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The
Austro-Prussian war of 1866, engineered by the German Chancellor Bismark,
was nominally over posession of Schleswig-Holstein, but was actually to
confirm Prussia as the leading German state.
After the early part of the campaign, the Austrian army had retired behind
the river Elbe. The Prussian 1st and Elbe Armies attacked the Austrians at
the bridge of Sadowa early in the morning, and were able to drive the
Austrians back for a short distance, but were prevented from making further
progress by the Austrian artillery fire. The arrival of the Prussian 2nd
Army in late morning threatened the Austrian right flank, which duly pulled
back to face its newly arrived enemy.
However, a bold advance by the Prussians, taking advantage of the cover
provided by high corn and the smoke of the Austrian artillery fire, led to
their infantry managing to get close to the Austrian lines and then charge
home, breaking the line and capturing over 50 guns. The Austrians began to
pull back, and finally retreated from the field, leaving 40,000 dead and
wounded against Prussian loses of about 10,000. Seven weeks
after it had started, the war was over!
Austrian allies included Baden, Bavaria, Hanover, Saxon, Wurtemburg and
Hesse Cassell.
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