REY . ME -AT-ARMS SERIES

•

. ;.:

.~-/"_, _ ~ J>....

ungartanrmy 0. the even

liarsText by ALBERT SEATON

Colourplatesby R.OTTENFELD

Published in 1973 byOsprey Publishing LId, P.O. Box 25,707 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire© Copyrighl J 973 Osprey Publishing LId

This book is copyrighted under the BerneConvention. All rights reserved. Apart from anyfair dealing for the purpose of private study,research, criticisrn or review, as pcrmillcd under theCopyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication maybe reproduced, stOred in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means electronic,electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photo­copying, recording or otherwise, without the priorpermission of the copyright owner. Enquiries shouldbe addressed 10 Ihe Publishers.

I n the preparation of this texL acknowledgment ismade to Die Osterreichische Annee by O. Teuber(Vienna 1895-19°4) and the History rif Hungary byD. Sinor (Allen & Unwin [959). All the photographsarc reproduced by courtesy of the Keeper, theLibrary of the Victoria and Albert Museum(Photographer Berkhamsted Photographic,Bcrkhamsted, Hen fordshi re).

ISBN 0 85045 149 3

Printed in Creat Britain.Monochrome by BAS Printers Limited,Wallop, Hampshire.Colour by Colour Reproductions Ltd.,Billericay.

The rUlitstro-:7fUngarian 'Mrmyofthe<Seven rears'J1Itr

lntrodu{tionAustro-Hungary of the eighteenth century em­braced numerous and diverse races, but the mainpolitical and ethnological components of the statewere formed from the Duchy of Austria and theold Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. Austriaformed in addition the anchor sheet ofthe GermanEmpire, its roots stretching back to Charlemagne'sHoly Roman Empire. The Austrians, Czechs andHungarians were of course separate peoples withno common origin or language.

rUlitstria andthe:HOly CJ?ezan empire

About two thousand years ago, the German

peoples, leaving their Scandinavian homeland,crossed the Baltic and the North Sea and settledon the coast of the mainland, from where theymade their way southwards up the Rhine to thesource of the Danube. Fro,m there two Germanictribes, the Cimbri and Teutoni, overran CelticGaul and invaded the Roman Empire in 109 B.C.,

being followed by successive waves of otherTeutan barbarians, among whom were Suebi,Goths, Franks, Saxons, Alemans, Vandals, Lom­bards and Burgundians. In Caesar's time theGermanic Vindelici had already conquered andsettled a large area south of the Danube, withtheir capital at Augsburg, stretching from Hel­vetia to what is now the Bavarian-Austrianfrontier.

In the fourth century A.D. the Roman EmperorConstantine removed his capital from Rome toByzantium and this eventually gave rise to theexistence of two Roman Empires, that in the eastcentred on Constantinople, and that in the westwith its capital remaining in Rome. Whereas theWestern Empire was shortlived, breaking up

fdd 10'\4 rsth~ II

Before Maria Theresa's reign there was neither a distinctiveuniform nor badges of rank for general officers. These illus­trate the first to be introduced, rank being shown by gold

ribbon in the waistcoat and coat; ranks shown are field­marshal, Ulajor-general, general and master-general ofordnance

3

under the Hunnish and Vandal invasions, theByzantine Empire was to endure for anotherthousand years.

The Christian Bishops of Rome, with theassistance of the Franks on whom they relied forprotection against the Germanic Lombards, hadmeanwhile become the political rulers of CentralItaly. In 768 Charlemagne, a German like hispredecessors, came to the Frankish throne andfor the next forty-three years dominated Europe,extending his own influence and that ofthe RomanChurch. The Frankish kingdom already coveredthe whole of Gaul and the Low Countries, thenorth German coast as far as Denmark, andCentral Germany, including what is now Bavariaand Upper Austria. In ceaseless and bloody warsagainst the North German Saxons, the Elbe Slavsand the Avar Kingdom on the middle Danube,Charlemagne pushed his frontiers eastwards asfaras the OdeI', the Bakony Forest (now Hungary)and the tongue of land between the Danube andthe Sava on which Belgrade now stands. Heannexed Slovenia, North and Central Italy,Corsica and a strip of borderland Spain as farsouth as Barcelona.

Before the end of the eighth century, Charle­magne regarded his domains as a revived RomanEmpire and he opened negotiations with Con­stantinople in order to obtain recognition forhimself as the Holy Roman Emperor in the West.In the autumn of800 Charlemagne went to Italyto reinstate in his office Pope Leo lIT, who hadbeen driven from Rome on a charge ofevil living.There on Christmas Day Charlemagne wascrowned Holy Roman Emperor by his vassal, Leo.

