The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive
battle
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...
of the
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...
in which the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
defeated the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
n city of
Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...
(German: Königgrätz) and village of
Sadová, now in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. It was the single largest battle of the war, and the largest battle in the world since the
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...
in 1813.
Prussian forces totaled around 285,000 troops. Superior training, tactical doctrine and the
Dreyse needle gun Dreyse may refer to:
* Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (1787–1867), German firearms inventor
* Hitch Dreyse, a fictional List of Attack on Titan characters, character in ''Attack on Titan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin'') series who serves in the military po ...
were instrumental in the victory. Prussian artillery was ineffective and almost all of the fighting on the Prussian side was done by the
First Army under
Prince Friedrich Karl and one division from the
Second Army. The Prussian
7th Infantry Division and
1st Guards Infantry Division attacked and destroyed 38 out of 49 infantry battalions of four Austrian corps at the Swiepwald and Chlum at the centre of the battlefield. The Austrian army was forced to retreat at 15:00, before any Prussian reinforcements could engage the Austrian flanks.
Background
At the outset of the war in June, the Prussian armies were gathered along the Prussian border: the Army of the Elbe under
Karl Herwarth von Bittenfeld at
Torgau, the First Army under
Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia between
Senftenberg and
Görlitz
Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...
, and the Second Army under
Crown Prince Frederick William in
Silesia
Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
west of
Neiße (Nysa). The Austrian army under
Ludwig von Benedek was concentrated at
Olmütz (Olomouc). The campaign began with Herwarth von Bittenfeld's advance to
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
in the
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...
, where he easily defeated the Saxon army of 23,000 and joined with the First Army.
The Austrian commander Benedek had only reluctantly moved his troops out of their staging point at Olmütz on 18 June, moving north in three parallel columns with the I Corps protecting the right flank. The Austrians took up positions at the fortress
Josefstadt
Josefstadt (; ; "Joseph-Town") is the eighth district of Vienna (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and resi ...
and the mountain passes from Saxony and Silesia.
On 22 June, Prussia's Chief of the General Staff,
Helmuth von Moltke, ordered both armies under his command to
Jitschin (Jičín) near the Austrian positions, a daring maneuver undertaken to limit the war's duration despite the risk of one army being overtaken en route.
However, Benedek was indecisive and failed to use his superior numbers to eliminate the Prussian armies individually. Initially, the Austrians were pressed back everywhere except at
Trautenau (Trutnov), where they bested the Prussians despite great losses to their own forces. By 29 June, Prince Friedrich Karl had reached Jitschin and inflicted a severe defeat on the Austrian I Corps under General
Clam-Gallas. The Crown Prince had reached
Königinhof (Dvůr Králové) despite stiff resistance.
On 30 June, Friedrich Karl's First Army advanced to within one day's march of the Second Army. However, for the next two days the Prussian cavalry lost sight of the Austrians entirely, although Moltke's guess as to their actions—a retreat to the
Elbe River—proved correct.
Prelude

Dismayed by his losses, Benedek had ordered a withdrawal and urgently requested that Emperor
Franz Josef make peace as the only way to save the army from a "catastrophe". When this was refused, and an ambiguous last sentence of the imperial telegram was interpreted as ordering a final stand, Benedek drew his Austrians up against the Elbe between Sadowa and Königgrätz.
The Prussians finally sighted the Austrians on the eve of 2 July near Sadowa, and Friedrich Karl planned to attack the next morning. Moltke ordered the Crown Prince Frederick William to join forces with the other two armies at the point where the Austrians were assembled, but the telegraph lines to the Second Army's positions were out, necessitating the dispatch of two mounted officers at midnight to ride the twenty miles' distance in time. They arrived at 4 a.m. The Crown Prince's Chief of Staff,
Leonhard von Blumenthal, an able logistician, immediately reorganised Second Army's route plan.
Battle

The Austrian army of 215,000 faced the Prussian Army of the Elbe (39,000) and First Army (85,000) on 3 July. The Austrian infantry was partially fortified and supported by cavalry in the rear and artillery units with firing range across hilly, wooded terrain. The battle began at dawn in subsiding rain and mist as Prussia took its position west of the
Bystřice River. Shortly before 8 a.m., the Austrian artillery opened fire, pinning down the Prussian right flank under Herwarth von Bittenfeld. The Saxons on the Austrian left fell back in good order, and proceeded to rain down fire on the advancing Prussian right from higher ground. Herwarth von Bittenfeld ordered the advance guard of seven battalions, under Brig. General von Schöler pulled back to the river around 10:00 and take a defensive stance.
