GERMAN-ITALIAN WAR. 



859 



icr, tho ' "i" consists of ubout 



15,000 IIH 11. Tlio cavalry consists of 4 rcgi- 



: v of tho lino, 7 regiments of 



-ht cavalry (en 



\vith about 13,000 men. Tho 

 -.-a of ordnance. 

 nan States, tho allies of 

 -I v to furnish the following con- 

 Wetmar, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 

 .Mt.-iil.iirj.', together, 7,600 im-n ; 

 llrun ''.00; the two Mecklenburgs, 



6,500: Oklenlmrg, 8,500; Anhalt, 2,000; tho 

 .rzbnrgs, 1,800: Lippo Detrnold and 

 . 1,200 ; Waldeck, 800 ; 

 r,000| Hamburg, Bremen, and 

 '.H); together, 81,000 men. Schles- 

 lonburg would have been 

 able to funiMi additional, 20,000; but they 

 were not organized at tho beginning of the 

 war. Baden, which sympathized with Prussia, 

 !i it was compelled to fight against it, had 

 18,000 men. Austria could rely on the assist- 

 ance of Bavaria (63,000 men, 144 pieces of ord- 

 irtemberg (28,000 men, 52 pieces of 

 ordnance), Hesse-Darmstadt (11,000 men, 38 

 - of ordnance), together, 102,000 men 

 and 234 pieces of ordnance. Besides these 

 S tho following had taken sides with 

 .1: Saxony (24,000 men); Hanover (21,- 

 000); Hesse-Cassel (11,000); Nassau (6,000); 

 Saxe-Meiningen (2,000) ; Reuss Greiz (400) ; 

 Frankfort (1,000); together, 65,000 men and 

 135 pieces of ordnance. But these States in case 

 of a war were likely to be at once overran by 

 :an troops, and could not be expected to 

 make their contingents available for Austria. 



Beginning of the War Occupation of Sax- 

 ony, IItste-Ca*el, and Hanover, by Prussian 

 Troops. Immediately after the Federal resolu- 

 tion of the 14th of June, Prussia summoned 

 the governments of Hanover, Saxony, and 

 Hesse-Cassel to reduce their armies to the 

 peace footing of the 1st of March, and to join 

 tho new German Confederation upon the basis 

 of the Prussian draft of the 10th of June. In 

 case of their complianee, Prussia promised to 

 guarantee their rights of sovereignty within. 

 the bounds of the new German Confederation. 

 All tho three governments declined, where- 

 upon, Prussia, on the 15th, declared war again >t 

 them, and on the 16th marched troops into the 

 countries now considered as hostile. Prussia 

 had, for this purpose, organized the following 

 troops: 1. Against Saxony, the so-called '-Ar- 

 my of tho Elbe," under General Ilerwarth von 

 Bittenfeld, composed of the 8th Prussian army 

 corps (of the Rhino provinces), which had been 

 reBnforced by one division of tho 7th (West- 

 phalian) corps. The headquarters of this army 

 were in the southeastern part of tho Prussian 

 Province of Saxony, between Torgau and Eilen- 

 burg. 2. Against Hanover, a division under 

 General von Manteuffel, in Schleswig-Holsteiu, 

 and the 13th division of the Westph&Han army 

 corps, under General Vogel von Fnlkenstein, 

 which had been concentrated at Minden. 8. 



Against HOMO Casscl, a corps under General 

 y<.r, who had his headquarters at Wctz- 

 lar. 



In order to leave no enemy in the roar, it was 

 nry for Prussia to occupy, as soon as pps- 

 bible, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and Saxony. This 

 part of the programme was executed with mar- 

 vellous rapidity. During the night, from the 

 15th to the 16th of June, the Prussian General 

 von Beyer concentrated a corps near the Hes- 

 sian frontier, and at 2 o'clock A. M. began his 

 march into the electorate. From Giessen he 

 issued a proclamation to tho " Hessian breth- 

 ren," stating that the king carried on war 

 against tho elector, but not against the people, 

 who, on the contrary, would now see better 

 days than formerly. Tho troops of the elector 

 speedily evacuated all the important places, and 

 in the southernmost corner of the State effected 

 a junction with tho troops of Hesse-Darnastadt 

 and other troops of tho 8th Federal Army 

 Corps, which soon, contrary to expectation, 

 was also joined by the troops of Baden. The 

 elector, who remained at his castle of Wilhelms- 

 hohe, and refused the conditions under which 

 Prussia offered to guarantee his sovereignty, 

 was taken as prisoner to tho Prussian fortress 

 of Stettin, and his country placed under Prus- 

 sian administration. 



The Saxon government did not wait for the 

 invasion of the Prussians, but, even before a 

 formal declaration of war, the Saxon army 

 marched into Bohemia, there to effect a junction 

 with the Austrian troops. On the morning of 

 tho 16th King John left Dresden to seek a 

 refugo in Bohemia. The treasures of the royal 

 house and of tho State were removed to the 

 same country. Within a few days the whole 

 of Saxony was, without offering any resist- 

 ance, in the hands of tho Prussians. Several 

 railroads were torn up and the large bridge 

 over the Elbe at Riesa was burned down by 

 the Saxons, uselessly ; for these acts were not 

 required to protect the escape of the Saxon 

 troops, and to tho Prussians they did no harm. 



The kingdom of Hanover was invaded,' on 

 the 16th of June, by General Vogel von Falk- 

 enstein, at the head of the 13th division, which 

 had been concentrated at Minden. On the 

 17th the city of Hanover was occupied. The 

 king had left his capital on the 16th, in order 

 to join with tho crown prince the Hanoverian 

 army which was rendezvousing at Gottin- 

 gen. From Schleswig and Holstein General 

 von Manteuffel marched into Northern Hanover, 

 and (June 18th, 1 o'clock, A. M.) surprised the 

 fortress of Stade, where a large amount of war 

 material was captured. Tho Hanoverian troops 

 rapidly marched southward, in order to unite 

 with the Bavarians, a corps of whom had ad- 

 vanced northward and occupied Coburg. On 

 the 21st King George issued ft farewell procla- 

 mation to his people, and with about 15,000 

 ii ic ii and 56 pieces of ordnance inarched through 

 Prussian territory (Heiligenstadt, etc.) into the 

 Thuringian States. Only small detachments of 



