by H M Hozier
CHAPTER 2: Final Rupture Between Prussia and Austria
On the 11th June, 1866, an Extraordinary Assembly of the diet was summoned.
The representative of Austria advanced the proposition at this sitting, that Prussia had broken the Convention of Gastein, and threatened the peace of the Germanic Confederation, by marching her troops into Holstein. He proposed in consequence for the restoration of peace, that the whole of the army of the confederation, with the exception of the three corps d’armée, (4th, 5th, and 6th of the Federal army), which, by the Federal Constitution, Prussia was bound to put into the field, should be mobilised in such form of principal, contingents, and reserves within fourteen days, that the troops should be able then to march within fourteen hours. (Could a British Army be mobilised and be placed in such a state within fourteen days as to be able to march in twenty-four-hours? Yet this rapidity of mobilisation was not sufficient to oppose the Prussian organisation).
That care was to be taken for depôt contingents, and that the appointment of a commander-in-chief was to take place as soon as the decree was passed; and that the supervision of all these matters was to be given over to the diet, which was to act in concert with the military commissioner of the Germanic Confederation.
The representative of Prussia at the diet declared that he was not authorized to make any statement upon the motion which had been brought forward, the purport of which was entirely new to him.
The Austrian representative, who filled the post of President of the diet, urged an immediate decree in favour of the motion; and the Assembly, although the representative of Mecklenburg brought to notice, that even on the most unimportant questions, when for instance only the disbursement of one hundred gulden, (about 10l.), was under consideration, three sittings were required, one for the introduction of the motion, one for the discussion, and one for the final vote, the majority of the Diet decreed that the final vote on the Austrian motion should be taken on the 14th June. Whoever recalls to mind the many years which the diet consumed ere it passed the vote of Federal execution against Denmark, can hardly doubt that the deeds of Prussia had been replete with some peculiar enormity in the eyes of the princes of the small states to arouse so enthusiastic a zeal in such an usually torpid body as the Germanic Diet.
CHAPTER 3: Breakup of the Germanic Confederation
Destruction hangs o’er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits th’ impending fall.―Pope.
The history of mankind informs us that a single power is very seldom broken by a confederacy.—Johnson.
Before the 14th June arrived, Count Bismark sent a definite and final project to the governments of the various States which were members of the Germanic Confederation. The first article of this project of reform expressed:
That the territory of the confederation was to consist of those States which had hitherto been included in the Confederation, with the exception of the dominions of the Emperor of Austria, and of the King of the Netherlands.
While, then, Austria wished to enlist the governments of the Germanic Confederation in war against Prussia, Prussia desired to exclude Austria from the confederation. As for the government of the Netherlands, it had wished for nothing more for a long time than to be allowed to withdraw from the confederation its two duchies, (Luxembourg and Limburg), which were included within that political league.
The next article treated of the Parliament, the common concerns of Germany, and of the privileges of the new confederation. The German war navy, with a common German budget, with the Federal harbour of Kiel and of the Bay of the Jahde, were proposed to be placed under the supreme command of Prussia, while the land forces of the new confederation were to be divided into two Federal armies, an army of the north, and an army of the south. The King of Prussia was to be commander-in-chief of the northern army, the King of Bavaria that of the southern, both in peace and war.
In peace the commander-in-chief of either army was to superintend the efficient organisation and administration of his own army; and, in urgent cases, he was to be able to call out his army within the boundaries of his own part of the Federal territory, conditionally with the subsequent approval of the confederation. For each of the two Federal armies there was to be a common budget. The administration of either army was to be conducted under the superintendence of the commander-in-chief, and to either army the States included in its portion of the Federal territory were each to contribute their proportionate quota of soldiers. Each government was to pay the expenses of its own contingent of the Federal army. All expenses of the military budget were to fall on the military chest of that army to which the budget was specially applied The relations of the new confederation with the empire of Austria were to be settled by special treaties.
These were the principal points of the project of reform proposed by Count Bismark on the 10th June. This project surprised the majority of the German States in a very unpleasant manner. The 14th June arrived, the day for the final vote in the diet upon the Austrian motion.
The representative of Prussia in the diet protested against the motion being entertained, and declared that both in form and substance the motion was subversive of the ideas of the Confederation.
The votes were, however, taken, and the Austrian representative carried his motion by a majority of nine over six votes. The details of the voting were as follows:—For the Austrian motion there voted,—
The first curia, Austria.
The third, Bavaria.
The fourth, Saxony.
The fifth, Hanover.
The sixth, Würtemburg.
The eighth, Electoral Hesse (Hesse-Cassel).
The ninth, Hesse-Darmstadt.
The sixteenth (Lichtenstein, Waldech, the two Reusze, Lippe, Lippe-Schaunburg, Hesse-Homburg).
Of the thirteenth curia (Brunswick and Nassau), Nassau.
