why did the second schleswig war happen

As long term readers know, I am something of a military history buff. No questions are currently being submitted, but we will be hosting periodic Floating Features. When an existing Emperor died, seven secular and ecclesiastical princes, each of whom ruled at least one of the states, would elect a new Emperor. Prussia chose not to seek Austrian territory for itself, and this made it possible for Prussia and Austria to ally in the future, since Austria felt threatened more by Italian and Pan-Slavic irredentism than by Prussia. The Hanoverian monarch concluded that his kingdom would fall if it were to fight against the Prussian armies. The brothers Laust and Peter grow up on an estate in poor . In the middle of the century they became coveted by a growing and strengthening Prussian state. 8000 Aarhus C It reportedly "has had an enormous impact on this countrys self-perception and foreign politics ever since. This meant that Austria would be fighting both Italy and Prussia, without any allies of its own. Politics, history, and art are interconnected with respect to the war. Privacy Policy. Sissel Bjerrum, Rasmus Glenthj & Lone Klle Martinsen, eds. The period between the Napoleonic wars and the Crimean war (1815-1853) was actually marked by peace among the great powers of Europe. All rights reserved. It was a dramatic decade that brought about a new power-player on the world-stage. Schleswig-Holstein were duchies that bordered bothDenmarkandGermany. The occasion for the second war for Schleswig-Holstein was found. But when we look at unified Germany we see that Prussia and not Austria, that until 1806 had provided the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, provided the german emperor. German-Danish War, also called Second Schleswig War, (1864), the second of two conflicts over the settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein question, a complex of problems arising from the relationship of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark, to each other, and to the German Confederation. Prussian-led German states and Italian victory. Accessibility Statement. Scan this QR code to download the app now. New Krupp breech-loading cannons were being slowly introduced by the Prussians, but not in numbers large enough to influence outcomes. The same applied to foreign powers such as the United Kingdom, France and Russia, who would not accept a weakened Denmark in favour of a German power, such as Austria or Prussia, acquiring Holstein with the important naval harbour of Kiel or controlling the entrance to the Baltic. He rapidly mobilized the Prussian army and advanced across the border into Saxony and Bohemia, where the Austrian army was concentrating for an invasion of Silesia. The Danish naval blockade of the German North Sea coast was their most effective effort in the war. Denmark, All political parties in Denmark at the time washed their hands of the situation and blamed their political opponents or foreign powers for the defeat. Prussia could equip its armies with breech-loading rifles and later with new Krupp breech-loading artillery but the Austrian economy was suffering from the effects of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the Second Italian War of Independence. All rights reserved. It could not change the outcome of the conflict, however, which ended in a Danish defeat, but it did much to highlight . PrussiaandAustriawere the victors in alliance, however, within two years the two would be at war with one another in a squabble over their new possessions and position within the leadership stakes of the German Confederation. The first war between two major continental powers in seven years, it used many of the same technologies as the Second Italian War of Independence, including railways to concentrate troops during mobilization and telegraphy to enhance long-distance communication. Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Danish-majority area of Northern Schleswig was finally unified with Denmark after two plebiscites organised by the Allied powers. [23], Prussian conscript service was one of continuous training and drill, in contrast to the Austrian army where some commanders routinely dismissed infantry conscripts to their homes on permanent leave soon after their induction into the army, retaining only a cadre of long-term soldiers for formal parades and routine duties. Prussian Chief of General Staff Helmuth von Moltke had planned meticulously for the war. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Dostoevsky refers to this as "The farce in SchleswigHolstein" in Notes from Underground. Taylor also believes that the alliance was a "test for Austria rather than a trap" and that the goal was not war with Austria, contradicting what Bismarck later gave in his memoirs as his main reason for establishing the alliance. After the uprising in Holstein and Schleswig the monarch had no interest in sharing rule with the people, many formerly rebellious. Denmark lost a third of its territory and 40% of its population in the Second Schleswig War in 1864 to Prussia and Austria. The Death of Henry VII: another Dave Shakespeare play. The war also resulted in the Italian annexation of the Austrian province of Venetia. When the German Diet responded by voting for a partial mobilization against Prussia on 14 June, Bismarck claimed that the German Confederation had ended. The dukedoms of Holstein and Lauenburg were legally inherited under the German Salic law which ignored females; differing laws in