Europe 1866: Königgrätz and its Aftermath

Three weeks into the war, invading Prussian armies crushed the Austrians at Königgrätz (Sadowa). Austria was forced to divert troops from the south to defend Vienna, allowing the Italians to make a second attempt on their front.

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Main Events

3 Jul 1866 Battle of Königgrätz

In late June 1866 the Prussian First and Second armies had invaded Bohemia, in the Austrian Empire, and by early July were converging on the city of Königgrätz (Hradec Králové) and the village of Sadowa (Sadová), where the 215,000-strong Austrian army had decided to make its stand under the command of Ludwig von Benedek. Reaching the field on the morning of the third, the 129,000-strong First Army, led by Prince Friedrich Karl, engaged the numerically superior Austrians in heavy fighting and repulsed their attempt to flank the smaller Prussian force. This left the Austrians exposed to the almost 100,000 troops of Crown Prince Frederick William’s Second Army when they arrived that afternoon and attacked the Austrian right flank. Routed, the Austrians only narrowly escaped across the Elbe, having lost some 31,000 men for nearly 9,000 Prussian casualties. in wikipedia

11–22 Jul 1866 Invasion of Venetia

In the wake of the Prussian defeat of Austria at Königgrätz (Sadowa) on 3 July 1866, the Austrians were forced to withdraw forces from their Italian front to defend their heartland from the Prussians. Taking advantage of this situation, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy ordered General Enrico Cialdini to lead an army of 150,000 troops into Austrian-ruled Venetia while Garibaldi invaded Trentino. Bypassing the fortifications of Mantua, Verona, and Venice, Cialdini swiftly crossed the territory, capturing Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, and Udine without facing significant resistance. in wikipedia

20 Jul 1866 Battle of Lissa

On 20 July 1866 Austrian admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff led a fleet of seven ironclads and eleven unarmored ships to ambush Italian admiral Carlo di Persano’s fleet of twelve ironclads and seventeen unarmored ships off the coast of Lissa (Vis) while the Italians were forming for an offensive against Venice. Despite being seriously outnumbered and outgunned, the Austrians made effective use of raking and ramming to disperse the Italian fleet and sink two ironclads for no losses. Misinterpreting the importance of ramming at Lissa—in reality a testimony to the relative strength of armor against the weaker guns of the period—naval designers would equip warships with rams for the next five decades, although ramming would never again be a viable battle tactic. in wikipedia