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 promised complete independence for the two duchies.
Of course, the Danes would never agree to this. Losing Schleswig would mean losing more than 30% of Denmark's territory. The nationalists in Denmark would definitely label the cabinet government as traitors.
Compared to surrendering without a fight, defeat in the war is obviously more likely to win the sympathy of the Danish people. It's not that the government didn't work hard, but that the Germans were too despicable.
The Danish government rejected the conditions of the German countries, and the Allied war machine was started again.
On March 8, after receiving orders from the country, the Austrian Imperial Army took the lead in launching the war and won the Battle of Weil.
On March 15, the Danish Navy announced a blockade of the Prussian coast and the navy went to war, and the newly formed Prussian Navy responded to the challenge.
The naval fleets of both sides started a fierce exchange of fire in the Jasmund Sea. At that time, the Prussian Navy had just been established, while Denmark was a traditional naval power in Northern Europe. The outcome of the battle between the two sides was naturally self-evident. Two days later, the Danish Navy won a tactical victory in the Battle of Jasmund.
The weak Prussian Navy was no match for the Danish Navy. Denmark firmly controlled the sea power, but the Prussian Navy retained its manpower and was not completely wiped out.
On the same day, the Prussian Army also launched an offensive against the new position of the Danish Army in Dibor. Prussia first mobilized artillery to carry out a large-scale bombardment of the Dibor position, and then the army attacked under the cover of artillery fire.
Faced with the brutal 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. Instead, the Danes relied on their tenacious perseverance to repel the Prussians' tentative attacks many times in one day.
However, this exchange of fire was only a prelude, and the Prussian army was still accumulating power for its ultimate move.
A month later, on April 18, the Battle of Dibor broke out. After dozens of hours of artillery preparation, Prussia launched a general offensive. Hundreds of artillery pieces attacked the Dibor position at the same time, and attacked Dibor fiercely under the firepower of the Herolf's naval guns anchored near the Danish coastline.
As the Danish flagship, the Herolf was obviously unable to stop the Prussian land attack and could only temporarily slow down the advance of the Prussian army.
Under the comprehensive artillery attack, the Danes could only retreat into their fortifications. The Prussians seized the opportunity and, relying on their manpower advantage, advanced towards Dibor.
Gradually, the vanguard troops reached the edge of Dibol's position.
The Dibol position had long been on the verge of death under the powerful artillery fire of the Allied Forces, and many makeshift fortifications were reduced to ruins under the artillery fire.
The Prussian army that reached Dibol's position successfully broke into the Danish line with the help of these ruins.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Danish commander-in-chief had no choice but to order his troops to abandon Dibor, leaving only the 8th Brigade of the Danish Army to cover the retreat.
The 8th Brigade of the Danish Army put up a very tenacious resistance to cover the retreat of the main Danish force.
However, the losses were heavy. The 8th Brigade of the Danish Army was almost destroyed by the Prussian army, with more than one-third of its troops lost. However, it successfully completed the task of covering the retreat of the main Danish force.
After the Danish military was defeated in the Battle of Dybor, due to limited manpower, it had to give up the action of seizing the Fredericia region that had been occupied by the Austrian army.
After a series of battles by the coalition forces, the Danes lost nearly half of their territory on the Jutland Peninsula (including Schleswig). The coalition forces had extinguished the Danes' hopes for victory.
At the same time, the Danes' successive defeats led the British government to decide to intervene. Maintaining the balance on the continent was the British bottom line, and the British could not cause major changes in the European countries.
The British government had previously issued a stern warning to Prussia, and Prussia verbally agreed to a temporary ceasefire on April 12.
But Bismarck postponed this plan until April 25, during which time Prussia controlled all of Dibor.
With the support of Russia, France and Sweden, the British government proposed to intervene in the Jutland War, pointing out that the entire Schleswig issue should be decided by a group of European countries.
Austria and Prussia, who had already reached a consensus in secret, 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, chaired by the British representative Viscount Palmston.
Britain accused Prussia and Austria of warlike actions that threatened peace in Europe.
But the German representative simply stated that the issue was inevitably confusing.
At the same time, Count Beust, representing the German Confederation, demanded that all countries recognize Augustenburg's sovereignty over the principality.
Although the Austrian Empire preferred the same plan as the 1852 agreement, Prussia had already shown its ambition to obtain the duchy.
If the Kingdom of Prussia wanted to realize this ambition, it must first make the Duchy of Schleswig completely independent.
Therefore, the Prussian representatives insisted that the Schleswig region be completely independent from Denmark.
This put Austria in a dilemma. If Austria opposed it, it might completely lose the empire's influence in Germany. If it did not oppose it, it might cause Prussia's strength to increase.
After weighing the pros and cons, Austria still felt that the influence of the German region was more important, and unifying the entire German region was also the wish of the Austrian Empire.
So he reluctantly supported Prussia's proposal to allow the Duchy of Schleswig to obtain complete political independence, but it should be constrained by common institutions, and did not consider the next step.
In order to stabilize Britain, France and the Russian Empire, representatives of the Kingdom of Prussia stated that Prussia would not seek land other than the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
This satisfies the demands of other major powers that the Danish Strait leading to the Baltic Sea should not be controlled by other major powers.
The Swedish representative did not express any opinion. Denmark has been Sweden's historical rival. If Prussia and Austria can weaken Denmark's strength, Sweden would be happy to see it happen.
Of course, the premise is that the German coalition forces will not swallow up the entire Jutland Peninsula, in which case Sweden will face a more serious strategic geopolitical danger than Denmark.
Obviously, neither Prussia nor Austria considered the feelings of the Danes, and countries such as Britain also acquiesced to Prussia's conditions. The Danish government rejected the proposal.
The London Conference did not fundamentally resolve the issue of the Jutland Peninsula, but it temporarily suspended the offensives of Prussia and Austria.
The meeting was held so that the Danes could complete their final mobilization, and most of the Danish army's attempts on the Jutland Peninsula had failed.
The troops moved to Als Island to continue the resistance. In June, the Prussian army began to gather opposite Als Island. The Second Schleswig War was about to enter a new period.
(End of this chapter)
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