The major battles of
Frederick the Great

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125miles

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Dresden

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Berlin

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Prague

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First Silesian War

Second Silesian War

Third Silesian War

War of the Austrian Succession

When Frederick became king, he faced vulnerably disconnected holdings with a weak economic base.^[55] To strengthen Prussia's position, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty had reigned as Holy Roman Emperors continuously since the 15th century.^[56] Thus, upon succeeding to the throne on 31 May 1740,^[57] Frederick declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Upon the death of Charles VI on 29 October 1740,^[58] Frederick disputed the 23-year-old Maria Theresa's right of succession to the Habsburg lands, while simultaneously asserting his own right to the Austrian province of Silesia based on a number of old, though ambiguous, Hohenzollern claims to parts of Silesia.^[59]

The First Silesian War (1740–1742, part of the War of the Austrian Succession) began on 16 December 1740 when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied almost all of Silesia within seven weeks.^[48] Though Frederick justified his occupation on dynastic grounds,^[60] the invasion of this militarily and politically vulnerable part of the Habsburg empire also had the potential to provide substantial long-term economic and strategic benefits.^[61] The occupation of Silesia added one of the most densely industrialised German regions to Frederick's kingdom and gave it control over the navigable Oder River.^[62] It nearly doubled Prussia's population and increased its territory by a third.^[63] It also prevented Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia.^[64]

In late March 1741, Frederick set out on campaign again to capture the few remaining fortresses within the province that were still holding out. He was surprised by the arrival of an Austrian army, which he fought at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741.^[65] Though Frederick had served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this was his first major battle in command of an army. Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. Believing his forces had been defeated, Frederick galloped away to avoid capture,^[66] leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin to lead the disciplined Prussian infantry to victory. Frederick would later admit to humiliation at his abdication of command^[67] and would state that Mollwitz was his school.^[68] Disappointed with the performance of his cavalry, whose training his father had neglected in favour of the infantry, Frederick spent much of his time in Silesia establishing a new doctrine for them.^[69]

Encouraged by Frederick's victory at Mollwitz, the French and their ally, the Electorate of Bavaria, entered the war against Austria in early September 1741 and marched on Prague.^[70] Meanwhile, Frederick, alongside other members of the League of Nymphenburg, sponsored the candidacy of his ally Charles of Bavaria to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. In late November, the Franco-Bavarian forces took Prague, and Charles was crowned King of Bohemia.^[71] Subsequently, he was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII on 24 January 1742. After the Austrians pulled their army out of Silesia to defend Bohemia, Frederick pursued them and blocked their path to Prague.^[72] The Austrians counter-attacked on 17 May 1742, initiating the Battle of Chotusitz. Frederick's retrained cavalry proved more effective than at Mollwitz,^[73] but once more it was the discipline of the Prussian infantry that won the field^[74] and allowed Frederick to claim a major victory.^[75] This victory, along with the Franco-Bavarian forces capturing Prague, forced the Austrians to seek peace. The terms of the Treaty of Breslau, negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County, with the Austrians retaining only the portion called Austrian or Czech Silesia.^[76]

By 1743, the Austrians had subdued Bavaria and driven the French out of Bohemia. Frederick strongly suspected Maria Theresa would resume war in an attempt to recover Silesia. Accordingly, he renewed his alliance with France and preemptively invaded Bohemia in August 1744, beginning the Second Silesian War.^[77] In late August 1744, Frederick's army had crossed the Bohemian frontier, marched directly to Prague, and laid siege to the city, which surrendered on 16 September 1744 after a three-day bombardment.^[78] Frederick's troops immediately continued marching into the heart of central Bohemia,^[67] but Saxony had now joined the war against Prussia.^[79] Although the combined Austrian and Saxon armies outnumbered Frederick's forces, they refused to directly engage with Frederick's army, harassing his supply lines instead. Frederick was forced to withdraw to Silesia as winter approached.^[80] In the interim, Frederick successfully claimed his inheritance to the minor territory of East Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany, occupying the territory after its last ruler died without issue in 1744.^[81]

