Rise of the Second Empire



It is 1866. Otto von Bismarck's dream of a Prussian-dominated Germany was on the verge of fulfillment. Since the Second Schleswig War of 1861, war bells had been ringing between the victorious allies - Prussia and Austria. Bismarck had exploited their historic animosity for all it was worth, and now conflict between the two powers seemed inevitable. Bismarck's Prussia was an upstart state, challenging Austria's four-century long domination of the German states. Though the Austrian-dominated Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved generations earlier, the Austrian Emperor still held the title of President of the German Confederation. Bismarck viewed the Confederation as a tool to extend Austrian power indefinitely over Germany, and knew that war was the only means to topple her from her lofty perch. Still, success in the war was no certainty. It was true that Prussia was better equipped and showed better command of tactics than the Austrian Army. But the Prussian Army was outnumbered, and if any of the other powers allied to Austria, all of Bismarck's plans would fall apart. However, this scenario seemed unlikely. The other great powers were Britain, France and Russia. Britain had maintained isolation from European affairs since the Crimean War of the 1850s. France had fought Austria in battle less than a decade before on the plains of Italy. And the Russian Emperor, far too interested in gobbling up Turkish territory in the south, would likely see no interest in lending a hand. It was thus that the Kingdom of Prussia declared war on Austria on 14th June, 1866. Under the guidance of the brilliant General Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian Army concentrated on the Bohemian border with shocking speed, utilising Prussia's extensive rail network. Austrian forces mobilized in the north were therefore unprepared when Moltke's three armies surrounded and destroyed them in the climactic Battle of Koniggratz. Bismarck, and indeed most of Europe, assumed that Austria would give up the fight at this stage rather than risk losing more territory, and perhaps even its capital Vienna. What Bismarck didn't count on, however, was the oppurtunism of the man pulling the strings hundreds of miles away in Paris. Napoleon III was the French nation's attempt to revive the imperial glory given to them by his illustrious uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte. When, three decades after the first Napoleon's departure from power, the French people once again rose in revolution against their king, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the exiled nephew of the great man, seized the oppurtunity to return to the limelight, and rode a wave of nostalgia and yearning for order to achieve election as President of the new French Republic in 1848. From that point it was a small step to follow in the footsteps of his uncle. As head of the House of Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon proclaimed himself Napoleon III, Emperor of the French in 1852. All across France the citizenry eagerly anticipated a strong government to restore order after the 1848 Revolution, and perhaps a shadow of the imperial expansion experienced under Napoleon the First. Napoleon III responded favourably to these aspirations. He was quick to clamp down on the sometimes-violent political groups that opposed his rule. And, though his ambitions were not so far-reaching as his uncle's, he did send military expeditions into Italy, the Russian Empire, Africa, Mexico, Southeast Asia and Korea. The new Emperor learned from Napoleon I's mistakes, and cultivated a friendship with his uncle's archenemy and architect of his downfall, Great Britain. As France stabilised and prospered Napoleon III's ambitions began to grow. Already France had gained Savoy and Nice in Italy. Now he wanted to fulfill France's ancient dream of controlling the entire left bank of the mighty Rhine. The First Republic and Empire had held that line for nearly twenty years, and Napoleon III knew his legacy would not be complete if he did not achieve it as well. All that was needed was an oppurtunity to strike when noone would oppose him. And the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 presented just such an oppurtunity. As the Prussian forces in Bohemia closed in on the Austrian Army, the French ambassador at Vienna asked for an audience with the Emperor, Franz Josef II. At the Schonbrunn, Jean-Picquard Villars informed the Emperor that Napoleon III had weeks ago ordered the mobilization of the French Army, which was nearly complete. If an alliance could be agreed upon, French troops would swiftly invade the Prussian territory on the Rhine and march east on Berlin, threatening the rear of Moltke's army. In return, Napoleon III asked to be granted most of the Prussian Rhineland. With his army still undefeated, Franz Josef would never have accepted such an offer. To give France the Rhine's left bank once again would in the long-term be just as much of a threat to Austria's position in Germany as Prussia was now. The Austrian diplomats offered instead a few border towns, but the French ambassador had been told to be adamant in his demands. Negotiations, therefore, stalled. However, all of Austria's equations were soon to be overturned. With the destruction of the main Austrian Army at Koniggratz, the Empire was on the verge of total defeat. The French diplomats urged the Austrian government to fight on. If Austria could tie down the Prussian troops just a few weeks more, France could win the war for them. All they asked for was a reasonable slice of enemy territory. Napoleon III had given Franz Josef a desperate hope to cling on to. On 10th July, a treaty was signed, and messengers raced back to France to bring the good news to their Emperor. As the Austrian High Command laboured to pull together as many men as possible to defend Vienna, Napoleon's men were already marching to the Prussian border. In Vienna, the disparate army of Germans, Hungarians, Croats, Italians and Poles dug entrenchments, built shoddy earth walls, and gathered as much food and ammunition into the cities depots as possible. On 22nd the Prussian advance guard reached Vienna's outskirts and the siege began. Nevertheless, the war at this stage had already been decided. A day earlier, the 250,000 strong Army of the Rhine had crossed into Prussian territory, led by the best generals the French Empire had to offer. Prussian forces had been pulled from the Rhineland to assist the invasion of Austria, and therefore the French found themselves up against just 20,000 shocked young men. Surrounding the isolated units, the French crossed the Rhine in just three days and marched on into Hanover, where 15,000 Prussians beat a swift retreat towards Berlin. The Army of the Rhine did not hesitate, and by the 5th of August had drawn within 3 days' march of the capital. At the outset of the French offensive, the Prussian government and General Staff were disbelieving of the cataclysm which had befallen them. However, as matters became clearer, Bismarck and Moltke realised that the Prussian Army's positions in Austria were untenable. On the 30th of July, the Siege of Vienna was lifted, and Prussian forces began pulling back towards Berlin. Meanwhile, the massive Prussian reserve army began to mobilize, a fallback plan as large as the force sent into Austria. The Prussian government believed that the reserves would, even on their own, be able to match the French Army man-for-man. But Bismarck was getting jittery. The Prussian plans for mobilization were in disarray now that the western half of Prussia's territory was under occupation. And the reserves could not match the quality of the French regulars. Nothing was certain except that what would follow would be a long, bloody fight.