La Bataille de Prusse 1809

Prussia Nurtures Grievance Over Loss Of Anspach

The arrogance of the Prussians would be the source of their blindness as to their position versus the French; and that blindness would allow the French mastery of the battlefield in 1806 as it did in 1805. For example, during his visit to Dresden in March 1806 the Prussians communicated to Reeve, and that was confirmed by the Russians, that despite the Prussians being given Hannover, an English

possession and far more important than the tiny state of Anspach, the Prussians were still nursing grievances against the French for the Anspach surrender to the Bavarians. Prussia just would not accept the reordering of the hodgepodge that was the Holy Roman Empire in Central Germany to the Confederation of the Rhine. When Dr. Reeve visited Hamburg, as the last stop in his tour of Germany, he learned that the people of Hamburg did not like the Prussians and had no intention of following their leadership—the so-called crime of the Anspach breach of neutrality withstanding. In fact Hamburg was part of the French sphere of influence by choice till 1814. As late as a century later in 1914, Hamburg had strong reservations of a Prussian-led German empire. And many of the same reasons given for the French success over the Prussians in 1806 would replicate the reasons given for the French success over the Austrians and Russians in 1805. Austerlitz and Jena would represent the high point of the French success in Central Europe, but much of that success was the result of attitudes of Europeans as reported by Dr. Reeve.

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