Prussia-Austrian Empire: Historical Ties And Complex Connections

Prussia and the Austrian Empire were two of the most powerful German states in the Holy Roman Empire by the 18th and 19th centuries. Their rivalry was characterised by major territorial conflicts and economic, cultural, and political aspects. The rivalry was an important element of the German question in the 19th century.

The two powers first met in the Silesian Wars and Seven Years' War during the middle of the 18th century. The conflict culminated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which was also known as the Seven Weeks' War. The issue was decided in Bohemia, where the principal Prussian armies met the main Austrian forces and the Saxon army, most decisively at the Battle of Königgrätz.

The war was a carefully planned stage in the unification of Germany under Prussia's Hohenzollern dynasty, of which Otto von Bismarck was the principal agent. The issue was clear-cut: Prussia deliberately challenged Austria for the leadership of the German Confederation. Prussia had challenged Austria in 1850, but the complete failure of its mobilisation in that year compelled the acceptance at Olmütz of somewhat humiliating terms.

The war was formally concluded on 23 August 1866 by the Treaty of Prague. The treaty assigned Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia, which also annexed Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, and Frankfurt. By the Peace of Vienna (3 October 1866), Austria ceded Venetia to Italy. Prussia's victory in the war enabled it to organise the North German Confederation.

The Austrian-Prussian War of 1866

The war was sparked by a dispute between Prussia and Austria over the administration of Schleswig-Holstein, which they had conquered from Denmark and agreed to jointly occupy at the end of the Second Schleswig War in 1864. In January 1866, Prussia protested against the decision of the Austrian Governor of Holstein to allow the estates of the duchies to call up a united assembly, claiming it was a breach of the principle of joint sovereignty. Austria responded, asserting that its decision did not infringe on Prussia's rights in the duchies. In March 1866, both sides reinforced their troops along their shared frontier.

Prussia's Minister President, Otto von Bismarck, formed an alliance with Italy on 8 April, committing it to the war if Prussia entered one against Austria within three months. This incentivised Bismarck to go to war with Austria within that timeframe so that Italy would divert Austrian strength away from Prussia. Austria responded by mobilising its Southern Army on the Italian border. Italy called for a general mobilisation, and Austria ordered its own general mobilisation. Prussia's general mobilisation orders were signed in steps on 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12 May.

On 1 June, Austria brought the Schleswig-Holstein dispute before the German Diet and decided to convene the Diet of Holstein on 11 June. Prussia declared that the Gastein Convention of 14 August 1865 had been nullified and invaded Holstein on 9 June. When the German Diet responded by voting for a partial mobilisation against Prussia, Bismarck claimed that the German Confederation had ended. The Prussian Army invaded Hanover, Saxony and the Electorate of Hesse on 15 June. Italy declared war on Austria on 20 June.

The main campaign of the war occurred in Bohemia. Prussia's Chief of General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, had planned meticulously for the war. He rapidly mobilised the Prussian army and advanced across the border into Saxony and Bohemia, where the Austrian army was concentrating for an invasion of Silesia. The Prussian armies, led nominally by King William I, converged, and the two sides met at the Battle of Königgrätz (Hradec Králové) on 3 July. The Prussian Army of the Elbe advanced on the Austrian left wing, and the First Army on the centre, prematurely; they risked being counter-flanked on their own left. However, the timely arrival of the Second Army on the left wing through the work of its Chief of Staff, Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, decided the battle against Austrian numerical superiority. The victory was near total, with Austrian battle deaths nearly seven times the Prussian figure. An armistice between Prussia and Austria came into effect at noon on 22 July. A preliminary peace was signed on 26 July at Nikolsburg.

The war resulted in a shift in power among the German states away from Austrian and towards Prussian hegemony. It led to the abolition of the German Confederation and its partial replacement by the unification of all of the northern German states in the North German Confederation, excluding Austria and the other southern German states. The war also resulted in the Italian annexation of the Austrian realm of Venetia.

