Friday 6 June 2014

The Prussian Army; its leaders and legacy on German Unification

Prussian Command base.
Figures from Foundry and NorthStar, flag is GMB.

After the rollercoaster ride of the Napoleonic Wars, with huge defeats but also glimmers of prestige like at Waterloo under Blücher, the Prussian army was bound for a road of reform and modernization, taking it up to the smooth and fit fighting engine that would bring down the French Empire and subsequently be the instrument of German unification in 1870-71.


"Der Alte Fritz"
Frederick the Great leading the Prussians at Zorndrof.
Painting by Carl Röchling.

With a proud military tradition rooted in the mythical victories and disciplinary codes of Frederick the Great, lovingly known as ”Der Alte Fritz”, the Prussian army had perhaps more potential that was willingly admitted to it in Europe after the removal of Napoleon in 1815.


Prussians advance into Gravelotte.
"Tod des Majors von Halden" 
Painting by Carl Röchling.

Despite a common cultural and lingual heritage, the post-napoleon peace settlement still left Germany fragmented in small individual states and vulnerable to the political and military winds crossing Europe. The Prussian state and army would skilfully ride a tide of nationalist awakening in the mid-19th century, and directed by the firm hand of visionaries like Bismarck and Moltke, unite the German states and transform this Central-European political vacuum into a Power House of a German Empire, led by a Kaiser. 


My NorthStar Prussians on the road towards Gravelotte.
Inspired by the Carl Röchling painting.

While the European revolution of 1848 swept across the continent weakening many of the old Empires, the Prussian Monarchy was left strengthened, and Prussian military and political influence over other German states would increase, as these would need to call on Prussia and the Prussian army to clean up the revolutionary mobs in their cities and high streets.


Detail of the Carl Röchling painting.
I took this close up of the original painting, now hanging in the museum at Gravelotte.

In 1859, King Frederick William IV tasked Minister of War Albrecht von Roon with the modernization of the Prussian fighting machine, now more royal and politically connected to the King than many of it’s European adversary forces.


A successful Prussian Trio.
Bismarck, Roon & Moltke.

Roon would form part of a triangle of brilliant Prussian leaders along with Bismarck and Moltke. Together these three conservative Prussian gentlemen would instrument profound change; introducing new effective tactical doctrines based on steam-age wonders like railroad and the telegraph, and channelling industrial innovation like the ultra modern Needle Gun rifle and perhaps the World’s best artillery hardware from the Krupp factories into the Pikklehube clad legions.


The Prussians storm the Danish position at Dybbøl 1864.
This image is from the coming Danish TV drama , check out the YOUTUBE teaser here: "1864".

All the above would later be refined into perfection in a series of wars known as the Wars of Unification. First, and as a Dane very interestingly, the Second Schleswig War in 1864, fought over the sovereignty of the German states of Schleswig and Holstein.


The Prussians at Königgrätz 1866.
Again a fantastic painting by Carl Röchling.

Later Bismarck would settle the score with the Austrian Empire on who would be the main political influence on the German states - Prussia or Austria. The effective Needle Gun and rigid Prussian infantry doctrine would settle this argument most effectively at Königgrätz in 1866.


Bismarck offering some gentlemanly words 
of comfort to the defeated Napoleon III at Sedan 1870.

Finally Moltke’s and Bismarck’s finest hour would be the provocation of a French declaration of war, and the subsequent surgically precise military campaigns of the Prussian and German Confederate troops in France during the Franco-Prussian War, resulting in a long envisioned proclamation of German unification into Empire under Prussian leadership. 


I've started painting up the Grandmanner collection from Salute.
First up this village shrine - very French country road n'est-ce pas?.

An amazing feat on Prussia’s behalf, considering their starting point at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and the vast distance of political and social unrest that had to be crossed in the 19th Century taking them up to the point of proclaiming their King as Kaiser in the Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles.

Thank you very much for reading.

