The prelude to the second Danish-Prussian War 1864
 
 The Danish constitutional problem.  
The London Protocol established the absolutism should be continued in the duchies, although  Denmark had a democratic
 constitution in 1848. The Common constitution for the Danish United Monarchy (the Kingdom and the duchies) was
 supposed to ensure that the joint government affairs could continue to operate despite the different modes of government.
 But in 1858 did the German Federal Constitution abolished the common constitution  for Holstein and Lauenburg because
 these two duchies were members of the German federation. In the joint Danish-Schleswig-Holstein Government (the Realm
 Council) there were conflicts between the democratic politicians from Denmark who wanted reforms, and the nobles
 representatives of Holstein, who wanted a very conservative development.
 The liberal forces in Denmark therefore considered it more and more inevitable, that Holstein would be  
 separated from Denmark. Ultimately it was feared, that Holstein through its role in the Realm Council led to German
 interference in not only Schleswig, but also in Danish internal affairs. The liberal movement in Holstein was in fact of the same
 opinion, but they also wanted Schleswig to be detached, ending up with a united Schleswig-Holstein in the German
 Confederation.
 
 The November Constitution
 The Danisk government adopted shortly before Frederick the seventh's death in November 1863 the so called November
 Constitution. This Constitution replaced the former Common Constitution as it related to common affairs of Denmark and
 Schleswig, but not Holstein. Schleswig was now supposed to have its own Schleswig local government
 (Landtag), while Denmark continued with its own parliament. In that way it should be possible to govern without the Holstein
 representatives in the Realm Counsil, who were the reason that the Danish government was partly paralyzed. This
 immediately solved a constitutional problem, but broke the rules of the London Protocol from 1852. According to this, it was
 not possible to tie Schleswig  closer to the kingdom than Holstein.
 
 The National Tensions
 The November Constitution aroused strong opposition among the German-minded in not only the the duchies but throughout
 Germany. The German-national opinion now sensed an opportunity for revenge after the defeat in the first Danish Prussian
 War two years before. In the German parliament in Frankfurt there was arguments of liberating the duchies of dependence on
 Denmark and create a new German state of them.
 The German rebels  dream of a independent Schleswig-Holstein state had suffered defeat in the First War of 1848 to 1851. In
 Schleswig mood since then had been quiet, but angry and full of contradictions.
  In the 1850s the rules for the official use of language had been completed for the Central Schleswig, which meant that Danish
 should be the language in the schools in the areas, where people mainly spoke Danish. The language in the Churches
 alternated from time to time while the judiciary and the administration was bilingual. The northernmost part of Schleswig was
 still purely Danish language, and the southernmost part remained purely German language. The purpose was to halt the
 decline of the Danish language, but the reforms were introduced by the Danish Government without much debate. It caused
 many anger by many German-minded, as they for centuries had been accustomed to German as the dominant language. The
 German.minded saw  the language-laws as a attempts of "Danisation" and Danish oppression.
 Prussia's ambitious Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck was not interested in strengthening the  liberal forces in the German
 league with another state like an independent Schleswig-Holstein. He allied therefore with Austria, officially to press Denmark
 to comply with the London Agreements concerning the Duchies free position, but in practice, he was hoping to conquer
 Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia, as he later told in his memoirs. 

Otto von Bismarck

 The situation came to a head

 In the next two months secured the Prussian Chancellor Bismarck himself diplomatically that they potential alliance partners
 in Denmark, such as Sweden, Norway and England fell off. Denmark had simultaneously violated the agreements from 1851-
 52 on how it should relate to the duchies which gave the legal option of military intervention.
 Despite massive pressure from friendly powers, and despite the fact that Sweden rejected any plans for an alliance, Denmark
 did not withdrew its Danish-Schleswig constitution back.
 This implied that the German forces threatened to occupy Schleswig as a pledge, until the Constitution was given up and
 withdrawn. But despite this and despite the fact that the Hanoverian and Saxon troops actually already occupied Holstein and
 Lauenburg on December 23, Denmark did not change its object.
 On 16 January 16^th Prussia and Austria gave Denmark an ultimatum to withdraw the Constitution within 48 hours. It was
 actually quite unrealistic, since the timetable could not be reached and no
 attempt an extension of time was accepted.