As the war continued, the battlefield began to grow bloodier. After Prussia put on its first performance, the Austrian Empire also began to display the strength expected of a great power.
On the very next day, the Austrian army launched the large-scale Battle of Königgrätz. With a fierce offensive, they successfully pushed the front line close to Denmark's defensive works.
The Danish line immediately appeared to be hanging by a thread. If the other German states joined in as well, Denmark's defenses would likely face even greater difficulties.
Amid the smoke-shrouded battlefield, the German states continued increasing their heavy weaponry, and the number of artillery pieces kept rising.
Over a hundred cannons fired at once, intensifying the pressure on the Danish line. Firelight illuminated the night, while the weather began to worsen.
Yet the Danish positions clearly could not fully withstand such a powerful artillery assault. Their morale visibly declined beneath the baptism of shellfire.
Seeing the danger to the line and the possibility of being encircled, Danish General Commander General Meza had already begun considering abandoning the position.
On the fourth day, General Meza convened an emergency meeting. The Danish generals seated there all wore grave expressions.
The commanders of every unit complained about the hardships of the war. The enemy possessed overwhelming firepower and countless troops; their soldiers had not even made a move before incoming shells blew them apart and wounded them.
At the same time, they cursed the incompetence of their government. Not only had the British remained motionless, but the anticipated Nordic Allied Forces had also failed to materialize.
Denmark was now isolated and without aid. If they buried their troops here, they might as well surrender outright afterward.
"Enough. I did not call you here to listen to complaints. I know the predicament we face as well, but we have no road left to retreat!" General Meza rebuked them, then continued, "There are now two roads before us. The first is to hold the position to the death and fight the enemy to the bitter end."
Before his words had even faded, someone objected. "Fight to the bitter end? How? This place obviously cannot be held. Even if we doubled our numbers, we still could not do it."
The others immediately chimed in. Relying on this line of defense to hold fast was truly a hope as faint as a wisp.
General Meza looked at the noisy officers and soldiers under his command, his expression blank as he reprimanded them. "Enough! I did not call you here to quarrel. Do you have any bearing at all as soldiers? If quarreling could solve problems, then go quarrel with the enemy!"
The meeting hall immediately fell silent. Meza continued, "Now, the second option is to withdraw from the current fortifications, delay the enemy's advance, and seek out their weaknesses afterward. The time has come to choose. Speak."
At once, an officer said, "Commander, I believe retreating may still preserve a sliver of life. If we can later persuade the governments of other nations to intervene and send troops, we may still have a chance of victory. Blindly holding this place will surely lead us down a dead end."
Most of the officers nodded in agreement, but General Meza did not dare make the decision lightly.
"You make a good point, but retreat also carries risks. It is winter now, and weather alone presents a major problem: how can we ensure an orderly withdrawal? Still, we truly have no other choice. But after careful consideration, let us decide by vote!"
Afterward, General Meza had his subordinate generals vote anonymously. Mainly because Meza did not look favorably upon the course of the war, and at this moment he absolutely could not let anyone seize a handle against him.
By adopting the most democratic method, even if problems arose, he could later point to it as a collective decision.
Anonymous voting also cut off any future investigator's claim that he had manipulated the meeting or acted arbitrarily.
When the results were announced, retreating to preserve their remaining strength passed unanimously, without a single dissenting vote.
Thus, the Danes began retreating that very night. However, the severity of the weather still exceeded expectations, and the withdrawing Danish army encountered a blizzard.
The sudden blizzard threw the Danes' plans into disarray. Winter nights were already bitterly cold, but snowflakes suddenly began drifting from the sky. Then the icy wind, mixed with goose-feather snow, swiftly dyed the earth white.
The marching columns, linked into a single line, trod through the vast white snow and stretched into a black dragon. Yet that night, the moon hid behind dark clouds.
The troops had not lit any lamps, and all before their eyes was a murky blackness. Their boots sank into the snow, and gradually the white snow beneath their feet turned into black, muddy slush.
Without railways to assist them, the Danish army could only trudge long distances through the blizzard. Their depressed morale made the march even more difficult, and the ranks that had initially been neat and orderly slowly began slipping beyond their commanders' control.
The growing chaos unsettled the men's hearts. Curses gradually rose, mingling with the neighing of men and horses. The mules and horses also went on strike in the snow. Whips cracked and angry shouts intertwined in the night sky, grim and desolate amid the roaring wind and snow.
General Meza, stationed in the rear and not yet withdrawn, watched the blizzard outside the fortifications show no sign of weakening. His unease grew ever stronger, and dark clouds gathered thickly in his heart.
Yet an order once given could no longer be taken back. The main force had already been on the move for a long time, and naturally could not be halted halfway.
General Meza could only pray for the god of fate to bless Denmark. But from his face, so gloomy that not a drop of water could be squeezed from it, it was clear that his heart was far from calm.
The next morning, under the light of dawn, the Danish army began assessing its losses. Affected by the weather, large quantities of supplies and weapons had been left behind in the wind and snow, while the hasty retreat had also increased non-combat casualties.
There were also unlucky men who had become separated from the main force during the night, and they would likely find it difficult to gather again.
This was a far-from-ideal retreat, with losses that even rivaled those of a small battle.
Still, the Danish army completed its withdrawal at dawn on the sixth day, preserving most of its remaining strength and allowing the war to continue.
Poor General Meza still failed to escape blame. When news of the failed retreat reached the homeland, enraged civilians flooded the streets in protest, and Meza was removed from office for mishandling the withdrawal.
The Danish government still had no intention of surrendering and seeking peace. Although the front had temporarily suffered a setback, the main force remained, and they could still make one last gamble.
The remaining Danish troops withdrew to Flensburg and continued resisting the Allied Forces' offensive. The war went on.
Although the government had no intention of surrendering, its heart had turned cold as ice. The intervention they had expected from other nations had not arrived, and most hateful of all were the British and the Swedes.
Denmark was Britain's foothold for controlling the Baltic Sea, while Sweden and Denmark were even as interdependent as lips and teeth. Though they had old grievances with both countries stretching back through history.
But Denmark was no longer the little powerhouse that could stir the European situation with one hand. If the nations allowed Denmark to be defeated, Denmark's decline would only deepen.
The Danish government was already frantic as though fire had reached its eyebrows. Britain delayed its reply again and again, while the other nations simply watched them die without lifting a hand.
The Foreign Ministry had practically "moved into" the British Embassy, and Britain's minister to Denmark relayed the news back home in detail.
Yet Britain had still failed to reach a unified consensus internally. The royal family, government, and military wrestled with one another, but there was simply no concrete plan for deploying troops.
Britain could only send a message to its ambassador in Denmark: one word—"Delay." The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, actively ran between the nations of Northern Europe and the Russian Empire, but made no major progress.
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