alternatehistory.com
Class Update II
Louis when on, “Even in 1889 we had a balance of power in the world. Yet all of these alliances outside of the Germanies had a trip break in them to keep the war from spreading outside the Germanies. No one wanted to, well in 1889 anyways, wanted to start a war to unite all of Germany. So if anything started a war in the Germanies it would be kept there. Further in 1889 no one was in the mood for a war. Everyone was still recovering from the Panic of 1882 and really getting their economies going again. NO one wanted to see that progress thrown away.”
Moving over to the next slide in his program, “With the death of the Duke of Anhalt created a crisis over who would replace him as I stated earlier. The pro-Prussian noble had the stronger claim, but the pro-Austrian noble had a better diplomatic corp at his back. Things quickly got heated and led to the Prussians sending the Salzburg Dispatch. This was such a poorly thought out message and delivered by an ambassador who had been a former general in full uniform that it was such a slap in the face by the Prussians the Austrians felt they had no choice but war.”
The next slide came up on the screen. It showed a map of the Germanies and which state was allied with either Prussia or Austria. “The war started on June 15 1889. As the name of the war implies it lasted only nine weeks ending on August 23 1889. Yet the only battle of note is the Battle of Teplice fought on August 16-17. Before this the Austrian and Prussian forces had poked at each other but avoided a direct engagement as they when about knocking out the minor allies of the other side first. Yet at Teplice over a half of million troops fought each other in this key town in Bohemia which was a major crossroads town on the road to Prague.”
“For those two days both sides slugged it out as neither could gain the upper hand in the battle. The battle was a draw as battles in the western part of the Germanies basically forced both sides to send troops at Teplice west to shore up their allies. It was in the aftermath of Teplice through that world took note of what was happening in the Germanies.”
“The Italians who longed for reclaiming parts of Austria they viewed as historical Italian territories starting to move forces to their north to claim these lands. They were doing this as the Austrians had their hands full at the moment and believed this would be easy pickings. This scared the bejesus out everyone else because if the Italians entered the war it would set off the trip that would cause the war to spread and no one wanted that. From Washington, London, Paris, and Moscow along with other minor capitals pressure was put on Berlin and Vienna to find a peaceful end to this.”
Moving the slides again Louis brought up the famous photo of the treaty that ended this war. “The Treaty of Copenhagen was signed on August 23. The treaty itself was largely a status quo ante bellum peace save for two key points. Prussia annexed Anhalt. Austria in turn was allowed to annex Saxe-Altenburg. At the time this ended the threat of a world war, but all it did was kick the can down the road. It would take longer than many expected for that can to explosive, but when it did the First World War started in 1925.”
Moving over to the next slide in his program, “With the death of the Duke of Anhalt created a crisis over who would replace him as I stated earlier. The pro-Prussian noble had the stronger claim, but the pro-Austrian noble had a better diplomatic corp at his back. Things quickly got heated and led to the Prussians sending the Salzburg Dispatch. This was such a poorly thought out message and delivered by an ambassador who had been a former general in full uniform that it was such a slap in the face by the Prussians the Austrians felt they had no choice but war.”
The next slide came up on the screen. It showed a map of the Germanies and which state was allied with either Prussia or Austria. “The war started on June 15 1889. As the name of the war implies it lasted only nine weeks ending on August 23 1889. Yet the only battle of note is the Battle of Teplice fought on August 16-17. Before this the Austrian and Prussian forces had poked at each other but avoided a direct engagement as they when about knocking out the minor allies of the other side first. Yet at Teplice over a half of million troops fought each other in this key town in Bohemia which was a major crossroads town on the road to Prague.”
“For those two days both sides slugged it out as neither could gain the upper hand in the battle. The battle was a draw as battles in the western part of the Germanies basically forced both sides to send troops at Teplice west to shore up their allies. It was in the aftermath of Teplice through that world took note of what was happening in the Germanies.”
“The Italians who longed for reclaiming parts of Austria they viewed as historical Italian territories starting to move forces to their north to claim these lands. They were doing this as the Austrians had their hands full at the moment and believed this would be easy pickings. This scared the bejesus out everyone else because if the Italians entered the war it would set off the trip that would cause the war to spread and no one wanted that. From Washington, London, Paris, and Moscow along with other minor capitals pressure was put on Berlin and Vienna to find a peaceful end to this.”
Moving the slides again Louis brought up the famous photo of the treaty that ended this war. “The Treaty of Copenhagen was signed on August 23. The treaty itself was largely a status quo ante bellum peace save for two key points. Prussia annexed Anhalt. Austria in turn was allowed to annex Saxe-Altenburg. At the time this ended the threat of a world war, but all it did was kick the can down the road. It would take longer than many expected for that can to explosive, but when it did the First World War started in 1925.”
- Jim Smitty
- Word Count: 610