v3 Chapter 206： Shocked! Hannover and Saxony destroyed

On May 20, 1865, the Kingdom of Hanover was attacked by the Prussian Kingdom of the German Confederation, and the east and south were quickly occupied.

William IV was also on a visit to Tsarist Russia, and on this day he was invited to the University of St. Petersburg to give a lecture on the situation in Europe.

All kinds of news from the Prussian attack made him publish the issue of the internal struggle in the German state, which attracted much attention.

Due to being forced to fight on two fronts, the army of the Kingdom of Hanover divided its forces into two groups and established two armies, of which 30,000 people were formed into the southern army, which was used to restore the Prussian army in the Rhine province.

30,000 people in the east formed the Eastern Army, which was used to deal with the Prussian westward route.

At the same time, Hannover began to expand its troops by 30,000 because of Prussia's aggressive actions.

This recruit team was reinforced by King Georg V of Hanover in the Eastern Theater. Under the unified command of General Bader, it quickly resisted the westward invasion of Prussia in the east of Hanover.

On the Prussian side, the actual commander of the war was General Moltke, Chief of the General Staff.

According to the battle plan formulated by his own leadership, he used advanced railway transportation to implement strategic transportation, and used advanced telegraph means to carry out unified command, thus overcoming the difficulties brought by long-distance maneuvering and outward combat, and in a very short period of time, Concentrating more than 100,000 troops and 200 artillery pieces to the western border area of ​​Mecklenburg, an ally within the German Confederation, and even extending the troops to the free northern city of Hamburg, which has always been pro-Prussian.

With the entire east occupied, the kingdom of Hanover then appealed to its allies for help.

At the Vienna Parliament, the Kingdom of Saxony condemned Prussia's brutal invasion of members of the federation, but other members chose to remain silent after Austria did not respond.

At this moment, they realized that a big country really can't be humiliated.

On June 4, 1865, when Prussia took over the Kingdom of Hanover at lightning speed and took only half a month, it caused a sensation all over the world.

In just one week, Prussia's military power completely paralyzed and occupied the overall military capability of a powerful country like the Kingdom of Hanover. Although this medium power is only the tail of a crane, it is really scary.

The second week was to quickly complete the sweeping of the Hanoverian army one by one, completing the Hanoverian Kingdom with only sporadic fighting forces remaining in various places.

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"In less than two weeks, Prussia destroyed and occupied a medium-sized country with a standing army of 100,000 people and an industrial system of Beibei Junshi.

Therefore, Prussia’s current deduction speed and war military form are believed to have become the deduction cases of military departments and military academies of various countries. The thinking and inspiration of generals and heads of kings of various countries in war are comparable to the Crimean War and the Napoleonic War. , more future similar strategic wars and anti-invasion wars have great enlightenment.

If the Prussian War is a small test, then the Prussian and Hanoverian wars made Prussia show its strengths, and it staged a real two-week 'war teaching' for the world. "

At the military committee held in the Netherlands, according to the request of William IV, Chief of General Staff Mark Rudd used this war as a textbook, and asked all military high-level officials to learn about the Prussian war in order to plan for the Netherlands to face such a war in the future. When rivals, more than a repeat of Hannover's two-week kingdom staged in the Netherlands.

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On May 25, 1865, Austria, in the case of the Prussian invasion of Hannover, seemed to be in a game, and also showed its ambition to the Kingdom of Saxony, and they launched an attack.

However, compared to Prussia, Austria was blocked from the beginning.

Compared with Prussia, Austria's unsuccessful invasion was exchanged for fierce public opinion attacks from members of the German Confederation.

It's notorious.

European countries stared wide-eyed at the development of the strange situation within the German Confederation.

Although the British Foreign Office has repeatedly issued calls for Prussia and Austria to calm down and not to disrupt the imbalance within Germany, where will the two countries listen now.

On June 10, Austria saw that Prussia only used 100,000 soldiers, paid less than 10,000 soldiers, and won Hanover in half a month, so under the character of Joseph I's unwillingness to admit defeat, Austria used the sea of ​​​​tactics. More than 200,000 troops were dispatched to Saxony and finally captured the kingdom of Saxony on June 20.

The warriors lasted more than 4 weeks, and their strength was more than double the 100,000 when Prussia invaded Hanover, reaching 200,000.

In fact, Saxony lags behind the Kingdom of Hanover in terms of military strength and comprehensive national strength. Therefore, Austria's combat effectiveness is inferior to that of Prussia's pearls.

After Prussia and Austria completed their respective wars, the two countries entered into the Berlin-Vienna Treaty on June 25. The treaty stipulated that Prussia annexed the Kingdom of Hanover, and officially annexed Hanover on July 1. From 1814, after Hannover was elevated to a kingdom, to 1865 In 2009, it was annexed by Prussia, and there were 5 kings in the Kingdom of Hanover, for a total of 51 years.

In this treaty, Prussia, the Kingdom of Saxony, was also recognized by Prussia as an annexed territory of Austria, but Prussia suggested that the annexation date of Austria should begin on August 1.

The Austrians agreed to the date despite the strange request made by Prussia (book lovers can guess what Prussia meant)

After the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover, Georg V never relinquished the throne, nor did he acknowledge any actions by Prussia.

He had fled at sea before the complete occupation of Prussia, and his destination was London.

When Prussia signed a treaty with Austria, he appealed to other European powers in London to intervene in the Prussian occupation of Hanover.

But this is futile, because even the UK, Hannover's closest ally, chose to just make a verbal appeal did not intend to intervene, not even to send troops to participate. .

This Georg V suddenly struck with real coldness, only to realize the cruelty of reality.

And so did the royal family of Saxony.

But the Saxon royal family fled to Paris.

With the escape of the two former members of the royal family, the two middle-level countries perished. This made all countries finally realize that the reason why a big country is called a big country and the six major European powers are called foreign powers is not just because of the gifts given by the countries after the Vienna Conference. Rather, it is a display of overall national strength.

Just like the five permanent members of the future generations, they not only have the veto power, but their historical and real capabilities are the best in the world. This is where the confidence of each country lies.

With the fall of these two countries, the German Confederacy rose.

Most surprisingly, the small states within the German Confederation began to panic. The problem is that together with the war, everyone in the big and small countries feels that the game of big fish eating small fish seems to have begun. Faced with the ambitions revealed by Prussia and Austria, what should the many small German countries do? You can't just sit still, can you?