Prussia had been spared the wrath of the French Army to date, but its time had come. Though the army was piecemealed across the vastness of Germany, a several detachments were preparing to march into Prussian territory. Assisting in the march into Prussia, Bavaria had promised a corps of soldiers numbering 20,000. Though welcomed in the time of war, the incompetency and low morale of these soldiers was soon to be displayed.
On August 6th, a Prussian corps of a hundred or two soldiers over 18,000 ambushed the Bavarian corps of 20,000 at Halle. The Prussians were whipping the Bavarians without any problems and were about to clear the field of their southern nemesis. However; a corps of 26,000 Frenchmen under the command of Stefan Hellpach arrived in the nick of time and forced a retreat of the Prussians. The end results proved the uselessness of the Bavarian army, as it suffered about 3,600 causalities compared to France’s fewer than 400; while the Prussians lost 1,792 – most of them to French fire.
A mere three days later, the Bavarians again were ambushed near Magdeburg and were suffering a relentless assault by a numerically superior Prussian army. The Prussians had formed a large army of over 40,000 soldiers, that was to prove all too much for Bavaria’s 10,000 strong detachment that was sent to reinforce its war effort. Again defeat seemed certain for the Bavarians before the arrival of a 34,000 strong corps under General Jean Humbert. Upon his arrival, Humbert’s troops launched an immediate counterattack inflicting devastating losses. In the end of the Battle of Magdeburg, Prussian would limp away losing just a midget about 9,000 soldiers compared to the Franco-Bavarian losses of 4,489.
With consecutive losses, the Prussians were forced to retreat back to Berlin, which they viewed as a safe haven. However, Berlin would prove to be the next target of General August Billot’s army of 65,000 French soldiers. On August 21st the Battle of Berlin began, with both sides combined numbering over 100,000 soldiers – numbers on this scale had last occurred at the Battle of Waterloo. By August 24th, the Prussians were forced to retreat from Berlin, losing 9,954 soldiers of their initial 49,133 compared to France’s 6,631 of 65,214. The citizens of Berlin hastened their pace to depart the city, but Berlin was not the primary target – it had unfortunately escaped.
The Prussians withdrew to the city of Cottbus and were hoping to regroup before meeting the army under Billot’s command. The Prussians would receive only a few days to regroup their soldiers, but that would not prove enough for the third battle against Billot’s troops. On September 6th, 56,153 Frenchmen clashed with 38,093 Prussians at Cottbus. Numbers were not of a concern to Billot whose explicit instructions were to bring about the destruction of the Prussian army at any means possible. The fields of Cottbus would be littered with 9,081 Prussians and 6,788 Frenchmen.
What followed was the end game for the Prussians. At the end of the Battle of Cottbus, General Friedrich Cordemann, the Prussian commander had 29,000 troops remaining. By the end of his withdraw to Kustrin he would have a mere 6,400 soldiers. His army was in tatters, with most regiments well below commissioned strength. Uninterested in the war, most of the soldiers of the Prussian state broke rank and fled, causing the general to write a disheartening letter to King Fredrick Wilhelm IV stating that Prussia would not be able to come out of the war victorious and had no more fight left in her.
Cordemann’s words would prove all too true on September 22nd when August Billot’s forces – numbering 45,000 prepared to siege Kustrin. Billot had suffered his own losses during the previous battles, but France could afford to replace losses at a faster rate than Prussia. After a few hours fight at Kustrin, Cordemann surrendered his beleaguered force. His troops only inflicted a total of 508 causalities upon the French.
Through the winter, negotiations were occurring between the nations at Paris. Prussia asked for leniency, claiming she had been driven to war by pressure applied from London and Vienna. Prussia’s leniency would not be granted though. Bavaria would be compensated by acquiring minor German nations, including the territory of Sigmaringen; which the Prussians held dear. Meanwhile France would directly annex large swaths of territory stretching from the Baltic to the Austrian border. Europe stood horrified, as Napoleon II had effectively dismantled the balance of power of Europe within a brief four year span starting in 1846.