1863       


The Schleswig-Holstein question was an extremely complicated conflict between the German states and Denmark. Schleswig and Holstein were two duchies that had formed an "eternal union" in 1463. Schleswig was in Denmark and Holstein in the Holy Roman (German) Empire. In the 15th Century both duchies had come into the hands of the Counts of Oldenburg, who had used it as a steppingstone to gain the Danish throne. The two duchies, which were regarded as a political and dynastic union, were subdivided by collateral branches of the Oldenburg dynasty. The Glückstadt part (including parts of both Duchies) remained in the hands of the Kings of Denmark. The Gottorp part (at first in both Duchies, later only in Holstein) and smaller subdivisions were in the hands of collateral branches. The branch of Gottorp succeeded to the throne of Russia in 1762, and traded its part of Schleswig-Holstein with the Danish King for the County of Oldenburg in 1772. Oldenburg was given to another cousin of the Gottorp branch by the later Emperor Paul of Russia. Smaller collateral branches had a non reigning status or become extinct. The Augustenburg branch was non reigning. The Glücksburgs branch became extinct in the main line and their junior branch, the Dukes of Beck had become bankrupt. The Becks took the Glücksburg title but did not adopt reigning status.

The two Duchies were thus restored in their entirety to the Danish King. This was not to the liking of German nationalists. Holstein was inhabited by Germans and had always been a part of the Holy Roman Empire and later of the German Confederation. The southern part of the Duchy of Schleswig (autonomous within Denmark, because of its "eternal" union obligations to Holstein) was inhabited by ethnic Germans. Pandemonium broke out when it became clear that the Danish royal family would become extinct. None of the collateral branches of the Oldenburg dynasty could claim the Danish throne by inheritance. Denmark had been an elective monarchy until the middle of the eighteenth century, becoming an hereditary kingdom only in the 1730's, and the collateral branches had all split of much earlier than that. A younger son of the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, formerly of Beck, the branch that was mostly Danish in outlook, was chosen as the heir to Denmark. The Duchies however had been hereditary monarchies since the middle ages. The oldest Romanov and Gottorp branches had given up its claim, when they traded their part of the Duchies for Oldenburg. A representative of the Augustenburg branch (mostly German in outlook) now claimed succession to the Duchies. The Danes however wanted to keep the personal union between Denmark and the Duchies, one of them being an integral part of Denmark. The Danes changed the status of the Duchies, annexing them both to Denmark.

This triggered the German-Danish war of 1862. Although not a nationalist, the Prussian Prime minister, Bismarck, sided with Austria and the other German states, not only to regain Holstein, but claim both Duchies for Germany. Denmark was defeated quickly. A peculiar settlement was agreed upon. The Augustenburg heir to the Duchies, who had already assumed rule as Frederick VIII of Holstein was sidestepped. Schleswig, that was removed from the Danish Kingdom and added to the German Confederation, came under Prussian administration, while Holstein came under Austrian administration. This would inevitably lead to a conflict between Austria and Prussia, traditional rivals for the hegemony in Germany. This state of affairs was most welcome to Bismarck, who wanted to settle the question once and for all in favour of his King. Austria’s ambitions in Germany were not helped by the fact that most of its people and territory was non German.
The immediate cause for war between Prussia and Austria was Austria’s support for the cause of Frederick VIII of Augustenburg. Prussia didn’t need an other pro-Austrian ruler on its turf in Northern Germany.