Of the twelfth curia (Saxe Weimar, Saxe Altenburg, Saxe Coburg, and Saxe Meiningen), Saxe Meiningen.
Of the seventeenth curia (the four free towns, Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, and Frankfort), Frankfort.
Against the Austrian motion there voted,—The seventh curia, Baden.
The eleventh curia, Luxembourg and Limburg (belonging to the Netherlands).
The twelfth curia, with the exception of Saxe Meiningen.
Of the thirteenth curia, Brunswick.
The fourteenth curia, the two Mecklenburghs.
The fifteenth curia, Oldenburg, Anhalt, and the two Schwurzburgs.
The seventeenth curia, with the exception of Frankfort.
In this voting, Prussia did not give a voice, as her representative had protested against any entertainment of the motion, and did not vote: and the tenth curia, Holstein Lauenburg, had no representative. The vote of the thirteenth curia was cancelled, because Brunswick voted against Nassau, and thus there was no majority in this curia.
Thus the results were that the 7th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, and 17th curiae, therefore six curiae, voted against Austria; the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th, besides the representative of Austria himself, for the Austrian motion. The vote of the 16th curia was recorded in favour of the motion, but, as appeared afterwards, accidentally. Each of the seven small States which composed this curia had an equal voice within the curia, and the vote of the curia was that of the majority of the component members.
On the 14th June, the representative of this curia who voted in the diet, and who was the delegate of Schaunburg-Lippe, declared that Lippe-Detwold, Waldeck, and Reusz of the younger line, therefore three-sevenths of the total, wished to vote against the Austrian motion; that he had not received full instructions from his own government, and must, consequently, give the vote of the curia for the Austrian motion. As soon as this was known, however, the government of Schaunburg-Lippe notified to the Prussian Government that it had also intended to vote against the Austrian motion, and thus disowned the act of its own delegate. It was then too late, for the vote had been given, and the motion passed. But ha
d the government of Schaunburg-Lippe been a little more careful in sending definite instructions to its representative, and had Prussia voted, the Austrian motion would have been thrown out by a majority of eight over seven votes, and the event which plunged Central Europe into immediate war might have been certainly postponed, possibly evaded. On such tiny circumstances do the destinies of nations hang.
As the votes were actually recorded, the Austrian motion was carried by a majority of nine over six voices.
After the Austrian representative, the president of the diet, had declared the result of the voting, nine votes for Austria against six, the Prussian representative stated that it was now his duty to publish to the diet the resolutions of Prussia. The Austrian motion was in itself a negation of the Federal Constitution, and must necessarily be regarded by Prussia as a breach of the community of the confederation. The Federal Constitution recognised Federal execution against members of the confederation only in particular cases, which were clearly defined. These cases were entirely neglected in the Austrian motion. The position which Austria had assumed with regard to Holstein came in no manner under the protection of Federal treaties. On this account Prussia had refused in any way to take action on the Austrian motion, and not taken any precautions to oppose the Austrian intention.
According to the ideas of Prussia, the diet would not have for a moment listened to the Austrian proposals, but would have cast out the motion without any second thought upon the matter. Since the diet had, however, acted in a manner so contrary to all expectation; since Austria had been actually arming for three months, and had called the other members of the confederation to her aid, and since hereby the Act of Confederation, the chief object of which was to secure the internal tranquillity of Germany, was entirely invalidated, Prussia must consider the rupture of the Germanic Confederation as completed, and must view that confederation as dissolved and abrogated. Prussia did not, however, despise the national necessities for which that confederation was instituted, nor did she wish to unsettle the unity of the Germanic nationality; therefore she wished to declare herself ready and desirous to form a new confederation with those States which might be willing to unite with her in a Federal union on the basis of the reform proposed for the confederation on the 10th June. In conclusion, the Prussian delegate asserted the claims of his government to a share of all rights which sprang from the former constitution, and, having protested against the disbursement of any Federal moneys without the consent of Prussia, quitted the assembly.
The Germanic Confederation, established in 1815, was broken up at this moment. The declaration of internal war had virtually been proclaimed among its members.
The first action of Prussia in consequence of the decree of the diet of the 14th June, was to send a summons to the three States the territories of which lay within or close to the Prussian provinces, and which had voted against Prussia on the 14th June. These States were Hanover, Saxony, and the Electorate of Hesse. This summons required that the governments of these States should immediately reduce their troops to the peace establishment, which had existed on the 1st March, and should agree to join the new Prussian Federation on the basis of the reform proposed on the 10th June. If these governments declared, within twelve hours, their agreement to these demands, Prussia undertook to guarantee their sovereign rights within the boundaries of the proposed Federation; otherwise, Prussia announced her intention to declare war.
