Bismarck had no part in the management of the army.  This the King always kept in his own hands.  He was himself Commander-in-Chief, and on all military questions he took the advice of his Minister of War and the chief of the staff.  When his power and influence in the State were greatest, Bismarck’s authority always ceased as soon as technical and military matters arose for consideration.  He often chafed at this limitation and even in a campaign was eager to offer his advice; there was soldier’s blood in his veins, and he would have liked himself to bear arms in the war.  At least he was able to be present on the field of battle with the King and witness part of the campaign.

With the King he left Berlin on June 30th to join the army in Bohemia.  Already the news had come of the capitulation of the Hanoverians; the whole of North-West Germany had been conquered in a week and the Prussian flank was secure.  The effect of these victories was soon seen:  his unpopularity was wiped out in blood.  Night by night as the bulletins arrived, crowds collected to cheer and applaud the Minister.

The King and his suite reached the army on July 1st; they were just in time to be present at the decisive battle.  At midnight on July 2d it was known that the Austrians were preparing to give battle near Koeniggraetz with the Elbe in their rear.  Early the next morning the King with Bismarck, Roon, and Moltke rode out and took up their positions on the hill of Dub, whence they could view what was to be the decisive battle in the history of Germany.  Here, after the lapse of more than a hundred years, they were completing the work which Frederick the Great had begun.  The battle was long and doubtful.  The army of Prince Frederick Charles attacked the Austrian division under the eyes of the King, but could make no advance against their powerful artillery.  They had to wait till the Crown Prince, who was many miles away, could come up and attack the right flank of the Austrians.  Hour after hour went by and the Crown Prince did not come; if he delayed longer the attack would fail and the Prussians be defeated.  We can easily imagine what must have been Bismarck’s thoughts during this crisis.  On the result depended his position, his reputation, perhaps his life; into those few hours was concentrated the struggle to which he had devoted so much of his lifetime, and yet he was quite helpless.  Success or failure did not depend on him.  It is the crudest trial to the statesman that he must see his best plans undone by the mistakes of the generals.  Bismarck often looked with anxiety at Moltke’s face to see whether he could read in it the result of the battle.  The King, too, was getting nervous.  Bismarck at last could stand it no longer; he rode up to Moltke, took out a cigar case, and offered it to the General; Moltke looked at the cigars carefully and took the best; “then I knew we were all right,” said Bismarck in telling this story.  It was after two when at last the cannon of the Crown Prince’s army came into action, and the Austrian army, attacked on two sides, was overthrown.