When Charlemagne died his Empire wasdivided among his sons and eventually becamethe Frankish and German kingdoms. Thereafterthe Holy Roman Empire disintegrated as apolitical entity under the invasions of the orse­men and the Hungarians. With the death in g'gof the last King of Germany directly descendedfrom Charlemagne, the Saxons and the Fran­conians elected Henry the Fowler, Duke ofSaxony,as King of the Germans. Henry's son, Otto theGreat, crossed the Alps in g6, to restore order tothe Roman Catholic Church, where the popeswere once mare in disrepute. He had himselfcrowned and demanded that henceforth no pope

4

should be consecrated until he had first taken anoath ofallegiance to the emperor. Otto the Great'sHoly Roman Empire differed from that ofCharlemagne since it includcd only Germany andNorth and Central Italy and had no claim onFrance or the borderland~of Spain.

Germany was developing very differently,however, from France and England in that itlacked the political unity usually assoeiated witha kingdom, for it was in fact no more than a col­lection of independent or semi-independent prin­cipalities and duehies, and the kingship itself wasstrictly elective. A son might follow his father asking if he had reason to maintain his claim, butthen only provided that the German prinees wcreassured that he would be no threat to their inde­pendence. In consequence the kings were guidedby their interests and thosc of their own duehiesrather than by wider national issues. Often thetitle was one without substance. The Kings ofGermany were the usual claimants of the Romanimperial title.

In the twelfth eentury Austria had been a tinyGerman duchy on the Danube to the east ofBavaria, hardly more than a hundred milcs across,developed from Avar territory overrun andresettled by Charlemagne as part of the easternfrontier marches or Ostmark. The ruling dukeshad originally come from Switzerland, taking theirname of Habsburg, so it is said, from their familyestates of Habichtsburg (Hawk's Castle) nearLake Lucerne. They extended their influence a.nddomains throughout the eastern border provincesof Carinthia, Carniola, the Tyrol and Austria,usually by advantageous marriages. In 1273Rudolf of Habsburg, Duke of Austria, wasunanimously elected to the titles of the HolyRoman Empire, mainly on account of his lack ofauthority, means and pretensions; fOf, in spite ofthe elective principle, the earlier HohenstaufenEmperors had in their time become very powerful.Under the first of the Habsburgs Germany and

orth Italy slipped back into anarchy and civilwar, prince against prince and town against town.

Because of its internal weakness, Germany, andwith it the Holy Roman Empire, began to moveslowly eastwards. For a powerful France tookadvantage of the German confusion and beganto annex the German territories of Flanders and

Equipment and arms of the border sharpshooler. The car.bine isa twin (upper and lower) barrelled fire--arm, one barrelbeing rifted and the other smooth. The pike is fitted with anaiming rest for the carbine

the Rhone Valley; with the passing ofgenerationsthe German inhabitants became Frenchmen.Meanwhile, as if in compensation, Germancrusading bishops and knightly orders werealready conquering the heathen-occupied terri­tories to the east, in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg,Prussia and Silesia, and were resettling newvillages and towns wi th German colonists.

The Golden Bull of '356 reaffirmed the systemof election to the crown of the Holy Roman Em­pire, vesting the right of election originally toseven of the great German princes, who thereafterbecame known as electors. Although from '440onwards it had become customary to elect aHabsburg to the throne, the electors wcre alwaysin a position to extort concessions in exchange fortheir vote and the Habsburgs had to grant sub­stantial monetary favours to ensure their ownelection. The expenses of the imperial crown,which was essentially a German and not an

Austrian institution, steadily rose while its powerdiminished, so that eventually it became merelyof a traditional prestige importance. Even thepapacy ceased to take an in terest in it.

Yet the real power of the Austrian Habsburgsrested on foundations outside the German HolyRoman Empire. For the Habsburg EmperorMaximilian had married Mary of Burgundy,joining both Burgundy and the Belgian and DutchNetherlands to his Austrian archduchy. Maxi­milian's and Mary's son, Philip the Fair ofBurgundy, married Joanna of Castile, heiress tothe whole of Spain, the Spanish New World inAmerica and the southern half of Italy. And soPhilip's eldest son, the Habsburg Holy RomanEmperor Charles V, inherited at the beginningof the sixteenth century a further empire, in­cluding Spain, Sardinia, Naples and Sicily,Milan, the Netherlands and Burgundy.

