantage. When the Austrians were fully assembled, they were unable to prevent two other Prussian armies from attacking their flanks and rear and threatening their lines of communication while they were concentrating on one Prussian army.

In the south, the presence of the Italians forced Austria to disperse its forces to fight against the Kingdom of Italy, and even Austria had already withdrawn from Venetia on its own initiative.

The war situation was unfavorable to Austria from the very beginning. The old Austria had to ask Napoleon III for help, but Napoleon III still underestimated Prussia. He agreed to Austria's request, but did not intervene for a long time.

On June 23, the Prussian army went straight to the front line from Zavidov to Qitao.

On June 26, the Battle of the Yunna River took place between the Prussian and Austrian armies.

The chief of staff of the Prussian army, Elder Moltke, carefully planned the battle and concentrated firepower to attack Austria. When the Austrian army concentrated on invading Silesia, he transferred his troops to Saxony and Bohemia to join King William I of Prussia, who had already assembled an army there.

On July 3, the Prussian army made a massive attack and defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Konigretz (also known as the Battle of Sadowa). The Austrian army had an advantage in numbers, but the number of casualties was seven times that of the Prussian army, because the Prussian army was well equipped and strategically appropriate.

Except for Saxony, other states have limited influence on the war. Hanover's army defeated the Prussian army at the Battle of Bad Langensalza on June 27, but was soon besieged by the army and surrendered. The Prussians confronted Bavaria on the Main and fought at Nuremberg and Frankfurt. Würzburg in Bavaria was besieged by the Prussians, but did not surrender until the armistice.

Austria's battle with Italy was unexpected. It defeated the Italian army in the naval battles of the Battle of Custoza on June 24 and the Battle of Lisa (Lisa is in Vis, Croatia) on July 20.

(end of this chapter)