From The Eagle Rising: The Story of Prussia’s Arrival On the World Stage, pub. 1989 by Professor Reinicke Herz
On 18 March, 1847, Prussia declared war on Austria and Prussian armies charged forward into the legendary Austrian Empire. Austria’s network of defensive alliances kicked into play, and Anhalt, Baden, Bavaria, Hannover, and all four of the Saxon duchies and principalities joined with Austria. Only Mecklenburg joined on Prussia’s side, and was soon to suffer for it as Hannoverian armies attacked. Several German minors remained neutral.
Hannover was perhaps the one surprise Prussia faced. Von Kauperke’s information had led him to believe Hannover would not get involved, and so the two divisions present in West Prussia had to deal with a two-front war against Hannoverians in the north and Bavarians and Wurttemburgians in the south. Minden soon fell to Hannover, whereupon they turned their attention north against Mecklenburg. The 9th Corps in Saarbrucken turned back a Bavarian assault, and even advanced into Kaiserslauten, but by June Bavarian reinforcements had arrived and annihilated the Prussian defensive line. Bavarian troops managed to disrupt Prussian industry in the Rheinland in the autumn. They were not stopped until turned back at Koln in mid-October. Naturally, indefensible Sigmaringen quickly fell. And to make things worse, France began threatening Prussia’s open flank, though ultimately they did nothing overt.
In April, Prussia opened a second front against the Austrians. The 3rd Corps, having recently been relieved by two divisions of native Chinese troops at Hainan, landed from the Adriatic at Udine, and began working its way north in an attempt to connect with Prussian troops pushing south. Two other divisions landed there in August.
Through the summer months, Prussian armies dealt with relative success with the interference from minor German states. Hannoverians retreated in Minden, and were attacked at Luneburg. Two Prussian divisions chased the Saxon army across their homeland until they became the first opposing power to capitulate on September 21st. Saxony ceded Chemnitz and Leipzig to Prussia. In November, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was also annexed and became part of Prussia.
As neither the Rheinland nor northern Bavaria were considered the focus of the war, it is natural that in both regions the front remained fluid contests of give and take. Fifth column movements behind the lines caused much consternation to General von Halberstam as he prosecuted the war. Even as Prussian armies struggled with Austrian regulars on the frontiers of battle, rebellions sprung up behind the lines and required large garrisons to remain behind to put them down.
The main Prussian front advanced aggressively from the north, seizing all of Bohemia and working south into Austria proper from there. By September, a massive battle at Brno had given Prussia victory, and the Austrians made their first feeble attempt at a peace settlement, offering two border provinces. That was too shallow a result for what had become a major commitment for Prussia. This and several similar offers were refused. Soon, a Prussian army under the immediate command of General Oder had fallen upon the disorganized Austrians who had retreated to Wien from Brno.
By late fall, Prussia’s offensive had achieved many of its objectives, and Prussia controlled great swaths of Austrian territory. Yet, it was in November of 1847 that it seemed that Prussia might have overreached. Indeed, even as Austrian troops consistently fell back, it was Bavarian commanders that advanced on every front. Reinforced Bavarian corps had pushed back abortive Prussian assaults upon Regensburg and Beyreuth, and then began pushing north. In the Rheinland, Bavaria held sway over Saarbrucken, Kreuznach, and more recently Trier, and a second whole Prussian division had had to be disbanded after nearly total annihilation. Moreover, in the east, Prussians had suffered defeats at the hands of Bavaria in Plzen, Karlsbad, and Budejovice. Diplomats on both sides paused their dealmaking efforts and held their breath as the balance between the powers seemed to teeter…