So what territory did Wilhelm want to annex after Konnigratz?

What Austrian territory did Wilhelm want to annex in 1866?

  • D) Annexation of Silesia and province of Bohemia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • F) Annexation of that and more

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    28

raharris1973

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I've heard conflicting ideas. What did the King really want to take over from Austria, according to the best scholarship?

A) No annexations but a triumphal march thru Vienna

B) Annexation of Austria's rump Silesian province

C) Annexation of Austrian Silesia and northern borderlands of Bohemia and/or Moravia

D) Annexation of Silesia and province of Bohemia

E) Annexation of Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia

F) Annexation of that and more
 
According to Bismarck's memoirs:

When it came to the point of dealing with Napoleon's telegram of July 4, the King had sketched out the conditions of peace as follows: a reform of the Federation under the headship of Prussia; the acquisition of Schleswig-Holstein, Austrian Silesia, a strip on the frontier of Bohemia, and East Friesland; the substitution of the respective heirs-apparent for the hostile sovereigns of Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Meiningen, and Nassau. Subsequently other demands were advanced, which partly originated with the King himself, and were partly due to external influences. The King wished to annex parts of Saxony, Hanover, Hesse, and especially to bring Ansbach and Bayreuth again into the possession of his house. The reacquisition of the Franconian principalities touched his strong and justifiable family sentiment very nearly. (p. 42)

the Bohemian districts, Reichenberg, the Eger valley, and Carlsbad, which the King, at the instance of Prince Frederick Charles, wanted to retain as a glacis in front of the Saxon mountains... The King's wish to retain West Saxony, Leipzig, Zwickau, and Chemnitz, in order to establish communication with Bayreuth... (p. 45)

It's possible that Bismarck was either misremembering or distorting the events for his own ends, but these don't seem too unbelievable.
 
Afaik the discussions were mostly verbal and memories differ but he seems to have wanted A B and C.

Istr reading somewhere that Franz Josef would have been willing to concede D, in return for no money indemnity, but I'm not sure if Wilhelm ever considered that option.
 

raharris1973

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I think Teschen was part of Austrian Silesia. So, that would bring as many Poles into Prussia as Germans, as well as some Czechs.
 
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