In January 1745, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria died,^[82] taking Bavaria out of the war and allowing Maria Theresa's husband Francis of Lorraine to be eventually elected Holy Roman Emperor.^[83] Now able to focus solely on Frederick's army, the Austrians, who were reinforced by the Saxons, crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. After allowing them across,^[a] Frederick pinned them down and decisively defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June 1745.^[85] Frederick subsequently advanced into Bohemia and defeated a counterattack by the Austrians at the Battle of Soor.^[86] Frederick then turned toward Dresden when he learned the Saxons were preparing to march on Berlin. However, on 15 December 1745, Prussian forces under the command of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau soundly defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf.^[87] After linking up his army with Leopold's, Frederick occupied the Saxon capitol of Dresden, forcing the Saxon elector, Augustus III, to capitulate.^[88]

Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden, signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia.^[89] It was after the signing of the treaty that Frederick, then 33 years old, first became known as "the Great".^[90]

Seven Years' War

Though Frederick had withdrawn from the War of the Austrian Succession once Austria guaranteed his possession of Silesia,^[91] Austria remained embroiled in the war until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Less than a year after the treaty was signed, Maria Theresa was once more seeking allies, particularly Russia and France, to eventually renew the war with Prussia to regain Silesia.^[92] During the ten years of peace that followed the signing of the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick prepared to defend his claim on Silesia by further fortifying the province, expanding his army,^[93] and reorganising his finances.^[94]

In 1756, Frederick attempted to forestall Britain's financing of a Russian army on Prussia's border by negotiating an alliance with Britain at the Convention of Westminster, by which Prussia would protect Hanover against French attack, and Britain would no longer subsidise Russia. This treaty triggered the Diplomatic Revolution in which Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, who had been traditional enemies, allied together with Russia to defeat the Anglo-Prussian coalition.^[95] To strengthen his strategic position against this coalition,^[96] on 29 August 1756, Frederick's well-prepared army preemptively invaded Saxony.^[97] His invasion triggered the Third Silesian War and the larger Seven Years' War, both of which lasted until 1763. He quickly captured Dresden, besieged the trapped Saxon army in Pirna, and continued marching the remainder of his army toward North Bohemia, intending to winter there.^[98] At the Battle of Lobositz he claimed a close victory against an Austrian army that was aiming to relieve Pirna,^[99] but afterward withdrew his forces back to Saxony for the winter.^[100] When the Saxon forces in Pirna finally capitulated in October 1756, Frederick forcibly incorporated them into his own army.^[101] This action, along with his initial invasion of neutral Saxony, brought him widespread international criticism;^[102] but the conquest of Saxony provided him with significant financial, military, and strategic assets to sustain the war.^[103]

In the early spring of 1757, Frederick again invaded Bohemia.^[104] He was victorious against the Austrian army at the Battle of Prague on 6 May 1757, but his losses were so great he was unable to take the city, and settled for besieging it.^[105] On 18 June 1757, Frederick suffered his first major defeat at the Battle of Kolín,^[106] which forced him to abandon his invasion of Bohemia. When the French and the Austrians pursued him into Saxony and Silesia in the fall of 1757, Frederick defeated and repulsed a much larger Franco-Austrian army at the Battle of Rossbach^[107] and another Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen.^[108] Frederick hoped these two victories would force Austria to negotiate, but Maria Theresa was determined not to make peace until she had recovered Silesia.^[109] Despite its strong performance, the losses suffered from combat, disease and desertion had severely reduced the quality of the Prussian army.^[110]

In the remaining years of the war, Frederick faced a coalition of enemies including Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and the Holy Roman Empire,^[111] supported only by Britain and its allies Hesse, Brunswick, and Hanover.^[112] In 1758 Frederick once more took the initiative by invading Moravia. By May, he had laid siege to Olomouc, but the Austrians were able to hold the town and destroyed Frederick's supply train, forcing him to retreat into Silesia.^[113] In the meantime, the Russian army had advanced within 100 miles (160 km) east of Berlin. In August, he fought the Russian forces to a draw at the Battle of Zorndorf, in which nearly a third of Frederick's soldiers were casualties.^[114] He then headed south to face the Austrian army in Saxony. There, he was defeated at the Battle of Hochkirch on 14 October, although the Austrian forces were not able to exploit their victory.^[115]

