Frederic N. Maude and David Hannay

“ But the second line carried the survivors on, and in the nick of time Zieten’s cavalry drove the Austrian horsemen off the field and broke in on the flank and rear of their infantry. This turned the scale, and the Austrians retreated into Prague in hopeless confusion, leaving some 10,000 men (14·8%) on the ground, and 4275 prisoners, out of about 66,000, in their enemy's hands. The Prussians lost 11,740 men killed and wounded and 1560 prisoners, and in all 20·8% of their strength. ”

“ The complete ruin of French merchant shipping and the collapse of the navy left the maritime population free to seek a livelihood in the privateers. Commerce-destroying was carried on by them with considerable success. The number of British merchant ships taken has been put as high as one-tenth of the whole. But this percentage was the price paid for the enormous advantage gained by the ruin of the French as commercial rivals. The merchant shipping of Great Britain increased largely in the course of the war, and from it dates her commercial predominance. ”

“ As the king of Portugal refused to join the French and Spanish alliance, his country was invaded by a Spanish army. Great Britain supported her ally. A regiment of cavalry and seven battalions of foot were landed. They gained several small actions against the invaders, and had the most active share in the operations which forced them to retire. But the most effective blows delivered against Spain were directed at her colonies. The British troops, left free by the recent success against the French in America, were employed in an attack on Havana. ”

“ The Austrians, in spite of the advantage of a well-conceived surprise, lost 7590 men and were too shaken for pursuit. They fell back to their old camp, where they remained for a week, thus giving Frederick time to bring up reinforcements from Dresden (6000 men) and, starting on the 23rd, he marched right round the Austrian right and raised the siege of Neisse, the prime object with which he had set out. Daun, learning that the king had gone past him into Silesia, now laid siege to Dresden. ”

“ Dresden was occupied on the 10th of September, the Saxon army, about 14,000 strong, falling back before the invaders to the entrenched camp of Pirna, an almost inaccessible plateau parallel to the Elbe and close to the Bohemian frontier. The secret of the Prussian intentions had been so well kept that the Austrians were still widely disseminated in Bohemia and Moravia. ”

“ Learning of his approach, the king, taking with him all the men who could be spared from the investment and uniting all available detachments, moved to meet him with only 34,000 men,Kolin. and on the 18th of June he found Daun strongly entrenched. He immediately endeavoured to march past him and attack him on the right flank as at Prague, but the Austrian light troops harassed his columns so severely during the movement that without orders they wheeled up to drive them off and, being thus thrown into disarray, they took three divergent objectives. ”

“ Loudon at once seized Landeshut, and Fouqué, returning in response to urgent orders from the king, was attacked by Loudon with 31,000 men and almost destroyed. Meanwhile, Prince Henry had moved to Landsberg against the Russians, but failed to seize his opportunities and thus Silesia lay open to the Austrians. Frederick decided to march with his main body against Loudon and attack him if unsupported, but, if his movement induced Daun to move to Loudon’s support, then to double back and besiege Dresden. ”

“ During 1759 the French government, trusting that the multiplicity of the calls upon its fleet would compel Great Britain to scatter its naval forces, laid plans for a great invasion (for the details of this plan and its results, see Quiberon, Battle of) . But the British navy proved numerous enough not only to baffle invasion at home but to effect large conquests of French possessions abroad. In North America the co-operation of the navy rendered possible the capture of Quebec by Wolfe. In the West Indies, though an attack on Martinique was repulsed, Guadaloupe was taken in January. ”

“ In the east the king had barely 100,000 men against 300,000 Austrians and Russians. Leaving Prince Henry to observe Daun in Saxony he marched to join von der Goltz, who with 23,000 stood about Schweidnitz. The Russians (50,000) under Buturlin were approaching from Posen, and Loudon with 72,000 men starting from Glatz manœuvred to join them. After two months’ skirmishing and marching the Allies effected their junction between Liegnitz and Jauer, having completely severed Frederick’s communications with Prussia. ”

