Chapter 4: Triumph and Disaster.
'Those Prussians and Austrians! When are they going to get over the seizure of Silesia? I didn't think diplomacy was so much like a children's playground!'- Benjamin Disraeli
Napoleon III expected a decisive French confrontation on the border. When he heard the news that the Prussian army was mainly marching towards Austria, he burst out laughing and split his coffee over his trousers. He shouldn't have been so happy.
Emperor Franz Joseph wasn't nearly so jubilant. He had overseen, carefully, preparations to seize New Silesia and re-take Karlsbad, applying himself with the usual diligence. The news of a full-blown attack on his country wasn't so welcome. He put on a brave face, but expressed grave doubts about what this meant. 'This may have been a mistake', he said, 'But I hope it's a mistake that doesn't destroy my country entirely.
The Prussian army advanced quickly. The Austrians had been denied the strategic mountain passes on account of their loses in 1866 and the element of surprise was nearly swift and decisive. The Prussians struck deep before the Austrians had fully mobilised, blitzing through remaining fortifications. The Prussians assembled their forces on the outskirts of Prague and attempted to engage the Austrians in a decisive battle. After some minor skirmishes, the Austrians decided instead to abandoned the city until they could fully mobilise and fled south towards Vienna. Prague fell just 8 days after on the 15th October, as the Prussians marched through the city for the second time in the week. The news was a huge boon for the Prussians and jingoism increased on every side. An intended consequence of this apparently vast success was an unfortunate increase of pan-nationalism. Although Prussia still committed herself to a kleindeutschland solution, in which the Austrians maintained a chunk of German territory, the two wars with Austria had convinced many German thinkers that this was the true moment of unification, exciting many liberals. The so called 'October-manifesto' was circulated widely and caused a stir, which declared:
'By the grace of God, Prussia will defeat this traitorous Habspburg menace and the evil spectre of French encroachments. This October is the true hour of German reckoning! We will end the German question, and by God, Germania will triumph! No peace can be acceptable unless both than Habspburg and Bonapartist fiends are vaniqushed and the great King of the Prussians becomes ruler of all Germans!'
The British, Russians and Americans saw the war differently as a result of the invasion of Austrian. Disraeli blasted the 'Prussian menace' and grilled PM Gladstone about his plans. It rather looked like this war was offensive, and not defensive.
In the West, the plans had not gone as expected. Although the small Prussian contingent marched on Freiburg, the retreating Badenese troops met up with a larger French contingent and began to push the invaders back. The Battle of Freiburg (October 14th 1870), the first major battle, saw 5,000 Prussians clash with nearly 9,000 Frenchmen on the outskirts of the city as the Prussians attempted to advance. The French triumphed over the 2 day battle, but the Prussians were able to retreat inside the city, marking the start of the siege of Freiburg. Elsewhere, the outnumbered Prussians were defeated, but not decisively. At the battle of Saarbrucken, the French drove the Prussians out and advanced towards the Rhineland. The French advance, although contained, was still dangerous and the troop numbers strained. Without more re-inforcements, generals warned of the 'repeat of the mistake of 1806' and wholesale French occupation of the Rhineland. Reluctantly, Moltke shifted some troops from the Austrian to the French front.
The Austrians needed action to prevent a second defeat- and fast. The plan began desperate. The first plank was an attempt to incite revolt against Prussian troops in Bohemia. The Emperor issued what is known as the 'October decree', which proclaimed:
'I hereby grant, within my Kingdom, autonomy for Bohemia. The Three Crowns of my empire will be separate and autonomous. Henceforth, there shall be full freedom for the people of Bohemia. This is your choice. Tortue and slavery under Prussia, or freedom under my empire'.\
Hungarians were incandescent as they were levelled to the same level as Bohemia, but the sense of emergency prevented uprising in Hungary. The decree worked. The 'Committee for the liberation of Bohemia' was formed in Prague and a provisional army formed. Huge protests erupted in Prague as the Austrians smuggled arms across the border. The protest, scheduled from the 29th of October, had 15,000 march against the Prussians and demand to be returned to the Austrians. Scuffles broke out with the thinly spread Prussian forces (many had gone southwards to Vienna) which escalated to open warfare. On the 30th October, the Prussians fired on a contingent of peaceful protestors, driving more and more to the streets, marking the beginning of the Bohemian revolt. The growing state of insurrection meant Prussians troops had to be called back from the outskirts of Vienna, slowing the advance drastically. It also turned public opinion. Even Gladstone remarked privately:
'I cannot help but contrast the brutishness and thuggery of the Prussian army with that extradorinaiy bravery of the Bohemians.
By late November, 110,000 Prussian troops had assembled on the outskirts of Vienna near Krems. The Austrians had slowly increased their numbers to 130,000. The Prussians engaged the Austrians on December 4th 1870, sparking the Battle for Vienna. The fighting was tough, and at times close, but the Prussians were undersupplied as their supply lines were harassed by Bohemian partisans and demoralised from insurrection. The Prussians lost the battle, retreating back across into Bohemia and losing 20,000 men to Austria's 15,000. The Prussian war machine had been ground to a halt. But it was wounded, but by no means finished.
This marked the start of a long struggle and then end of the more limited war. The stalemate provided the impoteous for escalation.