During the 1759 campaign, the Austrian and Russian forces took the initiative, which they kept for the remainder of the war.^[116] They joined and advanced on Berlin. Frederick's army, which consisted of a substantial number of quickly recruited, half-trained soldiers,^[117] attempted to check them at the Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August, where he was defeated and his troops were routed.^[118] Almost half his army was destroyed, and Frederick almost became a casualty when a bullet smashed a snuffbox he was carrying.^[119] Nevertheless, the Austro-Russian forces hesitated and stopped their advance for the year, an event Frederick later called the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg".^[120] Frederick spent the remainder of the year in a futile attempt to manoeuvre the Austrians out of Saxony, where they had recaptured Dresden.^[121] His effort cost him further losses when his general Friedrich August von Finck capitulated at Maxen on 20 November.^[122]

At the beginning of 1760, the Austrians moved to retake Silesia, where Frederick defeated them at the Battle of Liegnitz on 15 August.^[123] The victory did not allow Frederick to regain the initiative or prevent Russian and Austrian troops from raiding Berlin in October to extort a ransom from the city.^[124] At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war.^[125] He won a marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November,^[126] which secured Berlin from further raids.^[127] Frederick became a casualty when he was hit in the chest by a spent bullet.^[128]

By 1761, both the Austrian and Prussian military forces were so exhausted that no major battles were fought between them. Frederick's position became even more desperate when Britain, having achieved victory in the American and Indian theatres of the war, ended its financial support for Prussia after the death of King George II, Frederick's uncle.^[129] The Russian forces also continued their advance, occupying Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. With the Russians slowly advancing towards Berlin, it looked as though Prussia was about to collapse.^[130] On 6 January 1762, Frederick wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies".^[131]

The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 led to the succession of the Prussophile Peter III, her German nephew, who was also the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.^[132] This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition; Peter immediately promised to end the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania. One of Peter III's first diplomatic endeavours was to seek a Prussian title; Frederick obliged. Peter III was so enamoured of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war against Austria, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia.^[133] More significantly, Russia's about-face from an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who hastily made peace with Frederick.^[134] With the threat to his eastern borders over, and France also seeking peace after its defeats by Britain, Frederick was able to fight the Austrians to a stalemate. While the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg returned the European borders to what they had been before the Seven Years' War, Frederick's ability to retain Silesia in spite of the odds earned Prussia admiration throughout the German-speaking territories. A year following the Treaty of Hubertusburg, Catherine the Great signed an eight-year alliance with Prussia, albeit with conditions that favoured the Russians.^[135]

Frederick's ultimate success came at a heavy financial cost to Prussia. Part of the burden was covered by the Anglo-Prussian Convention, which gave Frederick an annual £670,000 in British subsidies from 1758 until 1762.^[136] These subsidies ceased when Frederick allied with Peter III,^[137] partly because of the changed political situation^[138] and because of Britain's decreasing willingness to pay the sums Frederick wanted.^[139] Frederick also financed the war by devaluing the Prussian coin five times; debased coins were produced with the help of Leipzig mintmasters, Veitel Heine Ephraim, Daniel Itzig and Moses Isaacs.^[140] He also debased the coinage of Saxony and Poland.^[141] This helped Frederick cover over 20 per cent of the cost of the war, but at the price of causing massive inflation and economic upheaval throughout the region.^[142] Saxony, occupied by Prussia for most of the conflict, was left nearly destitute as a result.^[143] While Prussia lost no territory, the population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. The best of Frederick's officer corps were killed in the conflict. Although Frederick managed to bring his army up to 190,000 men by the time the economy had largely recovered in 1772, which made it the third-largest army in Europe, almost none of the officers in this army were veterans of his generation and the King's attitude towards them was extremely harsh.^[144] Frederick suffered a number of personal losses. Many of his closest friends and family members—including his brother Augustus William,^[145] his sister Wilhelmine, and his mother—had died while Frederick was engaged in the war.^[146]

First Partition of Poland

Thumb — Portrait of Frederick by Anna Dorothea Therbusch (1772, Palace of Versailles, France)

Frederick sought to acquire and economically exploit Polish Prussia as part of his wider aim of enriching his kingdom.^[147] As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that his country would benefit from annexing Polish territory,^[148] and had described Poland as an "artichoke, ready to be consumed leaf by leaf".^[149] By 1752, he had prepared the ground for the partition of Poland–Lithuania, aiming to achieve his goal of building a territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg, and his East Prussian provinces.^[150] The new territories would provide an increased tax base, manpower for the military, and serve as a surrogate for the overseas colonies of the other great powers.^[151]

