Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War

by Herbert J. Redman

  29. Archenholtz, I, 142–143.

  30. Arneth, V, 263–264.

  31. Which Puebla was already carrying to the commanders.

  32. Cogniazzo, II, 430–431.

  33. Its substantial wall had four round corner towers.

  34. Pauli, III, 43–70; König, III, 341–347.

  35. Die Kriege, Part 3, VI, 32–39.

  36. Georg Heinrich Berenhorst, Betrachtungen über die Kriegskunst, three volumes (Leipzig: 1798–1799), II, 52. Long years after, Möllendorf would return to the scene of his triumph. This time as a Field-Marshal.

  37. Müller, Schlacht von Rossbach, 42; Thiebault, II, 256–259.

  38. Dorn, Infantry Regiments, 88.

  39. Showalter, 202.

  40. Duffy, Prussia’s Glory, 157–158.

  41. Die Kriege, Part 3, VI, 38–42.

  42. Dorn, Infantry Regiments, 24.

  43. Ibid., 32.

  44. Dorn, Cavalry Regiments, 30. Fifty-one men, including six officers, were lost and the attack was summarily broken off.

  45. Schaefer, I, 520–524.

  46. Interestingly, the Blumenthal biography fails to mention this latter action of Ziethen’s. Or the fact that Ziethen showed a curious lassitude that plagued him for days after the battle. So much so he had to be recalled to the main army and replaced by Fouquet on December 17.

  47. Duffy, A Military Life, 152–153.

  48. It is surprising that sleep could be had in the midst of a major battle by one probably unaccustomed to it.

  49. Whose owner, Baron Mudrach, perceived the person of Frederick approaching and went to meet him.

  50. Die Kriege, Part 3, VI, 66–69; Kutzen, Tag von Leuthen, 118–119; Waddington, I, 717–718; Dobson, 31.

  51. Jomini, I, 234.

  52. Duffy, Army of Maria Theresa, 187.

  Chapter 19

  1. Ritter, 115.

  2. In his history of the war, Frederick makes the less than surprising statement: “Had night not arrived, the battle would have been among the most decisive of the age” (Frederick II, Seven Years’ War, I, 206). In fact, Leuthen turned out to be among the most decisive of any age.

  3. Lloyd, I, 135; Akten des kriegserichts von 1758 wegen der capitulation von Breslau am 24. November 1757, Johann Friedrich von Katte, with Franz Wachler (Breslau: 1895).

  4. Complete History of the Present War, 236–237.

  5. Die Kriege, Part 3, VI, 67–69; Waddington, I, 721–723.

  6. This is hard to figure. How Nádasti could have been blamed in any way for the disaster. He kept his personal wits about him during Leuthen, no mean feat in itself considering this was the last military command he would ever hold (Tuttle, IV, 149).

  7. Maslovski, I, 158–159, 162–179; Die Kriege, Part 3, IV, 62–72.

  8. Lloyd, I, 141.

  9. Jany, II, 460.

  10. Sulicki, 64–73; 73–81; Geschichte Preussich-Schwedischen Krieges, 1757–1762, 11–14; Waddington, I, 746–748.

  11. Dorn, Cavalry Regiments, 140.

  12. Sulicki, 88–94.

  13. Tuttle, IV, 111–112.

  14. R. Nisbit Bain, 234–236.

  15. Ibid., 237–238.

  PART IV

  Chapter 20

  1. Retzow, I, 257–261; Bernhardi, I, 203–211; Seyfart, II, 409–414; Johannes Kunisch, ed., Bibliothek Deutscher Klassiker: Aufklärung und Kriegserfahrung (Frankfurt-on-Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1996), 141–192; Richard Waddington, La Guerre De Sept Ans: Histoire Diplomatique et Militaire, Crefeld et Zorndorf; Tome II (Paris: Libraire de Paris Firmin-Didot, 1904), 199–247.

  2. Savory, 52–58.

  3. Duffy, Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 170.

  4. Cogniazzo, II, 438–450; Artur Brabant, Das Heilige Römische Reich teutscher Nation im Kampfe mit Friedrich dem Groβen/2, Die Reichspolitik und der Feldzug in Kursachsen: 1758, (Berlin: Verlag von Gebruder Paetel, 1911), 13–23; Jomini, Traité, II, 6–18.

  5. Archenholtz, I, 149–154; Mitchell, Memoirs, I, 388–389.

  6. The layout of these troops is detailed in Helden Geschichte, V, 23–53.

  7. Rödenbeck, II, 340–455.

  8. Walter L. Dorn, Competition for Empire 1740–1763 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1940), 345–346.

  9. Karl W. Schweizer, Frederick the Great, William Pitt, and Lord Bute: The Anglo-Prussian Alliance, 1756–1763 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1991), 53.

