The Battle for the Swiepwald: Austria's Fatal Blunder at Koniggratz, The Climactic Battle of the Austro-Prussian War, 3 July 1866

The battle of Königgrätz was the largest battle ever fought in western Europe until 1914 and its political consequences were no less epic - the demise of Austria as a European Great Power, the loss of her historic pre-eminence among the German nations, and the final, incontestable rise of Prussia. Whether Austria could have prevailed at Königgrätz on 3 July 1866 and salvaged her Great Power status is debatable, what is not, is the part the struggle for the Swiepwald played in her ultimate d...