Austro-Italian War. Austro-Prussian and Austro-Italian Wars. Politics and causes of war

the war that ended the long struggle between Prussia and Austria for dominance. role in Germany and which was an important stage in the unification of Germany "from above", under the hegemony of the Junker-bourgeois. Prussia. In the bourgeois germ. historiography called. usually the "German War" ("Deutscher Krieg"). The reason for the war was the conflict over Schleswig-Holstein. June 14, at the suggestion of Austria, supported by the majority of small Germans. state-in, Sejm Germ. Union decided to mobilize the allied army against Prussia; the formal declaration of war by Austria came on 17 June, after the Prussians launched their invasion of Hanover, Hesse and Saxony on 16 June. In the diplomatic and military relations pr-in O. Bismarck by this time provided Prussia means. advantages, including the neutrality of Russia and France and the military. alliance with Italy, concluded on April 8. 1866. Austria had to wage war on 2 fronts - on the Italian (see Austro-Italian War of 1866) and the Bohemian (Czech) theaters. Prussia surpassed Austria in the development of industry; relatively dense railway the Prussian network ensured the speed of mobilization. transportation and strategic deployment on a broad front. Prus. the infantry was armed with needle, loaded from the breech of the gun of the Dreyse system, the rate of fire was 3 times higher than the Austrian. muzzle loaded guns. The Austrians, unable to adapt their tactics to the new shooter. weapons used by the Prussians suffered heavy losses. Austrian artillery was used more massively. A serious weakness of the Austrian army was what it means. part of it were representatives of the peoples oppressed by the Habsburg monarchy. Since Austria had to allocate means. forces (about 140 tons) to the Italian theater, and Bavaria, allied with Austria, refused to send its troops to Bohemia, the Prussians received a certain numerical superiority at the Bohemian theater - 278 tons against 261 tons, which were Northern Austria. army (including the Saxon corps that retreated to Bohemia). Prussian at the head. the army was King Wilhelm I, in fact, the operations were led by H. Moltke. Austrian Sev. The army was commanded by Gen. L. Benedek, who showed himself to be an extremely weak commander.

On the so-called. Main theater - in Hannover, Hesse, and then on the Frankfurt direction Prus. forces made rapid progress. On June 28, the Gutshoverites capitulated at Langensalza, after which the Prussians were able to force the offensive. actions against the Austrians and Saxons in Bohemia. Strategic deployment against Saxony and Austria was carried out in an arc stretching St. 250 km with three armies: 2nd Army (commander - Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm) in Silesia - between the years. Breslavl (Wroclaw) and Neisse (Nisa), the 1st Army (Prince Friedrich Karl) in the Görlitz region (in Lausitz) and the Elbe Army (gen. Herwarth von Bittenfeld) in the Torgau region. Subsequently, the Elbe army came under the control of Friedrich Karl. Ch. Austrian forces. Sev. the armies, first concentrated in the fortified region of Olmutz (Olomouc), then moved to Bohemia, to district of fortresses Josefstadt (Jaroměř) and Königgretz (Hradec-Kralove). Prussian Ch. on June 22, the command gave a directive on concentric. invasion of Bohemia, so that both main. groups united in the Gichin (Iichin) region. In almost all clashes, which in some cases were in the nature of oncoming battles, the Prussians were successful (the 2nd Prussian army at Nachod on June 27, at Skalitz and Burkersdorf on June 28, at Königinhof (Dvur-Kralove) on June 29; 1st Army - at Munichgretz on June 28, Gichin on June 29, etc.). On July 3, a decisive battle took place in the Sadova-Königgritz region (see Sadova), in which approximately equal forces participated on both sides (220 thousand Prussians, 215 thousand Austrians). The army of Friedrich Karl began fighting in the Sadovy region from early morning; on the afternoon of July 3, the army of the crown prince arrived on the battlefield (near the village of Khlum). The Prussians achieved a major success, forcing the Austrians into a disorderly retreat. The losses of the Austrians killed, wounded and captured amounted to St. 44 tons - almost 5 times more than the Prussians. However, Prus. command enabled the Austro-Saxons. troops to break away from the enemy. Benedek withdrew his remaining troops to Olmutz, providing only a weak cover for the Vienna direction. The Prussians resumed their advance: with the 2nd Army - to Olmutz (to create a barrier), the 1st and Elbe armies - in the general direction of Vienna. Created for Austria critical. position, the transfer of the Austrian began. troops from Italy, where they had previously won a number of victories, to the north. Benedek was replaced by Archduke Albrecht on 13 July. Austria still had the opportunity to organize a rebuff to the enemy on the outskirts of Vienna and Pressburg (Bratislava), however, internal. the position in the empire, especially the threat of Hungary falling away (the Prussians soon came close to Pressburg, threatening to cut off Austria proper from Hungary), forced the government of Franz Joseph to enter into peace negotiations with Prussia. This was also achieved by Bismarck (despite the resistance of Wilhelm I and Moltke), since he saw in Austria a possible ally in the future, and at this stage he was ready to limit himself to excluding Austria from Germany. Union. The government of Napoleon III, which declared its neutrality, feared an excessive weakening of Austria and therefore also sought to end the war. On July 22, a truce began, on July 26 a preliminary peace was signed in Nikolsburg, and on August 23. in Prague, a peace treaty (see Peace of Prague 1866). Ch. political the result of the war was the formation of Severogerm. Union under the leadership of militaristic Prussia. Prussia significantly expanded its territory. due to small germs. state-in and concluded secret military. agreements with the South Nogerm. gos-you. Austria remained outside the union, the Venetian region. went to Italy.

Lit .: Engels F., Notes on the war in Germany, in his book: Selected. military Prod., M., 1956; History of the War of 1866 in Germany, trans. from German, St. Petersburg, 1870; The struggle of Austria against Prussia and Italy in 1866, in the book: Military Library, vol. 9-11, part 1-5, St. Petersburg, 1872-73; Dragomirov M. I., Essays on the Austro-Prussian. wars of 1866, St. Petersburg, 1867; Rothstein R. A., From the history of the Prussian-German. empires, M.-L., 1948; Narochnitskaya L.I., Russia and the wars of Prussia in the 60s. 19th century for the unification of Germany "from above", M., 1960; Delbrück G., History of the military. art ..., v. 5 - New time (continuation). In the presentation of E. Daniels, trans. from German., M., 1937; Schlieffen A., Cannes, 2nd ed. (translated from German), M., 1938; Lettow-Vorbeck O. v., Geschichte des Krieges von 1866 in Deutschland, Bd 1-3, B., 1896-1902; Friedjung H., Der Kampf um die Vorherrschaft in Deutschland 1859 bis 1866, 10 Aufl., Bd 1-2, Stuttg, - B., 1916-17; Schlichting S. v., Moltke und Benedek, B., 1900; Ditfurth M. v., Benedek und die Taten und Schicksale der K. K. Nordarmee 1866, Bd 1-3, W., 1911; Moltke H. K. B. v., Militarische Korrespondenz, Tl. 2 - Aus den Dienstschriften des Krieges 1866, V., 1896.

M. E. Struve. Moscow.

The Austro-Prussian-Italian War of 1866, in the history of Germany is also known as the German War and the Seven Weeks War, in Italy it is known as the Third War for the Independence of Italy - a military conflict between Prussia and Italy with the Austrian Empire for hegemony in Germany and control over the Venetian region, which predetermined the little-German way of unifying Germany and completing the wars for the independence of Italy and its unification around the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The war involved two coalitions, led by both great German powers - Austria and Prussia, respectively. On the side of Austria were Bavaria, Saxony, the Grand Duchy of Baden, Württemberg and Hanover, on the side of Prussia - Italy. In addition, each of the opponents was able to win over several insignificant German states to their side. A total of 29 states directly participated in this war, of which 13 were on the side of Austria and 16 on the side of Prussia.

The war lasted for seven weeks (June 17 - July 26, 1866). Austria was forced to fight on two fronts. Its technological backwardness and political isolation since 1856 led to its defeat. According to the Prague Peace Treaty, concluded on August 23, Austria transferred Holstein to Prussia and left the German Confederation. Italy got the Venetian region. The political result of the war of 1866 was the final refusal of Austria to unite the German states under its own rule and the transfer of hegemony in Germany to Prussia, which led the North German Confederation - a new confederate public education.

The state of the armed forces of Austria at the beginning of the Austro-Prussian-Italian war

Army

As a result of the pulling of troops by Italy from the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula and Sicily, on April 21, 1866, Austria began the partial mobilization of the three corps of the Southern Army. In order to force Austria to expand the mobilization, Bismarck brought to her attention the outline of the campaign plan made by H. Moltke during the winter of 1865/66. This sketch did not at all correspond to the political conditions of 1866: the internal situation of Prussia was extremely doubtful, an insidious surprise attack, contrary to all norms of international law, could lead not to mobilization, but to a revolution against the unpopular government of O. Bismarck. The latter had to prepare the war gradually, shifting the armaments initiative to Austria. For this last purpose, the thoughts of H. Moltke's sketch were extremely useful. As soon as the rumors about a possible surprise attack by the Prussians reached Vienna, in the first half of March, a marshal's council was convened there - a meeting of representatives of the highest military authorities in the center, reinforced by corps commanders invited from the provinces and outstanding generals. The Marshal's Council began to discuss the plan of the campaign and decided first of all to strengthen the I Corps stationed in Bohemia by 6,700 people in order to bring it to full civilian strength. In order to hide the new measures that the army was forced to take, the Austrian censorship forbade the newspapers to print any information about the movements of troops or the strengthening of their composition. O. Bismarck took advantage of this circumstance, inviting the Prussian press to publish verified data on changes in the deployment and composition of the Prussian troops and throwing the shadow of secret preparations for war over Austria. On April 27, Austria announced a general mobilization.

