That marked the demise of the Hanoverian Army and the annexation of Hanover into the burgeoning Prussia, which systematically unified Germany into the modern nation state.

After declaring that he felt "trapped, like a fox indoors... [with] no choice but to bite my way out,"[1] the Kingdom of Prussia's Wilhelm I initiated the Austro-Prussian War to conquer and unite a majority of the German principalities.

King George V of Hanover believed he could negotiate independently with the Austrians and Prussians, which wasted time that could have been used to strengthen his forces by joining other German states.

In a show of Hanover's naïveté, George's Foreign Minister declared that Bismarck would never break the law that insisted on maintaining a six-week interval before invading another land.

Realising the vast size of the total Prussian force, George directed his 19,000 man army under General Alexander von Arentschildt to withdraw quickly and to march south to link up with Bavarian allies.

General Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian commander, also ordered Goeben to the north and, in turn, deployed Beyer to the Hanoverians' south, and Flies, with 9,000 troops, quickly marched around to the west.

[5] Moltke ordered Flies to hold fast and to intercept Hanoverians trying to break through westward as Falckenstein's force performed the main Prussian assault from the north.

Prussian medical personnel worked on the battlefield, wore the sign of the Red Cross on their arms and provided critical aid to wounded soldiers.