7_Weeks_War

7 Weeks War The Seven Weeks War, also known as the Austro-Prussian war, was a brief struggle between two rising European powers. On June 14, 1866 Austria and Prussia engaged each other in battle. Prussia received support from only a few small north German states in the country of Italy. Austria’s allies Saxony, Hanover, the Hesses, Bavaria, Baden, and Wurttenberg. This war was deliberately provoked by Otto von Bismark who was the prime minister of Prussia under King William I. King William ordered Bismark expel Austria from the German Confederation. William hoped this step would unify Germany under Prussian control. The German unification would loosely tie together the German states. Bismark used the Seven Weeks War as a part of his campaign to force Austria out of the German Confederation making Prussia the dominant power in Germany. Otto von Bismark had planed to arrange the unification of all the German states except for Austria and Switzerland, who were under Prussian control. To accomplish his objectives, Bismark went to war three times. The first of the three wars was The War Against Denmark. Bismark cleverly persuaded Austria to join Prussia in declaring war against Denmark 7, weeks, war, austria, battle, prussia, bismark, german, prussian, june, austrian, von, 1866, under, troops, treaty, took, holstein, germany, control, confederation, austrians, against, william, seven, place, italy, forced, force, commander, bohemia, two, states, schleswig, retreat