History UsefulNotes / AustroPrussianWar

The Austro-Prussian War, also known as the German War and the Seven Weeks War, was the second of the three major wars that led to the creation of UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} as a single state. It was provoked by rivalry between Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy over supremacy in Germany, the Habsburgs claiming authority based on tradition dating from the days of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, and Prussia based on its claim to be TheChampion of German Nationalism. As with the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar, there are claims that UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck the prime minister of Prussia deliberately provoked it, but that is unclear. However, it is clear that the authorities in UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}}, notably Otto von Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke (the Prussian chief of staff), were expecting it for a long time.

* An arc about the war has shown up in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia,'' focusing on the embodiments Austria and Prussia, along with possibly Hungary's historic involvement in it.

In the meantime Italy had declared war on Austria in coordination with Prussia. This did not go quite as well, Italy suffering several defeats including Lissa, one of the few naval victories credited to Austria. The Italian front however did not affect the main issue which was the fighting in Germany, where apart from the main front in Bohemia there were the minor theatres of war further west. Prussia came off a winner by a long shot and was able to annex not just Schleswig-Holstein (the original bone of contention), but also the territories of some of Austria's German allies, i.e. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt, and to force others, e. g. Saxony, to join the North German Federation of 1867. It was thus poised to begin the founding of UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany. Italy, despite having been defeated in the field, was able to annex Venice and the adjoining territories, while France, whose intentions of acting as arbiter and annexing Luxembourg and the French-speaking parts of Belgium had been brought to nothing by the quick Prussian victory, [[UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar began to look at Prussia as a potential enemy]].

!!Tropes include:

* AFatherToHisMen: Ludwig von Benedek had a reputation for this in the Austrian army.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Bismarck (though at that time, he was chancellor and foreign minister already)
* BadassArmy: Prussia
* BadassBureaucrat : The Prussian General Staff. They won the war by their ability to make railroad schedules.
* CoolGun: The Dreyse Needlegun, the first working breechloading rifle issued to the infantry of a major power (starting in the 1840s). This provided a tremendous advantage to the Prussians, also as they did not have to stand up to load.
** The Austrian standard firearm, the muzzle-loading Lorenz rifle, seemed good enough for its time, so that the Austrian ministry of war resisted suggestions to switch to breech-loading rifles as late as 1865. Part of the reason apparently was that it was believed that breech-loading would lead to soldiers being wasteful with their ammunition.
* CoolTrain: The essence of Prussia's strategy in both this and the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar
* CrazyPrepared: Prussia. Austria was crazy ''unprepared''.
* FinalBattle: Königgrätz (or Sadova)
* HeroWithBadPublicity : Ludwig von Benedek, the Austrian commander quietly accepted the blame for Austria's defeat and even urged his wife not to say anything-even though the blame could possibly be more fairly be placed on TheEmperor. Benedek really did believe in MyMasterRightOrWrong.
** Moltke showed a [[WorthyOpponent bit of sympathy]] for Benedek for this. He knew better than the newspapers how hard [[TheChainsOfCommanding it actually was]] to be a an effective leader.
* LastStand: "The battery of the dead", an Austrian artillery unit wiped out while trying to [[YouShallNotPass stem the Prussian pursuit]] at Sadowa.
* MilitarySchool : The Prussian General Staff was the product an elite school designed to mass produce excellent leaders.
* StoicWoobie: Benedek
* WarriorPrince: King William I of Prussia and his son. Despite what you might expect of nineteenth century royalty they were actually quite effective in this capacity.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, Wilhelm I wanted to annex '''all''' of Austria (or, at least the parts that were in the German Confederation) however, Bismarck vetoed it because he didn't want a weakened Prussia to face the rest of hostile Europe alone. Bismarck even threatened to resign at one point as a means of stopping Wilhelm. Thus, Wilhelm, instead of marching on Vienna and bringing the Hapsburg Emperor to his knees, made a quick and easy peace that only lightly humiliated Austria. This has two effects: it allowed Germany and Austria to set aside their difference later and face the new threats of France and Russia together, but it also laid the groundwork for the European alliance system that would drag the whole continent into war less than a century later. One wonders what would have happened if Bismarck's words had gone unheeded...
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* FourStarBadass: The Prussians had loads of these topped with von Moltke himself. Poor Benedek was credited with being this before the war by the Austrian Army and he really hadn't done so bad earlier in his career. He was just OvershadowedByAwesome.

** Moltke showed a [[WorthyOpponent bit of sympathy]] for Benedek for this. He knew better then the newspapers how hard [[TheChainsOfCommanding it actually was]] to be a FourStarBadass.

* MilitarySchool : The Prussian General Staff was the product an elite school designed to mass produce [[FourStarBadass Four Star Badasses]]

* HeelFaceTurn: The Free and Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen were traditionally aligned with Austria, but decided to ally themselves with Prussia when the war broke out. This turned out to be a smart move, as otherwise they would have shared the fate of the Free City of Frankfurt, which was annexed by Prussia.

* MagnificentBastard: Moltke and Bismarck

* TheSoundOfMartialMusic

In the meantime Italy had declared war on Austria in coordination with Prussia. This did not go quite as well, Italy suffering several defeats including Lissa, one of the few naval victories credited to Austria. The Italian front however did not affect the main issue which was the fighting in Germany, where apart from the main front in Bohemia there were the minor theatres of war further west. Prussia came off a winner by a long shot and was able to annex not just Schleswig-Holstein (the original bone of contention), but also the territories of some of Austria's German allies, i.e. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt, and to force others, e. g. Saxony, to join the North German Federation of 1867. It was thus poised to begin the founding of ImperialGermany. Italy, despite having been defeated in the field, was able to annex Venice and the adjoining territories, while France, whose intentions of acting as arbiter and annexing Luxembourg and the French-speaking parts of Belgium had been brought to nothing by the quick Prussian victory, [[UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar began to look at Prussia as a potential enemy]].

* [[WeAreNotTheWehrmacht We Are Not Yet The Wehrmacht]]

The Austro-Prussian War, also known as the German War and the Seven Weeks War, was the second of the three major wars that led to the creation of {{Germany}} as a single state. It was provoked by rivalry between Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy over supremacy in Germany, the Habsburgs claiming authority based on tradition dating from the days of the HolyRomanEmpire, and Prussia based on its claim to be TheChampion of German Nationalism. As with the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar, there are claims that UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck the prime minister of Prussia deliberately provoked it, but that is unclear. However, it is clear that the authorities in {{Prussia}}, notably Otto von Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke (the Prussian chief of staff), were expecting it for a long time.

* An arc about the war has shown up in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia,'' focusing on the embodiments Austria and Prussia, along with possibly Hungary's historic involvement in it.