On July 3, 1866, the decisive battle of the short lived Austro-Prussian war was about to begin. Not far from today’s Hradec Králové, the forces of Austrian Field Marshal Ludwig Von Benedek and Prussia’s Helmuth von Moltke, each with around a quarter of a million troops at their command, faced each other. The Austrian army leadership was poor, most of the generals were aristocrats and amateurs. Prussia’s Helmuth von Moltke was a professional who had closely studied his oppenent’s weaknesses. And the Prussian was willing to take a risk on go on the attack in spite of initially being outnumbered by his Austrian adversary. The risk paid off and the Prussians were able to take the high ground at Chlum and force the Austrians to flee. During the battle around 5,700 Austrians and 2,000 Prussians were killed in one the biggest European battles of the 19th century and the largest ever on Czech soil. Around 37,000 Austrians and 7,000 Prussians were taken prisoner.
After the war, Prussia established itself as the leading Germanic power on the continent and took another step towards the unification of Germany. Vienna looked again towards reforms and the creation of Austria-Hungary. It would soon play second fiddle to Berlin in the emerging alliance system and Europe would soon be plunged in WWI.
koniggratz1866.eu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Königgrätz
chlum1866.cz/war-1866-museum-chlum
1866.cz