Speaking of German , everyone must be familiar with it. The famous German state in modern history can be said to have changed the course of world history, but the real German state was unified very late, and today’s Germany is also German in the incomplete sense. Once upon a time, Prussia and Austria Prussian-Austrian war , decided the unification of Germany
Austro-Prussian War
Germany in history includes not only the German region today, but also Austria, that is to say, the complete Germany must be brought with Austria
and it is The Prussian War in 1866 , changed the road of German unification, and finally excluded Austria from the German unification country, and today Austria still exists as a separate country
Austria location
and general The Austrian War not only failed Austria's plan to unify Germany, but also greatly weakened Austria's strength. Coupled with the world situation in the mid-19th century, it finally created the decline of Austrian Empire . ..
The Austro-Prussian War had a great influence on Austrian history, And what happened to the Austro-Prussian War? How did Austria and Prussia compete for the leadership of a unified Germany? What was the result in Austria?
Prussia and Austria
With these questions in mind, in this issue we focus on the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866, talk about its causes and consequences, and talk about the crises and challenges faced by the Austrian Empire in the mid-19th century_ span3span
Austro-Prussian War (1866)
Austro-Prussian War As the name suggests, it is Prussian and Austria war, plus Times, this war is essentially a war between and Austria to fight for the leadership of a unified Germany "Greater Germany" dominated by Prussia ; if Prussia wins, it will be Prussia-dominated "Little Germany"
The biggest difference between big and small Germany is whether Austria is pulled in group,And little Germany is undoubtedly Prussia with a group of German states, just without Austria. For German War , of course, friends familiar with history know the final outcome: Prussia finally wins and dominates Germany, and finally completes the great cause of unifying (small) Germany
Although Austria is part of the traditional German states It was not unified into Germany, but after all, Austria has "the blood of Germany flowing", so this war is called "Brother War" in Austria ; in Germany, it is called "Germany" The war”
and because the Austro-Prussian war in 1866 lasted only one or two months, the later generations also called it “ Seven Weeks War_ span3span ” ,
Of course, the main parties in this war are Prussia and Austria, and other interested countries are also more or less involved, such as Italy .
It was Italian Unification Movement, as part of Italian Unification Movement, this Prussian War is also known in Italy as "Third War of Independence"
Italian Unification Movement_ p27p
whatever the name,The historical impact of the war on the Prussian and Austrian countries (and other interested countries) is not small, and in this issue, we will mainly talk about this famous but not small impact Prussian-Austrian War !
Conflict between Prussia and Austria
Friends who are familiar with modern European history know that Prussia and Austria That is a needle-to-point fight, and it is not a difference between the two sides. Deep hatred, mainly for to fight for hegemony in the German region The division, with various princes, feudal lords, and small states, is not much better than the situation of the feudal states within our two-week period
The division within the Holy Roman Empire
and Austrian Habsburg Dynasty_ span3span With the efforts of several generations, it finally became the strongest and most influential state in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) The Habsburg family has "monopolized" the throne of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries.So Austria rose as the center of the Habsburg family. And the ambitious Prussian ruler wanted to unify Germany without getting around Austria, so the contradiction between the two sides formed
The rise of Prussia
Wait until Napoleonic wars period, holy The Roman Empire eventually collapsed, and the divisions of the various princes in the German region were even worse. Whether it was the German people or the politicians who were fighting for power, yearned for the unification of Germany
At that time, the two most likely to unify Germany were Seed players: one is Prussia; the other is Austria. But in general the Austrian Empire is stronger
Austria and Prussia
So Austria In order to ensure its position as the boss of the German region, does everything possible to prevent the unification of the German princes, because once unified , Austria is relatively weak. So Austria once became the biggest obstacle to German unification in the 19th century
The last Prussia Overtaking in the corner: didn't you Austria prevent us from reunifying? Well, let's unify Germany by ourselves, and we won't play with Austria, so we have formed a unification plan of "Little Germany"
German unification
and Prussia and Austria are in this kind of The situation began to struggle,The Austro-Prussian War is a prominent manifestation of this contradiction between the two countries...