the Kingdom of Denmark with Schleswig permitted male heirs to inherit through a female line. Corrections? The war left Prussia dominant in German politics (since Austria was now excluded from Germany and no longer the top German power). Bismarck may well have been encouraged to go to war by the advantages of the Prussian army against the Austrian Empire. [4] In March 1866, Austria reinforced its troops along its frontier with Prussia. Denmark fought Prussia and Austria. However none of those happened, and ultimately the sieges were . Superior Prussian organization and lan decided the battle against Austrian numerical superiority, and the victory was near total, with Austrian battle deaths nearly seven times the Prussian figure. He never forgot, even in August 1870, a month before Sedan, that he was a sovereign of a Catholic country, that he had been made Emperor, and was supported by the votes of the conservatives and the influence of the clergy; and that it was his supreme duty not to abandon the Pontiff. In 1863, Denmark amended its constitution to clarify their status, but Prussia and Austria claimed that the amendments violated the 1852 Protocol. No ships were lost, but the blockade remained in place, giving the Danes an unquestioned victory. In 1862, von Roon had implemented several army reforms that ensured that all Prussian citizens were liable to conscription. Feb 1, 1864 - Oct 30, 1864. The details of the discussion are unknown but many historians think Bismarck was guaranteed French neutrality in the event of a war. Cookie Notice The Austro-Prussian ship slipped away in the night. in an attempt to bring about a cease-fire, however, no agreement was forthcoming. The military intervention of the Kingdom of Prussia supported the uprising: the Prussian army drove Denmark's troops from Schleswig and Holstein, beginning the First Schleswig War (18481851), which ended in a Danish victory at Idstedt; with the London Protocol, the international community agreed on the duchies' status. For Americans, 1864 is famous mainly for being the penultimate year of our Civil War. On 15 June Bismarck offered territorial compensation in the Grand Duchy of Hesse to the Electorate of Hesse, if Elector Frederick William were to ally with Prussia. But that's not all that happened that year. (Show more) Major Events: Battle of Breitenfeld Battle of Nrdlingen Battle of Rocroi Battle of White Mountain Battle of Dessau . The move marked Prussia's separation from federal policy, as Bismarck hoped to achieve the annexation of the duchies to Prussia, with Kiel to serve as a Prussian naval base. The wars undertaken were the Second Schleswig War in which the Danish humiliation was avenged, then war against their former allies the Austrians, before concluding with a complete victory over the French. Questions or concerns? At the same time, they created political narratives that continue to affect Danish politics, historiography, art, and national identity. For several centuries, Central Europe was split into a few large- or medium-sized states and hundreds of tiny entities, which while ostensibly being within the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor, operated in a largely independent fashion. Austrian policy was to ensure that units were stationed far from home to prevent them from taking part in separatist revolts. The crisis started on 26 January 1866, when Prussia protested the decision of the Austrian Governor of Holstein to permit the estates of the duchies to call up a united assembly, declaring the Austrian decision a breach of the principle of joint sovereignty. Privacy Policy. Criticisms? At the time of the war, there was no strong national consciousness in Germany. [16], On 22 February 1866, Count Krolyi, Austrian ambassador in Berlin, sent a dispatch to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Alexander Mensdorff-Pouilly. This was achieved through the brilliant work of its Chief of Staff, Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal. But these conflicts were also the conclusion of a continuous feud between the Germans in the Schleswig and Holstein Duchies and the Danish. However, absolutism was still the system of Schleswig and Holstein, with advisory assemblies based on the estates system which gave more power to the most affluent members of society. Unsurprisingly the borders were drawn to ensure it would have a Danish majority, even though a few districts had a slight German . Three Danish, two Austrian, and three Prussian ships were engaged, none bigger than a frigate, all wooden-built and powered by a combination of sail and steam. Cookies Conscripts on leave or reservists recalled to their units during mobilization faced a journey that might take weeks before they could report to their units, making the Austrian mobilization much slower than that of the Prussian Army. Except for a few distractions in 1848, they were able to devote a fair amount of attention to the war. [19], France : France was also unlikely to enter on the side of Austria, because Bismarck and Napoleon III met in Biarritz and allegedly discussed whether or not France would intervene in a potential Austro-Prussian war. Despite the Austrian advantage in the quality of their artillery equipment, other limitations prevented these from being effectively used. Through its vigorous economic activity, the ethnically German area to the south expanded its geographic domain. