Battle of Langensalza (1866)

Battle of Langensalza
Part of Austro-Prussian War
Prussian Artillery attacked at the Battle of Langensalza 1866
Date 27 June 1866 Location Langensalza, Thuringia in Modern Germany Result Hanoverian tactical victory Strategic Prussian victory Kingdom of Hanover surrenders two days later
Belligerents
Prussia  Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	Hanover Bavaria
Commanders and leaders
General von Moltke (Theater Commander) General von Falkenstein General Beyer General von Flies	King George V of Hanover General von Arentschildt
Strength
9,000	19,000
Casualties and losses
11 officers, 159 men killed; 30 officers, 613 men wounded; 33 men missing; 10 officers, 897 men captured	378 killed, 1051 wounded

The Battle of Langensalza was fought on 27 June 1866 near Bad Langensalza in what is now modern Germany, between the Kingdom of Hanover (Hanoverians) and the Prussians. The Hanoverians won the battle but were then surrounded by a larger and reinforced Prussian army, and, unable to link up with their Bavarian allies to the south, they surrendered. This marked the demise of the Hanoverian Army and the annexation of Hanover into the burgeoning kingdom of Prussia as it systematically unified Germany into the modern nation state.

After declaring that he felt “trapped, like a fox indoors… [with] no choice but to bite my way out,”¹Prussia’s King Wilhelm I initiated the Austro-Prussian War to conquer and unite a majority of the Germanic principalities. Many small German states existed prior to 1866, and, in anticipation of war, they allied themselves with either Austria or Prussia depending on their desires and goals. Most kingdoms surrounding Prussia allied with Austria in fear of losing their autonomy to the Prussian state. As a result, this geographically isolated Prussia, boxing it against the Baltic Sea, and prompted the King to make the above “trapped fox” statement. King George V of Hanover 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 declared that Bismarck would never break federal law, which insisted on maintaining a six-week interval before invading another land.² On 15 June 1866, King Wilhelm ordered Hanover, Saxony, and Kassel to disarm at once, effectively beginning the war with Austria’s allies.³ On 16 June, Prussian forces began moving against all three German states, with those of General August Karl von Goeben approaching Hanover.

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