THE   DANISH   WAR
that he would have to move cautiously if he were
to avoid a premature clash with Austria, who would
certainly oppose a Prussian seizure; and also if he
were to escape a European war; for he knew that
Christian of Denmark had the warm sympathy of
Great Britain, France, and Russia. He acted with
consummate craft and skill. On the one hand, he
persuaded Austria to join Prussia in maintaining the
German cause against the Danes. On the other hand,
he conveyed to the Danish Government the false
information (which some injudicious words of
Palmerston seemed to confirm) that if the Danes
resisted they would certainly have the help of
Britain, and probably of France and Russia. The
Danes fell easily into the Bismarckian trap, and,
trusting in help from outside, which had never been
promised and which never came, they were speedily
overwhelmed by the combined Austro-Prussian
forces (Feb.-July 1864).
By the Treat}* of Vienna (October soth 1864)
the King of Denmark transferred all his rights in
Schleswig and Holstein to the Emperor of Austria
and the King of Prussia jointly. These two poten-
tates, then, had to decide what to do with their
booty. Bismarck had already settled the matter in
his own mind, but he could not say so. Hence
increasingly acrimonious debates took place between
Austrian and Prussian delegates, in which the Diet
and various European Powers joined. Finally, when