“ He had with him about 40,000 men. But Olmütz lay 90 m. from the Prussian frontier, and the Austrian light troops swarmed in the intervening district. Ultimately a great Prussian convoy was destroyed in the action of Domstädl, and the siege of Olmütz had to be raised (July 1st) ; but instead of marching back the way he had come Frederick led his troops through Bohemia practically in the rear of Daun’s army, and on the 14th of July entered Daun’s empty entrenchments at Koniggratz. Fermor’s Russians were now again in the field and had reached Posen, burning and plundering horribly. ”

“ For the moment, therefore, no danger threatened Frederick from this quarter, and Rossbach had effectually tamed the French. The Swedes, too, showed little energy, the “roadless” period affecting them equally with the Russians.
Frederick therefore resolved to seize the opportunity to renew his invasion of Austria. As a beginning he recaptured Schweidnitz in April with 5000 prisoners. The Austrian field army under Daun lay about Königgrätz, covering all the passes out of Silesia ”

“ On the 11th of October the king was in full march, but the news of his approach was enough and the enemy dispersed, the Austrians and Empire Army making for Torgau. Daun, relieved of Frederick’s pressure, now also moved to Torgau, leaving Loudon in Silesia, and had concentrated over 64,000 men at and around Torgau before Frederick had collected an attackingTorgau. force of 45,000. The position held by the Austrians was an entrenched camp fronting in all directions, but it was too cramped for their numbers and difficult to leave for a counter-stroke. ”

“ Early in April the king stood with 40,000 men, west of the Elbe near Meissen facing Daun, Prince Henry with 34,000 in Silesia from Crossen to Landeshut, 15,000 under Forcade and Jung-Stutterheim in Pomerania facing the Swedes and Russians. Towards the end of May Loudon moved to besiege Glatz, and Fouqué, who commanded at Landeshut, marched with 13,000 to cover Breslau. ”

“ Seeing that the same obstacle that prevented him from attacking the Russians prevented them equally from attacking him, the king marched right round Ferrnor’s eastern flank—the Russians gradually forming a fresh front to meet him—so that when the Prussian attack began on the morning of the 25th of August they stood in three irregular squares, divided from each other by marshy hollows, and thus unable to render one another support. The king made his first effort against the square on the right—Seydlitz with his squadrons covering theZorndorf. movement. ”

“ Campaign of 1757.—The Coalition had undertaken to provide 500,000 men against Prussia, but at the beginning of the year only 132,000 Austrians stood ready for action in northern Bohemia. Against these the king was organizing some 250,000, 45,000 of whom were paid for by British subsidies and disposed to cover Hanover from a Battle of Prague.French attack. After leaving detachments to guard his other frontiers, Frederick was able to take the field with nearly 150,000 men, but these also were scattered to guard a frontier some 200 m. ”

“ It is not only battles, the distinct and tangible military events, that make up the story of Frederick’s defence. There are countless marches and manœuvres, devoid of interest as regards their details ”

“ Covered by the low rolling hillocks of the district, the army now moved off to its right across the Austrian front, the advance led by Zieten and half the cavalry, the rear covered by Driessen with the remaining half—some 40 weak squadrons. The infantry having gained a position sufficiently on the Austrian flank, now wheeled into line and attacked inLeuthen. ”

“ See also C. B. Brackenbury, Frederick the Great; Bernhardi, Friedrich der Grosse als Feldherr (Berlin, 1881) ; biographies of Prince Henry, Zieten, Seydlitz, Maurice of Dessau, &c.; von Arneth, Maria Theresia und der Siebenjährige Krieg (Vienna, 1875) ; the older histories of the war by Tempelhoff, Archenholz and Lloyd; Jomini, Traité des grandes opérations militaires; Masslowski, Die russische Armee im 7 jähr. Kriege (Berlin, 1893) . The main authorities for Ferdinand’s Campaign are Westphalen, Feldzüge des Herzogs Ferdinand von Braunschweig, and J. W. Fortescue, Hist. British Army, vol. ii. ”