Prussian advance into the Swiepwald
The Prussian center, with the Prussian 7th Division under General
Edward Frederick Charles von Fransecky, having secured the Prussian rear earlier, led the advance into the Swiepwald (Swiep Forest), where it was met by two Austrian corps. The 7th Division had to both clear out the forest, and cover the Prussian left until the Second Army, under the crown prince, arrived. The Prussians methodically cleared the villages of Austrian defenders. King
Wilhelm I of Prussia ordered the First Army across the river to support Fransecky. Sadowa was captured, but a fierce battle ensued in a nearby forest. The Austrian artillery held off the Prussians by firing into the smoke of the Prussian advance. The Prussians were slowed, and although the river was easy to wade, transporting artillery across it was extremely difficult. The Prussian attack was halted as the advancing Prussian 8th and 4th Divisions were cut down by the Austrian artillery as soon as they emerged from the smoke. However, the Austrian leader, Benedek, refused to call for a cavalry charge which later commentators have argued might have won the battle. Reserve units were deployed at noon, but the outcome of the battle was still uncertain and Prussian commanders anxiously waited for the crown prince.
To this point, the Austrian superiority in numbers and position had held the day. Their weapons had longer range, which meant that the outnumbered Prussians could neither advance against the artillery barrage, nor effectively engage the Austrian infantry. The Prussians had attempted to bring three armies together for the battle, but problems with sending orders by
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
and moving men by
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
had meant that only two of the three armies had arrived in time. The Prussian center, in the cover of the forest, was able to hold its position, and discourage a
mounted charge by the Austrians, who were thought to have superior cavalry. However the close contact of the fight in the forest began to negate the Austrian advantages, the Austrians could not train their artillery on the close fighting, the damp weather made a cavalry charge risky, and the Austrian IV Corps was committed piecemeal to the fighting. At this point the relative strengths of the two armies were beginning to reverse. The shorter range of the Prussian artillery as compared to the Austrian was moot, while the vastly higher
rate of fire from the
Prussian breechloading needle gun, compared to the Austrian
muzzleloading
Muzzleloading is the shooting sport of firing muzzleloader, muzzleloading guns. Muzzleloading guns, both antique and reproduction, are used for target shooting, hunting, historical re-enactment and historical research. The sport originated in the ...
small arms and cannon, was paramount. In addition the needle gun could be operated while prone in defense, and while moving quickly on the advance, while the Austrians had to stand up after each shot to reload their
Lorenz rifles.
Austrian counterattack
At 11:00 came the deciding moment of the battle; the Austrian centre began a manoeuvre to flank the Prussian 7th Division, which had pushed back and held off nearly a quarter of the Austrian army. Colonel
Carl von Pöckh was sent to drive the Prussians back, and with a fierce infantry charge managed to force the 7th Division back to the outskirts of the forest. Flanking fire raked Pöckh's battalion, annihilating it as a fighting force and killing its commander. The fire came from the 8th Division which stiffened the Prussian center to hold off the Austrian thrusts.
While divisions from the Austrian II and IV Corps were committed to the fighting, there was no decisive infantry charge, nor did the Prussians present a flank that could be attacked with cavalry. The Austrians ultimately were caught having moved from their defensive position to attack, and their right flank was
exposed to the arriving Prussian infantry.
However, neither cavalry nor artillery gave direct help to the Prussian Infantry. Around 12:30 two rifled batteries of
2nd Division arrived, and around 13:00,
Oberst von Bülow, part of
Army of the Elbe, brought the corps artillery, two regiments, to the battlefield. After 1 o'clock, Oberst von Rozynski commanded 66 guns in this area. However they were too far to the rear to be used effectively. This kept
Karl Eberhard Herwarth von Bittenfeld from ordering a major attack against the Austrian left.
Arrival of the Prussian Second Army
At 14:30
Crown Prince Frederick William finally arrived with the main bulk of his almost 100,000 men, having marched with all possible haste all morning, and hit the Austrian right flank retiring from the Swiepwald while the Prussian artillery pounded the Austrian center. By 16:00 the last individual counter-attacks by the Austrian I and VI Corps were broken, even as Benedek ordered a withdrawal. Lt. General
1st Prussian Guard reached the Austrian artillery, forcing them to stop reforming an artillery line and pull back. He had attacked because he saw the artillery as holding together the Austrian position, and his attack destroyed the lone cavalry battery that stayed to fight, and forced the others to flee, along with their reserves.