  10. Savory, 39–41.

  11. Schweizer, 55.

  12. Ibid., 56.

  13. Schweizer, 56.

  14. Dorn, 319–320.

  15. Showalter, 192. Especially after the Battle of Rossbach.

  16. Savory, 66.

  17. Mitchell, Memoirs, I, 392.

  18. Dorn, 324.

  19. For instance, as of October, 1757, civil servants had their salaries suspended and most were forthwith given what amounted to I.O.U.’s in lieu thereof (Johnson, 165–166).

  20. Some of the details of “contributions” extracted from the Saxons in Huschberg, 405–409.

  21. Not an odd state of affairs for a Protestant monarch, if Frederick could be considered as such. (In fact, Saxony alone is said to have contributed at least “one-third of the total cost of the entire war [125 to 140 million talers]” (ibid., 170).

  22. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII: Olmütz und Crefeld, 41–42.

  23. Jomini, Treatise, I, 272–274.

  24. The prince had been recovering in Leipzig from his wound at Rossbach.

  25. Easum, 64–67.

  26. Schmitt, I, 48–59.

  27. Schaefer, II, 44–47.

  28. Tales, it might be worth adding, fostered by Prince Henry himself.

  29. Easum, 65.

  30. Schaefer, II, 37–40.

  31. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 20–22. Lehwaldt subsequently made his way to Berlin, there to help further the war effort. His chief further involvement was during the second Allied raid upon Berlin in late 1760. He died on November 16, 1768 in Königsberg, East Prussia (see König, II, 379).

  32. Frederick was compensating for the subsidy by appointing one of his best generals to the allied command.

  33. Savory, 59–62.

  34. Easum, 61–62.

  Chapter 21

  1. Reihe von Vorlesungen, II, 169–195; Jomini, Traité, II, 66–85.

  2. Complete History of the Present War, 260.

  3. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 26–30.

  4. Duffy, Instrument of War, 192–197. Pages 195 to 196 deal with the interesting issue of voluntary recruitment.

  5. Helden Geschichte, V, 54–62.

  6. The rest were sick, deserted, or otherwise unavailable.

  7. Tielke, IV, 57–100.

  8. Mitchell, Memoirs, II, 9–12.

  9. Lloyd, II, 2.

  10. Christopher Duffy, Fire & Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660–1860 (London: Greenhill Books, 1996), 79.

  11. Henri de Catt, Frederick the Great: The Memoirs of his Reader Henri de Catt (1758–1760), translated by F. S. Flint, two volumes (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1917): I, 41–42; Dobson, 50.

  12. Malleson, 65–67.

  13. Janko, 50–53.

  14. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 56–60.

  15. Jany, II, 480–481.

  16. Arneth, V, 355–356.

  17. Although, as we have observed, there was little that could be done.

  18. Archenholtz, I, 155. For Balbi’s short biography, see König, I, 95–96.

  19. Jomini, Treatise, I, 318–320.

  20. Tempelhof, II, 24–25.

  21. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 62–66. For Beneckendorf’s biography, consult König, I, 125.

  22. Lloyd, II, 2.

  23. Helden Geschichte, V, 62–64.

  24. Thadden, 340.

  25. Duffy, Instrument of War, 92.

  26. Henri de Catt, I, 81.

  27. Eduard von Sodenstern, Der Feldzug in Mähren: Oder die Belagerung und der Entsatz von Olmütz; zum Säcular-Gedächtnis von 1758 (Frankfurt-on
-Maine: 1858), 1–12.

  28. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 1–6.

  29. Maslovski, II, 39–44; Dobson, 45.

  30. Duffy, Military Life, 156–157; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 79–83.

  31. Tempelhof, II, 49–94.

  32. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 54–58; Sulicki, 82–106; Seyfart, II, 443–445.

  33. Kügler, 367.

  34. Showalter, 210.

  35. Arneth, V, 360–362; Reihe von Vorlesungen, II, 175–177; Jomini, Traité, II, 90–112.

  36. Janko, 52–55.

  37. Varnhagen von Ense, Jakob Keith, 205–206.

  38. Sodenstern, 15.

  39. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 66–76.

  40. Ibid., Part 3, VII, 56–60.

  41. Arneth, V, 354–357.

  42. Heinrich Köhler, Friedrichs mährischer Feldzug 1758, doctoral dissertation (Marburg: 1916), 52–54.

  43. Henri de Catt, I, 153–155.

  44. 1758: Olmütz and Hochkirch Journal of Horace St. Paul, edited by Neil Cogswell (Guisborough, England: Gralene Books, 2006), 38.

  45. Jany, II, 481–482.

  46. Asprey, 490; Showalter, 209–211; Retzow, I, 279–298; Complete History of the Present War, 261–265; Barsewisch, 59–62; Huschberg, 432–437; Cogniazzo, III, 9–12.