Background
1815 Vienna Conference , the Vienna system dominated by Austria and other countries Changed the European political landscape, when Austria established German Confederation (1815-1866)
German Confederation
The so-called German Confederation refers to the union of German states, and this The Union is looser than the U.S. Confederation, and even has a Confederate Congress. And this situation may be what Austria wants to see, because it is so dispersed that the Austrian Empire can become the chairman representative German states .
1815 German Confederation which lasted until the end of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, because Austria was defeated by Prussia, leaving most of the German Confederations in North German Confederation , thus Prussia completed On January 18, 1871, the North German Confederation was truly transformed into a country - German Empire ,Governed by the Hohenzollern family of Prussia , the German state was born.
Of course, that's a story later. After 1815, the German region began to sprout because of the weakening of French power in Germany and the rise of nationalism. The German Unification Movement .
1848 During the European Revolution, the German national independence movement flourished, and the plan for the reunification of the big and small Germany was gradually perfected (see
1848 European Revolution
1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed Prime Minister of Prussia. Tough and skillful, he immediately planned the German unification movement, in order to unify Little Germany by Prussia.
Otto von Bismarck
With the victory of Pudan War , the Iron Chancellor Bismarck succeeded in arousing the national consciousness of Germans. The next Prussia is destined to be with Germany Another power within the country - Austrian Empire had a bloody battle
So Prussia used the right to jointly own Schleswig-Holstein as an excuse,induce Austria to declare war on Prussia first. Sure enough the Austrian Empire was "taken"
Schleswig-Holstein location
then Austria cooperated with Bavaria, Hannover, Saxony and some other German states to defend The name of the German Confederation challenged Prussia
and Prussia used the means of alliance with Italy and some small and medium states of North Germany (this is why the Austro-Prussian war was also part of the Italian independence movement), part of the The Austrian army attracted to the southern battlefield to disperse its troops
Allies in the Prussian-Prussian War
And the true northern Prussian army cut the mess in a short period of time, and stole the bells with lightning speed. The trend took control of the whole of North Germany and started the process of the Prussian-Austrian war...
The war process
As a key step in Prussia's leadership of the unification of Germany, Bismarck spent a lot of energy preparing vs Austrian war. As early as October 1864, when the peace treaty between Denmark was signed, the Jagged Chancellor Bismarck led the Prussian government to actively participate in the preparations for war It is already clear:
- Prussian side : Merenburg, Oldenburg, North German states, Hamburg Free City, Bremen Free City, Lübeck Free City.
- Austria : Saxony, Hannover, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Gassel, Hesse-Darmstad, other member states of the German Confederation
But in terms of the number of states and population size, Austria has the advantage. However, Prussia was superior in military strength, so neither side had a 100% certainty to win before the war. But we must have explained that Prussia cleverly united with northern Italy, forcing Austria to have to divide its troops into two lines and fight on two fronts
and the commander of the Prussian side-the then chief of the Prussian general staff Mao Odd General , which was even better in battle planning, the Prussian army was divided into 3 legions on the main battlefield:
Maoqi
- Elbe Corps : General Herwart Bittenfeld command, about 46,000 people, in the east and west line of Leipzig ;
- 1st Army : Frederick-Prince Karl command,About 93,000 people, deployed in the line east of the Elbe to Gurley;
- 2nd Corps : Crown Prince Frederick-William command, about 115,000 People, gathered in the area east of Gurleys to Oder .
In addition, the Prussian side relied on trains, telegraphs, rear-mounted guns and other auxiliary wars at that time, which made the Prussian army's advantage on the frontal battlefield more obvious. Therefore, Austria lost one after another on the battlefield and its strength was greatly reduced. In the end, it can only hope to rely on Bavaria and Saxony, The aid of allies such as Hanover and Hesse came to win the war.
Of course, the Prussian side had long expected that Austria would rely on passive defense to stop the Prussian offensive, so Prussia was preparing to fight a quick war from the beginning , and the final war process was indeed develop rapidly.
