bill_bruno said:
First, the Dryse rifle wasn't overrated. Just read G. Wawro's The Austro-Prussian War and the accounts of how the Prussian rifle fire constantly annihilated the Austrian attack columns.
Second, the retreat from the Dannewerk wasn't part of a cunning plan, the Danes realized that the position was flankable and retreated to the nearest fortress, Dybbol. The Danes took 5000 casualties out of a force of 11000 at that battle, that's hardly withdrawing intact. Finally, it's an open question as to whether the Rolf Krake could've fended off the Prussians for any considerable length of time given her wooden construction and in the face of Prussian shore batteries. Here, Anglo-Swedish intervention could've been more decisive but Jutland is hardly not the main part of Denmark and Denmark would've had no reason to fight with no prospect of regaining the duchies. How much economic damage would they have suffered with the farms of E. Jutland and Arhus (the second city of Denmark) in Prussian hands?
Finally, given Queen Victoria's favoritism towards the Prussians and the fact that Palmerston, at 80, was in the twilight of his career, Bismarck would've had more staying power than Britain.
Attack collumns tend to be anihilated when intact formations fire fire at them, breechloading rifles, muzzle loading rifles, muskets or whatever. The Dreyse had a very nasty habbit of misfiring after a number of shots, especially in rapid fire, as the point of the needle simply burned away. I'd say it's most serious advantage was it could easily be loaded while the shooter was lying down on the ground, but it was worse than the standard minie rifle in accuracy, range and reliability. It was a convenient excuse however among the defeated for their defeat.
When you comment my post, you have to read them more carefully. I didn't say anything about the retreat being part of a cunning plan. The commanding general (de Meza) from the start warned against taking up a position at Dannevirke, but was ordered to do so by the government. Finally he on own initiative ordered the Dannevirke position to be evacuated - and was sacked, but had saved the army, which had a total of 38.000.
Dybbøl wasn't a fortress, but a number of simple earth works.
The Prussians had first tried a storm them at 28th of March but failed, not at least due to good cooperation between army and navy forces (Rolf Krake). On 18th of April after a very intense bombardment (7900 shells in four hours) 10.000 Prussians stormed the remnants of the redoubts.
After the redoubts at Dybbøl had been stormed the 8th Brigade successfully counterattacked the Prussians and hereby made it possible to withdraw across Alssund and destroy the bridges. The force in the redoubts (3300 men) were almost completely anihilated, but the covering force of about 7000 men remained an intact force under command. That is why I wrote "largely intact" - again, read more carefully before getting polemic. The position at Dybbøl was again ordered by the government against the advice of the military leadership, who preferred to keep the army on the islands until better prepared operations in combination with the navy could be performed.
The Rolf Krake was built of iron and had a 4,5" main armour belt and already had taken 150 hits from Prussian coastal batteries in an earlier action without suffering significant damage (four wounded) . Her main armament was four 68 lb. smoothbore muzzleloaders in two Cole turrets. She could go 10,5 knots on steam. I actually meant it when I called her one of the most modern warships in 1864. Had she been in Alssund at the time of the crossing the Prussians would have needed ASB's to cross successfully.
I don't see how Palmerston's age or your other arguments are relevant for "staying power". The Prussians have a large part of their army committed, their northern provinces are economically seriously strained by the blockade, and their main ally Austria with limited motivation at best. In fact you might suspect her for enjoying Prussian trouble, as long as she can't be blamed for causing them.
The British on the other hand can limit their participation to a few RN squadrons operating in the North Sea and Western Baltic (which they did anyway) and some financial support to the Danes - most of which will come back in arms contracts from the Danes.
Had the Danish political leadership acted more wisely, not at least by listening to the military, I guess the war would have drawn into summer of 1864 and a peaceagreement much more favourable to Denmark.
Anyway it isn't difficult to find PoD's to have the 2nd S-H war turn into a major conflict. The simplest being PoDing Bismarck away and replacing him with German diplomacy on 20th century level.
Regards
Steffen Redbeard