70.2 Battle of Königgrätz 1866

A History of Europe, Key Battles

Carl Rylett

History

4.4 • 756 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 was brief, yet its consequences were profound. It was the culminating event in a rivalry that began with the rise of the house of Brandenburg-Prussia, most notably Frederick the Great’s unprovoked attack upon the Habsburg province of Silesia in 1740. From that time Austria and Prussia were involved in a long struggle for supremacy in Germany.

In 1866 Prussian armies invades Saxony and then the Austrian Empire with the main battle occurring on 3rd July 1866 at Königgrätz with immense armies on both sides.

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Music composed by Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, movements 3 and 4. Also Waltz nr. 15 in A flat major. Courtesy of musopen.org

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Hello and welcome to a history of Europe Ki-Battles podcast.
0:29.9	This is the second and final part on the Battle of Kurenaraz of 1866.
0:37.7	The Battle of 1866.
1:19.4	The In previous episodes of the podcast, I have talked about the background to the Battle of Kinegratz.
1:25.5	The rise of Prussia is a great power, the challenges faced by the Austrian Empire,
1:29.3	and then about the Schleswig War of 1864, when both these German powers work together to defeat Denmark,
1:34.3	that then fell out with each other, leading to the outbreak of hostilities in 1866.
1:41.3	Of the two armies who were to meet at Kunigratz on the 3rd of July 1866, the Austrians,
1:51.0	it was the former the Austrians who possessed the finer reputation.
1:59.0	The Austrian army were known for the stilliness of their white-coated infantry,
2:04.6	the dashing Hungarian cavalry and the light infantry troops known as the Jaeger, used in skirmishes and as scouts.
2:13.6	The memories of General Redetsky's exploits in Italy in 1849 were still bright enough to cast a romantic glow upon the force that he had led.
2:25.3	Austria's defeat of the hands of the French and Italians had not dispelled this, for her troops had fought well and her officers had distinguished themselves
2:35.3	by their gallantry and initiative, for example, of the battles of Solferino and Magenta.
2:45.5	Although the battle for Solferino was a defeat, it was a personal triumph for the Austrian commander Ludwig von Benedek.
2:54.6	Under his command, the right wing broke the enemy attack and might have swept the field,
2:59.6	were it not for failings in the centre and left flank.
3:03.6	Benedict's name appeared regularly in the columns of the newspapers of Vienna, usually with flattering descriptions, and he was adored by his troops for his personal bravery, and for his generosity to old soldiers in financial difficulty.
3:22.3	Benedict was appointed as chief commander in the war against Prussia, although he was personally reluctant.
3:28.0	Sixty-two years of age he had been suffering from periods of ill health and tried to decline the post,
3:35.0	and yielded only when the Emperor appealed to his sense of duty.
	...

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