The three governments hesitated, and made no reply. On the evening of the 15th June, Prussia declared war against these three countries. No formal declaration of war was made against Austria, but at a later date the intention to commence hostilities was communicated to the Austrian outposts.
On the 17th June, the Austrian war manifesto was published; on the 18th, the Prussian; on the 20th, Italy, who had entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia, declared war against Austria and Bavaria. Diplomacy had now done its work, and the conflict was removed from the field of politics to the theatre of war.
Subjoined, for facility of reference, is a tabular list of the principal features of the political prologue.
October 20th, 1864. Treaty of Vienna.
August 14th, 1865. Convention of Gastein.
March 12th, 1866. First preparations of Austria for war in Bohemia and Moravia.
March 30th, 1866. First preparations of Prussia.
April, 1866. Negotiations concerning these armaments.
April 23rd, 1866. Great armament of Austria in Venetia.
April 26th, 1866. Proposal of Austria to submit the questions in dispute to the diet
May 7th, 1866. Declaration of Prussia of the diet to decide in international questions, and suggestion of the desirability of the reform of the Confederation.
Until May 28th, 1866. Armaments in all Germany and Italy.
May 28th, 1866. Proposal of a conference by the three great non-Germanic European Powers.
May 29th, 1866. Prussian acceptance of this proposal.
June 1st, 1866. Austrian acceptance under conditions which render the conference impossible.
June 1st, 1866. Submission of Schleswig-Holstein question to the diet.
June 5th, 1866. Summons by General Gablenz for assembly of Holstein Estates.
June 10th, 1866. Prussian proposal for the reform of the Federal Constitution.
June 11th, 1866. Austrian motion for the decree of Federal execution against Prussia.
June 14th, 1866. Acceptance of the Austrian motion by the diet.
June 15th, 1866. Declaration of war by Prussia against Hanover, Electoral Hesse, and Saxony.
June 20th, 1866. Declaration of war by Italy against Austria and Bavaria.
BOOK 3
It may be a relief to the general and not professional reader to be made aware that an omission to read this book, which is almost entirely technical, will not interrupt the continuity of the narrative.
CHAPTER 1: The War Strength of Prussia
In the prefatory chapter to the second edition, will be found a sketch of the changes made in the Prussian military system between the termination of the campaign of 1866 and the commencement of the late war with France.
Before it is possible to enter upon a review of the military operations of the war, it is necessary to glance at the organisation, administration, and numbers of the forces which were at the disposal of the belligerent powers. The question of the numerical strength of an army in the field is always an extremely difficult one. Before a campaign, sometimes the demands of strategy require that the strength of troops should be exaggerated, sometimes the contrary. The casualties of every skirmish, the sickness incident to every day’s march and every night’s exposure, reduces the number of soldiers under arms. Hazy distinctions between combatants and non-combatants, different modes of reckoning, the exclusion or inclusion of artillery and administrative services in returns, the non-completion of battalions up to their normal strength, all throw great difficulties in the way of gaining an accurate appreciation of the number of men engaged on either side in particular actions. It appears, therefore, advisable to sketch here the organisation and regulated normal strength of the armies engaged in the war, and to attempt, at necessary points in the narrative, to calculate and compute from the most trustworthy authorities the actual numbers present on particular occasions.
The kingdom of Prussia before the war of 1866 had, with an area of about 127,350 square miles, a population of over nineteen million souls. The yearly revenues, according to the latest budgets, amounted to about 21,600,000l., and the expenditure of the government was always confined within its income. The National Debt in 1864 amounted to about 42,000,000l. The State chest in 1862 contained, from the surplus of estimated over actual annual expenditure, and from some other minor sources, a sum of about 2,500,000l. The financial economy of Prussia is superior to that of any nation in Europe. The army has lately cost in time of peace about, 6,300,000l. annually, the navy about 6,450,000 l.
The
Prussian Army which took the field in the war of 1866 consisted of eight corps d’armée of troops of the line, and of the corps d’armée of the Guard. Each corps d’armée is organised with the intention of being a perfectly complete little army of itself, so that without inconvenience it can be detached from the main army at any time. Each corps d’armée of the line in time of war consists of two divisions of infantry, one division of cavalry, sixteen batteries of artillery, and a military train. Each division of infantry is composed of two brigades, each of which has two regiments, and, as each regiment contains three battalions, in a division of infantry there are twelve battalions; to every infantry division is also attached one regiment of cavalry, of four squadrons, and one division of artillery, of four batteries, making the total strength of the force under the command of every infantry divisional general twelve battalions, four squadrons, and four batteries.
A cavalry division consisted of two brigades, each containing two regiments, and, as every regiment had four squadrons, the division contained sixteen squadrons; it had also two batteries of horse artillery attached to it.
The reserve of artillery consisted of one division of field artillery, which formed four batteries, and of two batteries of horse artillery, besides an artillery train for. the supply of ammunition.