  47. Arneth, V, 364–365.

  48. Archenholtz, I, 155–156.

  49. Malleson, 67–68. For a biography of Möhring, see König, III, 50–51.

  50. Sodenstern, 97–104; Bernhardi, I, 230–237. For a biography of LeNoble, see König, III, 107–108.

  51. St. Paul, Olmütz, 41; Entick, III, 150–151; Henri de Catt, I, 182–183.

  52. Henry Lloyd, III, 10–11.

  53. Mitchell, Memoirs, II, 26.

  54. Horace St. Paul, Olmütz, 186–187; Gottlob Naumann, III, 402–466.

  55. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 71–80.

  56. Artur Brabant, 1758: The Campaign for the Liberation of Saxony, translated and edited by Alister Sharman and Neil Cogswell, two volumes (Buchholz, Germany: LTR-Verlag, 1998), I, 30; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 30–52.

  57. Brabant, 1758, Campaign for Liberation, 30.

  58. Prior to his Olmütz adventures, of course.

  59. Jany, II, 495.

  60. Schaefer, II, 73–78; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 90–97.

  61. Thadden, 344.

  62. Krsowitz, I, 114–119.

  63. Prussian expenditure in powder and shot can be demonstrated by the fact that upwards of 130,000 solid shot and bombs were hurled towards Olmütz during the course of the siege.

  64. Pauli, VIII, 57–74; König, III, 67.

  65. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 93–104, details the expedition; Dobson, 56.

  66. Who had risen rapidly through the ranks (Cogniazzo, III, 14–16).

  67. Köhler, 83–84.

  68. Arneth, V, 372; Tempelhof, II, 166–171; Sodenstern, 136–153; Janko, 55–60; Jomini, Treatise, I, 323–331, 334–348.

  69. Blumenthal, II, 403.

  70. Tempelhof, II, 89–90.

  71. Horace St. Paul, Olmütz, 56; Krsowitz, I, 120–121.

  72. Tempelhof, II, 90. No doubt an exaggeration; Entick, III, 149–156.

  73. Arneth, V, 373–379.

  74. Blumenthal, II, 399–400. For Unruh, see König, IV, 117–118.

  75. Arneth, V, 375–378.

  76. Lloyd, III, 52.

  77. Thadden, 345; Köhler, 87–92; Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 93–104.

  78. Tempelhof, II, 92; Jany, II, 484.

  79. Tempelhof, II, 92; Jomini, Traité, II, 121–133.

  Chapter 22

  1. De Ligne, Mélanges militaires, XIV, 113. Domstadl really reinvigorated the spirits of the Austrians.

  2. Snyder, 19–20.

  3. Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 87–93.

  4. Coull, 184.

  5. Huschberg, 444–446.

  6. Horace St. Paul, Olmütz, 61–62.

  7. Maslovski, II, 312–313. Not an unreasonable “request” under the circumstances.

  8. Schaefer, II, 12.

  9. Dieter Ernst Bangert, Die Russisch-Österreichische Militärische Zusammenarbeit im Siebenjährigen Kriege in den Jahren 1758–1759 (Boppard-on-Rhine: Harold Boldt Verlag, 1971), 52–54.

  10. Easum, 72.

  11. Varnhagen von Ense, Jakob Keith, 230.

  12. Retzow, I, 302.

  13. Thadden, 351.

  14. Brabant, 1758 Liberation of Saxony, 78–79; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 83–97.

  15. Brabant, 1758 Liberation of Saxony, 80.

  16. Brabant, 1758 Liberation of Saxony, 101; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 117–132.

  17. Easum, 82, footnote.

  18. Brabant, Liberation of Saxony, 104. A brief biographical entry on Choissignon is found at König, I, 321.

  19. Duffy, Instrument of War, 394–398. A biographical entry of Knobloch is in König, II, 307–310.

  20. Easum, 72–75.

  21. Jany, II, 496.

  22. Thadden, 351–352; Die Kriege, Part 3, VII, 104–112, 122–131; Brabant, Das Heilige, 1758, 138–162.

  23. Brabant, 1758 Liberation of Saxony, 126.

  24. ibid., 136.

  25. Varnhagen von Ense, Jakob Keith, 234–235.

  26. Jany, II, 496.

  27. Brabant, I. Liberation of Saxony, 177; Dobson, 63.

  28. Lloyd, III, 98.

  29. Entick, III, 342.

  30. Archenholtz, I, 179.

  31. Easum, 84.

  32. Arneth, V, 412–413; Jomini, Traité, II, 171–194.

  33. Lloyd, III, 100.

  34. Jomini, Treatise, I, 348–355.

  35. Die Kriege, Part 3, VIII: Zorndorf und Hochkirch, 90–104.

  36. Jany, II, 486–487, gives a more concise account of an important march by the King; towards his first personal encounter with the enemy from the east.

