King, who, unshaken by the approaching peril, firmly stood his ground.
The Austrians gained an excellent general in the Livonian, Gideon
Laudon, whom Frederick had refused to take into his service on account
of his extreme ugliness, and who now exerted his utmost endeavors to
avenge the insult. The great Russian army, which had until now remained
an idle spectator of the war, also set itself in motion. Frederick
advanced in the spring of 1758 against Laudon, invaded Moravia, and
besieged Olmuetz, but without success; Laudon ceaselessly harassed his
troops and seized a convoy of three hundred wagons. The King was finally
compelled to retreat, the Russians, under Fermor, crossing the Oder,
murdering and burning on their route, converting Kuestrin, which refused
to yield, into a heap of rubbish, and threatening Berlin. They were met
by the enraged King at Zorndorf.
Although numerically but half as strong as the Russians, he succeeded in
beating them, but with the loss of eleven thousand of his men, the
Russians standing like walls. The battle was carried on with the
greatest fury on both sides; no quarter was given, and men were seen,
when mortally wounded, to seize each other with their teeth as they
rolled fighting on the ground. Some of the captured Cossacks were
presented by Frederick to some of his friends with the remark, "See with
what vagabonds I am reduced to fight!" He had scarcely recovered from
this bloody victory when he was again compelled to take the field
against the Austrians, who, under Daun and Laudon, had invaded Lusatia.
He for some time watched them without hazarding an engagement, under an
idea that they were themselves too cautious and timid to venture an
attack. He was, however, mistaken. The Austrians surprised his camp at
Hochkirch during the night of October 14th. The Prussians--the hussar
troop of the faithful Zieten, whose warnings had been neglected by the
King, alone excepted--slept, and were only roused by the roaring of
their own artillery, which Laudon had already seized and turned upon
their camp.
The excellent discipline of the Prussian soldiery, nevertheless, enabled
them, half naked as they were, and notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, to place themselves under arms, and the King, although with
immense loss, to make an orderly retreat. He lost nine thousand men,
many of his bravest officers, and upward of a hundred pieces of
artillery. The principal object of the Austrians, that of taking the
King prisoner or of annihilating his army at a blow, was, however,
frustrated. Frederick eluded the pursuit of the enemy and went straight
into Silesia, whence he drove the Austrian general, Harsch, who was
besieging Neisse, across the mountains into Bohemia. The approach of
winter put a stop to hostilities on both sides.
During this year Frederick received powerful aid from Ferdinand, Duke of
Brunswick, brother to Charles, the reigning Duke, who replaced
Cumberland in the command of the Hanoverians and Hessians, with great
ability covered the right flank of the Prussians, manoeuvred the
French, under their wretched general, Richelieu, who enriched himself
with the plunder of Halberstadt, across the Rhine, and defeated
Clermont, Richelieu's successor, at Crefeld. His nephew, the Crown
Prince Ferdinand, served under him with distinction.
Toward the conclusion of the campaign an army under Broglio again pushed
forward and succeeded in defeating the Prince von Ysenburg, who was to
have covered Hesse with seven thousand men at Sangerhausen; another body
of troops under Soubise also beat Count Oberg, on the Lutterberg. The
troops on both sides then withdrew into winter quarters. The French had,
during this campaign, also penetrated as far as East Friesland, whence
they were driven by the peasantry until Wurmser of Alsace made terms
with them and maintained the severest discipline among his troops.
The campaign of 1759 was opened with great caution by the allies. The
French reënforced the army opposed to the Duke of Brunswick, and
attacked him on two sides, Broglio from the Main, Contades from the
Lower Rhine. The Duke was pushed back upon Bergen, but nevertheless
gained a glorious victory over the united French leaders at Minden. His
nephew, the Crown Prince Ferdinand, also defeated another French army
under Brissac, on the same day, at Herford. The Imperial army, commanded
by its newly nominated leader, Charles of Wurtemberg, advanced, but was
attacked by the Crown Prince, while its commander was amusing himself at
a ball at Fulda, and ignominiously put to flight.