Austria, thanks to the deadline given to her, was able to mobilize a field army equal to the Prussian; but behind it were only very weak second-line formations, distracted, moreover, by the protection of internal security. During the war, only an insignificant number of reserve battalions were formed, and even replenishment, with the loss of first-line troops, was delayed for a long time. The militia was not trained and had no equipment, and could only be used in Tyrol, against the Italians. The main forces of Austria immediately made their debut on the battlefields.

The only achievement of the Austrian policy was to win over to its side most of the states of the German Union, frightened by the Bismarck program, which deprived them of their sovereignty. These German allies of Austria had an army, according to wartime states, of 142,000 men. However, while Italy, Austria and Prussia began arming already in April, the troops of Austria's German allies remained unmobilized.

The rationality of Moltke's operational deployment is most clearly outlined when compared with the Austrian deployment based on opposite views. The Chief of the Austrian General Staff, Baron Genikstein, a wealthy man of the world, least of all thought about questions of strategy and operational art. Archduke Albrecht, son of Napoleon's famous rival, Archduke Charles, the most prominent candidate among the members of the dynasty for command of the troops, hastened to settle on the calm Italian front on the pretext that the reputation of the dynasty should not be threatened with defeat.

General Benedek, an excellent combatant commander who commanded the Italian army in peacetime, a connoisseur of Lombardy, completely unprepared to lead large masses, unfamiliar with the conditions of the Austro-Prussian front, was nominated to the Bohemian theater as commander-in-chief, against his wishes; at the same time, Archduke Albrecht did not allow Benedek to capture his chief of staff, General Ion, the most capable of understanding major issues of the Austrian general staff officer.

When, in view of the threat of war, in March 1866, a plan of operations against Prussia was demanded from the chief of the Austrian general staff, Baron Genikstein, the latter suggested that Colonel Neuber, professor of strategy at the military academy, draw up one. The latter stated that for this work he needed data on the mobilization readiness of the Austrian army. The War Office gave Neuber an extremely pessimistic assessment of the condition of the Austrian troops; only after a few months the army could become fully combat-ready. Therefore, Neuber advocated that, before the start of operations, the Austrian army should be assembled in a defensive position near the fortress of Olmutz and enter Bohemia, threatened by the Prussians from two sides, only after acquiring sufficient combat capability.

Then, under the patronage of Archduke Albrecht, General Krismanich, Neuber's predecessor in the department of strategy, was appointed head of the operational office of the Bohemian army. The latter was an expert on the Seven Years' War and believed that in a hundred years the pattern of Daun and Lassi's operations against Frederick the Great would be repeated. Krismanich edited the military-geographic description of Bohemia and studied all kinds of positions that were available in the Bohemian theater. Krismanich retained Neuber's idea of ​​a preliminary concentration of the Austrians in a fortified camp at Olmutz, with the exception of the I Bohemian Corps, which remained in the vanguard in Bohemia to take over the Saxon withdrawal. All 8 buildings, 3 cav. the divisions and the artillery reserve destined to operate in Bohemia were to represent one army. Krismanich refused to advance into Silesia, since he did not see advantageous "positions" for battle in this direction. Regardless of the railways, Krismanich expected the concentration of all the forces of Prussia in Silesia and their direct movement to Vienna. As a separate option, the movement of the Austrian army along three roads from Olmutz to the region of the right bank of the Elbe was developed.

In Austria, secret maps were still being published with black semicircles underlined on them - “positions”. Krismanich's plan was a hodgepodge of memories of the fight against Frederick the Great, several principles of Napoleonic military art, several principles of Clausewitz (Austria pursues a negative political goal, why should it accordingly conduct defensive actions) and a detailed taxation of all kinds of defensive lines, lines and positions. His plan had an impressive volume, was read with difficulty, and was reported by Krismanich with unusual self-confidence; Krismanich impressed with his optimism and professorial peremptory judgments. It is not surprising that the poorly educated Austrian generals were overwhelmed by the confidence and scholarship that Krismanich deployed - generally a lazy, superficial and narrow-minded person; but it is a mystery to us how Krismanich's plan could be considered exemplary in strategy textbooks even 40 years later.

Undoubtedly, if the Austrians had divided their forces into two armies and chosen to concentrate two different area, for example, Prague and Olmutz, they could make much better use of the railways, complete the deployment sooner, would not subject the troops to deprivation, and would save much great ability to maneuver. But for this they had to take that step forward in military art, which Moltke took and which remained incomprehensible to theoreticians for decades.

Fleet

The new Austrian fleet was created in 1848-49, during the war with Piedmont, during which many naval officers of the Austrian fleet, of Italian origin, went over to the side of the enemy. In order to form a new one from the remnants of the old fleet, on a new basis, a Dane, Count Hans Birk von Daglerup, was invited. The new principle of manning the fleet reflected the interests of the Austrian Empire. The "Venetian heritage" worried the Austrians, who feared a new manifestation of sympathy for Piedmont, which led the movement for the unification of Italy.

Daglerup's attempt to achieve greater independence for the fleet and for the naval minister failed, since the fundamental principle in Austria was precisely the dependence of the armed forces on the emperor, his military office, and administration. However, he managed to introduce German as the main language, strict discipline, and replace many Venetian officers with Austrians, Germans, and even Scandinavians. Another important measure taken by Daglerup was the transfer of the fleet base from Venice to Pola.

However, the founder of the Austrian naval power is considered to be Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who in 1854 became the commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet. At first he wanted to create a fleet, the core of which would be "half a dozen wooden battleships", but when Italy ordered the construction of ironclads, he abandoned this idea. He believed that Austria had enough of a fleet of second-rate ships, and engaged only in defense, countering this with the idea of ​​​​creating a fleet at least as strong as the Italian one. In the end, after the Hampton raid, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating an armored fleet was accepted in Austria. Until 1862, when Daglerup left his post, he studied the organization of the British fleet, and sought to strengthen the organization of the Austrian fleet. Thanks to him - as well as a powerful shipbuilding industry, concentrated in Venice, Trieste and Paul, in 1866 the fleet had 7 battleships built exclusively in Austria.

At the end of April 1866, Austria began to prepare for a possible war against Prussia and Italy, which also affected the fleet. His main rival was to be the Italian fleet - since the Prussian fleet was both small and too far away. The appointment in May 1866 of VF Tegetthoff to the post of commander of the fleet was a very important event. He was popular in the navy - especially after the Battle of Heligoland, and this popularity influenced both the morale of the sailors and the combat capability of the ships. The shipyards had to ensure the readiness of the ships as soon as possible, the battleships "Archduke Ferdinand Max" (German: Erzherzog Ferdinand Max) and "Habsburg" (German: Habsburg), built in Trieste, were commissioned ahead of schedule. This allowed the establishment of the guns and the fighting capacity of the ships on 21 and 27 June respectively. The old wooden battleship Kaiser, which was under repair, was also ready for battle on 25 June. Finally, another old warship Novara (German: Novara), which suffered a fire on May 3 from a fire possibly caused by sabotage, joined the fleet anchored in the Fazana channel - north of Pola - already on July 4.

V. F. Tegetthoff, being subordinate to the commander of the Southern Army, Archduke A. F. Rudolf, received an order to support land operations from the sea. At the beginning of the war, the Austrian fleet had five battery battleships - Drach, Salamander, Prince Eugen, Kaiser Max, Don Juan de Austria - the other two entered service after the start of the war. In addition, there were seven more unarmored ships and seven gunboats. The protection of the weakest ships of the fleet - wooden ones - was strengthened by iron chains, in the spirit of those used in the US Civil War, which covered the boilers and guns. Also, their hulls were reinforced along the waterline. Novara also received protection from pieces of rail. The lack of coal did not prevent the Austrians from conducting exercises on the high seas, although they had to move at night only under sail, and during the day under steam to develop a speed of no more than five and a half knots. Basically, the exercises consisted of firing volleys at targets, maneuvering and ramming. Concentrating the fire of several not too powerfully armed Austrian ships on one target made it possible to increase the effectiveness of firing.

The state of the armed forces of Prussia at the beginning of the Austro-Prussian-Italian war

Army

In view of the territorial system of mobilization, Prussia had a gain of several weeks in terms of mobilization compared to Austria, in which the regiments were located, for reasons of internal policy, possibly far from the territory of their constituent nationality. Therefore, even if Austria did not want to enter the war, it was forced to start mobilization measures in advance. The Prussian press inflated to a huge extent the strengthening of the Austrian troops in Bohemia; On March 28, Prussia began to strengthen the available composition of the battalions of 5 divisions located near the Saxon and Austrian borders, from 530 people to 685 people. Further purchases of horses for field artillery followed. After the beginning of the general mobilization in Austria, the Prussian king still resisted the mobilization of the Prussian army. Only in succession, on May 3, 5 and 12, Moltke and Bismarck wrested from him decrees on mobilization, which covered the entire Prussian army in three stages.