  37. Köhler, 38–39; Huschberg, 533–545.

  38. Jomini, Treatise, I, 381–383.

  39. Archenholtz, I, 162.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Johann Tielke, An Account of Some of the most Remarkable Events of the War Between the Prussians, Austrians and Russians from 1756–1763, translated by C. Craufurd and R. Craufurd, Vol. II (London: 1788), 78–79.

  42. Die Kriege, Part 3, VIII, 54–58; Sulicki, 82–85, 106–135.

  43. Hans von Held, Geschichte der drei Belagurungen Colbergs in Siebenjährigen Kriege (Berlin: 1847), 17–21.

  44. Huschberg, 547–552. For a biography of Malachovsky, see König, III, 4.

  45. Jomini, Treatise, I, 355–363.

  46. This second letter was to pop up again a year hence after another battle with the Russians.

  47. Die Kriege, Part 3, VIII, 90–99.

  Chapter 23

  1. Maslovski, II, 142–145; Jomini, Traité, II, 143–154.

  2. Lawley, 57–60.

  3. Die Kriege, Part 3, VIII, 76–85; Complete History of the Present War, 310–316.

  4. Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 86.

  5. Entick, III, 330–331; Rödenbeck, I, 347.

  6. Tielke, An Account, 134.

  7. Ibid., 140.

  8. Tielke, An Account, 142.

  9. Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 86.

  10. Duffy, A Military Life, 164.

  11. Ibid., 164.

  12. Bangert, 103–104.

  13. Asprey, 495.

  14. Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 86.

  15. Tielke, An Account, 151. This was largely because of a large number of attendants to the fighting forces, as well as the reputation of often destroying nearly everything in their path. Which was often deserved, we will admit.

  16. We can certainly get a glimpse of the contempt apparently felt for the Russians as the king would never deign approach an action with the Austrians without a recon.

  17. Frederick II, Seven Years’ War, I, 264.

  18. Duffy, Military Life, 164–165.

  19. Complete History of the Present War, 313–314.

  Chapter 24

&n
bsp; 1. Bangert, 77–116; Decker, 154–166; Showalter, 212–221; Huschberg, 549–559; Retzow, I, 305–329; Seyfart, II, 427–438; Helden Geschichte, V, 94–121; Reihe von Vorlesungen, II, 231–259; Bernhardi, I, 252–272; Tempelhof, II, 216–238; Tielke, II, 79–154; Waddington, II, 248–272; Dobson, 62.

  2. Entick, III, 332; Complete History of the Present War, 315–316. This was, apparently, General Otto von Schabberndorf (who died in 1721), a distinguished officer and a former commandant of Cüstrin (König, III, 361–370); and General Erdmann Ernst von Ruitz, who died December 27, 1756, early in the war (König, III, 332–334; Pauli, IV, 173).

  3. Lloyd, III, 82.

  4. Dorn, Die Schlachten, 100.

  5. Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 88–89; Tielke, An Account, 180.

  6. Pastor Täge, quoted in Duffy’s Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 197.

  7. Quoted in Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 88–89.

  8. William Fidian Reddaway, Frederick the Great and the Rise of Prussia (New York: Greenwood, 1969), 258.

  9. Duffy, Military Life, 166–167.

  10. Lawley, 65; Schaefer, II, 95. For Prince Moritz, see König, I, 39–47.

  11. Lloyd, III, 84.

  12. Archenholtz, I, 171.

  13. Archenholtz, I, 168–169.

  14. Colonel Arnsfeld, quoted in Lloyd, III, 83.

  15. Lloyd, III, 84.

  16. Archenholtz, I, 172.

  17. Schaefer, II, 97–98.

  18. Dohna’s 16th Infantry lost heavily at Zorndorf; 611 men and 21 officers (Dorn, Infantry Regiments, 48).

  19. Account of Colonel Arnsfeld, quoted in Lloyd, III, 83.

  20. Ibid., 78.

  21. Duffy, Russia’s Military Way, 91.

  22. Dorn, Infantry Regiments, 20. For a biography of Rautter, see König, III, 269.

  23. Ibid., 34.

  24. Helden Geschichte, V, 166. For a biography of George Friedrich von Kleist, see König, III, 284.

  25. Archenholtz, I, 174.

  26. Archenholtz, I, 175. Panin’s entire account of the battle has been preserved in Tielke, II, 172–182. It is found in the German language edition, but was left out of the Crauford translation known as An Account of some of Most Remarkable Events. The maps in the German edition are far better as well.

  27. Complete History of the Present War, 315–316. Dohna did not mince words for the commander of the Russian army. “[T]he king, having gained the battle … will not fail to give the necessary orders for burying the dead and taking care of the wounded of both sides,” was his reply to General Fermor. Dohna was very upset, as were many of the bluecoats, over the alleged atrocities of the Russians.