'Ihe Gmningoft/le:Hitngarians

No one knows with certainty from wherc theHungarians came, for their origin is outside theEuropean community of nations. Their Hun­garian language is Ugrian, akin to the dialectsspoken by the Ostiak and Vogul peoples ofWestern Siberia, and it is likely that the Hun­garians once formed part of these races or hadsuch prolonged contact with them that theirtongues developed similarly. Another indicationthat the Hungarian tribes once lived on thefrontier territories of Asia between the Volga andthe Urals, is that their language includes com­monplace words concerning livestock and agri.culture borrowed from the Chuvash, a Turkishpeople still living in the Volga Basin near Kazan.The Hungarians have certain affinities, too, withthe Turkish steppe tribes of southern Asia andthis probably accounts for the confusion in identi­fying their early contacts with Byzantium and

5

Western Europe. For they were often called Turk,Bashkir, Sabir and Onogur. The latter nameremained in constant usc, however, and it is bythis that the Hungarians are known to the westernworld today. The Hungarians call themselvesMagyar, originally the name, not of the people,but of one of the main Hungarian tribes.

A loose association ofHungarian tribes emergedas nomadic horsemen on the great steppe plainsin the south ofRussia. They were forced westwardsby the Turkish Pechenegs and, long before theend of the ninth century, had arrived in South­East Europe on the lower Danube. Leaving theirtemporary home between the lower Danube andthe Pruth, the original seven Hungarian tribes, inall probably about a quarter of a million people,under a newly-elected Hungarian chieftain,Arpad, moved into the lowland areas of what isnow Hungary.

Although ethnically far removed from the Avarsand the Huns who had preceded them, and theTartar Mongols who were yet to follow, theHungarians were much akin to those peoples intheir manners, customs and way of living. Evenin the middle of the twelfth century the Hun­garians still spent most of the year in tents,moving across the plains with great herds ofhorses seeking new pastures. They were a race ofhorsemen, and their light cavalry bowmenranged far and wide in search of adventure andplunder. They were regarded by German, Slavand Italian as ferocious Asiatics for they raidedand devastated Italy, plundering and burninggreat cities, and mounted annual campaignswhich took them through Bavaria, Saxony andThuringia as far west as Burgundy, the Rhone andthe Pyrenees. To the south they ventured to Romeand Naples; to the north to Bremen. At first, theGermans were no match for the Hungarianhorse, and Henry the Fowler, Duke ofSaxony andKing of Germany, had to pay tribute for nineyears before he felt strong enough to defy them.Eventually, in 955, Otto the Great met and des­troyed the Hungarian host at Lechfeld nearAugsburg.

Although Lechfeld put an end to the Hun­garian incursions into Western Europe it didnothing to ease the enmity between Magyar andGerman. Henccforth the Hungarians had to

6

A dragoon, c. 1770

combat German pressure and encroachment tothe east.

THE ETHNOLOGICAL ANDPOLITICAL COMPLEXITY OF

HU GARY AND BOHEMIA

The Hungarian kingdom was far from being anat.ional community, for it had admitted orconquered aliens who were never to be assimi­lated. The overrunning of Croatia and part ofDalmatia gave Hungary an outlet to the Adriatic,but it brought foreign peoples into the kingdom.In the north-east, along the Carpathians, part ofGalicia was seized, together with its Russian (nowUkrainian) and Polish inhabitants. Hungaryowes its multi-racial character principally, how­ever, to the Mongol-Tartar occupation of 1241­

1242, for the devastated and depopulated areas of

Central Hungary and Transylvania were resettledby Turkish Comans, Rumanian, German, Polishand Russian immigration. In Transylvania andSouth Hungary, in particular, these new popula­tions soon outnumbered the Hungarian hosts.Much later large Serbian populations wereadmitted.

In the north-west of Hungary lay the CzechKingdom of Bohemia, with its capital at Prague,together with the state of Moravia, the remnantof an ancient and larger kingdom with a mainlySlovak population, and the Slav province ofSilesia, inhabited principally by Sorbs and Polestogether with strong German colonies. Silesia hadoriginally belonged to Poland, but by the end ofthe fifteenth century it formed, together withMoravia, part of the Bohemian Kingdom, tem­porarily linked with Hungary under a commonmonarch.

