Battle of Königgrätz 1866 - Austro-Prussian War DOCUMENTARY

[Music] this video was suggested and sponsored by our patron Adriene bar Westar you can join the ever-growing army of kings and Generals via patreon or YouTube's membership modern Europe was forged through many wars and the German and Italian unification wars fought in the second half of the 19th century who are central to this process these conflicts changed the political and diplomatic map of the continent and ushered in a new era of warfare when it came to both strategy and technology the battle of kerning threats was the largest fought in Europe in the 19th century and decided the fate of one of the most important wars in European history [Music] both Prussia and Austria were among the winners of the Napoleonic Wars but although they added new territories to their domains both countries were severely weakened the Holy Roman Empire was abolished at the peak of the Napoleonic Wars and was replaced by the German Confederation in 1815 the stated goal of this union was the defense of Germany from external threats but in reality the Confederation became a field of diplomatic struggle between Prussia and Austria at the same time the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars made liberalism and nationalism very popular and these political movements were shaking the foundations of the two leading German monarchies tensions were high across the continent and that started a series of revolutions in 1848 which would later be known as the spring of nations most of these revolutions ended in defeats but this still changed the situation in Germany national identity was on the rise and the revolutionaries in Frankfurt asked Prussian King William the fourth to become the Emperor of Germany but he refused fearing that it might cause a war against Russia and Austria at the same time the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein which were ruled by the king of denmark and had a German majority revolted in 1848 and were supported by Prussia in 1852 Prussia was forced to withdraw from the war due to international pressure and the rebellion was defeated still the schleswig-holstein question remained unresolved revolts took place in every region of the Austrian Empire and their nationalistic character weakened this multi-ethnic realm simultaneously nationalism was getting stronger in Italy and as the central and northeastern parts of this country were controlled by Austria it was drawn into the first Italian war of independence the Empire won the war supported by the French but its vulnerabilities were becoming apparent between 1853 and 1856 Austria failed to support its traditional ally Russia during the Crimean War and this only exacerbated its international isolation sources give conflicting information of why it happened but in 1859 the Emperor of the French Napoleon the third entered into a secret alliance with the kingdom of Sardinia against Austria in the ensuing second Italian War of Independence Austria famously lost the Battle of Solferino and was forced to give up most of its lands in central and northern Italy the Austrian defeat was the sign for Prussia that it was time to attempt the unification of Germany via diplomatic and military means in 1861 Wilhelm the first became the King of Prussia but his attempts to reorganize and strengthen the army were blocked by the very liberal Prussian lance time in 1862 Otto von Bismarck was appointed the Prime Minister and foreign minister of Prussia a year later bismarck managed to find a loophole which allowed Albrecht von roon and Helmut von Moltke to start reforming the army during this period bismarck famously said the position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power since the treaties of Vienna our frontiers have been ill designed for a healthy body politic not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided that was the great mistake of 1848 and 18-49 but by iron and blood in November of 1863 Bismarck gained an opportunity to prove these words as the Danish King Frederick the seventh passed away and his heir Christian signed the November Constitution basically adding Schleswig to the Danish crown that gave Prussia and the German Union a casus belli against Denmark and Austria who wasn't planning to lag behind Prussia agreed to send an ultimatum to the Danes the latter refused and in the subsequent war allies German forces defeated their enemies with ease and Denmark surrendered control over the duchies to Prussia and Austria it is still debated if the two German states failed to divide the duchies between themselves or if it was a deliberate provocation but we know that for Bismarck a war against Austria was inevitable if he wanted to unite Germany under Prussian dominance through diplomacy he ensured the neutrality of France and Russia and signed an anti Austrian alliance with Italy which was eager to take Venice from Austria [Music] on the 7th of June 1866 the Prussian army entered Holstein pushing the Austrian contingent out and on the 10th this mark sent letters to the German governments asking for Austria to be excluded from the Confederacy on the 14th Austria asks the Confederation to mobilize its forces and Prussia took it as the declaration of war on the 16th the Prussians invaded Hanover Heston and Saxony while Bavaria was blockaded on the 17th pressure declared war on Austria joined by Italy on the 20th both sides had around 350,000 troops Austria was forced to place up to 100,000 on the Italian front while the Prussians had to do the same against the Austrian allies in the Confederacy so it was expected that the adversaries would have around 240,000 in the main theater the Austrians had the better artillery but their infantry was armed with the inferior Lorenz muzzleloading rifle while the Prussians were equipped with the breech-loading Dreiser needle gun that meant that the Prussian infantry was shooting faster and were able to reload in the prone position the Austrian troops were commanded by ludwig august von benedict who was famous for saving most of the army after the defeat at Solferino austria had the advantage of a faster mobilization system but instead of taking the initiative and connecting with the Bavarian and Saxon armies Benedict decided to take a defensive position in Moravia Prussia's chief of staff von Moltke used his country's advanced railway system and masked the troops in a line extending from Saxony to Silesia across 250 kilometers the 45 thousand strong army of the Elbe and a general von bitten Feld was on the Saxon border the first army with ninety four thousand men commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl was in the center and the second army with more than 120 thousand men led by the Crown Prince of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm was in Silesia when the Prussians invaded the commander of the Saxon army the Crown Prince Albert retreated beyond the Isar River and was joined by the first austrian corps here yes the rest of the austrian army stayed at their initial positions not trying to take