At this point, having taken severe casualties, lacking artillery and cavalry cover, the high ground in enemy hands and the center being rolled up, the position for the Austrians deteriorated rapidly. The Second Prussian Army completely broke through the Austrian lines and took behind the center. The Army of the Elbe, which had merely held position after the early morning bloodying by the Austrian artillery and the Saxon infantry, attacked and broke through the Austrian left flank. It seized , and proceeded to destroy the Austrian flank. The Prussian king ordered all remaining forces into the attack all along the line, which had been slowed by the final counter-attack from the battalions of Brigadier General
Ferdinand Rosenzweig von Dreuwehr's Austrian brigade. The arriving reinforcements joined the fight just as the Austrians had forced the 1st Prussian Guard back to Chlum. The result was a decisive shock of firepower which collapsed the Austrian line. The Prussian advance was so rapid that Benedek ordered a series of cavalry countercharges to back up his artillery and cover the general retreat he ordered at 15:00. These were successful at covering the Austrian rear, keeping the bridges over the Elbe open for retreating Austrian soldiers, and preventing pursuit by the Prussians, but at a terrible cost: 2,000 men and almost as many horses were killed, wounded or captured in the action. Benedek himself crossed the Elbe near 18:00 and several hours later informed the emperor that the catastrophe of which he had warned had indeed occurred.
The battle ended with heavy casualties for both sides. The Prussians had nearly 9,000 men killed, wounded or missing. The Austrians and allies had roughly 31,000 men killed, wounded or missing, with 9,291 of these being prisoners.
[Austrian General Staff. "Verluste der Kiegsfuhrenden im Feldzuge 1866." KA, AFA. Kt. 2274, 1866-13-69. Vienna, June 10, 1871] Compounding the Austrians' losses was Austria's earlier refusal to sign the
First Geneva Convention
The First Geneva Convention, officially the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field (), held on 22 August 1864, is the first of four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It defines "the basis on whic ...
. As a result, Austrian medical personnel were regarded as combatants, and withdrew from the field with the main bulk of the forces, leaving the wounded to die on the field.
Aftermath
Königgrätz was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War. The Prussians then continued to pursue the defeated Austrian Nord-Armee and fought a series of minor clashes, with the last skirmish being fought at distant Blumenau (today's Lamač, district of
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) on 22 July, just as the
Peace of Prague to put a halt to the fighting was being signed. It provided a great opportunity for Prussian statesmen, by clearing a path toward
German unification, in particular with the
Little Germany (Germany without Austria) solution, with the subsequent foundation of the
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...
. The outcome also ensured that Prussia would have a free hand when a
war with France came to pass in 1870.
After this Prussian victory, France attempted to extract territorial concessions in the
Palatinate and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
. In his speech to the Reichstag on 2 May 1871, Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
stated:
The
Königgrätzer Marsch was written to commemorate the battle.
The French public resented the Prussian victory and demanded "Revanche pour Sadova" or "Revenge for Sadowa", which formed part of the background to the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870.
After the battle, over 900 soldiers were left wounded on the field without medical care. Arriving several days later with a large stock of supplies, Saxon nurse
Marie Simon tended to the wounded for 17 weeks. This experience led her and
Carola of Vasa to establish the , a precursor to the
German Red Cross.
There are 475 different memorials scattered on the battlefield and in its surroundings. Some of them are located on the sites where individuals, mostly officers, were killed. Other memorials are located on the sites of graves of Austrian, Prussian or Saxon soldiers, who often rest together in mass ones. The memorials were erected with funds from the families of the fallen, regiments, officers, the Order of St. John, and especially the Central Committee for the Preservation of Monuments from the War of 1866.
See also
*
Cannoneer Jabůrek, a satirical song about a fictional Czech participant in the battle
*
Königsberger Paukenhund, traditional kettle drum dog of the Prussian infantry, originating from this battle
*
Königgrätzer Marsch, a German military march commemorating the battle
Citations
Bibliography
* .
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
A map and timelineof the Battle of Königgrätz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Koniggratz
Koniggratz
Koniggratz
Koniggratz
Hradec Králové
1866 in the Austrian Empire
19th century in Bohemia
July 1866
Königgrätz
Frederick III, German Emperor
History of the Hradec Králové Region
Königgrätz