At that time, the war was unfolding on three battlefields at the same time, that is, the three fronts of the Austro-Prussian war . The decisive combat action among the three fronts took place on the battlefield of Bohemia
on the Italian battlefield on the southern front , the Italian army was defeated disastrously, which can be called "the five scumbags" , "Pig teammates", "Drag bottle", the record is not much better than World War I , World War II .
In the end, Italy in the Italian battlefield on the southern front was beaten to the point of being unable to fight again.Quite a shame for the ancestors of Italy - the Roman Empire. In the end, even Bismarck was very annoyed at the pig teammate in Italy, but there was nothing he could do.
So later in the war Prussia abandoned the southern front. And in the German battlefield on the western front of , Prussia was approaching step by step, forming a strategic stalemate with the Austrian army and having a slight advantage. The most important breakthrough in the war: the Prussian army under the command of Maoqi launched an assault, and multiple units formed a pincer offensive, destroying the main Austrian army and taking Vienna directly
, Prussia was pressing step by step, while Austria was retreating steadily, the Austrian army suddenly lost the initiative and was in the attack of the two troops of the Prussian army.
The decisive battle of Sadova in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 started. During the battle, not only the Austrian army was in chaos due to consecutive defeats, but even the Prussian army was in chaos because of the long marching and fighting, and finally failed. Eliminate the Austrian army
Sadova battle map
Even so, the Sadova decisive battle ended with the Prussian victory. Although the main force of the Austrian army was preserved, the overall situation of the Prussian-Austro-Prussian War had been decided, and Austria was no longer able to fight.
End of war
5 July 1866, at the request of Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph Emperor of France Napoleon III World to mediate the war.
Franz Josef
Although the Prussian army still had enough strength to continue the attack, King William of Prussia and his generals, who were overwhelmed by the victory, demanded that they continue to march to capture Vienna in order to completely defeat Austria. .
Napoleon III
Bismarck , who was sober at the time, immediately realized the problem: once the war was delayed, it would inevitably lead to the intervention of France. There is a possibility of a revolution and the Prussian plan to unify Germany will be ruined once
Bismarck
so Bismarck advocated for peace, which turned out to be very politically foresight, because in the upcoming PfP During the war , what Prussia did at this time directly affected whether Austria could be neutral
In the end, Bismarck opposed the opposition and advocated an immediate conclusion of the treaty, and even threatened the King of Prussia with his resignation. In the end King of Prussia William I After weighing the pros and cons, he made concessions.
William I
July 22, 1866Representatives of the two sides negotiate in Nicholsburg. On the 26th, the two sides formally signed the "Nicholsburg Preparatory Peace Treaty"
and the Austrian Army also accepted the mediation of the French Emperor Napoleon III, and signed the "Prague Peace Treaty" on August 23, 1866. As a result, Austria lost the leadership of a unified Germany
The Peace of Prague stipulates: The German Confederation is dissolved , and Austria completely withdraws from the old North German Confederation . Prussia has the right to establish the North German Confederation headed by it; Austria cedes all its management rights over Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia and pays Prussia a large indemnity; at the same time Austria also ceded Venice to Italy.
All of these have prepared various conditions for the unification of Germany by the Kingdom of Prussia (for details, see
German unification
In addition to the unification of Germany by the victorious country Prussia, the Prussian-Austrian War had an impact on Austrian Empire . The impact was not small. At that time, in addition to the war reparations, the territory of the defeated country Austria also changed:
Austria ceded the province of Venetia to Italy. And also promised to never interfere in all German affairs, which Lost its influence on the member countries of the former German Confederation.
Austrian Empire
In other words, Habsburg family The political capital that has always been "proud" is suddenly half empty, So this Austrian defeat was a crisis for the Habsburg dynasty rule
plus the impact of the 1848 European revolution,The collapse of the Vienna system, the international status of the Austrian Empire once again declined, and almost ran out of the European powers
Therefore, under various internal and external troubles, the Austrian Empire ruled They also have to innovate, trying to save this huge ancient country that is dying and dying...
So how did Austria survive? What measures are the changes embodied in? Can Austria still keep up with the trends of the world?
Welcome to continue to follow this series and stay tuned for the next exciting content!
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