Oldenburg, Grand Duchy of

The Zollverein, or German Customs Union, includes all the German states by 1854 save five small northern states and Austria, which the Zollverein totally excludes because of its highly protected industry.

The first Red Cross Societies are organized in in 1864 as the result of Jean Henri Dunant’s humanitarian appeal to the world in 1859.

The Swiss government had invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference.

Sixteen countries send a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva.

On August 22, 1864, the conference adopts the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field".

Representatives of twelve states and kingdoms sign the convention: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Württemberg.

The convention contains ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict.

Furthermore, the convention defines two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee: The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention, The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.

Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies will be founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg.

Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, will become the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict.

Prussia’s King William I, after declaring that he felt “trapped, like a fox indoors… (with) no choice but to bite my way out,” initiates the Austro-Prussian War to conquer and unite a majority of the Germanic principalities. (Geoffrey Wawro, The Austro-Prussian War: Austria’s War with Prussia and Italy in 1866 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).)

The many small German states, in anticipation of war, ally themselves with either Austria or Prussia depending on their desires and goals.

Most kingdoms surrounding Prussia ally with Austria in fear of losing their autonomy to the Prussian state.

This in turn boxes Prussia against the Baltic Sea, prompting the King to make the above “trapped fox” statement.

King George V of Hanover had believed he could negotiate independently with the Austrians and Prussians, wasting time when he could have strengthened his forces by joining other German states.

When he finally attempted to do so, it was too late.

In a show of the Hanoverian naïveté, George's Foreign Minister had declared that Bismarck would never break federal law, which insists on maintaining a six week interval before invading another land.

On June 15, 1866, King Wilhelm orders Hanover, Saxony, and Kassel to disarm at once, effectively beginning the war with Austria’s allies.

On June 16, Prussian forces begin moving against all three German states, with those of General August Karl von Goeben approaching Hanover.

Most of the German states side with Austria against Prussia, even though Austria had declared war.

Those that side with Austria include the Kingdoms of Saxony, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Hanover.

Southern states such as, Baden, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Hesse-Darmstadt, and Nassau also joined with Austria.

Some of the northern German states join Prussia, in particular Oldenburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Brunswick.

The Kingdom of Italy participates in the war with Prussia, because Austria holds Venetia and other smaller territories wanted by Italy to complete the process of Italian unification.

In return for Italian aid against Austria, Bismarck agrees not to make a separate peace until Italy has obtained Venetia.

Notably, the other foreign powers abstain from this war.

French Emperor Napoleon III, who expects a Prussian defeat, chooses to remain out of the war to strengthen his negotiating position for territory along the Rhine, while the Russian Empire still bears a grudge against Austria from the Crimean War.

This war, the first between two major continental powers in seven years, will uses many of the same technologies as the American Civil War, including railroads to concentrate troops during mobilization and telegraphs to enhance long distance communication.

The Prussian Army will use von Dreyse's breech-loading needle-gun, which can be rapidly loaded while the soldier is seeking cover on the ground, whereas the Austrian muzzle-loading rifles can only be loaded slowly, and generally from a standing position.

The Prussian armies are gathered along the Prussian border at the outset of the war in June: 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, and ...

...the Second Army under Crown Prince Friedrich in Silesia west of Neiße (Nysa).

The Austrian army under Ludwig von Benedek is concentrated at Olmütz (Olomouc).

The campaign begins with Herwath von Bittenfeld's advance to Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony, where he easily defeats the Saxon army of twenty-five thousand and joins with the First Army.