H. Moltke proposed to give the future war a bright offensive character, to start hostilities without the slightest diplomatic warnings, taking advantage of the complete military unpreparedness of Prussia's opponents. In the midst of deep peace, the unmobilized Prussian troops were to break into the allied fortress of Mainz and disarm the Austrian and allied troops that made up its garrison. At the same time, on the very first day of mobilization, the Prussian troops were to invade Saxony from different sides, take the non-mobilized Saxon troops by surprise in their barracks and, only having finished with them, proceed to mobilization; having finished the last, two armies - 193,000 and 54,000 people. - were to invade Bohemia and crush the Austrian army before it could assemble.

During the entire war, the Prussians mobilized 664 thousand people. All units of the standing army were assigned to the front; in addition, out of 116 Landwehr battalions (1,002 men each) that formed the garrison of the fortresses, 30 battalions were brought in for secondary active operations. For each field three-battalion regiment, a fourth reserve battalion of 800 people was formed, half from recruits, half from reserve, who had already received military training. A total of 129 reserve battalions were formed, of which 48 battalions were assigned to serve in secondary theaters. From the landwehr and reserve battalions, in addition to the existing army corps, 2 reserve corps were formed. Only a truce prevented their entry into battle. Thus, behind the 334,000th field army of Prussia there were over 300,000 second-line troops.

Fleet

However, at least in the 1860s, armor manufacturers managed to keep up, and ironclads were still not very vulnerable to armor-piercing and explosive shells. C. I. Hamilton. At the beginning of the Danish War of 1864, the Prussian navy had only two ships with experienced crews - the Arkona (German: Arcona) and the 19-gun corvette Nymph (German: Nymphe), partially manned by sailors from the Niobe (German: Niobe) withdrawn from the fleet. This detachment was commanded by Captain Edward von Jachmann, who held his flag on the 30-gun Arkona steam frigate, capable of speeds up to 12 knots.

During the armistice, the Prussians purchased several ships under construction for the Confederation. These were the "Prince Adalbert" (German: Prinz Adalbert) - an armored ram, of the same type as the "Stonewall", and two steam corvettes - "Augusta" (German: Augusta) - the former "Mississippi", and "Victoria" (German: Victoria) - Former Louisiana.

After the end of the truce in the Baltic, another battle took place - on July 23 at Hiddensee. On the whole, the war in the Baltic was over, and the Prussian fleet could quite rightly be proud of the way it fought the war.

The state of the armed forces of Italy at the beginning of the Austro-Prussian-Italian war

Army

To influence Austria, O. Bismarck used Italy, which began in advance to strengthen its army, in which, for economic reasons, the next age of the contingent was not called up at all in 1865, and to draw troops from the southern part of the peninsula and Sicily. Italy fielded 165,000 field troops. The Prussian military commissioner, General Bernhardi, and the Prussian envoy persuaded the Italian command to energetically begin operations: to transport the bulk of the troops across the lower reaches of the river. By and push it to Padua, in the deep rear of the Austrian army concentrated in the quadrangle of fortresses (Mantua, Peschiera, Verona, Legnago), which would lead to a battle with an inverted front; then launch an energetic offensive into the interior of Austria - to Vienna; transfer across the Adriatic Sea Garibaldi and his volunteers to support the Hungarian uprising; to take part, through emigration, in his organization and thus "to strike a blow to the heart of the Austrian power." Of course, Italy, whose interests were secured even before the outbreak of hostilities, was not inclined to follow these advice, and the Austrians could, from the very beginning of the war, limit themselves to a minimum of forces on the Italian front; however, the strategy did not take full advantage of Austria's political retreat towards Italy.

Fleet

The Italians have always been a seafaring nation whose past was marked by glorious achievements. But almost all of their ships had just entered service, most of the guns were installed on the ships quite recently, and neither the officers nor the sailors were sufficiently trained in handling them. The squadrons, formidable in composition, did not receive appropriate tactical training in peacetime. In addition, the navy was plagued by controversy and jealousy between officers, stemming from the recent merger of two groups - the officers of Sardinia and Naples. There was not enough time for this merger to become complete ... Courage alone was not enough. It required a lot of administrative work, the ability of commanders to lead people behind them, and preparation. H. W. Wilson

When war was imminent, on May 3, 1866, the Italian Minister of Marine ordered the formation of an active fleet of 31 ships, which were supposed to be selected from 69 steamships and 75 sailboats, many of which were unable to participate in hostilities.

This fleet was supposed to be fully equipped with people, weapons and equipment by June 20 - the day war was declared. By this date, 29 ships were ready - although not everything planned was done, especially with regard to guns. It should be noted that the Minister of Marine ordered the replacement of unfastened (the so-called "fastened with hoops") rifled 160-mm guns with rifled guns of the same caliber, but fastened with rings, thus strengthening the armament of the battleships. Alterations were made in Taranto, from where the fleet left on June 21 - a day after the declaration of war - to Ancona, located on the Adriatic coast. Due to the fact that several low-speed ships were included in the squadron, and the squadron speed did not exceed 4-5 knots, they reached Ancona only on June 25th. Here the squadron stopped in anticipation of supplies and new orders.

Here the fleet was fully equipped before the battle - "all, with a few exceptions - concerning only the weakest - the ships received the artillery prescribed by the Ministry." This report also notes that "all modifications to the ships at Ancona were completed by 20 June and the artillery had been replaced on all but one of the ships by the time the Austrian commander appeared in front of Ancona on 27 August." When this happened, the "Principe di Carignano" (Principe di Carignano), on which eight guns were replaced by guns from the armored corvette "Terribile" (Terribile), delayed somewhat, moved on the enemy.

The commander of the Italian squadron was Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, born March 11, 1806 in Vercelli. He distinguished himself by commanding one of the ships off Tripoli in 1825, but was later court-martialed for recklessness. From March 3, 1862, he was Minister of the Navy. When, on May 3, 1866, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the "Armata di Operazione", he was already 60 years old, and, apparently, he was already too old for this appointment. In any case, he was no longer a hot and reckless commander. In 1862, he made perhaps the most important change in Italian shipbuilding policy, abandoning the construction of wooden ships supported by the minister Urbano Ratazzi in favor of ironclads. In addition, in order to nullify the rivalry between the Sardinian and Neapolitan officers that existed in the combined fleet, he planned to establish a Royal Academy - to turn them into Italian officers. During these years, the Italian fleet had just turned to armor. In June 1862, he told the Italian parliament "recent events in the American war have shown that the importance of wooden ships is reduced to a minimum by the undeniable superiority of ironclads, even one of which can sink a whole fleet of wooden ships with its ram."

Although Persano proved to be a good politician and organizer, introducing undeniable improvements in the fleet, he completely failed as a commander of the fleet. July 20, his squadron consisted of 56 ships. Of these, Persano could rely on 11 ironclads - with the twelfth joining them a few hours before the battle. It was the "Affondatore" (Affondatore), which arrived in almost ready condition from its place of construction - Millwall on the Thames. It was a unique seaworthy turret battleship with a 26-foot ram.

Two other battleships - the 1st class frigate "Re di Portogallo" (Re di Portogallo) and "Re d'Italia" (Re d'Italia), armed with pole mines, were built by Webb in New York during civil war. All the rest, with the exception of the second-class frigate Principe di Carignano, were built in French shipyards. These were second-class frigates Maria Pia, Ancona, Castelfidardo, and San Martino, armored corvettes Terribile and Formidabile. (Formidabile), and the armored gunboats Varese and Palestro. "Re d'Italia" became the first ironclad to cross (in March 1864) the Atlantic alone.

Vice-Admiral Batista Giovanni Albini, Count of Sarda (Battista Giovanni Albini, count Sarda), who commanded wooden ships, held his flag on the Maria Adelaide. The rest of his ships were first-class steam frigates Duca di Genova, Vittorio Emanuele, Gaeta, Principe Umberto, Carlo Alberto ), Garibaldi, and corvettes Principessa Clotilde, Etna, San Giovanni and Guisardo. The third detachment consisted of four gunboats armed with four rifled 12-cm guns each. They were commanded by Captain First Rank Antonio Sandri.

According to Persano's critics, he did not conduct purposeful exercises, which were the Austrians, who constantly trained their gunners, in the order of things. Moreover, the naval department of the Italian military ministry found it possible to provide ammunition specifically for artillery exercises.

• The Austro-Prussian-Italian War of 1866, in the history of Germany is also known as the German War and the Seven Weeks War, in Italy it is known as the Third War of Independence - the military conflict of Prussia and Italy with the Austrian Empire for hegemony in Germany and control over the Venetian region, which predetermined the Little German the path of the unification of Germany and the completion of the wars for the independence of Italy and its unification around the Kingdom of Sardinia.

  The war involved two coalitions, led by both great German powers - Austria and Prussia, respectively. On the side of Austria were Bavaria, Saxony, the Grand Duchy of Baden, Württemberg and Hanover, on the side of Prussia - Italy. In addition, each of the opponents was able to win over several small German states. A total of 29 states directly participated in this war, of which 13 were on the side of Austria and 16 on the side of Prussia.

  The war lasted for seven weeks (June 15 - July 26, 1866). Austria was forced to fight on two fronts. Its technological deficiency and political isolation from 1856 led to its defeat. According to the Prague Peace Treaty, concluded on August 23, Austria transferred Holstein to Prussia and left the German Confederation. Italy got the Venetian region. The political result of the war of 1866 was the final refusal of Austria to unite the German states under its own rule and the transfer of hegemony in Germany to Prussia, which led the North German Confederation - a new confederal state formation.

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This article is posted on the site for the 150th anniversary of the battle of Lissa.

Politics and causes of war

The fifties and sixties of the 19th century became a time of consolidation of the peoples of Europe into separate nations within the framework of single national states. Where these processes began and proceeded under more favorable conditions, the positive result of unity in the form of stable economic development and growth in the welfare of nations was already fully visible. For the small fragmented state formations of Italy and Germany, due to historical, political and economic reasons, unification within the framework of a common state became possible only after the turbulent era of the Napoleonic wars and revolutions.

The rapid development of the Prussian economy gave the "iron" Chancellor Otto von Bismarck sufficient cash and material resources to begin the unification of the scattered German lands under the rule of the Prussian king. Opponents of such an association were the ruling dynasties of the small German states, who did not want to lose power over "their" hereditary lands. Since even the largest and strongest of them could not resist Prussia on their own, they saw the Austrian Empire as a natural support. Austria, being a German state, like Prussia, claimed the leading role in the unification of the nation. However, since Austria was a multinational state with many internal problems, in which German speakers themselves were a minority, the Habsburg emperors did not have much opportunity for active action. But the Austrians did not want to simply observe the actions of their rivals.

Another significant force on the way to the national German state was the French Empire of Napoleon III Bonaparte. France already strained all its forces in the struggle for world leadership and new colonies with Great Britain in order to allow the emergence of a new powerful and aggressive state on its eastern border. Napoleon III was full of imperial ambitions of his great ancestor, but in personal merits he was very far from him. Great Britain, although it had its own interests in the issue of German unification, preferred to adhere to its general policy of non-intervention for continental affairs - "brilliant isolation".

In 1864, Austria and Prussia, in alliance, fought against Denmark for the German provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, which were part of the Danish kingdom. For Austria, such actions were the last attempt to limit the unilateral actions of Prussia. For Prussia, this was a great diplomatic victory for Bismarck, who managed to solve some of his problems by proxy. Having defeated Denmark, the allies divided the new lands. Formally, Schleswig came under the control of Austria, and Holstein came under the control of Prussia. However, the Prussians took energetic steps to include both lands in the German Union of semi-independent German principalities and free cities under their control ...

The political center of the unification of Italy was the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Prime Minister of Sardinia, a brilliant diplomat and an intelligent politician, Count Camillo Benzo di Cavour managed to enlist the support of the French Emperor Napoleon III in his struggle for a new united Italy. To maintain the reputation of the Bonaparte dynasty, striking successes in foreign policy were needed. The state did not receive any real benefit from adventures to seize Mexico and other similar undertakings, but it diverted the attention of the French from internal problems and created the illusion of the power of the Second Empire. Joint participation of France and Sardinia in Crimean War in 1854-1855 cemented the union.

Ever since the 16th-17th centuries, the monarchs of the Habsburg dynasty, first on the Spanish and then on the Austrian thrones, managed to conquer or put under their control the entire territory of Italy, except for Sardinia and Rome. In 1859, France and Sardinia, during a fleeting victorious war, took away the region of Lombardy from the Austrian Empire in favor of the Sardinian kingdom. From 1860 to 1862 Count di Cavour included all Italian lands in Sardinia, except for Rome and Austrian Venice. Napoleon III did not allow the Sardinian troops to occupy Rome and thereby broke off the alliance with Sardinia.

Thus, by 1866, for the final completion of the process of unification of Germany and Italy, it was necessary to eliminate the resistance of Austria. Two young European states joined forces. Prussian troops occupied Holstein before the declaration of war and invaded Bohemia. On June 17, 1866, the countries declared that they were at war with each other. On June 20, Italy also declared war on Austria. Prior to the outbreak of war, Bismarck's diplomatic efforts ensured the neutrality of Russia and France.

The goals of Prussia were the military defeat of Austria and the removal of obstacles on her part in the unification of German lands around Prussia. Italy, as a result of the war, was supposed to annex the Austrian Venetian region. Accordingly, the task of the Austrian Empire was to prevent its defeat and maintain territorial integrity.

War on land

From June 17 to July 26, 1866, Austria, in alliance with Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Württemberg, Hanover and several smaller German states, fought with the troops of Prussia and Italy. The significant organizational and technical superiority of the Prussian army predetermined the course of the war. On June 29, at Langensaltz, the army of Hanover was defeated. On July 3, the Austrians were defeated at Sadovaya. The Prussian army came close to Vienna. Having achieved his goals, Bismarck did not want to risk success and was ready to make peace with Austria on favorable terms.

On June 20, the superior forces of the Italian army invaded Venice, but on June 24, at the Battle of Custozza, they were defeated by the Austrians. Italian losses amounted to 10,000 people. The defeat at Sadovaya forced Austria to transfer significant forces to the war with the Prussians. Taking advantage of this, the Italians again went on the offensive, but, with the exception of General Garibaldi's units, they did not achieve significant success.

On July 26, at Nikolsburg, Austria agreed to moderate terms in a preliminary peace treaty with Prussia. The excessive strengthening of Prussia could provoke the invasion of France, and Austria could lose Hungary. Left alone with Austria, Italy agreed to a truce on August 10, and on October 3, under the Vienna Peace Treaty, received the Venetian region.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the position of Turkey, friendly to Austria, which concentrated significant forces and was ready to enter the war on the side of Austria if the Balkan states attacked the Austrians, or the Italians landed troops on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea.

The war ended in victory for Italy and Prussia. There were no more obstacles on the way to unity.

The role and tasks of the fleet in the war between Italy and Austria

At the time of its power, the Italian Venetian Republic owned the coast of Croatia and Dalmatia. The Adriatic Sea was the "Lake of Venice". The politicians of the young Italian kingdom dreamed of the return of these glorious times. Without a strong and combat-ready fleet, this was impossible to achieve. This became especially clear after in 1849, during the war between Piedmont and Austria, the fleet of the latter kept Venice for the Austrians.

The lack of a unified network of land routes common to Italy made the sea route the only cheap and fast way of communication. Maritime communications along the long coast of Italy also required the protection of the navy. Accordingly, similar tasks of protecting against landings and destroying their transport, merchant and fishing fleets were also faced by the fleet of the Austrian Empire. In fact, the fate of the Austrian possessions in the Adriatic depended on dominance in the Adriatic Sea.

Navy of Italy

Since 1860, Italy has invested huge amounts of money in the development of the fleet - at the level of 12 million pounds sterling. In 1862, the then Minister of the Navy, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, made a strategic decision for the development of the Italian fleet to abandon the construction of wooden ships as the main force of the fleet and switch to armadillos. Long allied relations with France and the unwillingness of the Italian industry to build armored ships with the necessary haste determined the choice of the construction site. Most of the new Italian battleships were designed on the basis of the French ones that had already entered service and were built in the shipyards of the French Empire. In addition, two ships were ordered in the United States as samples of the warships of the belligerent country, and in the UK - the largest armored ram in the Italian fleet.

Formally, the two strongest Italian ships were wooden armored frigates built by the American company Webb from New York - Re d'Italia and Don Luigi Re di Portogallo (mainly known by the short name Re di Portogallo). However, due to the poor quality of building materials and the construction itself, as well as poor seaworthiness, it can be concluded that each of them was not worth the £ 325,000 paid by the Italian government.The maneuverability of the ships left much to be desired, but this drawback was quite inherent in most of the first ironclads.

The iron double-tower armored ram "Affondatore" was built in the UK at the Harrison shipyard and was considered by the Italians themselves to be the most combat-ready ship in their fleet. When designing and building, the British tried to make the most of the experience of the American Civil War. Compared to American low-sided monitors, the builders were able to bring seaworthiness to a level acceptable for the Mediterranean Sea. The disadvantages of the ship were the weighting of the nose due to the heavy turret and bow casemate and insufficient maneuverability. Two turrets of the Captain Kolz system received protection similar to the 5-inch armor belt. The deck was covered with flat armor 2 inches thick.

The next four battleships in strength - Regina Maria Pia, Castelfidardo, San Martino and Ancona - were designed taking into account the project of French Provence-class ships. The priority in the execution of the Italian order by the French is visible in the timing of the entry into service of the ships. Italy received the first three battleships already in 1864, and the French fleet was replenished with three Provences only in 1865. The main visual difference was the presence of a pronounced ram on Italian ships. The hulls of the Italian ships, unlike the French prototypes, were made of iron and carried wrought iron armor. Good speed was combined with good seaworthiness and maneuverability. Ships of the "Regina Maria Pia" type constituted the homogeneous high-speed core of the Italian fleet.

The armored corvette "Principe di Carignano" became the first battleship of actually Italian construction to enter service. In 1866, two more battleships were under construction, which would later be commissioned as Messina (1867) and Conte Verde (1871). Initially, all ships of the series were laid down from 1861 to 1863. as wooden steam frigates, but during construction they were redesigned into ironclads. A weak industrial base in Italy and a lack of experience in building warships led to long completion times.

The first Italian battleships "Terribile" and "Formidabile" combined small size with good maneuverability. In the architecture of the ships built at the French shipyard "La Seine", the influence of the first seaworthy battleship of the French Empire "Gluare" and French armored batteries can be clearly seen.

