Chapter 890 Schleswig
This put Kanitz in a bit of a dilemma, because he had tried not firing before, but the cost of hand-to-hand combat was too high.
Moreover, the people's will is surprisingly tenacious. If they really relied on bayonets, thousands of troops would be lost every day.
Soldiers are also human beings. They are not a group of puppets that can be manipulated at will. They also have tempers and resentments.
If this method of risking death is continued, deserters and disobedience on the battlefield will occur at best, and mutiny will occur at worst.
If civil unrest escalates to military unrest, the situation will become difficult to control. If the French had not had the support of the army, Louis XVI might not have been guillotined.
It was impossible for Kannitz to actually carry out William IV's orders, and of course it was impossible for him to directly disobey them.
So the Prussian Minister of War fell ill, and no one was willing to take his place at this critical moment.
In fact, this is easy to understand. No one wants to take the blame. The king said not to shoot, but how can we fight a war without shooting?
If the damage without shooting is too great, even if the king does not pursue the case, those soldiers will not let the successor go. If the shooting caused too many casualties, then His Majesty the King would most likely push him out to take the blame to appease the public's anger.
So everyone chose to remain silent, and Frederick William IV chose to compromise out of desperation.
The soldiers stopped attacking and began to collect the bodies and return to their camps. However, angry people once again took to the streets and dumped the body in front of the palace.
Flowers, coffins, mutilated corpses, angry people, ancient palaces, and the unsmiling soldiers in front of its doors outline a strong picture.
In the end, William IV could only come forward and read "To My Dear Berliners" in person. He felt very shameful, but this was the best solution at this time.
Later, William IV attended the funeral of the victims. He rode a horse with black, red and yellow ribbons on his body and personally apologized to the victims and the people of Berlin.
Black, red and yellow symbolized revolution in the German region at that time, the tricolor flag.
William IV said many strange things in public.
"I have colors that are not one of those colors, but I don't want a crown, and I don't want to rule.
What I want is German freedom and German unity. What I want is order! From today Prussia joins Germany! "
The people didn't understand, but they knew they had won because the king would convene the United Provinces Assembly to discuss constitutional matters.
But soon the German nationalists in Prussia made an even more exaggerated demand. They hoped that the king would fulfill his promise to unify Germany.
When the nationalist representatives in Berlin made this request to Wilhelm IV, the latter was startled, and he immediately thought of sending troops to Austria.
However, although Austria was at war on all sides at this time, it did not show any signs of fatigue, and it was difficult for Prussia to send troops to guarantee the reaction of Austria's allies.
But if we can really dismember Austria, the strongest opponent, in one battle, then it will be worth paying no matter how high the price is.
However, the Prussian nationalists did not want him to go to war with Austria, but demanded the recovery of the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein occupied by the Danes.
In fact, nationalism in the German region also affected Denmark, and Danish nationalists were even more extreme. They took advantage of the old king's critical illness and threatened to refuse to recognize the new king, forcing him to sign a new parliamentary law.
The new Parliamentary Law stipulates that the Parliament enjoys all political, military, judicial, financial and other powers. The new King Frederick VII was forced to accept all these and become the puppet of the Parliament.
Danish nationalists took control of the parliament, and in the king's name they demanded the annexation of the area north of the Eider River, Schleswig.
This aroused strong dissatisfaction among German nationalists, because according to the 1460 agreement, the Danish royal family was in charge of the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein on the premise that the two principalities would never be divided.
And although Schleswig is mainly Danish, there are also a large number of Germans living there.
The actions of the Danish Parliament were directly rebutted by the German nationalists, but these people suffered from the fact that they did not have strong enough arms.
At this time, William IV's surrender gave them hope, and Prussia was pushed to the forefront of the war with Denmark.
However, the Danish government is not all nationalists. Some of them are very clear-headed. At this time, the Kingdom of Denmark is no longer the Nordic hegemon it once was, and the German Confederation has demonstrated its strong strength and cohesion in many recent foreign wars.
This group of people felt that the Danish government should not provoke the German Confederation because the former had no chance of winning. Some even think that Denmark is doing well in the German Confederation and that Denmark should join this more promising organization as a whole.
However, the passion of Danish nationalists had not dissipated at this time. They overthrew this relatively conservative government with a grand demonstration.
It was replaced by the hard-line Oral Lehmann cabinet. On the one hand, they began to attack the domestic aristocracy, and on the other hand, they declared that Schleswig and Denmark were "unified" under a "common free constitution."
With the promulgation of the new Parliamentary Law, the confidence of the Danish nobility was severely hit, and no one dared to stand up against Oral Lehmann's actions.
At the same time, this representative figure of the hardliners is not just a reckless man. He knows very well that Denmark is still an agricultural country at this time. If he wants political stability and more support, he must win over farmers.
At this time, the Danish government issued a series of actions that were almost to please the peasants, which seriously affected the rights of the nobles, but they did gain the support of the peasants.
As soon as the conscription order of the government of Olar Lehmann was issued, the peasants participated enthusiastically, and the army of the Kingdom of Denmark instantly expanded from 20,000 to 80,000, but he still did not intend to solve the problem with force.
The Danes held a referendum in Schleswig, preparing to "legally" and "voluntarily" incorporate it into Denmark.
As a result, the German nobles in Kiel directly declared independence, and German nationalists in other states also donated money and materials, and even went directly to the battlefield.
The nationalists of the German Confederation passed a resolution to declare war on Denmark at the conference, and they assigned the Kingdom of Prussia and the Duchy of Hanover to fight the Danes.
As for why Austria was not allowed to send troops? They were just fanatical, not stupid. It was strange that Austria could send troops to fight Denmark at this time when it was in internal and external troubles.
And most importantly, there was no representative in the German Confederation who was qualified to represent Austria. At this time, the Austrian government had no representatives to Frankfurt due to internal and external troubles.
The civilian representatives of Austria looked down on each other, and they did not recognize that the other party could represent Austria.
So the nationalists of the German Confederation could only find Archduke John to make up the numbers temporarily. Although Archduke John was a celebrity of the Austrian royal family, he had given up his royal status long ago, so he could not actually represent Austria.
Frederick William IV did not take Denmark seriously at first. Although the latter temporarily recruited tens of thousands of peasants and patriotic youths to join the army, they should not have a chance of winning if they really fought against the regular army of Prussia.
However, what he did not know was that the Prussian army entered Denmark and triggered an international crisis.