GERMANY THE AGGRESSOR
They both, in spite of their vote, professed, not un-
naturally, an ardent wish to remain neutral in any
war that might ensue. Bismarck would not hear of
it. They were his predestined prey.
Everything on the Prussian side, indeed, was in
the last stage of perfect preparation. Roon had
brought the army to a high state of efficiency, and
had armed it with a new weapon, the breech-loading
* needle-gun,' which could fire three shots to every-
one of the old-fashioned Austrian muzzle-loaders.
Moltke in his office at Berlin had worked out a
masterly plan of campaign. All through the cam-
paign, too, he continued to direct operations by the
newly invented telegraph from his office. Not till the
decisive blow was to be struck did he leave his desk in
order to be present at the grand finale of Sadowa.
The Northern States, however, were the first to
feel the weight of the Prussian fist. Saxony was
invaded on June 15th; Hanover on the lyth; Hesse
on the 18th. Within a fortnight all three of them
were conquered and annexed. Then Prussia con-
centrated her forces on Bohemia. Three armies,
manoeuvred with consummate skill, shattered the
forces of the Austrians* southern allies, and then
converging on the main Austrian army of 222,000
men stationed between Sadowa and Koniggratz
pounded it to pieces (July 3rd 1866). By the end
of the month the war was over. It had indeed been
a Blitzkrieg. It had occupied just over six weeks.
198