Battle of Dybbol

The location of the conflict between the newly united German Empire and its northern neighbor, Denmark, is not far from the location of the preceding article. The Danes had placed a great deal of faith in the Danewerk fortifications to protect their country until, in March 1864, the Prussian Army marched into the Jutland peninsula and destroyed them. The strongholds guarding Dyobbol were then invaded by 40,000 Prussian soldiers and 11,000 Danish soldiers. In support of their fortification, the Danes had the ironclad ship Rolf Krake, which was genuinely terrifying at the time because ironclads were new.

Danes were unfortunate since the Prussians also brought cutting-edge armament. They pounded the Danish defenses for weeks, even killing crew members of the Rolf Krake, and this was only two years after the renowned Merrimac and Monitor survived the American Civil War's thousands of artillery rounds with little damage. On April 18, the Prussians launched their assault and, in just 13 minutes, smashed through the Danish lines. It didn't take them much longer to destroy the enemy reserves' counterattack. In total, the Danish lost about 3,600 soldiers compared to about 1,300 Prussians.

The Combat of Dybbol is particularly important since it was the first battle since the infamous Geneva Convention from the year before where the Red Cross was present to monitor it for war crimes. They thus witnessed the triumph that gave Prussia the war and announced the rise of a German Empire that would cause significant problems for Europe in the following century.

Date: 7 April – 18 April 1864
Location: Dybbøl, Denmark
Result: Prussian victory