The rivalry between the two states was characterised by territorial conflicts

The rivalry between Prussia and the Austrian Empire was characterised by territorial conflicts, with both states vying for supremacy among the smaller German kingdoms. This rivalry was an important element of the German question in the 19th century.

The two states first met in the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years' War during the middle of the 18th century, with the conflict culminating in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The German term for this rivalry is Deutscher Dualismus (literally "German dualism"), which covers not only rivalry but also cooperation between the two states. Indeed, Prussia and Austria did jointly dominate the German Confederation, which only functioned during times of cooperation (1815-1848 and 1851-1859). They also fought together against Denmark in the Second Schleswig War of 1864.

The rivalry was largely held to have begun upon the death of the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI in 1740, when King Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Austrian-controlled Silesia, starting the First Silesian War (the first of three). Frederick had broken his promise to acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and the indivisibility of the Habsburg territories. This sparked the pan-European War of the Austrian Succession, in which Frederick decisively defeated the Austrian troops at the 1742 Battle of Chotusitz. Maria Theresa, the Austrian ruler, was eventually forced to cede the bulk of the Silesian lands to Prussia by the Treaties of Breslau and Berlin.

The Second Silesian War began with Frederick's invasion of Bohemia in 1744, and after the Prussian victory at the 1745 Battle of Kesselsdorf, the status quo ante bellum was confirmed by the Treaty of Dresden. The Third Silesian War (and the wider Seven Years' War) started when Frederick once again took preemptive action, invading Saxony. However, the conquest of Prague failed, and Frederick had to deal with Russian forces attacking East Prussia while Austrian troops entered Silesia. His situation worsened when Austrian and Russian forces united to inflict a crushing defeat on him at the 1759 Battle of Kunersdorf.

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 was part of the wider rivalry between the two states and resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states. The major result of the war was a shift in power among the German states away from Austria and towards Prussia, with the abolition of the German Confederation and its partial replacement by the unification of all the northern German states (excluding Austria and the other southern German states) in the North German Confederation. The war was sparked by a dispute over the administration of Schleswig-Holstein, which both Prussia and Austria had conquered from Denmark and agreed to jointly occupy at the end of the Second Schleswig War in 1864.

The two states fought together against Denmark in the Second Schleswig War of 1864

The Second Schleswig War of 1864 was fought between Denmark and the German Confederation, which included the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. The war was 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. The war was sparked by a succession dispute, a clash of Danish and German nationalism, and a threat to the international balance of power.

The Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire fought together against Denmark in the Second Schleswig War. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into the Danish fief Schleswig. Denmark fought troops of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, representing the German Confederation. The war ended on 30 October 1864, with the Treaty of Vienna and Denmark's cession of the Duchies of Schleswig (except for the island of Ærø, which remained Danish), Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria.

The Second Schleswig War was the result of a constitutional crisis that began in 1848, when Denmark received its first liberal constitution. The new constitution was partly responsible for the secessionist movement of the large German majority in Holstein and southern Schleswig. The movement continued throughout the 1850s and 1860s as Denmark attempted to integrate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom, while liberal proponents of German unification expressed the wish to include the Danish-ruled duchies of Holstein and Schleswig in a Greater Germany. Holstein was completely ethnically German, had been a German fief before 1806, and was a part of the German Confederation from 1815. Schleswig was a Danish fief and was linguistically mixed between German, Danish and North Frisian.

The succession dispute was caused by the death of King Frederik VII of Denmark in 1863, and the new Danish monarch, King Christian IX, ordered that the new constitution should apply to Schleswig and Denmark, but not to Holstein. This was a clear breach of the 1851 peace treaty and the London Protocol of 1852 and gave Prussia and the German Confederation a casus belli against Denmark. The German position was considerably more favourable than it had been thirteen years before, when Prussia had to give in due to the risk of military intervention by Britain, France and Russia on behalf of Denmark.

The Second Schleswig War was the first war to be fought after the establishment of the Red Cross movement in 1863. Both Denmark and Prussia had already established national Red Cross societies, and the International Committee of the Red Cross sent observers to evaluate their work. Both Red Cross societies established hospitals and provided impartial care to wounded soldiers, and were covered in newspapers internationally.

