Battle of Torgau

Frederick the Great greets General Zieten after the Battle of Torgau. The fighting began in Silesia when an Austrian corps under General Loudon defeated a Prussian corps at Landeshut on 23 June 1760. The Austrians heavily outnumbered the Prussians, 34,000 men to 11,000. The Prussians were easily defeated, losing 10,000 men killed and captured. The […]

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HOHENFRIEDBERG – 3rd of June 1745

Battle of Hohenfriedberg, Attack of the Prussian Infantry , by Carl Röchling. Oil on canvas. HOHENFRIEDBERG, or HOHENFRIEDEBERG The battle gets its name from a village in Silesia about 6 miles from the small town of Striegau in the War of the Austrian Succession, the battle was fought on the 3rd of June 1745 between […]

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Battle of Hochkirch

Austrian forces attacking an encamped Prussian army at the Battle of Hochkirch, Saxony, Oct. 14, 1758, during the Seven Years’ War; painting by Johann Christoph Brand at the Museum of Military History, Vienna. Frederick turned his attention to the Austrians, marching into Saxony with elements of his army from Zorndorf. He met up with a […]

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Frederick II and a ‘Land Grab.’ II

Attack of the Prussian Infantry at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg by Carl Röchling Prague in 1744 This revival of Austrian fortunes was not to the liking of Frederick of Prussia at all. By the beginning of 1744 he was becomingly increasingly anxious that Britain and Austria might force a peace settlement on France that would […]

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Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf

Map of the battle of Gross-Jägersdorf on August 30 1757 Source: Kriege Friedrichs des Grossen, volume III by the German Grosser Generalstab The Russians were moving against the East Prussian province by the end of June. East Prussia, isolated from the main Prussian province of Brandenburg/Pomerania, had at its disposal only 32,000 troops under the […]

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Battle of Kay

The Battle of Kay (German: Schlacht bei Kay), also referred to as the Battle of Sulechów or Battle of Paltzig, was a battle fought on 23 July 1759 during the Seven Years’ War. It occurred near Kay (Kije) in the Neumark, now part of Poland. The Battle of Paltzig signified Russia’s emergence as a legitimate […]

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New Prussian patriotism, a remarkable manifestation

Frederick the Great The Prussian king’s audacity, his occasionally inspired military leadership, and his sheer dogged determination to survive against overwhelming odds turned him into a hero. In Prussia itself, support for Frederick II was extraordinary, and the King rapidly achieved a degree of personal popularity never experienced by any predecessor. The outbreak of the […]

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Rise of Prussia 1740

Frederick William I, the eccentric King who collected a private army of Giants. Prussia was also poorly endowed with economic resources. With the exception of the Westphalian territories – Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg – with their mixed and relatively prosperous agrarian economies and higher level of urbanization, the Hohenzollern lands were poor and backward, and […]

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RISE OF THE IRON KINGDOM II

Battle of Hohenfriedberg – Attack of Prussian Infantry, 4 June 1745, by Carl Röchling. In contrast to the absolutism of the kingly state, the territorial state was a state of definite limits. We have seen this to be the case in the composition and maintenance of its armies. The governments of territorial states were limited […]

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Battle at Züllichau I

The Battle of Kay (German: Schlacht bei Kay), also referred to as the Battle of Sulechów, Battle of Züllichau, or Battle of Paltzig, was an engagement fought on 23 July 1759 during the Seven Years’ War. It occurred near Kay (Kije) in the Neumark, now part of Poland. On July 17, 1759, General Count Christoph […]

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