Talk:Battle of Kolding (1849)

It's not correct that "At 6.30 the Prussians advanced in three columns." To be historically correct one should know that this battle was fought by Schleswig-Holstein army and only by them. This is connected to a game-changing aspect of the war. General Bonin was a Prussian officer although he commanded the Schleswig-Holsteiners. Schleswig-Holstein was supported by "Bundestruppen" (federal troops) in this war, which were mostly Prussians, but they were operating separately.

For political reasons the military conflict should be restricted to the territory of the duchies Holstein and Schleswig. But Kolding lay just at the border to Jutland. The part of Kolding north of the river was off limits. The conquest of Kolding was against the policy of England, Prussia, Russia etc. to keep the conflict a local one. It was an unauthorized action by colonel Zastrow to do so, he had only received the order "attac the Danes, throw them back to Kolding and conquer the southern suburb up to the bridge."

It was a gamechanger because it reinforced the pressure on the Prussian king to change this policy (and he did so in May). It was a gamechanger because the danes succeeded in luring the Schleswig-Holstein army further to the north of Jutland by retreating there. This led to a fragmentation of the German forces. And it was a gamechanger because the fragmentation made the Danish victory at Fredericia possible and so on. --M. Hammer-Kruse (talk) 21:20, 16 July 2024 (UTC)