Mobilization
Railways allow Prussia to move its armies into Bohemia. The plan assumes the corps will join before Austria can exploit their dispersion.
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War
Austro-Prussian War
1866
Railway timetables and the needle gun give Prussia a decision in Germany
Military history
The strategic problem
The Austro-Prussian War is short because Prussia combines military reform, a railway network and a command system able to concentrate several armies. Austria has a substantial army and dangerous artillery, but its decisions are slower and its army must deploy against several threat axes.
Contacts in Bohemia
Initial fighting pins the Austrian forces and gives the Prussian Second Army time to approach despite command and terrain friction.
Königgrätz and decision
The Prussian First Army holds the initiative as the Army of the Elbe and then Prince Frederick Charles’s army converge. The Second Army’s arrival breaks the Austrian disposition.
Explore
1 published battles, in chronological order
Military history
Sources
Contemporary sourceHelmuth von Moltke, rapports sur la campagne de Bohême
Orders, concentration of armies and the Prussian justification of operations.
Military monographGeoffrey Wawro, The Austro-Prussian War
Forces, technology, command and the course of Königgrätz.
Historical studyGordon A. Craig, The Battle of Königgrätz
Convergence, political decisions and the significance of the Prussian victory.