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of December, 1757, Marshal Daun and the Prince of Lorraine, who had sixty thousand admirable troops under their orders, and, by the skillful application of the oblique method of attack, defeated them entirely, with the loss of thirty thousand men, of whom eighteen thousand were prisoners! It was the greatest victory that had been gained in Europe since the battle of Blenheim. Its effects were immense the Austrians were driven headlong out of Silesia; Schweidnitz was regained; the King of Prussia, pursuing them, carried the war into Moravia, and laid siege to Olmutz; and England, awakening, at the voice of Chatham, from its unworthy slumber, refused to ratify the capitulation of Closterseven, resumed the war on the Continent with more vigor than ever, and intrusted its direction to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who soon rivaled Turenne in the skill and science of his method ical warfare.

Disasters sus

troops in other quarters, and victory of Zorndorf.

But it was the destiny of the King of Prussia-a destiny 45. which displayed his great qualities in their full lustained by his ter—to be perpetually involved in difficulties, from the enormous numerical preponderance of his enemies, or the misfortunes of the lieutenants to whom his subordinate armies were intrusted. Frederic could not be personally present every where at the same time; and wherever he was absent, disaster revealed the overwhelming superiority of the force by which he was assailed. The siege of Olmutz, commenced in March, 1758, proved unfortunate. The battering train at the disposal of the king was unequal to its reduction, and it became necessary to raise it on the approach of Daun with a formidable Austrian army. During this unsuccessful irruption into the south, the Russians had been making alarming progress in the northeast, where the feeble force opposed to them was wellnigh overwhelmed by their enormous superiority of numbers. Frederic led back the flower of his army from Olmutz, in Moravia, crossed all Silesia and Prussia, and encountered the sturdy barbarians at Zorndorf, defeating them with the loss of seventeen thousand

men, an advantage which delivered the eastern provinces of the monarchy from this formidable invasion. This victory was dearly purchased, however, by the sacrifice of ten thousand of his own best soldiers.

Frederic's de-.

But, during the king's absence, Prince Henry of Prussia, whom he had left in command of sixteen thousand 46. men, to keep Marshal Daun in check, was well- feat at Hohennigh overwhelmed by that able commander, who kirchen. was again at the head of an army of fifty thousand. Frederic flew back to his support, and, having joined his brother, took post at Hohenkirchen. The position was unfavorable ;

the army inferior to the enemy. "If Daun does not attack us here," said Marshal Keith, "he deserves to be hanged." "I hope," answered Frederic, "he will be more afraid of us than the rope." The Austrian veteran, however, saw his advantage, and attacked the Prussians during the night with such skill, that he threw them into momentary confusion, took one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, and drove them from their ground, with the loss of seven thousand men. Then it. was that the courage and genius of the king shone forth with their full luster. Though grievously wounded in the conflict, and after having seen his best generals fall around him, he rallied his troops at daybreak, formed them in good order behind the village which had been surprised, and led them leisurely to a position a mile from the field of conflict, where he offered battle to the enemy, who did not venture to accept it. Having remained two days in this position to reorganize his troops, he decamped, raised the siege of Neiss, and succeeded in taking up his winter quarters at Breslau, in the very middle of the province he had wrested from the enemy.

47. Terrible battle

The campaign of 1759 was still more perilous to Frederic; but, if possible, it displayed his extraordinary talents in still brighter colors. He began by observing the Austrians, under Daun and the Prince

of Cunnersdorf,

in which Fred

eric is defeated.

of Lorraine, in Silesia, and reserved his strength to combat the Russians, who were advancing, eighty thousand strong,

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through East Prussia. Frederic attacked them at Cunnersdorf, with forty thousand only, in an intrenched position, guarded by two hundred pieces of cannon. The first onset of the

Prussians was entirely successful: they forced the front line` of the Russian intrenchment, and took seventy-two pieces of cannon. The victory seemed gained: he wrote to Berlin that they might soon expect to hear of a glorious triumph. But the situation of the king was such, pressed on all sides by superior armies, that he could not stop short with ordinary success; and, in the attempt to gain a decisive victory, he had wellnigh lost all. The heroism of his troops was shattered against the strength of the second line of the Russians; a large body of Austrians came up to their support during the battle, and, after having exhausted all the resources of courage and genius, he was driven from the field with the loss of twenty thousand men and all his artillery.

