Battle of Isted

Battle of Isted
Part of The First Schleswig War
General Frederik Adolf Schleppegrell ved Isted 25 juli 1850 by Otto Bache (1896)
Date 24–25 July 1850 Location Isted, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Result Danish victory
Belligerents
Schleswig-Holstein	Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Karl Wilhelm von Willisen	Gerhard Christoph von Krogh Friderich Adolph Schleppegrell †
Strength
26,800	37,000
Casualties and losses
534 dead, 2,274 wounded and captured	845 dead, 2,770 wounded and captured

The Battle of Isted (Danish: Slaget på Isted Hede; German: Die Schlacht bei Idstedt) took place on 25 July 1850 near the village of Idstedt (Danish: Isted), in what is today Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The battle was part of the First Schleswig War.

The battle began early in the morning at around 2:00 and lasted until 19:00. The Danish took 1,072 unwounded and 411 wounded prisoners. The Danish victory failed to break the Schleswig-Holsteinian army and the war continued until 1851.

The Isted Lion commemorates the battle, which was at its time the largest in Scandinavian history. The battle's anniversary, 25 July, is a military flag day in Denmark.

N. F. S. Grundtvig's song "Det var en sommermorgen" ("It was a summer morning") touches on the battle of Isted.

As a result of pressure from the major European powers, Schleswig-Holstein stood alone in the summer of 1850. The Danish High Command had no overall plan for the coming campaign in 1850, but during July a number of reports were received that the Schleswig-Holstein army had taken up positions north of the town of Schleswig. The Danish High Command now saw a chance to defeat the rebels in a last, decisive battle. Just like the Danes, the Schleswig-Holstein High Command hoped to lure the Danish army into giving battle at Isted and being defeated. The two armies were in many respects equal. Though the Danish army was considerably larger, the Schleswig-Holstein army held a strong defensive position.

The battle began early in the morning of 24 July, when the Danish vanguard clashed with the Schleswig-Holsteinian outposts and pickets. During the day, the Schleswig-Holsteinian troops were pushed back all along the line. The fighting of the day climaxed in a larger engagement at the Helligbæk (a stream) that involved substantial forces on both sides.

The battle proper began on the night of 24 July when the Danish main force attacked. During the early morning hours of 25 July, fighting raged back and forth at several places, including by Bøgmose, north of Isted Lake, as well as Grydeskov between Isted Lake and Langsø. To the east, between Bøglund and Nørre Farensted, Danish troops pushed back the Schleswig-Holsteinian troops, who then fell back and took up position at Vedelspang.

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