Fateful year 1864

1864 is one of the most eventful years in German-Danish history. Which nation was going to win the ownership of the duchies of Holstein, Lauenburg and Schleswig? Prussia and Austria wage a war with Denmark over this question, which they win in the end. By detaching Schleswig from the state of Denmark, the many Danish inhabitants become subjects of the Prussian king and are thus being separated from their motherland. The battle of Dybbøl claimed particularly heavy casualties: more than 700 Danish and 300 Prussian soldiers died at this Danish fortification alone. Standing at the Dybbøl redoubts today and looking out over the idyllic landscape around the Flensburg Fjord from the hill, it is hard to imagine what happened here in April of the fateful year 1864.