Frederick, although secure against danger from this quarter, was
threatened with still greater peril by the attempted junction of the
Russians and Austrians, who had at length discovered that the
advantages gained by Frederick had been mainly owing to the want of
unity in his opponents. The Russians under Soltikoff, accordingly,
approached the Oder. Frederick, at that time fully occupied with keeping
the main body of the Austrians under Daun at bay in Bohemia, had been
unable to hinder Laudon from advancing with twenty thousand men for the
purpose of forming a junction with the Russians. In this extremity he
commissioned the youthful general, Wedel, to use every exertion to
prevent the further advance of the Russians. Wedel was, however,
overwhelmed by the Russians near the village of Kay, and the junction
with Laudon took place.
Frederick now hastened in person to the scene of danger, leaving his
brother, Henry, to make head against Daun. On the banks of the Oder at
Kunersdorf, not far from Frankfort, the King attempted to obstruct the
passage of the enemy, in the hope of annihilating him by a bold
manoeuvre, which, however, failed, and he suffered the most terrible
defeat that took place on either side during this war (August 12, 1759).
He ordered his troops to storm a sand-mountain, bristling with
batteries, from the bottom of the valley of the Oder; they obeyed, but
were unable to advance through the deep sand, and were annihilated by
the enemy's fire. A ball struck the King, whose life was saved by the
circumstance of its coming in contact with an _étui_ in his waistcoat
pocket. He was obliged to be carried almost by force off the field when
all was lost. The poet Kleist, after storming three batteries and
crushing his right hand, took his sword in his left hand and fell while
attempting to carry a fourth.
Soltikoff, fortunately for the King, ceased his pursuit. The conduct of
the Russian generals was, throughout this war, often marked by
inconsistency. They sometimes left the natural ferocity of their
soldiery utterly unrestrained; at others, enforced strict discipline,
hesitated in their movements, or spared their opponent. The key to this
conduct was their dubious position with the Russian court. The Empress,
Elizabeth, continually instigated by her minister, Bestuzheff, against
Prussia, was in her dotage, was subject to daily fits of drunkenness,
and gave signs of approaching dissolution. Her nephew, Peter, the son of
her sister, Anna, and of Charles Frederick, Prince of Holstein-Gottorp,
the heir to the throne of Russia, was a profound admirer of the great
Prussian monarch, took him for his model, secretly corresponded with
him, became his spy at the Russian court, and made no secret of his
intention to enter into alliance with him on the death of the Empress.
The generals, fearful of rendering themselves obnoxious to the future
emperor, consequently showed great remissness in obeying Bestuzheff's
commands.
Frederick, however, although unharassed by the Russians, was still
doomed to suffer fresh mishaps. His brother, Henry, had, with great
prudence, cut off the magazines and convoys to Daun's rear, and had
consequently hampered his movements. The King was, notwithstanding,
discontented, and, unnecessarily fearing lest Daun might still succeed
in effecting a junction with Soltikoff and Laudon, recalled his brother,
and by so doing occasioned the very movement it was his object to
prevent. Daun advanced; and General Finck, whom Frederick had despatched
against him at the head of ten thousand men, fell into his hands. Shut
up in Maxen, and too weak to force its way through the enemy, the whole
corps was taken prisoner. Dresden also fell; Schmettau, the Prussian
commandant, had, up to this period, bravely held out, notwithstanding
the smallness of the garrison, but, dispirited by the constant
ill-success, he at length resolved at all events to save the military
chest, which contained three million dollars, and capitulated on a
promise of free egress. By this act he incurred the heavy displeasure of
his sovereign, who dismissed both him and Prince Henry.
Fortune, however, once more favored Frederick; Soltikoff separated his
troops from those of Austria and retraced his steps. The Russians always
consumed more than the other troops, and destroyed their means of
subsistence by their predatory habits. Austria vainly offered gold;
Soltikoff persisted in his intention and merely replied, "My men cannot
eat gold." Frederick was now enabled, by eluding the vigilance of the
Austrians, to throw himself upon Dresden, for the purpose of regaining a
position indispensable to him on account of its proximity to Bohemia,
Silesia, the Mere, and Saxony. His project, however, failed,
notwithstanding the terrible bombardment of the city, and he vented his
wrath at this discomfiture on the gallant regiment of Bernburg, which he
punished for its want of success by stripping it of every token of
military glory.
