Austro-Prussian rivalry

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Austria and Prussia were the most powerful German states in the Holy Roman Empire by the 18th and 19th centuries and had engaged in a struggle for supremacy among smaller German states. The rivalry was characterized by major territorial conflicts and economic, cultural, and political aspects. Therefore, the rivalry was an important element of the German question in the 19th century. The opponents first met in the Silesian Wars and Seven Years' War during the middle 18th century until the conflict's culmination in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. A closely related German term, Deutscher Dualismus (literally German dualism), refers not only to this rivalry but also to cooperation between Austria and Prussia, for example in the Napoleonic Wars. Indeed, the two powers did jointly dominate the German Confederation, which functioned only in times of cooperation (1815–1848 and 1851–1859). They also fought on the same side (against Denmark) in the Second Schleswig War (1864). After 1866 (North...

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