WAR REPORT: AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR (SEVEN WEEKS WAR)

(textbook pp 66-81, powerpoint Austria and Prussia 1849-66 II, powerpoint Austria and Prussia
1849-66 III, powerpoint German unification maps, primary documents #17 and #18).

War: Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks War)

Date: June 15
th
1866 August 23
rd
1866

Players: Prussia (+ Italy, other German states) vs. Austria (+ other German states)

Key battle(s: Battle of Sadowa (Kniggratz)

Victor: Prussia

Cause Course Consequence
Factors helping Bismarck:

Prussian military
strength
See German Unification
Lesson 4 Notes
-German Unification = result
of 3 short wars
-Prussian Army made
Germany a reality
-Reforms of Roon made army
strong
-Moltke = chief of army
-Reforms: quick mobilization
(railways), better trained,
better armed
Prussian economic
strength
See German Unification
Lesson 4 Notes
-Prussia is producing more
coal and steel than
France/Austria by the mid
1860s (more rail, more steam
engines than Austria
Krupps iron factories in
Rhineland
-More $$$ for army
-Dominated Zollverein
(contained almost every
German state enabled
economic unity)
Advantages of Austria
-More soldiers (400,000 vs.
300000)
-Most German states on team
Austria (to counter-balance
their economic subordination
to Prussia in Zollvereign.
-Central position (had no
allies: France, Russia, Britain)
-Initially, many Prussians =
lukewarm about war

Advantages of Prussia
-Advance planning +
preparation
-Had Italy on their side
-Austria had to fight on 2
fronts (vs. Italy + Prussia)
-Better railway system
easier mobilization
-Army reforms
-General Helmuth Moltke,
gifted military leader
-More efficient mobilization
-Breech-loading needle gun

Battle of Sadowa
-July 3
rd
1866
-1/2 million men involved, 2
sides balanced
-Austrians had artillery, used
it effectively initiallysoon
caught in Prussian pincer
Bismarcks reason for
not invading Austria
-Austria at mercy of Prussia
-William I proposed takeover
of Austria
-Bismarck said no, scared that
France + Russia might
intervene
-Real politics -- Calculated
Treaty of Prague
-August
-Prussia got lots of territory
(Schleswig, Holstein, Hesse-
Cassel, Hanover, Nassau,
Frankfurt)
-All other German states
north of River Main (incl.
Saxony) North German
Confederation under Prussian
leadership
-Venetia Part of Italy
Bismarcks calculations
(why did not annex all n.
German states)
-Threat of French
intervention
-If Prussia absorbed too much
too soon trouble?
-4 Catholic states south of
River Main (Bavaria,
Wrttemberg, Baden, Hesse-
Darmstadt) = independent
-Those 4 states signed secret
German nationalism
-Lesson of 1848 revolutions
needed Prussia in power to
achieve stuff
-The National Association
formed in 1859, inspired by
Italy unification to encourage
Prussia to lead German
unification (25,000 influential
men)
-Middle classes leading public
opinion (reading books +
newspapers that support
German nationalism)
Austrian economic
weakness
See German Unification
Lesson 4 Notes
-Agricultural
-Lack of $$$
-Had to stop nationalism in
other parts of empire
Austrian diplomatic
weakness
See German Unification
Lesson 4 Notes
-Crimean war (alienated
Russia) + 2
nd
War of Italian
Independence (defeated)=
weakened Austria
Bismarcks diplomatic
preparations, (favourable
international situation):
Meeting at
Biarritz (France)
-Bismarck met Napoleon III at
Biarritz (secret)
-Bismarck knew war vs.
Austria = possibility
-Bismarck needed to
neutralize France
-Nothing specific agreed
(neither man wanted specific
agreement)
-Bismarck not prepared to
give part of Rhineland to
France in return for France =
neutral
-Napoleon III foresaw war
movement
-Prussia: breech-loading
needle gun (5x rate of fire of
Austrian guns, decisive)
-Austrian army fled
-Casualties: Austria 45,000
Prussia 9000
-Prussia won battle + war
-Austrian government
recognized that further
fighting would further
defeats, maybe break up of
Austrian Empire
-Austria priority = end to
fighting (at any reasonable
cost)
-Prussia = winner
-Personal win for Bismarck
put him in position to
dominate entire Germany for
next century
military alliance with Prussia
if war would fight alongside
Prussia + put their armies
under Prussias control
-Treaty of Prague = milestone
on way to German unity
-Germans separated into:
North German Confederation,
the 4 south German states,
Austrian Empire
-German states annexed by
Prussia = not consulted about
uniting with Prussia, simply
annexed
-King of Hanover driven out,
fortune confiscated
-North German Confederation
states had some
independence
-Trial run by Bismarck in
North Germany for an
eventual wider federation
taking in all Kleindeutschland?
could have easily annexed
remaining northern states if
he wanted, but didnt to show
Germans south of Main how
good membership of
Prussian-controlled
federation is. Economic
advantage!
-More credible argument:
Bismarck saw no + in too
speedy takeover of lots of
states? would dilution of
Prussian culture + traditions,
instead of Prussia absorbing
Germany, Germany would
absorb Prussia
-Fears French intervention!
United Germany upsets
balance of power
North German
Confederation
-King of Prussia head of
Confederation
-States = mostly independent
-July 1867: Bismarcks
constitution came into effect
between Austria and Prussia,
intended to stay neutral and
use as advantage, mediating
between combatants, gaining
greater reward in the process
than anything Bismarck could
presently offer
-Napoleon = anti-Austrian,
easy for Bismarck to get
Emperors good wishes
Secret alliance
(Italy)
-April 1866
-Italy agreed to follow Prussia
if it declared war on Austria
within 3 monthsItaly would
gain Venetia when war over
Provoking war
(Austria)
-Bismarck + tension with
Austria over Holstein and
over proposals to reform
Confederation (included
setting up representative
assembly elected by universal
manhood suffrage)
Bismarck knew would piss off
Austria
-Austria scared of surprise
attack, mobilized in April
Prussia (pretending like as a
response) mobilized in May
-Austria refused to discuss
situation in congress of Great
Powers
-Austria broke off talks with
Prussia (breaching previous
promises) referred problem
of Duchies to the Diet
-June 9: Bismarck sent
Prussian army into Holstein
(Austrian control)
surprisingly didnt lead to war
( Bismarck)