20 comments:

  1. A beautiful post, great work, especially the village shrine for me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil - the Grandmanner resin shrine model was really a treat to paint! Worked very well with washes, something I'm a little more worried about when painting laser cut wooden buildings, as this material sucks up the paint in a different way.

      Delete
  2. Greate post Sören !

    Love your village shrine, I hope it will find it´s way to the club...perfect for Swedish medieval games...

    Best regards Michael

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Micke - of course your lovely dalecarlian allmoge will get the chance to pray to Saint Göran at this shrine. Will bring it to the club at the next coming gaming opportunity!

      Delete
  3. Terrific interweaving of history with your figures. The shrine is very well done.

    Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Jonathan - happy you enjoyed the post, as I very much thrive on writing it. I find this helps the figures to "come alive" and sets them in the correct historical context while I paint a certain project. Plus, I'm fascinated by the historical narrative of reality which almost always is better than fiction.

      Delete
  4. What a tremendous post, bravo Sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael, happy that you dropped by for a read and a comment!

      Delete
  5. Superb post Soren, always educational and informative, with plenty of pictures and nicely painted figures, as always.

    Regards
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Chris, originally I only intended to post pictures of ongoing or finished painting projects, but as I wrote to Jonathan, my posts have taken this form with the historical background write up, as it serves to fuel extra inspiration and familiarizing with the project on the painting table - I'm putting more effort into research now, so I'm very happy you're enjoying the read :0)

      Delete
  6. Great story, painting and post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Monty - happy you liked the format, and really appreciate your comment!

      Delete
  7. I can only echo what others have said. Very interesting and beautiful shrine.
    /Mattias

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mattias, however I think I'll need a few hints from a talented terrain "createur" like your self, before I throw myself into larger project like the Inn or Chateau I have waiting for a paint job. Hope we will find time for a game at ours/your club sometime soon. Cheers, Sören

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Thanks Christopher - It was a first cautious step into a series of Moselle/Alsace-like terrain bits I'm planning for the Franco-Prussian Collection. Bigger things will come once I find the courage ;0)

      Delete
  9. Excellent post Sören! The little dioramas/scenes are a lovely way to present your great painting, and the history lesson is well written and informative. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy you noticed that one Jonas - I've always loved the Major Halden painting by Röchling, so to find it hanging in the Gravelotte museum made my heart skip a beat. The tree edged model road is actually the demo I made for our Italian War project. I'm working on more country roads of this type/quality for the club!

      Delete
  10. Great post! Learning more and more about the Befreiungskriege, I really give it a lot of credit for getting the ball rolling. Even though there was still a Prussian and the "other" Germans mindset, the anti-Napoleon/French attitude gave them a common and more unifying goal then before.

    The patriotic fervor of the Landwehr was also a rarity if not curious new force under "Father" Blucher. In 1815 Napoleon recognized the Prussian Army as his greatest threat and tried in vain to knock them out of the game early at Ligny.

    Like the US after the ACW, many in Europe were weary of such a large standing army of "Germans."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're quite right Jason - like in many other national unifications during the 19th C, the German also was one of cultural assimilation with nationalism as the catalyst - the Italian unification could be mentioned, but also interestingly as you say, the ACW could arguably be viewed as a war of political/cultural unification. "German" history is very much intertwined with Prussian history, while at the same time suffering - in my view - from a WW2 syndrome (in the German perspective) taking the center stage. The Befreiungskriege really was an unstoppable force as I see it. If you think about how long the German states have been played out in European politics, the cultural and political heritage acting as the seed for unification really stretches back to the Thirty Years War 1618-1648. None of the larger European powers were interested in anything else than a fragmented Germany. It really had to come from the Germans them selves. My visit to the Gravelotte museum also made me realize the impact the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War had on European politics. It really was, for many reasons but foremost an unrealistic peace settlement, the mother of WW1 and WW2. Each peace made in that period from 1871-1918 sadly bore the seed for the next war to come.

      Delete