The Palestro and Varese pair, designed by the Italian engineer Giuseppe de Luca and built in France at the La Seine shipyard, are sometimes classified as armored gunboats or iron-hulled coastal defense ships. They were distinguished by low speed and weak armament with good armor.

In addition to battleships, there were 7 steam screw frigates and 3 steam screw corvettes, as well as 8 advice notes and 3 gunboats.

If much attention was paid to the acquisition of the fleet with new and fairly successful ships, and significant financial resources, then the organization of training and the management structure were completely inadequate. Although the morale of the Italian sailors for the final unification of the nation was quite high, and the rank and file were full of determination, there were major problems with the staffing of technicians. The mechanics knew little about the material part, and the steam engines were in poor condition. Since the armored fleet was created from scratch, most of the crews required training and considerable practice both in managing their ship and in actions as part of a squadron. Shooting and joint maneuvering exercises were not carried out, although fuel, provisions and ammunition were allocated for this. There was no unity among officers from different, previously independent, regions. Constant conflicts over leadership positions and privileges did not allow the establishment of sufficient discipline even at the level of officers, not to mention ordinary sailors.

At the head of this whole kingdom of anarchy was a good politician, but weak in spirit, indecisive and completely unwilling to risk his position and life, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano. The admiral was 59 years old, all his adult life he served in the Sardinian fleet: he participated in the Austro-Sardinian war of 1848, the Crimean war of 1854-1855, in 1859 he blocked the Austrian Adriatic, and in 1860 he ensured the actions of Garibaldi in Sicily . He didn’t have any special achievements, but he didn’t stain himself with anything either. From the point of view of the Italian king, Persano was the only possible leader of the fleet, and this turned out to be a major and insoluble problem.

I must say that among the Italian officers there were promising ones, but in the conditions of the estate of the Sardinian monarchy, they had almost no chance to change the current situation. Undoubtedly, the Italians can be called a nation of sailors, and before joining the navy, most of the sailors served as sailors on merchant or fishing ships. It was not the Italians themselves who were bad, but the political system of the new unified state.

Thus, the undoubted advantages of the Italian ships and the great potential of their crews were nullified by poor training, discipline and command, and in general the combat capability of the Italian fleet was low.

Austrian Navy

Unlike Italy, where the core of the association - the Kingdom of Sardinia - had a glorious naval tradition of the Republic of Genoa, the Austrian Empire was always a land state and maintained a fleet on the Adriatic only as needed to protect its possessions: Venice, Croatia and Dalmatia. This fleet has never been distinguished by special forces or achievements. However, dominating in disparate Italy and bordering on a weak maritime Turkey, there was no particular need for a large fleet.

Everything changed with the beginning of the struggle of Sardinia for the unification of Italian lands under its rule and the threat of the landing of the Sardinians or their French allies on the Adriatic coast. The fastest and cheapest communication between the possessions of the Habsburgs, as well as the Italians, passed by sea and needed protection. It took the Austrian government in inland Vienna time to realize this. The lessons of the first wars with the participation of naval forces, starting in 1848, led the Austrians to first acquire sailing wooden corvettes according to the model ordered in Great Britain, and then rebuild them into steam propeller ships.

Most likely, the development of the fleet of the empire would have ended on this, but luck smiled at the Austrians. Archduke (a title used by all members of the Habsburg dynasty) Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg was a man of talent and passion for the sea. But most importantly, being the brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Ferdinand Max could resolve many issues much faster and more efficiently, bypassing bureaucratic congestion.

Before the start of the wars in Italy, the Austrian fleet was commanded by ethnic Italians of the Venetian region, and the rank and file were recruited from the coastal regions of Italian possessions, as well as the former Venetian colonies in Dalmatia. The language of communication was Italian. After the war of 1848, the situation changed, and the Austrians began to be appointed to command posts, and German became mandatory for naval officers.

To carry out reforms and create a modern combat-ready fleet from Denmark, the Danish captain Count Hans Birk von Dalerup and a number of foreign officers were invited to replace the Italians who had left the service. In 1854, Archduke Ferdinand Max became the head of the fleet, and Dalerup was directly subordinate to him. Huge work has been done to reorganize the entire fleet, including discipline, training, basing and construction. The main thing was the victory over the public opinion of the country, which did not understand and could not understand the importance of creating a combat-ready fleet.

By 1864, when Ferdinand Max left his post and joined in the adventure with the conquest of Mexico by Napoleon III, where he died, a healthy atmosphere was created, allowing talented people to realize their abilities and advance in the service. Officers and sailors gained practical experience during campaigns in the Mediterranean and to the shores of South America.

Another significant achievement was the construction of the fleet at our own national shipyards from our own materials according to the project of the talented Austrian shipbuilding engineer Joseph von Romako. Initially, the Austrians planned to build a fleet based on wooden steam frigates, but the order of battleships by the Italians in France, and then the experience of the first battles of battleships with the outbreak of the American Civil War, forced them to rely on armored ships.

Bypassing the approval of the Reichstag cost estimates, Ferdinand Max ordered the Trieste shipyard the first pair of battleships - the Salamander and the Drache, and the first of them entered service just 15 months after the start of construction. Being largely a reduced copy of the French "Gluar", these ships became a constructive standard and served as the basis for the development of their project in the next two series (Kaiser Max and Archduke Ferdinand Max types). In total, by the start of hostilities, 7 wooden steam screw battery armored frigates were in varying degrees of readiness: Drache, Salamander, Kaiser Max, Prince Eugen, Juan de Austria, Archduke Ferdinand Max and "Habsburg". In addition, the fleet included 1 steam battleship, 5 steam screw frigates and 2 steam corvettes.

The disadvantages of the Austrian battleships were the weakness of steam engines and poor maneuverability, however, the ships were built with all possible care from quality materials with many constructive solutions worthy of a separate story. The example of protecting against the harmful effects of corrosion of the outer iron plating and armor and reducing the fire hazard of wooden hulls has become almost textbook. The case was covered with a layer of lead white, then covered with thin lead plates and, on top, with a layer of rubber. Only then plates of excellent armor from the factories of Styria were attached to galvanized bolts. The ships were armed with obsolete smoothbore 48-pounder guns, and the 210-mm steel rifled guns ordered by Krupp were delayed by the Prussian government due to the war.

After the uprising in Venice, the dismissal of Italian officers and reforms, the fleet officers were predominantly Austrians, Germans, Scandinavians and a small number of Italians. The rank and file was recruited from the inhabitants of Dalmatia and the Italian regions of Venice and Trieste. The trustworthiness of the sailors was always in question. The situation was saved by the influence of the personality of Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthof. Without the reforms of Ferdinand Max, in all likelihood, Austria would not have been able to create a fleet, but without Tegetthoff, the Austrians would have had little chance of victory.

The military traditions of Tegetthof's family led him to military service. The choice fell on the Naval Cadet Corps in Venice. Tough discipline in the family and material problems brought up the tough enterprising character of the future admiral. After five years of study, Tegetthof began serving as a midshipman, studied foreign languages and features of the fleets of France and England; was a nationalist, a supporter of imperial power and the unification of German lands under the rule of Austria. After the suppression of the national revolutions of 1848, when the empire almost perished in the flames of the national uprisings of Italians, Czechs and Hungarians, the time for the German Tegetthof began to rise in ranks. In 1854, with the rank of lieutenant, he was given command of the schooner Elizabeth. Then service abroad and secret missions, acquaintance with Archduke Ferdinand Max and appointment in 1857 as head of the department of the fleet headquarters. In October 1862, Tegetthoff commanded a division of a frigate, a corvette and two gunboats. During this period, his ability to correctly assess the political, economic and military situation and act with the greatest possible efficiency becomes especially important. The leadership notes the desperate courage and resourcefulness of the officer. In 1864, commanding two steam frigates, he distinguished himself in the war of Austria and Prussia against Denmark, managing to withstand the battle against two more powerful Danish frigates and one corvette. After the death of Archduke Ferdinand Max, the admiral had many opponents, mainly because of his temperament and violent disputes with the leadership, which the emperor's brother forgave the talented naval officer. But still, with the aggravation of relations with Italy and Prussia, Tegetthof was appointed commander of the Austrian fleet.

A feature of the organization of the Austrian fleet was that it was not an independent branch of the armed forces, but was structurally included and subordinated to the ground forces, which had an extremely negative effect on the possibilities of using warships. Knowing nothing about maritime affairs, land generals tried not to risk ships, which they considered too expensive toys of the late Ferdinand Max. No one wanted to take such a career-threatening position as commander of the fleet, since it was believed that the Italians at sea could not be defeated, and there was no need to. That is why the energetic 47-year-old Tegetthof managed to become the head of the fleet.

Despite the monarchist nationalist views, the Austrian admiral was famous for his justice, respect for his subordinates without distinction of nationality and attention to the minutiae of service. He encouraged personal initiative in every possible way, knew how to listen to the opinions of others, and paid great attention to combat and tactical training. Even in the face of a constant lack of funds for the completion of battleships and the purchase of fuel and ammunition, Tegetthoff's ships performed maneuvers under steam and sail, conducted practice shooting and tested various tactical battle schemes. On board the flagship battleship "Archduke Ferdinand Max" daily meetings and elaborations of plans for waging war against the Italians were held. The struggle with the land command was no less difficult: the generals believed that it was enough for the fleet to protect key harbors and cover the flank of the army in Venice, while Tegetthof convinced of the possibility of active operations in the Adriatic Sea and the destruction of the Italian fleet in a decisive battle, even despite the almost threefold superiority of the Italians by tonnage and artillery.

