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Great Battles of History
The Battle of Koniggratz: Prussia's Victory Over Austria, 1866
Königgrätz, a city overlooking the river Elbe, was a western strongpoint of the Austrian Empire. On the morning of July 3, 1866, Prussia attacked the city against high odds and defeated the Austrian army in a single day, despite the Austrian advantage in heavy artillery and command of the high ground. The fall of Königgrätz transferred power over the German states from Austria to Prussia, marking the beginning of the German nation, a political consequence considered to be among the most important of any conflict in modern history.
The battle for the city of Königgrätz—now called Hradec Králové, located in the Czech Republic—was the largest of its time, with nearly half a million troops involved. It was also the first battle where the outcome was directly determined by the availability of new technologies, including the railroad, telegraph, cast steel rifled cannon, and breech-loading rifle. It also marked a lesson in the fallacy of dependence on technology at the expense of sound strategy.
In this full account, distinguished historian Gordon A. Craig discusses the state of political affairs surrounding the battle, the personalities involved, the weaponry, and the tactics in order to recreate the battlefield in all its complexity.
The battle for the city of Königgrätz—now called Hradec Králové, located in the Czech Republic—was the largest of its time, with nearly half a million troops involved. It was also the first battle where the outcome was directly determined by the availability of new technologies, including the railroad, telegraph, cast steel rifled cannon, and breech-loading rifle. It also marked a lesson in the fallacy of dependence on technology at the expense of sound strategy.
In this full account, distinguished historian Gordon A. Craig discusses the state of political affairs surrounding the battle, the personalities involved, the weaponry, and the tactics in order to recreate the battlefield in all its complexity.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Gordon A. Craig
54 books18 followersBorn in Glasgow, Gordon Craig emigrated with his family in 1925, initially to Toronto, Canada, and then to Jersey City, New Jersey. Initially interested in studying the law, he switched to history after hearing the historian Walter "Buzzer" Hall lecture at Princeton University. In 1935, Craig visited and lived for several months in Germany, to research a thesis he was writing on the downfall of the Weimar Republic. This trip marked the beginning of lifelong interest with all things German. Craig did not enjoy the atmosphere of Nazi Germany, and throughout his life, he sought to find the answer to the question of how a people who, in his opinion, had made a disproportionately large contribution to Western civilization, allowed themselves to become entangled in what Craig saw as the corrupting embrace of Nazism.
Of Adolf Hitler, Craig once wrote,
"Adolf Hitler was sui generis, a force without a real historical past... dedicated to the acquisition of power for his own gratification and to the destruction of a people whose existence was an offense to him and whose annihilation would be his crowning triumph. Both the grandiose barbarism of his political vision and the moral emptiness of his character make it impossible to compare him in any meaningful way with any other German leader. He stands alone"
Craig graduated in history from Princeton University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1938, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain and in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. In 1941, he co-edited with Edward Mead Earle and Felix Gilbert, on behalf of the American War Department, the book Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought From Machiavelli to Hitler, which was intended to serve as a guide to strategic thinking for military leaders during the war.
After 1945, Craig worked as a consultant to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1950–61 and at Stanford University from 1961-79. In 1956-1957, he taught at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition, he often held visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin; in 1967, Craig was the only professor there to sign a petition asking for an investigation into charges of police brutality towards protesting students. Craig was chair of the history department at Stanford in 1972-1975 and 1978-1979. Between 1975-1985, he served as the vice-president of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques. In 1979, he became an emeritus professor and was awarded the title J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Humanities.
During his time at Stanford, Craig was considered to be a popular and innovative teacher who improved both undergraduate and graduate teaching, while remaining well liked by the students. After his retirement, he worked as a book reviewer for the New York Review of Books. Some of his reviews attracted controversy, most notably in April 1996, when he praised Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners and later in September of the same year when he argued that David Irving's work was valuable because of what Craig saw as Irving's devil's advocate role. Craig argued that Irving was usually wrong, but that by promoting what Craig saw as a twisted and wrongheaded view of history with a great deal of élan, Irving forced other historians to fruitfully examine their beliefs about what is known about the Third Reich.
Craig was formerly President of the American Historical Association. In 1953, together with his friend Felix Gilbert, he edited a prosopography of inter-war diplomats entitled The Diplomats, an important source for diplomatic history in the interwar period. He followed this book with studies on the Prussian Army, the Battle of Königgrätz and many aspects of European and Ger
Of Adolf Hitler, Craig once wrote,
"Adolf Hitler was sui generis, a force without a real historical past... dedicated to the acquisition of power for his own gratification and to the destruction of a people whose existence was an offense to him and whose annihilation would be his crowning triumph. Both the grandiose barbarism of his political vision and the moral emptiness of his character make it impossible to compare him in any meaningful way with any other German leader. He stands alone"
Craig graduated in history from Princeton University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1938, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain and in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. In 1941, he co-edited with Edward Mead Earle and Felix Gilbert, on behalf of the American War Department, the book Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought From Machiavelli to Hitler, which was intended to serve as a guide to strategic thinking for military leaders during the war.
After 1945, Craig worked as a consultant to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1950–61 and at Stanford University from 1961-79. In 1956-1957, he taught at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition, he often held visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin; in 1967, Craig was the only professor there to sign a petition asking for an investigation into charges of police brutality towards protesting students. Craig was chair of the history department at Stanford in 1972-1975 and 1978-1979. Between 1975-1985, he served as the vice-president of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques. In 1979, he became an emeritus professor and was awarded the title J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Humanities.