Withdrawal of Prussia from
German Confederation
-Bismarck presented
in North German
Confederation
-Confederation lasted 4 years,
but its constitution was to
continue (mostly the same) as
constitutionsof German
Empire
-Designed to fit requirements
of Prussian power +
Bismarcks political position
-Bismarck opposed to idea of
parliamentary government on
British model (reduced crown
to symbolic status + put
power in hands of
parliament)
-Given his views, his
insistence on universal
manhood suffrage in election
of Reichstag is surprising
-Believed that traditional
loyalties of peasants would
preserve conservative order
in Germany
-Didnt intend Reichstag to be
important in public life
-Little more than organ of
public opinion
-Hoped activities of weak
Reichstag discredit
parliamentary institutions in
German eyes
-Democratic manner of
election process didnt
compensate for great
weakness of Reichstag
(ministers incl. Chancellor =
not members of it and not
responsible to it). Not full
democracy

Bismarcks (and Prussias)
gains
-Austria forced to withdraw
from German affairs
Prussian domination
-Bismarck hero!
-Patriotic fervor in Prussia
-2/3 of Germans (excl.
extended version of his
proposals for reform of
Federal Constitution to Diet
(Austria excluded from
Confederation, national
parliament elected by
universal suffrage, all troops
in North Germany under
Prussian command)
-Austria asked Diet to reject
Prussias proposals + mobilize
for war.
-Censured by Diet, Prussians
withdrew from Confederation
declared it dissolved,
invited other German states
to ally with Prussia vs. Austria
-Most states began mobilizing
vs. Prussia
-Bismarck sent ultimatum to
Hanover, Hesse-Cassel,
Saxony to side with Prussia or
else!
-Ultimatums rejected
-Prussia dummied those
states!


German Austrians) = part of
Prussian-dominated
Confederation
-Most North Germans
accepted situation
-Many liberal-nationalists: no
irreconcilable difference
Bismarcks Prussian policy
and Kleindeutsch nationalism.
-Unification by force
-Pressure on Bismarck to
completely unite
-Bismarck recognized that
complete unity would
strengthen Prussia in relation
to Austria + France
-1866 South Germany: people
wanted unity
-Political parties pro unity
established
-1867: 4 southern states
Zollparlament (to discuss
policy of Zollverein) to
encourage closer co-
operations between North
and South
-1867: local loyalties re-
emerged
-Many south Catholics
regarded Prussia with
suspicion
-1868: southern states elected
majority of delegates to
Zollparlament anti-unity
-National liberals (who hoped
that Zollparlament motor
for unification) disappointed
-Bismarck not concerned,
believed in good time
(war/evolution) southern
states would join