Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

When the war officially started, most of the German states had not yet recovered because it was so sudden.

When Austria declared war, they were not involved at all. The German Confederation Assembly could be said to be the most confused. It was calm a week ago. Apart from Prussia's constant quarrel with Austria, there was not much movement.

Of course, the German Confederation Conference ceased to exist the day after Prussia officially declared war, because the Prussian Fifth Army had already reached Frankfurt and occupied it.

In less than a week, Prussia wiped out thousands of Brunswick's defenders, entered Mecklenburg victoriously, and chose to surrender after Mecklenburg's symbolic resistance.

After seeing the Prussian army, Mecklenburg's three thousand soldiers immediately threw down their armor as a courtesy. They had a meal in the prisoner of war camp the next morning and were released in the afternoon.

The Fourth Army in charge of the north moved towards Holstein. It captured Holstein in three days and pushed Hanover flatly. It reached the city of Hanover less than a week after the war started and the King of Hanover was forced to surrender.

Then the Fourth Army continued to advance westward. On April [-], Prussia penetrated Limburg, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Saxony-Weimar, and conquered almost the entire North German region.

The south also gained a lot. The Prussian Fifth Army captured various counties in Saxony and more than a dozen small states in Central Germany. At the end of April, the Fifth Army joined forces with the Fourth Army in Frankfurt.

The two armies launched a sudden attack on Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Hesse in southern Germany.

Austria originally thought that France would take action or mediate, because Prussia was too fast, and France also had interests in these four states, so Napoleon III had no reason not to take action.

The King of Bavaria tried to communicate with Napoleon III, but came to the conclusion that "France will not participate in Germany's fraternal war, and France will continue to remain neutral."

This was very different from the continental policy pursued by Napoleon III, which plunged the South German states into panic.

The King of Bavaria even shouted to Napoleon III, "You can't do this to us at this time!"

His protest was so feeble that Napoleon III did not even bother him.

Of course, the four southern German states are much stronger than the small countries in northern Germany, especially Bavaria. Although it is not as good as Prussia and Austria, it can be done under Germany's excellent matching mechanism.

Although Napoleon III rejected Bavaria's request on the surface, it was because he had talked with Prussia after all, and he must do some superficial work.

The reason for not sending troops is also very good, because Prussia promised not to annex the four southern German states, so France was able to hold firm and not send troops.

Originally, when Napoleon III saw Prussia's lightning offensive sweeping across the entire North Germany within seven or eight days, he was on pins and needles and restless.

He admitted that he panicked for a moment, but with Tina's repeated assurances, he chose to wait for a while, and the two Prussian armies temporarily stopped after they invaded Hesse.

This stabilized Napoleon III's paranoia.

The British side was caught in the biggest political crisis in history. Queen Victoria was concerned about the situation in Europe, but was unable to intervene due to national conditions.

But she felt at ease with August, because her Prussia seemed to be able to defeat Austria, but Britain would definitely not be able to intervene in this war anyway.

Since May, Prussia's offensive against South Germany has weakened. Tina did not want to irritate Napoleon III too much, but it was almost enough anyway.

Austria had not yet reacted. When the war began, their army had barely managed to assemble, and the troops deployed on the Sudeten front did not even have [-] troops. The bloated railway network made Austria's transportation capacity very low.

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Italy in the south also launched a fierce offensive against the Austrian troops stationed in Venice at the same time.

The Austrian army totaled a little more than [-], while the Italian army had [-]. Vittorio was still very confident in himself and led the main force to Trentino, commanding General Alfonso all the way to Venice. .

The Austrian army originally wanted to bypass Vittorio's main force and turn around, but Alfonso noticed this in time, and he retreated to intercept the Austrian army who turned around.

The Austrian cavalry troops launched an attack without receiving orders. Under Alfonso's defensive strategy, the Austrian troops suffered heavy losses and gained little.

However, their attack successfully blocked Alfonso's troops, while Vittorio skirmished with the Austrian army in the San Giorgio area, but was repulsed by the superior firepower of the Italian army.

These two battles made Austria a little nervous. They began to send more troops to attack Italy. They hoped to defeat Italy first, and then turn around and concentrate their forces to defeat the Prussian army.

The smooth progress of several battles also made Vittorio feel a little elated. Vittorio happily showed off his superb strategic deployment to Garibaldi, "Our Italian army is already so strong, Austria has nothing to fear."

Garibaldo was initially opposed to Vittorio going to the front line to command the battle, especially since his red shirt troops were also in Vittorio's army group.

He participated in the planning of some battles as a staff officer with the army, but he really did not expect that Vittorio, a man who relied entirely on metaphysics in micro-management, could really win these conflicts on his own.

However, although Garibaldi also felt that the Austrian army was a bit too weak, he was also very sober at the same time and pointed out, "I suggest that we should not waste too much time here, now we must enter Venetia!"

Garibaldi believed that Prussia and Austria were still separated by the Sudeten Mountains after all, so Austria would most likely attack Italy first.

But Vittorio was not vigilant enough and thought he could handle it well.

After receiving the news, the Italian army in the rear also relaxed its vigilance, causing Vittorio's flank to be suddenly attacked by the Austrian army. Prince Amadeo was injured, and Vittorio's flank was vacated.

Alfonso was stunned after receiving the news. That was supposed to be the safest place. What happened?

He sent [-] men to support Vittorio and take a look at what the Italian artillery regiments on the flanks were doing.

This deployment of troops freed up its defensive positions, and the Austrian army seized the opportunity to launch a fierce offensive.

The Italian army was caught off guard, and Alfonso was temporarily in disarray. He first sent a telegram to Berlin asking for Prussian support, and then sent a telegram to Vittorio saying that he could no longer hold it. King, what are you doing? Where is your main force?

Vittorio: "I don't know?"

Vittorio's troops finally stabilized after receiving reinforcements from Alfonso.

Vittorio saw that the situation in the rear was a bit critical and ordered to prepare to retreat.

Alfonso's troops fought fiercely with the Austrian army. Alfonso misjudged the situation. He felt that he was losing, so he ordered to prepare to retreat and withdraw from Venetia.

The Austrian army on the opposite side also believed that it was defeated, and was also preparing to retreat to the rear position.

Just then, Berlin sent a reply, "No retreat! We have already sent reinforcements, hold on!"

This letter was answered by Tina. After she saw this situation, she couldn't figure it out. How could you, Italy, not be able to defeat you? No matter how good you are, you can't cook like this.

After Alfonso received the telegram, he gritted his teeth and stopped retreating.

The final result was that the Italian army defeated the Austrian army, and its position advanced five kilometers. If Alfonso was allowed to retreat, Italy would lose its key position.