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Second Schleswig War

Second Schleswig War
Part of the wars of German unification
8 brigades angreb ved Dybbøl 1864.jpg
Painting of the Danish attack at the Battle of Dybbøl by Vilhelm Jacob Rosenstand (1894)
Date 1 February – 30 October 1864
Location Schleswig and Jutland
Result

Austro-Prussian victory

Territorial
changes
Denmark surrenders control over Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria
Belligerents
Kingdom of Prussia Prussia
 Austrian Empire
 Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of Prussia William I
Kingdom of Prussia Otto von Bismarck
Kingdom of Prussia Helmuth von Moltke
Kingdom of Prussia Friedrich Graf von Wrangel
Austrian Empire Franz Joseph I
Austrian Empire Wilhelm von Tegetthoff
Denmark Christian IX
Denmark Ditlev Gothard Monrad
Denmark Christian Albrecht Bluhme
Denmark Christian Julius de Meza
Denmark
Strength
At the outbreak of war: 61,000
158 guns
Later reinforcements: 20,000
64 guns
38,000
100+ guns
Casualties and losses
1,700+ killed, wounded, or captured 1,570+ killed, 700+ wounded, 3,550+ captured

Austro-Prussian victory

The Second Schleswig War (Danish: 2. Slesvigske Krig; German: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) was the second military conflict as a result of the Schleswig-Holstein Question. It began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig.

Denmark fought Prussia and Austria. Like the First Schleswig War (1848–51), it was fought for control of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg due to the succession disputes concerning them when the Danish king died without an heir acceptable to the German Confederation. Decisive controversy arose due to the passing of the November Constitution, which integrated the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom in violation of the . Reasons for the war were the ethnic controversy in Schleswig and the co-existence of conflicting political systems within the Danish unitary state.

The war ended on 30 October 1864, when the Treaty of Vienna caused Denmark's cession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria.

The secessionist movement of the large German majority in Holstein and southern Schleswig was suppressed in the First Schleswig War (1848–51), but the movement continued throughout the 1850s and 1860s, as Denmark attempted to integrate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom and proponents of German unification expressed the wish to include the Danish-ruled duchies of Holstein and Schleswig in a 'Greater Germany'. Holstein was a part of the German Confederation and before 1806 a German fief and completely German, whereas Schleswig was a Danish fief and linguistically mixed between German, Danish and North Frisian. The northern and middle parts of Schleswig spoke Danish, but over time, the language in the southern half had shifted gradually to German. German culture was dominant among the clergy and nobility; Danish culture had a lower social status and was spoken mainly by the rural population. For centuries, while the rule of the king was absolute, these conditions had created few tensions. However, when ideas of liberal democracy spread and nationalist currents emerged about 1820, identification was mixed between Danish and German.


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