Chapter 13 International Mediation
A few days later, after Bismarck’s instigation and urging, Austria and Prussia reached an agreement.
The Austrian army continued to attack the Danes together with the Prussian army, unless the Danish government agreed to the complete independence of the two principalities.
Of course it is impossible for the Danes to agree. Losing Schleswig also means losing more than 30% of Denmark's territory. The nationalists in Denmark will definitely label the cabinet government as a traitor.
Compared to surrender without a fight, defeat is obviously more sympathetic to the Danish people. It’s not that the government doesn’t work hard, it’s that the Germans are too despicable.
The Danish government rejected the conditions of the German countries, so the coalition's war machine was launched again.
On March 8, after receiving domestic orders, the Austrian Imperial Army took the lead in launching the war and won the Battle of Weyl.
On March 15, the Danish Navy announced a blockade of the Prussian coast, and the navy joined the war. The newly established Prussian Navy responded.
The naval fleets of both sides began a fierce exchange of fire in the Jasmund Sea. The Prussian Navy was not long established at that time, but Denmark was a traditional naval power in Northern Europe. The outcome of the battle was self-evident. Two days later, Denmark The navy achieved a tactical victory at the Battle of Jasmund.
The weak Prussian navy was no match for the Danish navy. Denmark firmly controlled the sea, but the Prussian navy retained its strength and was not completely wiped out.
On the same day, the Prussian Army also launched an offensive against the new position set up by the Danish army in Dibor. Prussia first mobilized artillery to bombard the Dibor position on a large scale, and then the army attacked under the cover of artillery fire.
Facing the ferocious Prussian army, the new Danish commander naturally did not dare to repeat the mistakes of General Mesa. This time he did not choose to withdraw from the battlefield. The Danes relied on their tenacious perseverance to defeat the Prussians many times in one day. Man's tentative attack.
However, this exchange of fire is just a prelude, and the Prussian army is still gathering strength for its ultimate move.
One month later, on April 18, the Battle of Dibor broke out. After dozens of hours of artillery preparations, Prussia launched a general offensive. Hundreds of artillery attacked the Dibor position at the same time, against Denmark. The gunfire from the Hrolf anchored near the coastline fiercely attacked Dibor.
As the Danish flagship, Hrolf obviously could not stop the Prussian land attack and could only slow down the advance of the Prussian army.
Under the coverage of artillery strikes, the Danes could only huddle in the fortifications. The Prussians seized the opportunity and relied on their manpower advantage to advance towards Dibor.
Gradually, the leading troops charging forward touched the edge of Dibor's position.
Under the attack of powerful artillery fire from the coalition forces, the Dibor position was already dying, and many temporary fortifications were turned into ruins under the artillery fire.
The Prussian army that touched the Dibor position used these ruins to successfully penetrate into the Danish front.
Seeing that the situation was over, the Danish commander-in-chief had no choice but to order the troops to abandon Dibor, leaving only the eighth brigade of the Danish Army behind.
The Eighth Brigade of the Danish Army resisted very tenaciously to cover the retreat of the main Danish force.
However, the losses were heavy. The 8th Brigade of the Danish Army was almost crippled by the Prussian army, with more than one-third of its losses lost. However, it successfully completed the task of covering the retreat of the main Danish force.
After the defeat of the Battle of Dibor, the Danish military was limited by its strength and had to give up the operation to capture the Fredericia region that had been occupied by the Austrian army.
In a series of battles by the coalition forces, the Danes lost nearly half of their territory on the Jutland Peninsula (including Schleswig). The Danes' hope for victory has been extinguished by the coalition forces.
At the same time, the successive defeats of the Danes led the British government to decide to intervene. Maintaining the balance of the continent was the bottom line of the British. The British could not cause huge changes in the European countries.
The British government had issued a stern warning to Prussia before, and Prussia verbally agreed to a temporary armistice on April 12. But Bismarck postponed this plan until April 25, during which time Prussia controlled the entire territory of Dibor.
After receiving support from Russia, France and Sweden, the British government proposed intervention in the Jutland War, pointing out that the entire Schleswig issue should be left to a group of European countries for resolution .
Austria and Prussia, who had already secretly reached a consensus, said that as long as the 1852 agreement was not used as the basis for the resolution and the principality and Denmark were only connected by personal relations, the two countries would agree to the resolution.
The meeting was held in London on April 25, with the British representative Viscount Palmston presiding over the meeting.
Britain accused Prussia and Austria of war actions that threatened the peace of Europe.
But the German representative only stated that the relevant issues are inevitably confusing.
Count Beust, who also represented the German Confederation, asked all countries to recognize Augustenberg's sovereignty over the principality.
Although the Austrian Empire prefers the same plan as the 1852 Agreement, Prussia has shown its ambition to obtain the principality.
If the Kingdom of Prussia wants to realize this ambition, it must first make the Principality of Schleswig completely independent.
Therefore, Prussian representatives insisted on the complete independence of Schleswig from Denmark.
This puts Austria in a dilemma. If Austria objects, it may completely lose the influence of the empire in Germany. If it does not object, Prussia's strength may increase.
After weighing the pros and cons, Austria still feels that the influence of the German region is more important, and unifying the entire German region is also the desire of the Austrian Empire.
So he reluctantly supported Prussia's proposal to allow the Principality of Schleswig to gain complete political independence, but it should be bound by common institutions. As for the next step, it has not yet been considered.
In order to stabilize the British, French and Russian empires, representatives of the Kingdom of Prussia stated that Prussia would not seek land other than the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein.
This satisfies the requirements of other major powers to control the Denmark Strait out of the Baltic Sea and not be controlled by other major powers.
The Swedish representative did not express an opinion. Denmark has historically been Sweden's competitor. If Prussia and Austria can weaken Denmark's strength, Sweden will be happy to see it happen.
Of course, the premise is that the German coalition does not swallow the entire Jutland Peninsula, then Sweden will face a more serious strategic and geographical danger than Denmark.
Obviously neither Prussia nor Austria had considered the feelings of the Danes. Britain and other countries also acquiesced to Prussia's conditions, and the Danish government rejected the proposal.
This London Conference did not fundamentally resolve the Jutland Peninsula issue, but it suspended the offensives of Prussia and Austria.
The meeting took the time for the Danes to complete their final mobilization, and most attempts by the Danish army in Jutland had failed.
The troops moved to Als Island to continue resisting. In June, the Prussian army began to gather opposite Als Island. The Second Schleswig War is about to enter a new period.
(End of this chapter)