African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 13 International Mediation
A few days later, after much prodding and prodding by Bismarck, Austria and Prussia came to an agreement.

The Austrian army continued to attack the Danes together with the Prussian army, unless the Danish government agreed to the full independence of the two duchies.

Of course, it is impossible for the Danes to agree. Losing Schleswig also means losing more than [-]% of the Danish territory. Nationalists in Denmark will definitely label the cabinet government as a traitor.

Compared with surrendering without a fight, defeat is obviously more able to move the sympathy of the Danish people. It is not that the government is not working hard, but that the Germans are too despicable.

The Danish government rejected the conditions of the German countries, so the war machine of the coalition forces was launched again.

On March 3, after receiving domestic orders, the Austrian Imperial Army took the lead in launching the war and won the victory at the Battle of Weil.

On March 3, the Danish navy announced the blockade of the Prussian coast, and the navy joined the battle, and the newly formed Prussian navy responded.

The naval fleets of the two sides began a fierce exchange of fire in the Jasmund waters. At that time, the Prussian navy was not long established, but Denmark was a traditional naval power in the Nordic region. The results of the battle between the two sides are self-evident. Tactical victories were achieved in naval battles.

The weak Prussian navy is not an opponent of the Danish navy at all. Denmark firmly holds the dominance of the sea, but the Prussian navy has retained its vitality and has not been wiped out.

On the same day, the Prussian Army also launched an offensive against the new position set up by the Danish army in Dibor. Prussia first mobilized artillery to bombard the Dibor position on a large scale, and then the army attacked under the cover of artillery fire.

Facing the ferocious Prussian army, the new Danish commander naturally did not dare to repeat the mistakes made by General Mesa. This time he did not choose to withdraw from the battlefield. The Danes repelled the tentative attacks of the Prussians many times a day with tenacious perseverance.

However, this firefight is just a prelude, and the Prussian army's big move is still gathering strength.

One month later, on April 4, the Battle of Dibor broke out. After dozens of hours of artillery preparations, Prussia launched a general offensive. The firepower of the Wolf's naval guns stormed at Dibor.

As the flagship of Denmark, the Herolf obviously could not stop the Prussian land attack, and could only suspend the advance speed of the Prussian army.

Under the bombardment of artillery coverage, the Danes could only shrink back in the fortifications, while the Prussians seized the opportunity and relied on their manpower advantages to march towards Dibor.

Gradually, the vanguard of the charge touched the edge of Dibor's position.

Under the attack of the powerful artillery fire of the coalition forces, the Diboer position has long been dying, and many temporary fortifications have been reduced to ruins under the artillery fire.

The Prussian army that touched Dibor's position successfully penetrated into the interior of the Danish line with the help of these ruins.

Seeing that the general situation was over, the Danish commander-in-chief had to order the troops to abandon Dibor, leaving only the Eighth Brigade of the Danish Army behind.

The Eighth Brigade of the Danish Army resisted tenaciously to cover the retreat of the main Danish army.

However, the losses were heavy. The Eighth Brigade of the Danish Army was almost crippled by the Prussian army, with more than one-third of the loss, but it successfully completed the task of covering the retreat of the main Danish army.

After the failure of the Battle of Dibor, the Danish military was limited by its strength and had to give up the operation to seize the Fredericia area already 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).Even the flames of the Danes' hopes for victory have been extinguished by the coalition forces.

At the same time, the successive defeats of the Danes led to the decision of the British government to intervene. Maintaining the balance of the continent is the bottom line of the British, and the British cannot cause major changes in the European countries.

Prior to this, the British government had issued a stern warning to Prussia, and Prussia verbally agreed to a temporary truce on April 4.

But Bismarck postponed this plan until April 4, during which time Prussia held all of Dibor.

After receiving the support of Russia, France, and Sweden, the British government proposed to intervene in the Jutland Peninsula War, pointing out that the entire Schleswig issue should be resolved by a group of European countries.

Austria and Prussia, which had already secretly reached a consensus, stated 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 relationship, the two countries would agree to the resolution.

The meeting was held in London on April 4, and the British representative, Viscount Palmerston, presided over the meeting.

Britain blamed Prussia and Austria for their acts of war, which threatened the peace of Europe.

But the representatives of the German side only stated that the relevant issues were inevitably confused.

Count Beust, who also represented the German Confederation, demanded that all countries recognize Augustenberg's sovereignty over the duchy.

Although the Austrian Empire preferred the same solution as the 1852 agreement, Prussia had already shown its ambition for the duchy.

If the Kingdom of Prussia wants to realize this ambition, it must first make the Principality of Schleswig completely independent.

Therefore, the Prussian representative insisted that the Schleswig region be completely independent from Denmark.

This puts Austria in a dilemma. If Austria opposes it, it may completely lose the influence of the empire in Germany. If it does not object, it may increase the strength of Prussia.

After weighing the pros and cons, Austria still feels that the influence of the German region is more important, and it is also the desire of the Austrian Empire to unify the entire German region.

So reluctantly supported Prussia's claim that the Principality of Schleswig would gain complete political independence, but it should be bound by a common institution, and the next step was not considered yet.

In order to stabilize the British, French and Russian empires, the representative of the Kingdom of Prussia stated that Prussia would not seek land other than the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.

This satisfies the requirement of other great powers that the Danish Strait, which controls the access to the Baltic Sea, should not be controlled by other great powers.

The representative of Sweden did not comment. Denmark has historically been Sweden's competitor. If Prussia and Austria can weaken Denmark's strength, Sweden will be happy to see it.

Of course, the premise is that the German coalition forces will not swallow the entire Jutland Peninsula, then Sweden will face a more serious strategic and geographical danger than Denmark.

Obviously, neither Prussia nor Austria considered the feelings of the Danes. The United Kingdom and other countries also reached acquiescence to Prussia's conditions, and the Danish government rejected the proposal.

The London meeting did not fundamentally resolve the issue of the Jutland peninsula, but it suspended the offensives of Prussia and Austria.

With the timing of the conference, the final mobilization of the Danes was completed, and most attempts by the Danish army in Jutland had failed.

The troops transferred to the island of Als to continue the resistance. In June, the Prussian army began to gather opposite the island of Als.The Second Schleswig War is about to enter a new period.

(End of this chapter)