The Russians lost eighteen thousand men in this terrible

misfortunes in

48. battle, the most bloody which had been fought Overwhelming for centuries in Europe, and were in no condition other quarters. to follow up their victory. Other misfortunes, however, in appearance overwhelming, succeeded each other. General Schmettau capitulated in Dresden; and General Finch, with seventeen thousand men, was obliged to lay down his arms in the defiles of the Bohemian mountains. All seem

ed lost; but the king still persevered, and the victory of Minden enabled Prince Ferdinand to detach twelve thousand men to his support. The Prussians nobly stood by their heroic sovereign in the hour of trial; new levies supplied the wide chasms in his ranks. Frederic's great skill averted all future disasters, and the campaign of 1759, the fourth of the war, concluded with the king still in possession of all his dominions in the midst of the enormous forces of his enemies.

49.

The campaign of 1760 began in March by another disaster at Landshech, where ten thousand Prussians were cut to pieces under one of his generals, and don at Lignetz. the important fortress of Glatz was invested by

Victory of Fred

eric over Lau

the Austrians. Frederic advanced to relieve it, but soon remeasured his steps to attempt the siege of Dresden. Daun, in his turn, followed him, and obliged the Prussian monarch to raise the siege. Frederic then resumed his march into Silesia, closely followed by three armies, each more numerous than his own, under Laudon, Daun, and Lacy, without their being able to obtain the slightest advantage over him. Laudon, the most active of them, attempted to surprise him; but Frederic was aware of his design, and received the attacking columns at Lignetz in so masterly a manner, that they were totally defeated, with the loss of twelve thousand men.

50. Dreadful battle,

and victory of

the Prussians

at Torgau. Driven to

Scarcely had he achieved this victory, when he had to make head against Lacy, withstand Daun, repel an enormous body of Russians, who were advancing through East Prussia, and deliver Berlin, which had been a second time occupied by his enemies. desperate measures by such an unparalleled succession of dangers, he extricated himself from them by the terrible battle and extraordinary victory of Torgau, on the 3d of November, 1761, in which, after a dreadful struggle, he defeated Daun, though intrenched to the teeth, with the loss of twenty-five thousand men: an advantage dearly purchased by the loss of eighteen thousand of his own brave soldiers. But this victory saved the Prussian monarchy: Daun, severely wounded in the battle, retired to Vienna; the army withdrew into Bohemia; two thirds of Saxony was regained by the Prussians; the Russians and Swedes retired; Berlin was delivered from the enemy; and the fifth campaign terminated with the unconquerable monarch still in possession of nearly his whole. dominions.

Desperate

The military strength of Prussia was now all but exhausted by the unparalleled and heroic efforts she had 51. made. Frederic has left us the following picture state of Prussia of the state of his kingdom and army at this dis- at this time. astrous period: "Our condition at that period can only be likened to that of a man riddled with balls, weakened by the

G G

loss of blood, and ready to sink under the weight of his sufferings. The noblesse was exhausted, the lower people ruined ; numbers of villages burned, many towns destroyed; a complete anarchy had overturned the whole order and police of government; in a word, desolation was universal. The army was in no better situation. Seventeen pitched battles had mowed down the flower of the officers and soldiers; the regiments were broken down, and composed in part of deserters and prisoners; order had disappeared, and discipline relaxed to such a degree, that the old infantry was little better than a body of newly-raised militia."* Necessity, not less than prudence, in these circumstances, which to any other man would have seemed desperate, prescribed a cautious defensive policy; and it is doubtful whether in it his greatness did not appear more conspicuous than in the bolder parts of his for

mer career.

52.

Operations in

The campaign of 1761 passed in skillful marches and countermarches, without his numerous enemies being the camp of able to obtain a single advantage, where the king commanded in person. He was now, literally

Bunzelwitz

in 1761.

speaking, assailed on all sides; the immense masses of the Austrians and Russians were converging to one point; and Frederic, who could not muster forty thousand men under his banners, found himself assailed by one hundred thousand allies, whom six campaigns had trained to perfection in the military art. It seemed impossible he could escape; yet he did so, and compelled his enemies to retire without gaining the slightest advantage over him. Taking post in an intrenched camp at Bunzelwitz, fortified with the utmost skill, defended with the utmost vigilance, he succeeded in maintaining himself and providing food for his troops for two months within cannonshot of the enormous masses of the Russians and Austrians, till want of provisions obliged them to separate. It has just come to this," said Frederic, "who will starve first ?" He made his enemies do so. Burning with shame, they were ▾▾ Histoire de mon Temps, par Frederic IV., p. 174.

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