During his time at Stanford, Craig was considered to be a popular and innovative teacher who improved both undergraduate and graduate teaching, while remaining well liked by the students. After his retirement, he worked as a book reviewer for the New York Review of Books. Some of his reviews attracted controversy, most notably in April 1996, when he praised Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners and later in September of the same year when he argued that David Irving's work was valuable because of what Craig saw as Irving's devil's advocate role. Craig argued that Irving was usually wrong, but that by promoting what Craig saw as a twisted and wrongheaded view of history with a great deal of élan, Irving forced other historians to fruitfully examine their beliefs about what is known about the Third Reich.
Craig was formerly President of the American Historical Association. In 1953, together with his friend Felix Gilbert, he edited a prosopography of inter-war diplomats entitled The Diplomats, an important source for diplomatic history in the interwar period. He followed this book with studies on the Prussian Army, the Battle of Königgrätz and many aspects of European and Ger
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2010
Originally written in 1964, this is an excellent example of how to write military history. It's all here...who, what, where, when and how. I have read several books by Gordon A Craig and they are all good. This past semester I used this as a source for a term paper and it is much, much better than the other book I used, Geoffrey Wawro's "The Austro-Prussian War".
May 24, 2021
A solid military history from Mr. Craig. I enjoyed seeing Moltke's masterpiece of strategy come together. Craig did outright skip a few battles in the lead-up to Koniggratz, which I thought strange. He also barely mentioned the Italian front. Overall I enjoyed the story-telling. And he gave us enough maps to understand the battles.
April 13, 2019
Really good military assessment of the battle, and both forces involved.
March 14, 2024
July 3, 1866 was a day when the course of European history changed. On that day, Prussian forces attacked the Austrians at the city of Konnigratz in what is now the Czech Republic. It was a titanic battle, involving nearly a half million troops. At the end of the day, the Austrians were defeated and with that defeat it became certain that Germany would be unified under the leadership of Prussia. A great deal of historical analysis has been created as a consequence of the unification under the House of Hohenzollern.
Craig does an excellent job in setting the background for the battle as well as how it was carried out. He includes several diagrams of the movement of the various forces and describes the action down to the unit level, including the commanders. It is clear from the explanation that while the end result was a complete defeat of the Austrian forces, it was in the paraphrased words of Wellington, “it was a close-run thing.”
If even a few units on the Austrian side had moved faster or some on the Prussian side had moved slower, the end could have been at best a stalemate from the perspective of the Prussians. The end result could have been a defeat of the Prussians, with significant differences to the development of the German nation.
Craig also describes the new weapons technologies used in the battle and explains how they made a difference. Breech-loading weapons were rapidly replacing the muzzle loaders and the power and accuracy of artillery were improved over what had been used in previous European battles. The man later known as the “Iron Chancellor” of Germany, Otto von Bismark, was present at the battle at the side of his king.
There have been few battles with the short and long-term significance of the battle of Koniggratz, so to understand the course of European history, it is necessary to understand this battle. That knowledge is available in this book.
Craig does an excellent job in setting the background for the battle as well as how it was carried out. He includes several diagrams of the movement of the various forces and describes the action down to the unit level, including the commanders. It is clear from the explanation that while the end result was a complete defeat of the Austrian forces, it was in the paraphrased words of Wellington, “it was a close-run thing.”
If even a few units on the Austrian side had moved faster or some on the Prussian side had moved slower, the end could have been at best a stalemate from the perspective of the Prussians. The end result could have been a defeat of the Prussians, with significant differences to the development of the German nation.
Craig also describes the new weapons technologies used in the battle and explains how they made a difference. Breech-loading weapons were rapidly replacing the muzzle loaders and the power and accuracy of artillery were improved over what had been used in previous European battles. The man later known as the “Iron Chancellor” of Germany, Otto von Bismark, was present at the battle at the side of his king.
There have been few battles with the short and long-term significance of the battle of Koniggratz, so to understand the course of European history, it is necessary to understand this battle. That knowledge is available in this book.
December 30, 2018
Solid account of the campaign in the east leading up to, as well as the battle itself, which resulted in an Austro-Hungarian rout. Less detail on the Prussian maneuvering to the war, but that's better covered in other works.
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July 29, 2019read for grad school
September 19, 2014
Craig's short synopsis of the Austro-Prussian War obviously focuses on the Battle of Koniggratz but also succinctly explains the strategic background and shaping operations against other hostile German states. He could have added a short discussion on Bismarck's negotiations with France and Italy and the corresponding effects of the Italian campaign on Austria's decision-making, but as the title indicates this is a limited history of the war this isn't essential (and can be quickly gleaned from a scan of the Wikipedia article). Craig incorporates sufficiently detailed maps and remains consistent with his names to help us amateur historians determine the Austrian operational approach (p.41), the Prussian operational approach (p.45-7), Austria's failure to adapt their approach (p.64-5), the Prussian finalization of their approach (p.85), and the Prussian strategic determination of termination criteria (p.169)
This book also has some of the best anecdotes and quotes from commanders under fire: "The dogs are only aiming at first lieutenants," "Children do not leave me in a lurch!" and Moltke's appreciation of cattle being only some of the best.
This book also has some of the best anecdotes and quotes from commanders under fire: "The dogs are only aiming at first lieutenants," "Children do not leave me in a lurch!" and Moltke's appreciation of cattle being only some of the best.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews