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The 18th century is considered one of the least inventive when it comes to warfare,
but even the times of stagnation have their heroes, and the King of Prussia Frederick II,
who would later be known as Frederick the Great, is considered the best general of this period.
In this video we will cover the first two Silesian wars and the battles of Mollwitz and Hohenfriedberg.
The Hohenzollern dynasty started from humble beginnings, but by 1415 took control of Brandenburg
and soon became electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1618 the Hohenzollerns added the duchy of Prussia to their holdings.
By the end of the 30 Years' War, Eastern Pomerania was conquered.
Sovereignty for Prussia was achieved during the Second Northern War.
In 1701, Frederick III allied with the Holy Roman Empire against France, and for that was allowed to make
Prussia a kingdom and was crowned as Frederick I.
Despite being the poorest state in Europe, Prussia was highly militarized
and had one of the biggest armies on the continent.
The Dukes of Austria from the Habsburg dynasty were first elected as the Holy Roman Emperors in 1440.
This family managed to be re-elected as the Emperors throughout the centuries
and their relatives ruled over a number of kingdoms.
However, the constant wars with the Ottomans and the devastation of the 30 Years War weakened the dynasty
and the French Bourbons used that to install their representatives in Spain and Naples.
Emperor Charles VI had no male heirs, and as women were not permitted
to be elected to the throne of the empire, in 1713 he issued a so-called Pragmatic Sanction
to secure the throne for his daughter, Maria Theresa.
In October of 1740, Charles passed away, and that sparked the War of the Austrian succession.
This was the first genuinely worldwide conflict with more than a dozen belligerents and battles all over the globe.
However, in this documentary we will focus on the first and the second Silesian Wars.
One of the first who decided to exploit Austrian weakness was the new King of Prussia, Frederick II.
In November of 1740, he started mobilizing his army, and in December issued an ultimatum to Maria Theresa
to cede the region of Silesia to Prussia in return for his acknowledgement of the Pragmatic Sanction.
Frederick's offer was refused almost immediately and his army entered Silesia in the middle of December.
By the end of January of 1741, the region, save for the
fortresses of Głogów, Brzeg, and Nysa was occupied by the Prussian forces.
The Austrian army under von Nyberg arrived in the area in February.
He attempted to use the fact that the Prussians were besieging the fortresses to strike against their centre.
The Austrians moved towards Brzeg and Nysa in late March, but Frederick
managed to avoid them and retreated towards Ohlau.
On April 9th, Nyberg and his 19,000 men camped near the village of Mollwitz,
modern-day Małujowice in Poland.
His troops were facing northeast as it was expected that Frederick's forces would be in this direction.
However, the Prussian King had made a maneuver on the 9th and ended up to the southeast of the Austrians.
On the 10th at sunrise, his 21,000 started forming up near the village of Neudorf.
Nyberg was surprised. His troops had to turn, which was very difficult for the line infantry of this period.
His second line was now in front, with the first in the back,
and his left flank was now on the right, and his right side on the left.
Both armies had cavalry on the flanks and artillery in the center.
The first significant battle in the career of Frederick II started at 1300 hours
with his artillery bombarding the Austrian left. The Austrians decided to counter-attack.
Their movement was concealed by the heavy snow, so
the charge of the Austrian left completely surprised the Prussian cavalry on the right.
The artillery battery on the right center was captured and the Prussian cavalry was forced to retreat.
Although Frederick attempted to restore his right flank, he failed and had to move to the center.
Two grenadiers battalions in the area mounted further resistance despite heavy losses, but also had to retreat.
It is said that Frederick's advisor convinced him to leave the battlefield at this stage to avoid being captured.
Meanwhile the Austrian cavalry tried to charge between
the infantry lines in the Prussian center to break the enemy formation, but one of the
grenadier battalions managed to move across and stop the charge with its bayonets.
More battalions managed to turn to the right, and by
1600 hours most of the Austrian left flank cavalry was decimated.
The Prussian infantry reformed and was ordered to attack. Due to the distance between the lines, the
Prussian Center reached the enemy only by 1800 hours.
Frederick's troops had superior weapons and training, and they were able to deliver 4 or 5 shots per minute
against 2 shots per minute from the Austrians.
Soon Nyberg's lines began to crumble. The Austrian right-side cavalry attempted to turn the battle by
attacking the Prussian infantry's left, but was counter-attacked by the Prussian left-wing cavalry.
By 1900 hours Nyberg had to order a retreat.
Although both sides had around 4,000 casualties, the battlefield belonged to the Prussians.
Frederick had won his first battle without actually commanding his troops.
The Austrian defeat at Mollwitz was crucial, as it encouraged
France, Bavaria, Spain, and Naples to join Prussia.
Frederick took Wroclaw in August and his allies occupied Praha in October.
The Prussian King was not keen on the complete destruction of Austria and his troops needed some rest.
As all of the goals of his campaign were fulfilled, in October, he signed a secret ceasefire.
The hostilities were renewed in the winter of 1742.
Although the new Austrian forces initially pushed Frederick back, in May he won a decisive battle
at Czaslau (Chotusitz), and that forced Austria to sue for peace and cede control of Silesia to Prussia in June.
The First Silesian War was over and that allowed the Austrians to
concentrate their forces on the French Bavarian troops.
In 1743 they pushed the enemy forces beyond the Rhine.
Frederick was sure that if Austria won the war, it would try to retake Silesia, so in August of 1744
he entered Bohemia without declaring war.
This took the Austrians by surprise.
They had no army in the immediate vicinity, and soon Praha fell to Frederick.
The Prussian King planned to attack Austria, but lack of food and the onset of disease slowed him down.
Around 50,000 Austrians were now in the area, and they were threatening his supply lines,
so the Prussians retreated. In early 1745, the Bavarians signed a separate peace with the Austrians, and the
latter were now able to focus on Frederick.
The Prussian King was now facing around 100,000 enemies with his 60,000.
In late May he started retreating towards Wroclaw.
The enemy was in pursuit, but as some of the Austrian units were slower, and there was a gap
between their armies, Frederick decided to pounce.
On the evening of the 3rd of June, the Austrians and Saxons led by Prince Charles Alexander
set up camp near Hohenfriedberg, modern-day Dobromierz in Poland.
Frederick had around 60,000 men against 70,000 foes.
The Prussian army had to cross the Striegau River to form up for the attack.
Advancing in the dark in organized columns was something unheard of in this period.
The Prussian right flank was leading the charge and General de Maulin commanded this mixed group of
grenadiers and light cavalry. The allies were surprised to see the troops of Frederick yet again.
Their forces attempted to form up in a line in front of the
villages of Pilgrimshain, Guntersdorf, Tomaswaldau, and Halbendorf, but this repositioning lacked coordination.
de Maulin's units encountered the allied cavalry in front of Pilgrimshain.
They were supported by two artillery battery and the Prussian right-wing cavalry.
The Prussians had the numbers in this location and soon started to gain the upper hand.
This attack allowed more infantry units to cross the river
and attack the Saxons between Pilgrimshain and Guntersdorf.
Soon the Saxon infantry was forced to retreat.
Part of Frederick's infantry attacks the Austrian infantry between Guntersdorf and Tomaswaldau head-on,
while the group that defeated the Saxon infantry turned around Guntersdorf from the left
and started firing on the Austrian infantry from the flank.
The Austrians were suffering heavy losses in the area.
However, the Prussian left was having a difficult time.
Its cavalry moved across the river, but the bridge collapsed behind it, and it initially received no
infantry support in its battle against the Allied right flank.
Fortunately for them, they were soon helped by the left center of the Prussian infantry.
The final breakthrough happened in the center.
Contrary to the usual strategy of the time, Frederick had his cavalry reserve in the center, and when the
hole opened up in the Austrian center, reserve dragoons managed to exploit it and break the enemy line.
These dragoons lost less than 100 men while taking more than 2,000 prisoners.
The Allied troops suffered 14,000 casualties while the Prussians lost 5,000.
The second Silesian war would continue for some time, but after Frederick won a few more battles,
the Austrians had to sue for peace. According to the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick acknowledged
Maria Theresa's husband Francis I as the Emperor and received Silesia in exchange.
Saxony had to pay Prussia 1 million Rixdollars (Reichsthalers) in reparations.
While victorious the Wars of Frederick the Great were just starting.
Thank you for watching our documentary on the battles of Mollwitz and Hohenfreidberg.
More wars of the 17th and 18th centuries
and the battles of Frederick the Great will be covered in the future depending on the popularity of this video.
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This is the Kings and Generals Channel, and we will catch you on the next one.