Poland was vulnerable to partition due to poor governance and the interference of foreign powers in its internal affairs.^[152] Frederick himself was partly responsible for this weakness by opposing attempts at financial and political reform in Poland,^[147] and undermining the Polish economy by inflating its currency by his use of Polish coin dies. The profits exceeded 25 million thalers, twice the peacetime national budget of Prussia.^[153] He thwarted Polish efforts to create a stable economic system by building a customs fort at Marienwerder on the Vistula, Poland's major trade artery,^[147] and by bombarding Polish customs ports on the Vistula.^[154]

Frederick used Poland's religious dissension to keep the kingdom open to Prussian control.^[155] Poland was predominantly Roman Catholic, but approximately ten per cent of Poland's population, 600,000 Eastern Orthodox and 250,000 Protestants, were non-Catholic dissenters. During the 1760s, the dissenters' political importance was out of proportion to their numbers. Although dissenters still had substantial rights, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had increasingly been reducing their civic rights after a period of considerable religious and political freedom.^[156] Soon Protestants were barred from public offices and the Sejm (Polish Parliament).^[157] Frederick took advantage of this situation by becoming the protector of Protestant interests in Poland in the name of religious freedom.^[158] Frederick further opened Prussian control by signing an alliance with Catherine the Great who placed Stanisław August Poniatowski, a former lover and favourite, on the Polish throne.^[159]

After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities in 1769–1770, Frederick's representative in Saint Petersburg, his brother Prince Henry, convinced Frederick and Maria Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. They agreed to the First Partition of Poland in 1772 without war. Frederick acquired most of Royal Prussia, annexing 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi) and 600,000 inhabitants. Although Frederick's share of the partition was the smallest of the partitioning powers, the lands he acquired had roughly the same economic value as the others and had great strategic value.^[160] The newly created province of West Prussia connected East Prussia and Farther Pomerania, granted Prussia control of the mouth of the Vistula River, and cut off Poland's sea trade. Maria Theresa had only reluctantly agreed to the partition, to which Frederick sarcastically commented, "she cries, but she takes".^[161]

Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilising mission that emphasised the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways.^[162] He saw Polish Prussia as barbaric and uncivilised,^[163] describing the inhabitants as "slovenly Polish trash".^[164] His long-term goal was to remove the Poles through Germanisation, which included appropriating Polish Crown lands and monasteries,^[165] introducing a military draft, encouraging German settlement in the region, and implementing a tax policy that disproportionately impoverished Polish nobles.^[166]

War of the Bavarian Succession

Late in his life Frederick involved Prussia in the low-scale War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria.^[167] For their part, the Austrians tried to pressure the French to participate in the War of Bavarian Succession since there were guarantees under consideration related to the Peace of Westphalia, clauses which linked the Bourbon dynasty of France and the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty of Austria. Unfortunately for the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, the French court was unwilling to support him because they were already supporting the American revolutionaries in North America and the idea of an alliance with Austria had been unpopular in France since the end of the Seven Years' War.^[168] Frederick ended up as a beneficiary of the American Revolutionary War, as Austria was left more or less isolated.^[169]

Saxony and Russia, both of which had been Austria's allies in the Seven Years' War, were now allied with Prussia.^[170] Although Frederick was weary of war in his old age, he was determined not to allow Austrian dominance in German affairs.^[171] Frederick and Prince Henry marched the Prussian army into Bohemia to confront Joseph's army, but the two forces ultimately descended into a stalemate, largely living off the land and skirmishing.^[172] Frederick's longtime rival Maria Theresa, who was Joseph's mother and his co-ruler, did not want a new war with Prussia, and secretly sent messengers to Frederick to discuss peace negotiations.^[173] Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to enter the war on Frederick's side if peace was not negotiated, and Joseph reluctantly dropped his claim to Bavaria.^[174] When Joseph tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund (League of Princes), allowing himself to be seen as a defender of German liberties. To stop Joseph II's attempts to acquire Bavaria, Frederick enlisted the help of the Electors of Hanover and Saxony along with several other minor German princes. Perhaps even more significantly, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church, the Archbishop of Mainz, who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick and Prussia's standing amid the German states.^[175]