Austrians After The Danish Prussian War example essay topic

The Austro-Prussian War, which has also been called The Seven Week War and one of the Wars of German Unification, and the Austro-Prussian War were short wars ostensibly because Otto von Bismarck, (who was appointed premier of Prussia in 1862 by William I the Prussian King) had been planning these wars for some time, in fact he had manipulated the Austrians after the Danish-Prussian War. Using the Schleswig-Holstein, former Danish territory that was annexed by Prussia and Austria after their defeat of the Danes in 1864. By the Gastein Convention of 1865 the two countries agreed to rule jointly, Prussia was to administer Schleswig and Austria was to administer Holstein but disagreement soon developed. When Austria brought the dispute before the German diet and also decided to convene the Holstein diet, Prussia declared that the Gastein Convention had in this manner been voided, triggering the Austro-Prussian War.

Just as Bismarck had planned at least as far back as 1862, he had told Benjamin Disraeli that when he came to power "I shall seize the best pretext to declare war on Austria, dissolve the German diet, subdue the minor states, and give national unity to Germany under Prussia's leadership". Austria allied with Bavaria, W"urttemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German states, while Prussia allied itself with Italy. The Prussian Army was better prepared for this war it had the new mass produced needle gun, a firearm which is loaded at the breech with a cartridge carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a slender needle, or pin, into it; as opposed to the muzzle loading rifles used by the Austrian forces, this gave the Prussians a much greater rate of fire and accuracy compared to the muzzle loading Austrian rifles it also meant they could reload while lying down behind cover. Another new technology that could be used for war that the Prussian utilized to a large extent and the Austrians and French did not was railways for speedy troop and supply movement"; In the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars of 1866 and 1870 railways were used on a very large scale [mostly by the Prussians] Over Austrian track the Germans used a train manned by engineers and pioneers, carrying rails and other plant for a permanent way, including some bridging material". Other factors that come into both conflicts that gave the Prussians an advantage would have to be Helmuth von Moltke (the elder) who was the forward thinking commander of the Prussian Great General Staff who new how to change the tactics of warfare to keep up with advances in military and civilian technology.

For example Moltke wrote; "Every new development of railways is a military advantage". The telegraph was also a new technology which was used to good effect even though "In practice there were frequent breakdowns and delays, but to an undreamed of degree, Moltke and his staff might now monitor the deployment of its forces on a real-time basis". The Great General Staff had a very good supply and logistics staff who could plan the movement of immense numbers of troops and supplies efficiently as was demonstrated by how they mobilized and sent an army of over 500,000 to the Rhine in eighteen days in 1870. Many commanders of troops that opposed the Prussians did not take advantage of new technologies, which disadvantaged them immensely (some Prussian officers were just as bad). Although this was not always the case the Austrians had previously used trains tactically at Magenta in 1859, and the French after seeing the success the Prussians had had with the needle gun against both the Danish and Austrians respectively, were quick to improve on the breech-loading needle gun with the breech-loading chassepot, which was accurate at a greater range. This was recognized by the Prussian commanders who now had at their command the new breech-loading crucible steel artillery created by Alfred Krupp, (in comparison to the French bronze muzzle-loaders that were far its inferior) which was used to great effect at the battle of Sedan. ".. they withheld their infantry, whose needle guns were outranged by the enemy chassepot's, and blew the French apart with concentrated artillery fire.

In conclusion the willingness of the Prussians and their allies to adapt the new technologies of the time into the tactics of warfare was at least a part of why these wars were relatively short the other part was that Count Otto von Bismarck had planned these wars, had manoeuvred his opponents into the position where it seemed that they were in the wrong, such as having the Bad Ems telegram edited to make Prussia seem a threat so that Napoleon would declare war. Bismarck had two set goals in mind the unification of Germany with Prussia as its leading state not Austria, he got his wish about Austria after their defeat in the Austro-Prussian War and with the declaration of war from France he got his second, as the other German states allied with Prussia against the French, so after defeating the French at K"oniggr " at, Bismarck now had his unified Germany using a form of limited war as a means to gain his political ends. Crank shaw Edward Bismarck London 1981 cited in O'Connell Robert L. Of Arms And Men pg 206 Lard Captain C.E. Field Railways and their General Application in War. Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. Vol. XVII.

(1874) Cited in Falls Cyril The Art Of War From the age of Napoleon to the Present day pg 67-68 Howard Micheal The Franco-Prussian War pg 3 cited in O'Connell Robert L. Of Arms And Men pg 204

Bibliography

Falls Cyril The Art Of War From the age of Napoleon to the Present day Oxford University Press 1961 first published as a Hesperides book 1961 Second Printing, 1962 Bond Brian The Pursuit of Victory From Napoleon To Saddam Hussein 1996 paperback 1998 Oxford University Press 200 Madison Ave New York New York 10016 Kitchen Martin A Military History of Germany 1975 Weidenfeld and Nicolson 11 St John's Hill London SW 11 O'Connell Robert L.
Of Arms And Men 1989 Oxford University Press 200 Madison Ave New York New York 10016.