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Dybbøl

de: Düppel

Dybbøl (German: Düppel) is situated in South Jutland at the Bay of Flensburg just west of the narrow Als Sund, which separates the mainland from the Als island with Sønderborg. Dybbøl is part of the municipality of Sønderborg.

3819 Dybbøl Dybbøl had already been a battlefield during the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851), but became famous as the site of the decisive Battle of Dybbøl (Danish: Slaget ved Dybbøl; German: Schlacht bei den Düppeler Schanzen) during the Second War of Schleswig (1864) between Prussia and Denmark. After the Danish king Christian IX (who was also the Duke of Schleswig) formally annexed the Duchy of Schleswig in November of 1863, Prussian and Austrian troops invaded Jutland in January of 1864. The Dybbøl position was ill-prepared due to too much effort having been used on fortifying the Dannevirke. Dybbøl particularly lacked safe shelters in the forward line, but worse, the technological developments in artillery (particularly long-range rifled guns) had made the geography of the position unsuited for a lengthy defense. During the battle around 3,600 Danes and 1,200 Prussians were either killed, wounded or disappeared. The war ended with the Treaty of Vienna (1864) stipulating that Denmark had to cede the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg to Prussian and Austrian administration. One year later the Gastein Convention (signed in Munich, 1865) awarded Schleswig and Lauenburg to Prussia, and Holstein to Austria. However, Austria's decision to bring the question of Schleswig-Holstein to the Bundesversammlung, the parliament of the German 2394 Dybbøl Confederation in Frankfurt, prompted Prussia to move their troops from Schleswig into Holstein, which started the Austro-Prussian War (German War) of 1866, which after the Peace of Prague resulted in Austria losing Holstein to Prussia and Venetia to Italy. Prussia also annexed a number of Austrian's allies such as Hannover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Frankfurt, and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt. The Austrian Empire was transformed into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and the German Confederation was dissolved. Saxony, Saxe-Meiningen, Reuß-Greiz (Reuss Elder Line) and Schaumburg-Lippe were spared annexation but were forced to join the North German Confederation led by Prussia.

The Düppel monument [left, no. 3819, and right, no. 2394] was built by Prussia in 1872 on the Dybbøl hill, on the foundations of the Danish redoubt no. 4. The neo-Gothic monument had a height of 22 m. After World War I, a referendum in 1919/1920 decided that northern Schleswig (now Sønderjylland, southern Jutland) became part of Denmark. Plans to return the monument to Germany, however, were dismissed by the German side. The monument was finally blown up by unknown persons in 1945.


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