The constant want of ready money for the purpose of recruiting his army,
terribly thinned by the incessant warfare, compelled him to circulate a
false currency, the English subsidies no longer covering the expenses of
the war, and his own territory being occupied by the enemy. Saxony
consequently suffered, and was, owing to this necessity, completely
drained, the town council at Leipsic being, for instance, shut up in the
depth of winter without bedding, light, or firing, until it had voted a
contribution of eight tons of gold; the finest forests were cut down and
sold, etc.
Berlin meanwhile fell into the hands of the Russians, who, on this
occasion, behaved with humanity. General Todleben even ordered his men
to fire upon the allied troop, consisting of fifteen thousand Austrians,
under Lacy and Brentano, for attempting to infringe the terms of
capitulation by plundering the city. The Saxons destroyed the château of
Charlottenburg and the superb collection of antiques contained in it, an
irreparable loss to art, in revenge for the destruction of the palaces
of Bruhl by Frederick. No other treasures of art were carried away or
destroyed either by Frederick in Dresden or by his opponents in Berlin.
This campaign offered but a single pleasing feature: the unexpected
relief of Kolberg, who was hard pushed by the Russians in Pomerania, by
the Prussian hussars under General Werner.
Misfortune continued to pursue the King throughout the campaign of 1760.
Fouquet, one of his favorites, was, with eight thousand men, surprised
and taken prisoner by Laudon in the Giant Mountains near Landshut; the
mountain country was cruelly laid waste. The important fortress of Glatz
fell, and Breslau was besieged. This city was defended by General
Tauenzien, a man of great intrepidity. The celebrated Lessing was at
that time his secretary. With merely three thousand Prussians he
undertook the defence of the extensive city, within whose walls were
nineteen thousand Austrian prisoners.
He maintained himself until relieved by Frederick. The King hastened to
defend Silesia, for which Soltikoff's procrastination allowed him ample
opportunity. Daun had, it is true, succeeded in forming a junction with
Laudon at Liegnitz, but their camps were separate, and the two generals
were on bad terms. Frederick advanced close in their vicinity. An
attempt made by Laudon, during the night of August 15th, to repeat the
disaster of Hochkirch, was frustrated by the secret advance of the King
to his rencounter, and a brilliant victory was gained by the Prussians
over their most dangerous antagonist. The sound of the artillery being
carried by the wind in a contrary direction, the news of the action and
of its disastrous termination reached Daun simultaneously; at all
events, he put this circumstance forward as an excuse, on being, not
groundlessly, suspected of having betrayed Laudon from a motive of
jealousy. He retreated into Saxony. The regiment of Bernburg had greatly
distinguished itself in this engagement, and on its termination an old
subaltern officer stepped forward and demanded from the King the
restoration of its military badges, to which Frederick gratefully
acceded.
Scarcely, however, were Breslau relieved and Silesia delivered from
Laudon's wild hordes than his rear was again threatened by Daun, who had
fallen back upon the united Imperial army in Saxony and threatened to
form a junction with the Russians then stationed in his vicinity in the
Mere. Frederick, conscious of his utter inability to make head against
this overwhelming force, determined, at all risks, to bring Daun and the
Imperial army to a decisive engagement before their junction with the
Russians, and, accordingly, attacked them at Torgau. Before the
commencement of the action he earnestly addressed his officers and
solemnly prepared for death. Daun, naturally as anxious to evade an
engagement as Frederick was to hazard one, had, as at Collin, taken up
an extremely strong position, and received the Prussians with a
well-sustained fire.
A terrible havoc ensued; the battle raged with various fortune during
the whole of the day, and, notwithstanding the most heroic attempts, the
position was still uncarried at fall of night. The confusion had become
so general that Prussian fought with Prussian, whole regiments had
disbanded, and the King was wounded when Zieten, the gallant hussar
general, who had during the night cut his way through the Austrians, who
were in an equal state of disorder and had taken the heights, rushed
into his presence. Zieten had often excited the King's ridicule by his
practice of brandishing his sabre over his head in sign of the cross,
as an invocation for the aid of Heaven before making battle; but now,
deeply moved, he embraced his deliverer, whose work was seen at break of
day. The Austrians were in full retreat. This bloody action, by which
the Prussian monarchy was saved, took place on November 3, 1760.
George II, King of England, expired during this year. His grandson,
George III, the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, who had preceded his
father to the tomb, at first declared in favor of Prussia, and fresh
subsidies were voted to her monarch by the English Parliament, which at
the same time expressed "its deep admiration of his unshaken fortitude
and of the inexhaustible resources of his genius." Female influence,
however, erelong placed Lord Bute in Pitt's stead at the helm of state,
and the subsidies so urgently demanded by Prussia were withdrawn.
