If you enjoy random short facts about entertaining events in history you most certainly came
across this famous “did you know” post.
Which says that during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War Liechtenstein sided with Austria and went
to war with its military which was 80 men strong.
These 80 soldiers saw no action during this conflict and after it ended the 80 men returned
home with an extra 81st person who was said to be an Italian friend the soldiers made
during the war.
Hence, Liechtenstein's army arrived home stronger than it departed.
This was also the last war Lichtenstein participated in as it disbanded its army in 1868 and announced
permanent neutrality then on.
Now, is this story true?
Well if you have seen any of my other “well actually videos” you should know by now
that oftentimes these things are based in truth but not entirely true.
So let’s see where this one goes wrong.
In the latter half of the 19th century Lichtenstein was ruled by Johanne II Prince of Liechtenstein,
he was a fairly liberal ruler for his time and in 1862 even issued Lichtenstein’s first
constitution.
However also during this time he along with the entire Lichtenstein’s upper class had
very close ties to the Austria Empire meaning when the Austro-Prussian war started in 1866,
the Lichtenstein upper class was, let's say very strongly persuaded to join Austria.
This didn’t sit all too well with the Liechtenstein people who with their new constitutional government
heavily voiced their concerns, like, costs of going to war, the fact that they didn’t
want to fight against fellow Germans, and simply that no Liechtensteiner really felt
like dying in a war would be a pleasant experience.
So the Prince being pressured by Austria on one side and by his subjects on the other
had to do some clever political maneuvering.
First he assured the government that he will take on all the costs of the military campaign
(except the mobilization), second, he told his subjects that no Lichtensteiner will have
to fight against fellow Germans as the Liechtenstein army would be sent against the Italians (who
were supporting the Prussians in the war), and third, the military was technically under
the direct control of the Prince so in the end under the premise of defending Liechtenstein
against a plausible invading Italian army he went around the Lichtenstein’s government
and sent the Liechtenstein military to guard the Tyrol mountain passes with the Austrian
Tyrol infantry regiments.
This way Lichtenstein was practically helping out Austria, making them happy, but at the
same time as stated before the premise of Liechtenstein's military action was officially
defencive, meaning they technically never declared any war, making the Lichtensteainers
happy.
(At Least somewhat)
This combined with the fact that over the course of the 6 weeks from the Lichtenstein’s
army departure in July till the end of the war in September the Lichetnstein army never
actively fought anyone, means that as you can see on this map Lichtenstein is officially
considered as being neutral during the war.
It was never even mentioned in the Peace Treaty because despite their support of Austria,
Lichtenstein was never considered by Prussia as being at war with them.
So was the 1866 Austro-Prussian war the last war Lichetnstein was in, technically no, practically
I guess?
Ok, ok but what of the soldiers, where there truly just 80 soldiers that guarded the Tyrol
Pass?
Well the Lichetnstein military at the time had 82 men and 18 in reserve.
However according to this one source 2 men stayed behind to guard the barracks in Vaduz
castle.
Plus considering that the reserves most likely wouldn’t go to Tyrol means that actually
80 men participated in the war.
So that part is correct.
Lastly did the Lichetnstein soldiers actually come back with an Italian friend?
Well considering they went to Tyrol to defend against the Italians it would be very unlikely,
and in fact it didn’t happen.
However that’s not to say the soldiers didn’t come back with an extra person, they did.
A lieutenant of the Kaiserjäger, an Austrian Tyrol infantry regiment, accompanied the Liechtenstein
soldiers home as a military liaison.
Which would make sense because as mentioned before the Liechtenstein's army cooperated
with the Tyrol infantry regiment during the war.
Whether this Austrian lieutenant was their friend, I would like to think so but he most
likely returned back home to Austria after all was said and done.
Also the state administrator (Carl Haus von Hausen) and the advisor to the state and the
Prince Clemens Graf von Westphalen met up with the army on the Liechtenstein border
and entered Lichtenstein with them, so technically Lichtenstein army returned with 3 extra men.
However these 2 were Liechtensteiners or atleast people who worked for Liechtenstein just doing
their job so I wouldn’t really count it.
In the end Liechtenstein participated in the Austro Prussian war, kind of.
It had a military of 80 men, kind of.
It returned with an extra friend, kind of.
And 2 years after in 1868 it disbanded its army and declared permanent neutrality henceforth,
so the Austro Prussian war was the last Lichtenstein war, kind of.
online archives.
Without it this video wouldn’t be possible.
They're such a small country and their online archives are better than most countries.
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