Quintin Barry - ROAD TO KONIGGRATZ: Helmuth von Moltke and the Austro-Prussian War 1866

The commanders of the victorious Prussian army of 1866. (Rogers)

By the same author:
The Franco-Prussian War Volume 1: The Campaign of Sedan. Helmuth von Moltke and the
Overthrow of the Second Empire
The Franco-Prussian War Volume 2: After Sedan. Helmuth von Moltke and the Defeat of the
Government of National Defence

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Published by Helion & Company 2010

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Cover designed by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Printed by The Cromwell Press Group, Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Quintin Barry 2009

ISBN 978 1 906033 37 8
EPUB ISBN: 9781909384743

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Dustjacket illustrations: Bismarck and Moltke at Kniggrtz, July 3 1866, painting by
Rchling (front cover); King William I of Prussia greets the Crown Prince on the field of
Kniggrtz, July 3 1866, painting by Rhling (rear cover). Note that despite the names,
Carl Rchling, and Carl Rhling, they are two different artists.

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CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Key to Sources

Album della Guerra del 1866 (Milan, 1867)

C.v.H. Schiepulver und Feuerwaffen. Illustrirte Uebersicht aller auf diesen Gebiete gemachten Erfindungen und Entdeckungen, unter vorzugsweiser Bercksichtigung der gegenwartig bei den europischen Heeren bestehenden Geschtze und Gewehre (Leipzig, 1866)

Fontane Der deutsche Krieg von 1866 (Berlin, 1871, 2 volumes)

Hofmann & Rohling Otto von Bismarck. Ernstes und Heiteres aus dem Leben des Grossen Kanzler (Berlin, 1897)

Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Aus meinem Leben (Berlin, 1897-1907, 4 volumes)

Illustrirte Kriegs-Chronik. Gedenkbuch an den Feldzug von 1866 in Deutschland und Italien (Leipzig, 1867)

Lezius Deutsche Uniformen Album III: Das Zeitalter der Deutschen Einigung 1864-1914 Band 1 (Dresden, 1933)

Luke Militrischer Maria-Theresien-Orden. Neue Folge 1850-1890 (Vienna, 1891)

Mollinary Sechsundvierzig Jahre im sterreich-ungarischen Heere 1833-1879 (Zrich, 1905, 2 volumes)

Moltke Letters of Field-Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke to his mother and his brothers (London, 1891, 2 volumes)

Priesdorff Soldatisches Fhrertum (Hamburg, 1936-42, volumes)

Reimer Bismarck. Das Jahrhundert der deutschen Einigung 1815-1915 in Wort und Bild (Hamburg, 1915)

Regensberg 1866 Von Dresden bis Mnchengrtz (Stuttgart, 1903)

Regensberg 1866 Nachod-Wysokow (Stuttgart, 1905)

Regensberg 1866 Von Skalitz bis Kniggrtz (Stuttgart, 1906)

Regensberg 1866 Kniggrtz (Stuttgart, 1903)

Regensberg 1866 Letzte Kmpfe und Friedenschluss (Stuttgart, 1908)

Regensberg 1866 Der Mainfeldzug (Stuttgart, 1908)

Rogers - original photographs and other material from private collection of Duncan Rogers

Voss Illustrierte Geschichte der deutschen Einigungskriege 1864-1866 (Stuttgart, 1914)

List of Maps

Acknowledgements

A s is always the case, this book could not have been produced without the encouragement and practical help of many people, to all of whom I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude. In particular, I greatly appreciate the help of Tim Readman and of the late Rob Mantle, both of whom cheerfully undertook to read the book in draft; to Jean Hawkes and Lindsey Cadle who once again patiently shouldered the heavy burden of turning my manuscript into an acceptable text; and to David Townsend for all his help in translating some difficult passages in a number of German texts.

Above all, I should like to express my particular thanks to Duncan Rogers and all his colleagues at Helion and Company. Duncans help and encouragement in preparing the book for publication, and in particular the maps and illustrations, has been of immense value. I should also like to record my appreciation of his company during our tour of the Bohemian battlefields, during which our joint navigational skills ultimately always brought us to our intended destinations, albeit with the occasional inadvertent diversion, for which I accept all blame. I should mention in particular our adventurous assault on the Roskosberg. I should also thank Tom Kalb and Ji Jemelka, who enthusiastically showed us around the battlefield of Tobitschau. Finally, I am grateful to my wife and family for their tolerance and understanding while this book was being written.

It is dedicated to my brother Richard, who died before its publication. I hope that he would have been pleased with the result.

The publishers wish to acknowledge the following:

Cambridge University Press for permission to reprint an excerpt from Supplying War by Martin van Creveld, p. 108, published Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.

Cambridge University Press for permission to reprint an excerpt from The Austro-Prussian War by Geoffrey Wawro, p. 31, published Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

The Orion Publishing Group for permission to reprint six excerpts from The Battle of Kniggrtz by Gordon Craig, pp. 12, 13, 85, 95, 100 and 136, published London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, 1965.

The Orion Publishing Group for permission to reprint an excerpt from A Military History of Germany from the Eighteenth Century to the present day by Martin Kitchen, p. 103, published London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, 1975.

Pearson Education for permission to reprint two excerpts from Austria, Prussia and Germany 1806-1871 by J. Breuilly, p. 91 and 92, published Harlow: Longman, 2002.

Random House, Inc. for permission to reprint five excerpts from Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings edited by Daniel J. Hughes, pp. 45, 48, 108, 184 and 235-236, published by New York: Presidio Press, an imprint of The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc, 1993, Daniel J. Hughes.

University of Pennsylvania Press for permission to reprint an excerpt from French Opinion on War and Diplomacy during the Second Empire by L.M. Case, p. 199, published Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954.

Introduction

T he Times, which in the days immediately prior to the outbreak of the AustroPrussian War had been relentlessly hostile to Prussia and in particular to its Minister President, had by September 22 1866 come round to an entirely different view. A leading article of that date recorded:

Of all the victorious pageants that the ancient or modern world ever witnessed, none can compare with that wonderful Berlin procession, [the triumphant parade of the two previous days] none, at least, was made to celebrate deeds of equal magnitude Well may the Prussian people enjoy their proud and happy day. The army is part of them. It is the Prussian nation in arms. That nation did not go forth impelled by lust of conquest, or even by love of strife and adventure They thought of nothing but what they owed to King and country.