The Duke of Brunswick was, meanwhile, again victorious at Billinghausen
over the French, and covered the King on that side. On the other hand,
the junction of the Austrians with the Russians was effected in 1761;
the allied army amounted in all to one hundred thirty thousand men, and
Frederick's army, solely consisting of fifty thousand, would in all
probability have again been annihilated had he not secured himself
behind the fortress of Schweidnitz, in the strong position at
Bunzelwitz. Butterlin, the Russian general, was moreover little inclined
to come to an engagement on account of the illness of the Empress and
the favor with which Frederick was beheld by the successor to the
throne. It was in vain that Laudon exerted all the powers of eloquence;
the Russians remained in a state of inactivity and finally withdrew.
Laudon avenged himself by unexpectedly taking Schweidnitz under the eyes
of the King by a clever _coup-de-main_, and had not a heroic Prussian
artilleryman set fire to a powder-magazine, observing as he did so, "All
of ye shall not get into the town!" and blown himself with an immense
number of Austrians into the air, he would have made himself master of
this important stronghold almost without losing a man. Frederick
retreated upon Breslau.
The Empress Elizabeth expired in the ensuing year, 1762, and was
succeeded by Peter III, who instantly ranged himself on the side of
Prussia. Six months afterward he was assassinated, and his widow seized
the reins of government under the title of Catharine II. Frederick was
on the eve of giving battle to the Austrians at Reichenbach in Silesia,
and the Russians under Czernichef were under his command, when the news
arrived of the death of his friend and of the inimical disposition of
the new Empress, who sent Czernichef instant orders to abandon the
Prussian banner. Such was, however, Frederick's influence over the
Russian general that he preferred hazarding his head rather than abandon
the King at this critical conjuncture, and, deferring the publication of
the Empress' orders for three days, remained quietly within the camp.
Frederick meanwhile was not idle, and gained a complete victory over the
Austrians (July 21, 1762).
The attempt made by a Silesian nobleman, Baron Warkotsch, together with
a priest named Schmidt, secretly to carry off the King from his quarters
at Strehlen, failed. In the autumn Frederick besieged and took
Schweidnitz. The two most celebrated French engineers put their new
theories into practice on this occasion: Lefévre, for the Prussians
against the fortress; Griboval, for the Austrians engaged in its
defence. Frederick's good-fortune was shared by Prince Henry, who
defeated the Imperial troops at Freiburg in Saxony, and by Ferdinand of
Brunswick, who gained several petty advantages over the French,
defeating Soubise at Wilhelmsthal and the Saxons on the Lutterbach. The
spiritless war on this side was finally terminated during the course of
this year (1762) by a peace between England and France.
Goltz had at the same time instigated the Tartars in Southern Russia to
revolt, and was on the point of creating a diversion with fifty thousand
of them in Frederick's favor. Frederick, with a view of striking the
empire with terror, also despatched General Kleist into Franconia, with
a flying corps, which no sooner made its appearance in Nuremberg and
Bamberg than the whole of the South was seized with a general panic,
Charles, Duke of Wurtemberg, for instance, preparing for instant flight
from Stuttgard. Sturzebecher, a bold cornet of the Prussian hussars,
accompanied by a trumpeter and by five-and-twenty men, advanced as far
as Rothenburg on the Tauber, where, forcing his way through the city
gate, he demanded a contribution of eighty thousand dollars from the
town council. The citizens of this town, which had once so heroically
opposed the whole of Tilly's forces, were chased by a handful of hussars
into the Bockshorn, and were actually compelled to pay a fine of forty
thousand florins, with which the cornet scoffingly withdrew, carrying
off with him two of the town councillors as hostages. So deeply had the
citizens of the free towns of the empire at that time degenerated.
Frederick's opponents at length perceived the folly of carrying on war
without the remotest prospect of success. The necessary funds were,
moreover, wanting. France was weary of sacrificing herself for Austria.
Catharine of Russia, who had views upon Poland and Turkey, foresaw that
the aid of Prussia would be required in order to keep Austria in check,
and both cleverly and quickly entered into an understanding with her
late opponent. Austria was, consequently, also compelled to succumb. The
rest of the allied powers had no voice in the matter.
Peace was concluded at Hubertsburg, one of the royal Saxon residences,
February 15, 1763. Frederick retained possession of the whole of his
dominions. The machinations of his enemies had not only been completely
frustrated, but Prussia had issued from the Seven Years' War with
redoubled strength and glory; she had confirmed her power by her
victories, had rendered herself feared and respected, and had raised
herself from her station as one of the principal potentates of Germany
on a par with the great powers of Europe.
FREDERICK THE GREAT
The Russians entered Berlin the same day. It was agreed the citizens
should, by tax, raise the sum of two millions, which should be paid in
lieu of pillage. Generals Lacy and Czernichef were nevertheless tempted
to burn a part of the city; and something fatal might have happened had
it not been for the remonstrances of M. Verelst, the Dutch ambassador.
This worthy republican spoke to them of the rights of nations, and
depicted their fervidity in colors so fearful as to excite flame. Their
fury and vengeance turned on the royal palaces of Charlottenburg and
Schoenhausen, which were pillaged by the Cossacks and Saxons.
The rumor of the march of the King [Frederick] gained credit.
Information was received by Lacy and Czernichef that he intended to cut
off their retreat. This hastened their departure, and they retired on
October 12th. The Russians repassed the Oder at Frankfort and Schwedt;
and on the 15th Soltikoff marched toward Landsberg on the Warthe. Lacy
pillaged whatever he could find on his route, and in three days regained
Torgau. The Prince of Wurtemberg and Hulsen, embarrassed as to how to
act, had turned toward Coswig, and cantoned there for want of knowing
where to go.
At Gross-Morau the King heard these different accounts. As there were no
more Russians to combat, he was at liberty to direct all his efforts
against Saxony; therefore, instead of taking the route to Koepenick, he
took that of Lueben. Marshal Daun, however, had followed the King into
Lusatia. He then approached Torgau, and, as it was known that he had
left Laudon at Loewenberg, General Goltz had orders to return into
Silesia, to oppose the attempts of the Austrians with his utmost
abilities. On the 22d the army of the King arrived at Jessen. The troops
of the Prince de Deuxponts extended wholly along the left shore of the
Elbe. He and the greatest part of his forces were at Prata, opposite
Wittenberg; this fortress he evacuated as soon as the van of the
Prussians appeared near the town.
The sudden changes that had happened during this campaign required new
measures to be taken and other dispositions to be made. The Prussians
had not a single magazine in all Saxony. The army of the King existed
from day to day; he drew some little flour from Spandau, but this began
to fail; add to this, the enemy occupied all Saxony. Daun had arrived at
Torgau, the troops of the circles held the course of the Elbe, and the
Duke of Wurtemberg occupied the environs of Dessau. To free himself from
so many enemies, the King ordered Hulsen and the Prince of Wurtemberg to
march to Magdeburg, there to pass the Elbe, and escort the boats loaded
with flour which were to come to Dessau, where the King resolved to pass
the Elbe with the right of his army, and afterward join Hulsen.
In the principality of Halberstadt the Prince of Wurtemberg had a
rencounter with a detachment of the Duke, his brother, which was
entirely destroyed. The Duke returned with all speed through Merseburg
and Leipsic to Naumburg. The right of the King passed the Elbe on the
26th, and joined Hulsen and the Prince near Dessau. On this movement
the Prince de Deuxponts abandoned the banks of the Elbe, and retired
through Duben to Leipsic. He had left Ried in the rear, in a forest
between Oranienbaum and Kemberg, where this officer had taken post, with
little judgment; having garnished the woods with his hussars, and posted
his pandoors in the plain.
The van of the Prussians attacked Ried; his scattered troops were beaten
in detail and his corps almost destroyed. Of thirty-six hundred men he
could only assemble one thousand seven hundred, at Pretsch, to which
place he was driven after the action.
When the army of the King had obtained Kemberg, Zieten, who with the
left had stopped the enemy at Wittenberg, passed the Elbe and joined the
main army. Marshal Daun had, however, come up with Lacy at Torgau. As
certain information was received that his vanguard had taken the road to
Eulenburg, he could be supposed to have no other intention than that of
joining the army of the circles. On this the army marched to Duben, to
oppose a junction so prejudicial to the interests of the King.