In 1848, the First Schleswig War started, as Schleswig-Holstein was trying to separate from Denmark, and Denmark considered it a part of the country. The Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empire and the German Confederation, sent troops to support Schleswig-Holstein in its attempt to secede from Denmark, and become a part of the German Confederation. Wishing to defeat Denmark before German, Austrian, and Prussian troops arrived, 7,000 Schleswig-Holsteinian soldiers under General Krohn occupied Flensborg on March 31, 1848.