Actions of the parties from June 25 to July 19, 1866

As mentioned above, on June 20, 1866, Italian troops invaded the Austrian region of Venice, but on June 24 they were defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Custozza. On June 25, the Italian fleet made the transition from the base at Taranto to Ancona. Only four battleships were ready for immediate action, while the rest were being repaired, re-armed, and their crews were intensively trained. On the morning of June 27, the Austrian Tegetthof squadron approached Ancona, consisting of six battleships and one screw frigate. Di Persano took his four battleships out of the harbor, but, having lost about two hours, he did not dare to get close to the Austrians. The ships of Tegetthof went to their shores without firing a single shot. The Austrians won an important moral victory that encouraged and rallied the Austrian sailors and made the Italians doubt their own commander. After the defeat on land, public opinion in Italy demanded that the honor of the country be restored in a naval battle. Admiral di Persano himself, probably, only wished for the speedy signing of a peace treaty and the end of the war. Such a conclusion can be drawn from all sorts of excuses and delays that filled the Italian admiral all the time.

Particularly interesting from the point of view of the tasks set by the government for the Italian and Austrian fleets are the events of June 27th. The Italian fleet was entrusted with the task of gaining dominance in the Adriatic Sea by destroying or blocking the enemy fleet. Then he had to destroy the only railway leading along the seashore to Venice and, thereby, cut off the supply line for the Austrian army. The Austrian fleet was ordered not to take any action that would expose it to any risk. He was supposed to protect the coast of Dalmatia and Istria from the landing of the enemy, but nothing more. As you can see, the admirals took the requirements of the leadership exactly the opposite.

Only on July 15, under pressure from the government and the public, di Persano brought the Italian fleet to the open sea without any goals, objectives and results, thereby finally losing the trust and respect of his subordinates. The minister of the sea begged di Persano to do something and put forward the idea of ​​capturing an Austrian island in the Adriatic called Lissa. In his telegram to di Persano, he wrote:

“Do you really want to tell the people, the people who, in their insane vanity, consider their sailors the best in the world, that despite the 12 million that we have added to their duty, the squadron we have assembled is incapable of meeting the enemy? We will be stoned. And who ever mentioned the Austrian Navy except with contempt? Do something, fight the Austrians, land on their shore, attack Lissa, just act.

Di Persano promptly requested at least 5,000 troops to carry out the landings. The Minister of the Navy, like all officers, understood the incapacity of the admiral, but there was practically no one to replace him, since the choice of any other officer would actually split the Sardinian-Neapolitan, and not the Italian fleet. The recent unification had not yet led to the formation of a single nation, and the hot-tempered Italian officers from north and south refused to obey each other. So, di Persano, who did not suit anyone, turned out to be almost an ideal figure.

While the Italian government made every effort to use its fleet and carried out the slightest whims of di Persano, Tegetthof actually fought alone for the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200busing the fleet in hostilities. In March 1866, on the eve of the war, the leadership of the country's armed forces wished to get rid of Tegetthoff, which was annoying with its constant troubles and requests. He was offered a long expedition to Far East. Only in May, the tireless activity of the admiral, with the limited - mostly moral - support of Archduke Albert, led to the creation of a squadron, which at that time included only five completed battleships. Since the usual base in Venice was in danger of being captured, the most strategically convenient Fasano raid near the city of Pola was chosen to place the ships. This was followed by a general hard work to bring the fleet to combat readiness, guided by the tireless energy of Admiral Tegetthoff. The squadron was replenished with two new battleships, an old steam battleship and a frigate restored after a fire. Using the experience of the American Civil War, the Austrians reinforced the sides of their wooden ships with iron chains and scraps of forged rails. Realizing the weakness of their obsolete smoothbore artillery, the main focus was on maneuvering with the aim of ramming and concentrating the fire of several ships on one target. There were even night exercises.

On July 16, 1866, the Italian fleet, consisting of 11 battleships, 6 screw frigates and corvettes, as well as 7 steamships with a landing force, left Ancona towards the island of Lissa. The length of the island is 16 kilometers, the width is 6 kilometers, the coast is rocky and steep, the population is about 5,000 people, the main harbor and port is San Giorgio. During the Napoleonic Wars, the island was captured by Great Britain and fortified. After the transition in 1815 under the rule of Austria, the fortifications were strengthened and new ones were built. An Austrian garrison of 1833 men with 88 guns, mostly outdated small-caliber smoothbore guns, was located on the island. A telegraph cable was laid between mainland Austria and the island, by which the garrison was able to warn Tegetthoff of the approach of the Italians before the latter could cut him off. Since the Italians did not have a map of the island, some time was spent on reconnaissance and drawing up a diagram of the location of the batteries.

On July 18, eight of the strongest Italian battleships began bombarding the fortifications of Lissa. Two batteries were destroyed, and Fort George, which protected the entrance to the harbor of San Giorgio, was badly damaged. Two armored frigates entered the harbor, but, having fallen under the crossfire of coastal batteries, were forced to withdraw. According to di Persano's plan, Italian soldiers were supposed to land on the eastern side of the island during the bombardment, but this never happened - as the Italians assured, due to heavy fire from an Austrian battery located on a hill. By evening, all the Italian ships gathered together again, having achieved almost nothing in a day. The commanders of individual detachments had their own opinion on any issue and ignored the orders of Admiral di Persano. During the night, the Austrians partially restored the destroyed fortifications and prepared to repel the attack once again.

On July 19, the Italians again tried to suppress the coastal batteries, but were again repulsed by the Austrians. In the second half, the Italian squadron was replenished with the battleship Affondatore and two steam frigates. After another bombardment, only eight guns remained on the island, however, the Italian battleships were also partially damaged, coal and shells were greatly reduced, and the teams were exhausted. In any case, the position of the island's defenders was characterized as critical, and there was no hope of holding the island on their own.

On July 20, 1866, the Italian admiral di Persano had big plans: to suppress the last batteries, land troops, capture the island and prove his own competence to his country.

Battle of Lissa

On July 19, Tegetthof received permission from Vienna to act cautiously, but at his own discretion. The ships were put out to sea, and their crews prepared to act according to their admiral's detailed instructions, training experience, and their own common sense. At the heart of Tegetthoff's plan was a simplicity that stemmed from the inexperience of his fleet. The ships were divided into three detachments: the first detachment of seven ironclads, led by the flagship "Archduke Ferdinand Max" with Tegetthof himself on board; the second - as part of a battleship, five frigates and a corvette led by Commodore von Petz; the third is from seven gunboats. All three units were lined up in the form of a wedge and followed each other, as if forming a triple chevron. The ships were originally built in this order, so as not to waste time rebuilding when moving from marching order to battle. The battleships were supposed to break through the line of Italian ships, and then aggressively ram and fire at the enemy battleships with concentrated fire. The second "wedge" was supposed to act against Italian frigates, and in a collision with battleships, also try to ram them. Gunboats were intended for actions on the flanks, firing at enemy ships. The battle was to turn into a skirmish in which the numerical advantage of the Italians would be minimized. Each Austrian captain was free to act at his own discretion, without waiting for special instructions from the admiral.

On July 20, at 07:00, the Italian messenger ship Esploratore detected the Austrians approaching Lissa at a speed of 5 knots. By 10:00, the wind and rain, which interfered with the ships of both sides, subsided, and the opponents saw each other. By this time, the landing on the island was canceled, and under the command of Persano, eight battleships were assembled in a wake column in the direction of the southwest in the following order: "Principe di Carignano", "Castelfidardo", "Ancona" under the command of Admiral Vacca; Re d'Italia, Palestro, San Martino, Re di Portogallo, Regina Maria Pia under the command of di Bruno and the battleship Varese closed the column, with a significant lag. Di Persano's desire to switch to moving parallel to the wake column on the inside of the Affondatore, a gap of about 1000 meters formed between the first and second detachments, and the column stretched for 6000 meters instead of the planned 2000.

The battleship Formidabile, due to damage received during the bombing of Lissa, went to Ancona for repairs. "Castelfidardo" and "Re di Portogallo" had problems with steam engines and started moving only at 10 o'clock, moving before that only in tow. The Italian wooden ships under the command of Admiral Albini remained in the southeast of the tail of the column at a distance of about 3000 meters, and did not receive a direct order to participate in the battle. The Italians had no battle plan. Each of the commanders had to focus on signals from the original flagship Re d'Italia. The captains of the ships did not know that di Persano switched to the Affondator.

At 10:20, the Italians turned first to the west, and then corrected their course so as to take a position perpendicular to the Austrian ships. At the same time, the Italians approached Tegetthoff and, thereby, lost the advantage of their numerous rifled artillery.

