The Long Way Home - 1864 the Dybøl Bank

After work today the sun was shining and still fairly high in the sky. A sign that spring is coming and we are transitioning out of the grey days of winter. Georg, my coworker, mentor and good mate suggest a long way home. "Cross over the intersection where you'd normally take the bridge home, down the hill out to the beaches. Stop and enjoy, then head north up to the Dybøl Bank" This is a battlefield famous because it is the site last battle between the Prussians and the Danes to decide the southern border between Denmark and the northern border of Germany. I hope to write more about this as I lean more but here is what I've absorbed from Georg's narratives:

In 1864 the last war between the Danes and the Prussians to decide the southern border of Denmark occurred in Sønderborg (or just north). The Prussians were the victors and the border between Denmark and Germany would be set somewhere in South Jutland (the area encompassing Sønderborg and other towns in the south of Denmark.) The battle was the result of an uprising of a German majority living in southern Denmark but was also supported by the Prussian Empire. 

Here is a compelling and timely thought: Georg has suggested that the idea of Nationalism was born around this time too. Before that the idea of a unified nation, a single people under one flag, did not really exist in Europe. Just large swaths of land grouped together by monarchies for tax purposes but essentially independent fiefdoms otherwise. The French Revolution might historically mark the birth of the Nation State, but Otto Van Bismark - first Chancellor Of Germay, orchestrated a series of wars in the 1860's to unify Germany and consolidate power.  (Thank you Wikipedia!) To put this period in historical context, 1864 was at the tale end of the Civl War in the United States.