The two states were the most powerful German states in the Holy Roman Empire by the 18th and 19th centuries

By the 18th and 19th centuries, Prussia and the Austrian Empire were the two most powerful German states in the Holy Roman Empire. The rivalry between the two states was characterised by territorial conflicts, as well as economic, cultural, and political differences. The struggle for supremacy among smaller German kingdoms was an important element of the German question in the 19th century.

The two powers first met in the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years' War during the middle of the 18th century. The rivalry culminated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.

The German term for the rivalry is Deutscher Dualismus, which translates to German dualism. This term not only covers rivalry but also cooperation between the two powers, for example, in the Napoleonic Wars. Indeed, both Prussia and the Austrian Empire jointly dominated the German Confederation, which only functioned during times of cooperation.

The rivalry is largely held to have begun upon the death of the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI in 1740. King Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Austrian-controlled Silesia, starting the First Silesian War. This was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Austria and Prussia. Frederick had broken his promise to acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and the indivisibility of the Habsburg territories. This sparked the pan-European War of the Austrian Succession.

Austria still claimed the mantle of the Empire and was the chief force of the disunited German states. Until 1745, Maria Theresa, who was chafing under the loss of the most beautiful gem of my crown, was able to regain the Imperial crown from her Wittelsbach rival Charles VII by occupying his Bavarian lands. Despite her Quadruple Alliance with Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Saxony, she failed to recapture Silesia. The Second Silesian War started with Frederick's invasion into Bohemia in 1744, and after the Prussian victory at the 1745 Battle of Kesselsdorf, the Treaty of Dresden confirmed the status quo ante bellum: Frederick kept Silesia but finally acknowledged the accession of Maria Theresa's husband, Emperor Francis I. The terms were again confirmed by the final Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

Maria Theresa took the opportunity of the breathing space to implement several civil and military reforms within the Austrian lands, like the establishment of the Theresian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt in 1751. Her capable state chancellor, Prince Wenzel Anton of Kaunitz, succeeded in the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, allying with the former Habsburg nemesis France under King Louis XV in order to isolate Prussia. However, Frederick had completed the "stately quadrille" by concluding the Treaty of Westminster with Great Britain. He again took action by a preemptive war, invading Saxony and opening a Third Silesian War (and the wider Seven Years' War). Nevertheless, the conquest of Prague failed, and moreover, the king had to deal with Russian forces attacking East Prussia while Austrian troops entered Silesia. His situation worsened when Austrian and Russian forces united to inflict a crushing defeat on him at the 1759 Battle of Kunersdorf. Frederick, on the brink, was saved by the discord among the victors in the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg", when Empress Elizabeth of Russia died on 5 January 1762, and her successor Peter III concluded peace with Prussia. By the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg, Austria, for the third time, had to acknowledge the Prussian annexations. The usurper kingdom had prevailed against the European great powers and would play a vital future role in the "Concert of Europe".

The rivalry was an important element of the German question in the 19th century

The rivalry between Prussia and the Austrian Empire was an important element of the German question in the 19th century. The German question was a debate about the best nation-state to unify the separate German states. The "Lesser Germany" solution favoured Protestant Prussia annexing all the German states except Austria, while "Greater Germany" favoured Catholic Austria taking control of the separate German states.

The rivalry between Prussia and Austria was largely held to have begun upon the death of the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI in 1740, when King Frederick the Great of Prussia launched an invasion of Austrian-controlled Silesia, starting the First Silesian War (of three Silesian Wars to come) against Maria Theresa. This sparked the pan-European War of the Austrian Succession, which saw Prussia decisively defeat Austrian troops at the 1742 Battle of Chotusitz. Maria Theresa, still claiming the mantle of the Empire, was able to regain the Imperial crown from her Wittelsbach rival Charles VII by occupying his Bavarian lands, but she failed to recapture Silesia. The Second and Third Silesian Wars followed, with the Third Silesian War forming part of the wider Seven Years' War. The conflict culminated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.

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