The silver medal of the Czech Mint weighing ten troy ounces commemorates the largest battle ever fought on the territory of the Czech lands, which took place at Hradec Králové.

In the 19th century, Central Europe was home to Prussia and Austria - two dominant powers vying for dominance over the entire region. Their long-standing disagreements escalated into open conflict and the "war of Germans against Germans" erupted in 1866. The Prussians rolling across the border pushed the Austrian forces as far as Hradec Králové, where a decisive battle took place on July 3. The two armies were fairly evenly matched, the Prussian army numbering 220,000, the combined Austro-Saxon army 215,000 men. The Prussians deployed modern rifles called breechloader or needle rifles, the Austrian side was abundantly helped by the dreaded artillery. However, one Prussian infantry division escaped the attention of the Austrians - it penetrated behind their lines into the Swib Forest and tied up several enemy divisions, allowing the Prussian army to move covertly into the Austrian rear. The Austrian counter-attack was unsuccessful and what was left of their army retreated. The losses were crushing, the battle was lost, and so was the war. Austria lost territory, but it also lost the status of a great power and the ability to influence events in Germany, which was united under the control of a victorious Prussia. The Hungarian political scene won the dualism over the weakened Austria, while the Czech political scene suffered a significant setback. However, the conflict eventually led, paradoxically, to a rapprochement between the two feuding monarchies - a rapprochement that brought them side by side into the First World War.

The two sides of the commemorative medal, which are artistically linked, were designed by academic sculptor Michal Vitanovský. The obverse side is dominated by the figures of an Austrian and a Prussian infantryman, separated by a deep gash. While the two men are clearly distinguished by their period uniforms, the bodies of the fallen beneath their feet are anonymous. "The Battle of Hradec Králové is one of those well-known not only in this country but also abroad. This is due, among other things, to the extraordinary numbers of soldiers deployed and, of course, the correspondingly high number of dead," says the author of the medal. The reverse side is then again divided by a barrier between the coats of arms of Austria and Prussia. Another motif on the reverse side are two firearms - a Prussian breechloader and an Austrian foregun. "According to some historians, the Prussian victory was due to modern rifles. The older Austrian rifles were more accurate, but their reloading was considerably slower. The fast cadence of the Prussian rifles massacred the hard-charging Austrian infantrymen by the hundreds," explains Michal Vitanovský, a lover and expert on Czech history.

The schedule of issuance has only 200 pieces of silver medals.