Battle of Königgrätz

The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa; Czech: Bitva u Hradce Králové) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz) and village of Sadová, now in the Czech Republic. It was the single largest battle of the war, and the largest battle in the world since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

Prussian forces totaled around 285,000 troops, whilst Austria had 240,000 men on the Bohemian front. Austrian commander-in-chief Ludwig von Benedek had accepted the post with reluctance because he was unfamiliar with both troops and local terrain. Superior training, Moltke's tactical doctrine and the Dreyse needle gun were instrumental in the Prussian victory; moreover, as a Prussian innovation in European warfare, there were full advantages of railroad transport in action. The Prussians relied heavily on the bayonet charge. Prussian artillery was ineffective and almost all of the fighting on the Prussian side was done by the First Army under Prince Friedrich Karl and one guards division under Wilhelm Hiller von Gaertringen [de] from the Second Army. The Prussian 7th Infantry Division and 1st Guards Infantry Division attacked and destroyed 38 out of 49 infantry battalions of four Austrian corps at the Swiepwald and Chlum at the centre of the battlefield. The Austrian army was forced to retreat at 15:00, before any Prussian reinforcements could engage the Austrian flanks.