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. The Austro-Prussian War ended quickly and was fought mainly with existing weapons and munitions, which reduced the influence of economic and industrial power relative to politics and military culture. Under these varying laws, the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark would have different heirs in Denmark and in Holstein. "[25] Moltke had also said earlier, "Nothing could be more welcome to us than to have now the war that we must have.". Similarly, a cartoon printed in 2013 in connection with the withdrawal of Danish troops from Afghanistan paraphrased an earlier iconic painting by Niels Simonsen of the retreat from Danevirke in 1864, replacing the canon with a tank and the soldiers with present-day politicians. Such was the manner of defeat that Denmark would never engage in war again until involving themselves in NATO in the 1990s. This question is of great interest to students of international law and as illustrating the practical problems involved in asserting the modern principle of nationality. Why was the Austrian Empire a part of the Second Schleswig War in 1864? Other works of art also use 1864 in a meaningful way, such as Thomas Kluges painting from 2014 which reflects the artists perception that Danish national identity is marked by an inferiority complex and an ambiguous relationship to Germany and the European Union, which according to the painter can be traced back to 1864. [9] Bismarck recognised this, remarking in 1862 that a united German state could not be forged through "speeches and majority decisions" but only through "blood and iron". However, the Danes were able to concentrate their fire on the Austrian flagship Schwartzenberg, dismounting several guns before a lucky shot set fire to her foretopsail. [22], Introducing universal conscription for three years increased the size of the active duty army and provided Prussia with a reserve army equal in size to that which Moltke deployed against Austria. They wrote about troop movements, artillery positioning, and new methods of attack that worked well for the Americans. A don't see why the Schleswig-Holstein question between the German states and Denmark would be a matter they would care enough about to get involved militarily This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast comment Theirs is a solid national feeling". The German language had been slowly spreading at the expense of Danish in previous centuries: for example, Danish was still spoken on the peninsula of Schwansen around 1780 (the last known use of Danish was in the villages near the Schlei), but then became extinct. Hanover's army defeated Prussia at the Second Battle of Langensalza on 27 June 1866, but, within a few days, they were forced to surrender by superior numbers. 6 languages Tools Map of the Jutland Peninsula Northern Jutland ( Nrrejylland ), i.e. With the ships pump destroyed, the fire spread and the Austrians were forced to seek sanctuary in neutral British waters. Niels Simonsen's 'Tilbagetoget fra Dannevirke' [The Retreat from Dannevirke], 1864. I've got no sympathy for Facebook shareholders, but no love for regulatory busybodies either | Please find our full statement here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14dd0ae/askhistorians_will_remain_in_limited_operation/, A don't see why the Schleswig-Holstein question between the German states and Denmark would be a matter they would care enough about to get involved militarily. Naturally I was not doubtful of the answer for a second. Austria has only one railway line and it will take her forty-five days to assemble 200,000 men. Main The Second Schleswig War ( Danish: Krigen i 1864; German: Deutsch-Dnischer Krieg or German Danish War ), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. In Northern Schleswig 75% voted for reunification with Denmark and 25% for remaining in Germany. It became South Jutland County in Denmark, now part of the Region of Southern Denmark. Russia: Russia was unlikely to enter on the side of Austria, due to ill will over Austrian support of the anti-Russian alliance during the Crimean War and Prussia had stood by Russia during the January Uprising in Poland, signing the Alvensleben Convention of February 1863 with Russia, whereas Austria had not. Treaty of Versailles, peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919; it took force on January 10, 1920. It is a complex part of its history, which has always been associated with tensions and strong opinions.". It could not change the outcome of the conflict, however, which ended in a Danish defeat, but it did much to highlight Prussian naval weakness. Prussian armies fought against Bavaria, Wrttemberg, Baden and the Hessian states on the river Main, reaching Nuremberg and Frankfurt. Articles such as this one were acquired and published with the primary aim of expanding the information on Britannica.com with greater speed and efficiency than has traditionally been possible. Those that sided with Austria included the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Wrttemberg. The pact holds a secret clause; the division of Poland among them. Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Allied powers organised two plebiscites in Northern and Central Schleswig on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively. Like many succeeding German wars,Bismarckmade heavy use of a diplomatic situation in order to push Prussian interests to the top of the agenda. Denmark's defeat to Prussia and Austria in the Second Schleswig War in 1864 meant that the Danish state lost the two German duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, and the ethnically mixed Danish duchy of Schleswig; a loss of a third of its territory and 40% of the state's population. If he could ensure, through Austrian aid, the neutrality of the South German States in a war against Prussia, he considered himself sure of defeating the Prussian army, and thus would remain arbiter of the European situation. Austria responded with a mobilization of its Southern Army on the Italian border on 21 April. However, after this date Prussia became transformed: moving away from the liberal nationalism of 1848 the year of revolution to the iron and blood militaristic nationalism led by their influential Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Lastly, there was the international question: the rival ambitions of the German powers involved, and beyond them the interests of other European states, notably that of the United Kingdom in preventing the rise of a German sea-power in the north. The 2nd Schleswig War all but caused the adjustment policy of Denmark to appease Germany. One solution, which afterwards had the support of Napoleon III, would have been to partition Schleswig on the lines of nationality, assigning the Danish part to Denmark, the German to Holstein. While Austrian cavalry and artillery were as well trained as their Prussian counterparts, with Austria possessing two elite divisions of heavy cavalry, weapons and tactics had advanced since the Napoleonic Wars and cavalry charges had been rendered obsolete. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Second, he almost completely ignores Austria. Railways made it possible to supply larger numbers of troops than hitherto and allowed the rapid movement of troops within friendly territory. Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)also known as the "Iron Chancellor"was Chancellor of the newly-united German Empire from 1862 to 1890. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into Schleswig. Monthly Round-Up: January 2019 Dave Does History, War World Cup #8: Austro-Prussian War (1866) Dave Does History, War World Cup #9: Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) Dave Does History, War World Cup #10: First Schleswig War (1848-52) Dave Does History, War World War #14: Henry VIIIs French Wars (1512-1546) Dave Does History, Follow Dave Does History on WordPress.com, Ralph Wilford: Henry VII's Forgotten Pretender, Crime & Punishment: The Lightfoot Brothers, Cornish Nationalism: fighting the Moloch from across the Tamar, The History of King's Tamerton, Plymouth (Part 1). R. H. Herning, H. Schultz Hansen & E. Imberger, eds, 2015. Thus the war with Denmark became the first of the German unification wars. This had happened many times anyway, leaving a confusing pattern of feudal units. When Austria brought the Schleswig-Holstein dispute before the German Diet on 1 June and also decided on 5 June to convene the Diet of Holstein on 11 June, Prussia declared that the Gastein Convention of 14 August 1865 had thereby been nullified and invaded Holstein on 9 June. power politics, the German Confederation, and Austria along with the Franco-Prussian War. Indeed, I would have loved to be a military historian were it not for the fact that the pay stinks and most universities won't touch you with a 10 foot pole. According to Geoffrey Wawro, the political and military power accumulated by Prussia allowed it to annex the northern German states in 1866 and then "force the Catholic states very much against their will into a federal union" in 1871. When the Prussian victory became clear, France attempted to extract territorial concessions in the Palatinate and Luxembourg. The allies set the tempo of the war, demonstrating their force of arms. Danes also brought forward rulings of a Danish clerical court and a German Emperor, of 1424 and 1421 respectively, stating that Schleswig rightfully belonged to Denmark, because it was a Danish fief and Holstein was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, wanting Schleswig and Holstein to separate from each other. The series of protracted religious-dynastic wars that afflicted the Holy Roman Empire and most western European states from 1618 to 1648. [27] The Austrians accepted mediation from France's Napoleon III. Breuilly remarks that the confessional rivalry was so strong that "a Hamburg Lutheran had more in common with a Swedish Lutheran than with an Austrian Catholic". In the meantime, more information about the article and the author can be found by clicking on the authors name. But when the war suddenly broke out, before anything was concluded, the first unexpected French defeats overthrew all previsions, and raised difficulties for Austria and Italy which prevented them from making common cause with France. An 1852 London Protocol (the British were fantastic busybodies in the 19th Century, sticking their noses into everything) had assigned them to Denmark, but in a constitutionally awkward manner. During the 1860sPrussiaundertook a series of wars that resulted in the unification ofGermanyin the form an empire. From the start it was a Danish-Austrian fightthe Prussian ships could not keep up and, although they opened fire, they were too distant to play an effective role in the battle. The Second Schleswig War resolved the SchleswigHolstein Question violently, by forcing the king of Denmark to renounce (on 1 August 1864) all his rights in the duchies in favour of Emperor Franz JosephI of Austria and King WilliamI of Prussia. (Show more) Key People: All of which is to explain how I came to read1864: The Forgotten War That Shaped Modern Europeby Danish journalist and historian Tom Buk-Swienty. By the time the Austrians were fully assembled, they would be unable to concentrate against one Prussian army without having the other two instantly attack their flank and rear, threatening their lines of communication. Having said that, however, he does make a convincing case that this was the first modern European war. But many scholars argue that a confluence of factors had been creating the conditions for conflict in Europe for decades prior. My blog is a collection of posts of the interesting, the eclectic, and the sometimes mundane. Prussian infantry were equipped with the Dreyse needle gun, a bolt-action rifle which could be fired faster than the muzzle-loading Lorenz rifles of the Austrian army. However, Italy's "Hunters of the Alps" led by Garibaldi defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Bezzecca on 21 July, conquered the lower part of Trentino, and moved towards Trento. Not to be confused with "Nordjylland", the latter roughly corresponds to the North Denmark Region and our The Bavarian fortress of Wrzburg was shelled by Prussian artillery, but the garrison defended its position until armistice day. German Schleswig-Holsteiners often cited a clause from the Treaty of Ribe of 1460, stating that Schleswig and Holstein should "always be together and never partitioned (or separated)". The alliance can be regarded as an aid to Prussian expansion, rather than a provocation of war against Austria. Eminent Victorian Prime Minister, Lord Palmerton, once remarked on the thorny issue of the so-called Schleswig-Holstein Question: Only three people have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business: the Prince Consort, who is dead; a German professor, who has gone mad; and I, who have forgotten all about it.. [15], There are many interpretations of Otto von Bismarck's behaviour before the Austrian-Prussian war, which concentrate mainly on the fact that he had a master plan that resulted in this war, the North German Confederation and the unification of Germany. This led to a strong confessional rivalry between the southern Catholic and northern Protestant states. Francis II's abolition of the office of Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 also deprived him of his imperial authority over most of German-speaking Europe, though little true authority remained by that time; he did, however, retain firm control of an extensive multi-ethnic empire (most of it outside the previous boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire). Raffaele de Cesare, an Italian journalist, political scientist, and author, noted that: The alliance, proposed two years before 1870, between France, Italy, and Austria, was never concluded because Napoleon III would never consent to the occupation of Rome by Italy. However, bringing the German states together was not guaranteed. John Swift is a Senior Lecturer inHistoryat the University of Cumbria. Cookie Notice The result, that of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein going to Austria and . | I hate Microsoft . [8] Prussia had been contesting Austria's supremacy in Germany since at least 1850, when a war between the two powers had nearly erupted over Prussia's leadership of the Erfurt Union, though at that time Prussia had backed down. 1864 is a 2014 eight-part Danish miniseries which deals with Denmark's defeat in the Second Schleswig War between the Kingdom of Denmark and the German Confederation (Prussia and Austria). Beust "persuaded Francis Joseph to accept Magyar demands which he had until then rejected",[39] but Austrian plans fell short of French hopes (e.g. As cluster bombs from the US arrived in Ukraine, Putin said Russia has a 'sufficient stockpile'; The future of Wagner Group is 'starting to take shape' according to the UK MoD. These articles have not yet undergone the rigorous in-house editing or fact-checking and styling process to which most Britannica articles are customarily subjected. Aarhus University He wished Austria to avenge Sadowa, either by taking part in a military action, or by preventing South Germany from making common cause with Prussia. Losses: Danish, 14 dead, 55 wounded; Austrian, 32 dead, 59 wounded; Prussian, none. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. As a preliminary step, the Ausgleich with Hungary was "rapidly concluded". [31], Local resistance and regional loyalty led Hans von Hardenberg, the civil commissioner who oversaw the integration of Hanover into Prussia, to remark that "As a whole the Hanoverians are a tougher, less accommodating tribe than the Saxons. The Prussian Army used von Dreyse's breech-loading needle gun, which could be rapidly loaded while the soldier was seeking cover on the ground, whereas the Austrian muzzle-loading rifles could be loaded only slowly, and generally from a standing position. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stressed his gratitude for NATO's military support. Battle of Heligoland, (9 May 1864), naval engagement of the Second Schleswig War (see German-Danish War), pitting the Danes against a joint Prussian-Austrian force.Although a relatively small action, the battle provided the Danes with their greatest success in the war. It all revolved around the confusing Schleswig-Holstein Question and particularly inDenmarks new constitution and how it affected ethnic Germans living within the duchies. It was a dramatic decade that brought about a new power-player on the world-stage.
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