At 10:43 from a distance of 900 meters from the lead "Principe di Carignano" opened fire. At 10:50, the Austrian battleships cut off Admiral Vacca's detachment from the main forces. The first line of Tegetthof turned out to be the starboard side to the main group of Italian ships, and the left side to the Vacca ships. The main body of the Italian column turned to port, attacking the second line of Austrians, consisting of wooden ships, which attacked in turn the end matelots of the Italian column. The result was a skirmish in which the ships passed each other, attempting to ram the enemy and avoid it themselves, and discharging the guns into the center of an expanding dense cloud formed by both chimney smoke and gunpowder smoke. The only guide was grey colour hulls for Italian ships and black for Austrian ones. The Affondatore made two unsuccessful attempts to ram the wooden battleship Kaiser.

At 11:00, defending itself from the Re di Portogallo, the Kaiser went to ram the Italian battleship. Both ships grappled and exchanged volleys. The battleship Regina Maria Pia passing astern of the Kaiser fired a salvo at the wooden battleship and set it on fire, thereby forcing it to leave the general dump and move to the harbor of San Giorgio. Two Austrian gunboats and a frigate covered the retreating battleship from the Affondatore ram with their fire and maneuver. Then the Austrian battleships Juan de Austria and Prince Eugen arrived in time. The Affondatore unloaded its large-caliber rifled cannons almost point-blank into the side of the Juan, achieving three hits and breaking several armor plates.

At 11:20, the lead detachment of Admiral Wakka turned to the left in order to attack the wooden ships of the Austrians, but was driven off by intense fire from the Austrian frigates Donau, Radetsky and Schwarzenberg. The Austrians, considering the flagship "Re d" Italy, concentrated all the efforts of their four battleships to shoot or ram it. The dispersal of the Italian ships allowed the Austrians to achieve a numerical and tactical advantage in the center of the collapsed Italian system. Twice "Ferdinand Max" with Tegetthoff on board undertook an attempt to ram the enemy, but poor maneuverability did not allow this.The Italians tried to help the ship, which they, like the Austrians, considered the flagship.

The battleship Palestro maneuvered and fired at the Austrians, which distracted the Drache and Ferdinand Max. On the deck of the Palestro, in order to increase the operational range, coal was stacked that did not fit into the coal pits. A bomb hit from the Drache set it on fire and set fire to the Italian battleship. Another misfortune for the Italian fleet was the destruction, either by accident or by a well-aimed shot, of the Red Italia rudder, which was above the water and not protected. The battleship lost the ability to maneuver. According to Lieutenant Enrico Gualterio, who survived his ship, the following happened:

“As for the cause of the death of the ship, I consider the main and only reason that the rudder was vulnerable and, therefore, could be hit by enemy fire. When we lost control, we were cut off from the rest of the fleet ... We tried to give full speed to avoid a hit by a ship that aimed its ram at the center of our hull, but since we received a blow to the bow from another ship, we reversed, trying to continue any movement... but it stopped the ship... The ship sank with the flag raised. Officer Rasetti with a saber in his hands did not allow the sailors to lower the flag. After the impact, we fired a volley with all sides, and the gunners who were on the tops opened fire from their weapons. The team began jumping into the sea, without screaming or panicking. When we were already in the water, we became the target for several rifle shots from the Austrian gunboats, which killed two sailors and wounded two more.

The further fate of the Italian ship can be found in the logbook of the Austrian flagship battleship Archduke Ferdinand Max:

“The collision with the enemy battleship occurred at 11:30, when we, having developed full speed, rammed a large enemy ship moving across our course, in the foremast area. The enemy ship immediately capsized and sank a minute and a half after the impact.

At this time, the Ancona made an unsuccessful attempt to ram the Ferdinand Max, and also fired a blank volley from all its guns at point-blank range. In the heat of battle, the command was missed to load them with steel shells or bombs, and the Austrian ship did not receive any damage from this volley.

During the battle, there were several more clashes between Italian ships, and possibly Austrian ones. Ancona faced Varese and Maria Pia faced San Martino. Collisions led to damage, and on the Varese even several armor plates were displaced.

By 12:10, Admiral Tegetthoff decided to regroup his ships, and ordered the construction in three wake columns in the direction of the northeast. From the outside, facing the enemy, battleships lined up, behind them - frigates, in the third line - gunboats. Thus, the original division into three units was retained. At the same time, the line of the Austrians covered the entrance to the harbor of San Giorgio. At a distance of about 1800 meters, eight Italian battleships lined up with their heads in the opposite direction, behind which, also in a line, were wooden ships.

Persano assessed the information about the death of "Re d" Italy, the fire on the "Palestro" and the serious damage to the "San Martino" and "Varese" as excluding further battle. The Italian fleet, keeping the formation, began to retreat towards Ancona. At 14:30 " Palestro "as a result of an internal explosion, went to the bottom with his crew, fighting to the end for his ship. Tegetthof intended to catch up with the enemy and continue the battle, but four battleships and two frigates could hardly squeeze out more than 9 knots. The pursuit in such a situation was pointless, and the Austrians moved into the harbor of San Giorgio to repair the damage in case the battle continued the next day.

Until 22:30 Persano was near Lissa, and only then his ships headed for Ancona. By 4 o'clock in the morning, after a hard night's work, some damage was repaired on the battleships of the Tegetthof squadron. On the evening of July 21, the Austrian ships left Lissa and arrived at Pola on July 22, where they were met by enthusiastic residents.

Results and consequences of the battle

Since, even before the start of the battle, politicians, through the mediation of Napoleon III, agreed that Venice would go to Italy, the Austrian naval victory did not affect the outcome of the war. One can only note the increase in the international military-technical prestige of Austria, which was expressed in orders from foreign states for the construction of several battleships at Austrian shipyards.

The immediate and most tragic result of the largest naval battle involving the first armored ships was the loss of life on both sides. According to official reports, the Austrian fleet lost 38 men killed and 138 wounded, which can be considered small losses compared to the battles of the era of Admiral Nelson. On the Italian ships, 620 men were killed and 161 wounded. Separately, it is worth noting that the share of two dead armadillos accounted for 615 people killed.

The most tangible indicator of the battle, on the basis of which the parties drew conclusions about victory or defeat, was the loss by the Italians of "Re d" Italy "and" Palestro ". Even without this pair of ships, nominally the fleet of the Italian kingdom remained stronger and, theoretically, could continue the struggle for victory after some repairs and a change of admiral to a more capable one.During the battle, with the exception of the lost ships, the rest of the battleships did not receive serious enough damage to prevent them further use. The Regina Maria Pia had one plate of armor smashed and there was damage from a timely extinguished fire. The battleship "San Martino" had one hit with penetration of 4-inch armor, but the shell was stuck in the substrate. In addition, the ship caught fire twice, and in a collision with the Maria Pia, the ram was damaged and a leak formed. On the Castelfidardo, the captain's cabin was destroyed by a grenade. The Ancona had a lot of displaced armor plates, mostly as a result of collisions with other ships. The Carignano had one armor plate broken. Many armor plates were lost, displaced or pressed into the hull on the Re di Portogallo. The Affondatore sank in the harbor of Ancona upon the return of the Italians to their base - in all likelihood, the hull gave numerous leaks due to concussions received in the battle.

Not a single fire or penetration of armor was recorded on the Austrian battleships. The Italians themselves were shocked by such a deplorable result of the battle, in which they had such a significant numerical advantage both in terms of total tonnage and in the number and power of artillery barrels. A special government commission drew correct conclusions about the reasons for the defeat: poor training of personnel, lack of leadership in the battle by Persano, passive behavior of the commanders of the detachments (with the exception of Vacca), rivalry among officers. On the other hand, there was the selfless struggle of the Palestro crew with the fire and the death of the Re d'Italia with the flag raised.

The victory of Tegetthoff was based on the correct calculation and the enormous work to train officers and crews, raise morale and rally people of different nationalities into one effective combat vehicle. Tegetthof compensated for the smaller number of Austrian battleships with a local advantage resulting from the concentration of all forces at one key point in the battle. The weakness of the obsolete smoothbore artillery was eliminated by a short combat distance and a reliance on ramming. Correctly assessing his technical weaknesses, the Austrian admiral brilliantly compensated for them with the tactics of using his strengths: coherence, discipline, planning. We can say that the battle went according to Tegetthof's plan. The battle of Lissa showed how much depends on the human, moral factor, which was not fully appreciated by the contemporaries of the battle.

Immediately after receiving a message about the victory, Tegetthof was promoted in rank. In the future, the very existence of a combat-ready fleet of Austria was built only on his personal authority. The premature death of an outstanding naval commander led to the fact that soon the government of the country lost all interest in its naval forces. Di Persano was put on trial, fired from service and demoted. Only connections with the royal court of Italy saved him from execution.

The conclusions of contemporaries about the tactics of the battle of armored ships generally corresponded to the level of development of technology and tactics of that period. Rifled artillery at combat distances could not be guaranteed to penetrate armor. It was also impossible to organize effective flexible control during the battle at short distances, since the powder smoke covered the entire battlefield and did not allow to see the signals of the flagship. In such a situation, each commander of the ship was forced to act at his own discretion, and the battle turned into a dump. In such a situation, a ram became a very effective weapon. However, if until the mid-1870s such conclusions could be taken as the basis of military doctrine and shipbuilding practice, then a later increase in the displacement of ships, the widespread use of watertight bulkheads, improved armor and artillery, and a significant increase in effective combat distance required a revision of battle tactics. But, remaining the last major battle of the ironclads, Lissa spawned a general craze for ramming and ramming tactics. Special maneuverable armored rams were built, and appropriate tactical schemes were worked out during the exercises. Only the battle of Yalu in 1894 returned the role of the main weapon of the ship to artillery.