the initiative albert was then forced to retreat to the town of gideon the austrians left their initial positions only on the 18th and even though they were closer to kitchen they were moving much slower than the Prussians using that the Prussians went on an all-out attack on the 22nd and concentrated their forces on the line between gichan and Scala's on the 26th on the 28th and 29th the Prussians won some small engagements Albert was forced to abandon kitchen and the whole Austrian army had to retreat beyond liebe streets a river to avoid being surrounded the 240,000 strong Austrian army was now fortifying the area between the rivers bit streets and Elbe preparing for the battle that would later be known as the Battle of curly creds or sad over 220,000 Prussians converged on their positions on the 3rd of July the Prussian plan was to attack from three sides and encircle the enemy according to the sources Friedrich Karl who commanded the central portion of the Prussian army was hoping to win the battle on his own but was convinced by von Moltke that it was not the best course of action by 4:00 a.m. six divisions under Friedrich Karl were ready four of them formed the line around Salva prepares to cross the B Street sir with two in reserve an hour later crown prince wilhelm received orders from von Moltke too much swiftly south meanwhile the three divisions from the left flank march towards neck and ute sir hoping to turn the austrian left wing the first shots were fired at 6 a.m. by Fusiliers of the 15th division of the army of the Elbe the Prussians managed to push back for Saxon forces defending the crossing over the bistritza a snake indeed sir as the battle started nearby Austrian soldiers began to form up friedrich pal ordered all of his troops to cross the bistritza at 9:00 a.m. the third and fourth divisions forced the stream and push back part of the Austrian tenth Corps which had to retreat to Langan Hoth hill however the Austrian artillery batteries were close by and their volleys soon stopped the Prussian advance and made the attacking troops find shelter in the holler forest to the north 7th division forded the bistritza and cleared the village of Benetech of austrian defenders to the southwest they were followed by the eighth division the Prussians needed to occupy this fib forest and the master Lovett hill to allow the left flank to connect with the center so at 8:30 a.m. the 7th division moves towards the woods meanwhile as the Austrian commanders knew the importance of the hills in the area their fourth Corps was also moving towards massive Lovett followed by the 2nd Corps which was ordered to take horror Novus this decision wasn't taking into account the second Prussian army which was to the northeast the Austrians had a strong gunnery position atop the Lipper Hill and when the Prussian 7th division moved within these FIB forests they were shot upon the Prussians attempted to leave the forest and attack the hill but were counter-attacked by two infantry units and forced to return to the woods and fortunately for the Austrians as soon as they entered the forest the Prussians divided their forces into smaller groups and these units had an easier time defending their positions while the Austrian cannons were not able to shoot into the forest to avoid friendly fire both sides were funneling more and more troops into the woods but eventually the Prussians were forced to leave the Austrians from the 4th Corps followed but more Prussian units joined the 7th division and this group managed to hold its ground against many Austrian charges the leader of the 7th believed that the forest could be retaken and asks for reinforcements but von Moltke declined and ordered to wait for the arrival of the left flank at this point Benetech was advised by his officers to move three cores across the river and drive the wedge between the two Prussian armies but the commander was cautious yet again and instead ordered the 2nd and 4th cause to fall back at the 6th Corps to strengthen their right flank to the south two out of three divisions of the army of the Elbe crossed the river and forced be defending Austrian and Saxon forces to retreat beyond the prim Hill by midday this left the crucial faradic Hill unprotected and the fifteenth division occupied it and set up an artillery battery the Austrians understood their mistake and sent troops to retake the hill but the Prussian cannon and rifle volleys shattered this counter-attack at this point the main units of the Second Army arrived to the battlefield the Prussians captured her a novice their divisions crossed the trotting cur river east of her a novice and pushed aside enemies defending the villages of red sites and Stratton ur by 1 p.m. the Austrian 2nd and 4th Corps were forced to abandon their positions and retreat the Prussians of the first Guard Brigade and 7th division had reoccupied the FIB forest and advanced south dividing into smaller units the first guard hurries towards the village and the hill of clumb by that time the Prussian right had started shelling the Austrian tenth Corps everything was going according to von Malta's plan soon Benedict realized that his army was in imminent danger of being surrounded and cut off he was still ordering the 1st Corps to march south and retake the hills when he was informed that the Prussians had taken from benedek commanded to reserve course to assault Club the Austrian commander attempted to stop the retreat of his troops from the right flanks but it was too late the Prussians were advancing and shelling the reserves the panicked Austrians were now fleeing on mass and were being funneled towards the Elbe the Austrian casualties were more than 40000 and they were saved only by crossing the river hands destroying the bridges while the Prussians lost less than 10,000 von Moltke US troops were too tired to chase the enemy into the night although the Austrians were more successful in their war against Italy the conflict was lost the Peace of Prague were signed in August Austria was excluded from the German Confederation which was replaced by the North German Confederation led by Prussia Italian lands were ceded and Austria was forced to pay large war indemnities to Prussia the Prussian Kingdom was victorious yet the unification Wars were far from over and even their conclusion wouldn't mean the end of the wars we are planning to cover more conflict set in the Victorian era so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,002,794

Keywords: Konnigratz, Königgrätz, Sadowa, 1866, Battle, Austro-Prussian War, Third Italian War of Independence, German Unification Wars, Risorgimento, liberalism, French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Bismarck, Moltke, Roon, seven weeks war, franco-prussian war, kings and generals, history lesson, full documentary, world history, animated documentary, decisive battles, historia civilis, war - topic, history documentary, epic history tv, history channel, military history, documentary film, wilhelm

Id: wFHmmCpW1yY

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 18 2018