The so-called Seven Weeks' War of 1866 between Prussia and Italy and Austria was notable not only for its effect on future German history but also because it was the last time the armies of the smaller German states fought as independent contingents.

Forces from 30 smaller states were involved, and they were either of some strength or barely able to guard their rulers' palaces. They have largely been ignored in standard histories, and this book attempts to begin to redress that imbalance by presenting for the first time in English detailed information about the organisation of the armies of the smaller states.

States covered include: Anhalt, Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Brunswick, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Grand Ducal Hesse, Landgravial Hesse, Liechtenstein, Limburg, Lippe-Detmold, Lubeck, Luxembourg, The Mecklenburgs, Nassau, Oldenburg, The Reusses, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Waldeck, Wurttemberg.

An introduction places this information in context, and appendices give selected orders of battle and a chronology of the preliminaries and main events of the war in Germany.