GERMAN-ITALIAN WAR. 



371 



ts, at first represented 



Italian victory; but soon 



and u universal out- 



. popular indignation demanded the pun- 

 ui". Tin- chief charges brought 

 again -i him wore the following : that, after all 

 the enormu-i rxpen-i-s mad-- lor the fleet, there 

 waa a wont of artillery; that the attack was 

 U-<u, but not upon Pola, which latter plan 

 [ liavo secured cooperation with the movo- 

 of tbo army against J stria; that, by leav- 

 :lia and going on hoard the Af- 

 lu> disturbed all the movements of 

 ; that, although expecting the 

 t' the Austrians, he divided his fleet 

 multaneous attacks upon San 

 Giorgio and I'orto Coinisa, and a new attempt 

 li'ir. Pcrsano was tried first before a 

 martial, and again before the Senate. The 

 trial lasted until April 18G7, when, in accord- 

 ance with the finding of the court-martial, he 

 ashiered from the naval service on the 

 ground of "incapacity and disobedience." 



"\Vhilo the left army of Cialdini invaded 

 Southeastern Tyrol, and Persano made the un- 

 fortunate movement against Lissa, the Aus- 

 trian* evacuated the whole of Venetia, with the 

 >tion of the fortresses. General Maroichisch 

 foil back, in succession, behind the Piave, the 

 iza, the Tagliamento, and finally behind 

 the Isonzo. Only Palmanova remained in pos- 

 session of the Austrians, having a garrison of 

 8^500 men. On the 26th Cialdini established 

 his headquarters at Udine. Cugia, the com- 

 mander of the right wing, made preparations 

 for the bombardment of the forts near Chioggia 

 and Venice; tho whole of the reserve corps 

 followed the main array into Venetia, and one 

 part of it was to divert the attention of the gar- 

 - of Verona and Legnanofrom other points. 

 Only one engagement took place between the 

 .ting Austrians and tho advancing Italians 

 (on th*o 26th, between Visco and Versa) ; soon 

 after, on July 29th, an armistice was agreed 

 upon. On the whole, tho line of the Judrio 

 was taken as the line of demarcation between 

 tho two armies; the road from Goritz to Pal- 

 fianova remained to tho Austrians. 



Close of the War in Germany Battle of 

 Tobichau The Preliminary Peace of NiJcoh- 

 "burg. From tho battle-field on Koaiggriitz the 

 Austrian troops had on July 8d withdrawn to 

 tho left bank of tho Elbe. On tho next day 

 Benedek with tho main portion of his army be- 



in to retreat in forced inarches to Olmutz, in 

 oravia. Only tho 10th army corps and ono 

 .y division were sent through Brunn to 

 Vi.jiina. to unite with the troops expected from 

 Italy within the fortifications of Florisdorf, near 

 Vienna. The capture of Austrian dispatches 

 revealed to tho Prussians tho new plan of Be- 

 nedek, and accordingly tho advance of the 

 i;in army was arranged as follows : in tho 

 irritiv, tho First army corps, under Prince 

 Frederick Charles, advanced over Chrudim and 

 Neustadt upon Brunn. Upon the right wing 



the Army of the Elbe, under General HLT- 

 warth von Bittenfeld, inarched upon Igluu. 

 Upon the left wing the Second army corps, un- 

 der the crown prince, proceeded toward Ol- 

 mutz, or rather south of it, upon 

 The Army of tho Elbe reached Igluu without 

 encountering any resistance ; and without de- 

 lay continued its march upon* Znaym (only forty 

 miles from Vienna), which was occupied by the 

 vanguard on the 14th. The army of the crown 

 prince, in its march upon Prossnitz, did not 

 meet with any Austrian s, but was considerably 

 delayed by the bad condition of the roads. The 

 vanguard reached Prossnitz on July 14th. On 

 the same day it was resolved at the headquar- 

 ters of the crown prince, in accordance with a 

 proposition made by General von Blumenthal, 

 one of the ablest officers of tho Prussian army, 

 to leave one army corps behind to watch the 

 fortress of Olmutz, and to advance with the 

 bulk of the army, in order to occupy the rail- 

 road from Prerau to Vienna, and thus to pre- 

 serve the communication with tho army of 

 Prince Frederick Charles. 



In the mean while the French emperor had 

 continued his efforts for bringing about an 

 armistice, and, in the night from the 12th to 

 the 13th of July, a secretary of tho French 

 legation took from the Prussian to the Austrian 

 headquarters the conditions under which the 

 King of Prussia was willing to consent to an 

 armistice of three days. The conditions were 

 not accepted by Austria ; some counter propo- 

 sitions made by Austria were, on the other 

 hand, rejected by Prussia. A proclamation is- 

 sued by the Archduke Albrecht, on assuming, 

 on the 13th, tho chief command, was again 

 very warlike, and showed a determination on 

 the part of Austria to make one more great 

 effort to defeat the Prussians. At the samo 

 time General Benedek, then at Olmutz, was 

 ordered to leave a strong garrison at Olmutz, 

 and to lead the remainder of the army to 

 Vienna. At this time Benedek had under his 

 command about 100,000 men. Of these he 

 left 25,000 at Olmutz ; the remainder 75,000 

 were to move in three army corps on the 

 15th, and secure a point on tho railroad to 

 Vienna south of the places held by the Prus- 

 sians, in order to use the railroad for tho fur- 

 ther retreat upon Vienna. The brigade of 

 General Rothkirch was ordered to seize Tobit- 

 schau, in order to cover the march of tho main 

 body of the army upon Prerau. On the same day, 

 while the bulk of tho Second army began its 

 march southward, the reserve cavalry division 

 of General von Hartmann was sent upon a re- 

 connoissance to Prerau, and the 8d division of 

 Prussian infantry, under General Malotki von 

 Trzebiatowski, to support this movement, was 

 ordered to seize Tobitschau and Trabeck. 

 Thus a severe engagement was brought about 

 at and near Tobitschau, which lasted until two 

 o'clock in the afternoon, when the Prussians 

 received largo reinforcements, before which 

 the Austrians fell back to Olmutz. Tho Aus- 