Plan
Introduction
1 Background to the conflict
2 The state of the armed forces of Austria
3 The state of the armed forces of Prussia
4 The state of the Italian armed forces
5 Members
6 Beginning of the war
6.1 Mobilization and concentration
6.2 Railways
6.3 Industry
6.4 Economy

7 Theaters of war
8 The Ottoman Empire and its satellites in the Austro-Prussian-Italian War
9 Final period of the war (July 1-26)
9.1 End of the Austro-Prussian-Italian War
9.2 Nikolsburg Preliminary World

10 Results of the war
10.1 Foreign policy outcome
10.2 Domestic political outcome
10.3 Military totals
10.4 Other facts

11 Opinions of contemporaries
12 Memory of the war
13 War statistics
14 Bellonymy
Bibliography
Austro-Prussian-Italian War

Introduction

Austro-Prussian-Italian War of 1866 Deutscher Krieg und Dritter Italienischer Unabhängigkeitskrieg, Italian guerra austro-prussiana et Terza guerra d "indipendenza ["tɛɾtsa "gɛra dindipen" dɛntsa], Austro-Prussian War and Third War of Independence [Italy]) (hereinafter - Austro-Prussian War; for other names, see below) - the war of Prussia and Italy with the Austrian Empire for hegemony in Germany and the return[ neutrality?] the Venetian region, which predetermined the path of the German unification of Germany and completed the wars for the independence of Italy and its unification around the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Both great German powers sought to unite Germany under their rule. The Great German path of unification implied the inclusion of Austria into Germany, but its vast territories outside the German Union (Venetian region, Hungary, Slovakia, Galicia, Transylvania, Bukovina, Croatia and Vojvodina), as well as the possibility of foreign intervention from France, Russia, England and / or the Ottoman Empire not only made such unification difficult, but, in the latter case, called into question the independence of Prussia. The Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck preferred the lesser German way of unifying Germany, which involved the unification of the latter around Prussia by joining all the German states except Austria.

The prelude to war was the conflict over Schleswig-Holstein, divided between Austria and Prussia following the Danish War of 1864. According to Prussia, Austria violated the terms of the Gastein Convention by not stopping the anti-Prussian agitation in Holstein, which was ruled by the Austrian governor Ludwig Karl Wilhelm von Gablenz. After Austria raised this issue before the Federal Sejm, O. Bismarck, having ensured the neutrality of France and Russia and concluded an alliance with Italy, annulled the convention and submitted to the Federal Sejm a proposal to transform the German Union and expel Austria from it. This proposal was rejected, and O. Bismarck declared the German Confederation invalid. Prussia provoked Austria into a general mobilization by throwing on the table of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I the scheme of the upcoming Prussian invasion, drawn up by the outstanding military strategist H. Moltke the Elder. As a result, at the suggestion of Austria, supported by the majority of the small German states, the Sejm of the German Confederation decided to mobilize the allied army against Prussia, acting as an aggressor. War was declared after the Prussian army invaded Bohemia.

Two coalitions participated in the war - the German and North German alliances, led by both great German powers - Austria and Prussia, respectively. Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Württemberg and Hanover acted on the side of Austria, and Italy on the side of Prussia. In addition, each of the opponents was able to win over several insignificant German states to their side. A total of 29 states directly participated in this war, of which 13 were on the side of Austria and 16 on the side of Prussia. 4 states (Ottoman Empire, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro) indirectly participated in the Austro-Prussian War on the basis of the Austro-Turkish defensive alliance and allied agreements that existed between the Ottoman Empire and its 3 satellites. 6 members of the German Confederation remained neutral. With the outbreak of war, Prussia and its German allies formally withdrew from the German Confederation, thus founding the North German Confederation.

The war lasted for seven weeks (June 17 - July 26, 1866). Austria was forced to fight on two fronts. Its technological backwardness and political isolation since 1856 led to its defeat. According to the Prague Peace Treaty, concluded on August 23, Austria transferred Holstein to Prussia and left the German Confederation. Italy got the Venetian region. The political result of the war of 1866 was the final refusal of Austria to unite the German states under its own rule and the transfer of hegemony in Germany to Prussia, which led the North German Confederation - a new confederal state formation.

1. Background of the conflict

After the Danish War of 1864 Austrian troops occupied Holstein, and Prussian troops occupied Schleswig.

On August 14, 1865, a convention was signed in Gastein, according to which the Duchy of Lauenburg became the full property of Prussia (for the payment of 2.5 million thalers in gold), Schleswig came under the control of Prussia, Holstein - Austria. The latter was separated from the Austrian Empire by a number of German states and, above all, by the same Prussia, which made its possession very shaky and risky. But, in addition, Bismarck complicated the matter by the fact that Austria and Prussia had joint ownership of the entire territory of both duchies - Schleswig and Holstein, in the sense that there should have been an Austrian administration in Holstein, and Prussian administration in Schleswig. From the very end of the Danish war, Emperor Franz Joseph I insisted that Austria would gladly give up all its "complicated" rights to Holstein in exchange for the most modest territory on the Prussian-Austrian border, carved out of Prussian lands. When O. Bismarck flatly refused, his plan became completely clear to Franz Joseph, and the emperor began to look for allies for the upcoming war. In May 1865, he unsuccessfully tried to establish contact with Bavaria as a partner in the anti-Austrian alliance in order to demonstrate that his true goal, including in the field of allied policy, was a "total solution" on a small German basis.

Bismarck accused Austria of violating the terms of the Gastein Convention (Austria did not stop the anti-Prussian agitation in Holstein). When Austria raised the issue before the Federal Diet, Bismarck warned the Diet that the issue concerned only Austria and Prussia. However, the Federal Sejm continued to discuss this problem. As a result, Bismarck annulled the convention and submitted to the Federal Diet a proposal for the transformation of the German Confederation and the exclusion of Austria from it. This happened on the same day as the conclusion of the Prussian-Italian alliance, April 8, 1866.

"... to convene an assembly on the basis of direct elections and universal suffrage for the whole nation in order to adopt and discuss the draft reform of the federal constitution proposed by the German governments."

O. Bismarck attached great importance to the preparations for war in domestic political terms and decided to wage war under the broad slogan of the North German Confederation. He put forward an official program for such an unification, with a sharp limitation of the sovereignty of individual German states, with the creation of a single common parliament, elected on the basis of universal secret male suffrage and designed to become a counterbalance to centrifugal aspirations, with the unification of all the armed forces of the union under the leadership of Prussia. This program naturally alienated most of the medium and small German monarchies. O. Bismarck's proposal was rejected by the Sejm.

On June 14, 1866, he declared the German Confederation "null and void". As a result, the rest of the German states decided to create a federal executive body directed against the offender - Prussia. In practice, the war against Prussia was waged by a coalition of most German states led by Austria. Bismarck addressed the German people in order to confront the horror of the "fratricidal war" that was engulfing the entire nation:

“For half a century, the German Confederation was not a bulwark of unity, but of the fragmentation of the nation; as a result, it lost the confidence of the Germans and in the international arena became evidence of the weakness and impotence of our people. These days the Union is going to be used to call on Germany to turn its arms against that of the Allies who has proposed the formation of a German Parliament and has thus taken the first and decisive step towards satisfying national aspirations. The war against Prussia, which Austria so desired, lacks an alliance-constitutional basis; there is no reason for it and not the slightest reason.

The chancellor was very worried about the outward justification of the impending war. He turned things around in such a way that Austria was the first to mobilize. A scheme of the forthcoming Prussian invasion was thrown on the table of the Austrian emperor, drawn up by the outstanding military strategist H. Moltke the Elder.

2. The state of the armed forces of Austria

3. The state of the armed forces of Prussia

4. The state of the armed forces of Italy

5. Participants

6. The beginning of the war

6.1. Mobilization and concentration

On June 7, Prussian troops began to push the Austrians out of Holstein. On June 10, having sent out to the German states his draft reform of the German Confederation, which provided for the exclusion of Austria from it, O. Bismarck provoked an armed conflict. On June 11, the Austrian ambassador was recalled from Berlin. On June 14, at the request of Austria, supported by the majority of small German states, the Diet of the German Confederation decided to mobilize four corps - the contingent of the German Confederation, put up by medium and small states. But this decision to mobilize had already been taken by Prussia as a declaration of war. Hostilities between the mobilized Prussians and the non-mobilized allies of Austria began the very next day, June 15; as soon as Austria began to concentrate regiments at the borders, the Prussian troops under the command of General von Moltke completed their concentration and invaded Bohemia. Only the Saxon troops were alerted in advance and withdrew from Saxony, where the Prussians invaded, to Bohemia - towards the Austrian army. The most valuable thing that Austria received from its allies was thus the 23,000-strong Saxon corps. The chief of staff, General H. Moltke the Elder, developed a plan for a lightning war, according to which on June 16, 1866, the Prussian troops began to occupy the lands that were part of the German Union - Hanover, Saxony and Hesse. The next day, June 17, Austria declared war on Prussia. On June 20, Italy, fulfilling the terms of the agreement with Prussia, declared war on Austria, which had to wage war on two fronts - on the Italian (see. Third Italian War of Independence) and the Bohemian (Czech) theaters. A number of South German and Prussian-occupied states sided with Austria, but were unable to provide her with appropriate assistance.