With the death of the last of the Arpad dynastyin 1301, the Hungarian kingship had becomeelective. Over the last century or so there had beena change in the pattern ofHungarian society. Thetribal organization and nomadic habits had beenlost, and wealth and power were now based onthe ownership of land. With the creation of thebarons came a new nobility and attendant serf­dom. The first of the elected kings, Charles Robertof Anjou, set up the French feudal militaryorganization of the banderia, whereby each noblehad to furnish an armed contingent recruitedfrom his retainers and serfs. This was the fore­runner of the insu"ectio, Hungarian troopsraised by the nobility for the defence of the realm.

The crowns of Poland and Bohemia were simi­larly elective and the barons there, known as themagnates, were equally determined to preventany single family holding the throne by hereditaryright. The rule of strong monarchs, particularlyif they were kings of a Bohemian-Polish or Polish­Hungarian union, brought temporary stabilityand held in check the bitler rivalries of Hungary,Bohemia and Poland for the control ofSouth-EastEurope, a rivalry complicated by the effect of themulti-national colonization. Under weaker kingsthe powerful magnates brought their countriesto a state of anarchy.

The common people had been largely reducedto serfdom. Their situation in Hungary was par-

ticularly bad since the baron's diet of 1492 hadenacted that no peasan t jobbag)l could move hisresidence wi thou t the consent of his lord. Inaccordance with the T ripaTtiturn of 1515, thediet further decreed that no noble could bearrested before judgement, that the king could donothing detrimental to the noble's pcrson orproperty without legal proceedings, that no nobleshould pay any taxes or tolls and only in the caseof a defensive war had the noble any obligation ofmilitary service. The nobles were thus givenrights without duties; the jobbag)l on the otherhand fought for the king and paid for the wars.The situation continued to exist unchangedthroughout the eighteenth century.

Herberstein, the Holy Roman Emperor's am­bassador to Hungary, described the nobility of theperiod in unflattering terms, 'disunited, vain andarrogant, each seeking his own profit and livingon the fat of public property, corrupt, haughtyand proud, unable to command or to obey;unwilling to accept advice, working little butspending their time with feasting and intriguing'.

--"':=;.

'----A driver of the pontoon train, c. 1770

7

The ~stro-:Jiitngarian'lit/ion

In 1526 the Turkish Sultan Soliman II, havingalready taken Belgrade, advanced northwards upthe Danube Valley and destroyed the HungarianRoyal Army at Mohacs. There the HungarianKing, Louis II, lost his life. The detail of theTurkish occupation and the dynastic struggles inWest and Central Europe are complicated and ofno concern here. It suffices that the claimant ofthe Hungarian throne, Ferdinand Habsburg,Archduke of Austria and brother of the ImperialEmperor Charles V, unable to drive back theTurk, contrived to occupy and rule over only anarrow strip of Hungarian border territory in thewest and north. The Turkish Sultan, encouragedby French enmity to the Habsburgs, tookpossession of the remainder, first setting up a rivalHungarian king and then, finally, incorporatingit into the Ottoman Empire. Transylvania, undera Hungarian ruler or voivode, became a Turkishvassal state.

When the Habsburg Emperor Charles Vabdicated in 1556 he left his Spanish, Italian andNetherland possessions to his son, Philip II ofSpain (husband of Mary Tudor). His Austrianand German territories went to his brotherFerdinand, who succeeded as Holy RomanEmperor. The Austrian Habsburgs continued toprosper in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,however, becoming Kings of Bohemia, togetherwith Moravia and Silesia, and in 1699, when theTurks were finally driven off to the south, the!k facto rulers of Hungary and Transylvania.

Ferdinand I, the first Habsburg King ofHungary, had a Spanish mother and a Spanisheducation, and he understood no Hungarian. Theprovincial town of Pressburg (Pozsony), origin­ally selected as a capital since Buda was held bythe Turks, was too small to house the Hungarianroyal court and so Ferdinand dispensed wi th it,ruling his Austrian Archduchy and Hungarian

8

Kingdom from Vienna through the AustrianRoyal Council, the Hcifrat. Since the Hungariansstiffly refused to be represented on this Germaninstitution they had little say in major policy andnone in foreign affairs. As Kings of Hungary andBohemia, successive Austrian Habsburgs werealready head of a multi-lingual and multi­national state which had its roots in EasternEurope and the Balkans; it was impossible toreconcile the conflicting views and interests oftheir subjects. Yet, as Emperors of Germany andzealous Roman Catholics, the greater part ofHabsburg energies were directed northwardswhere German protestant princes, encouraged byFrance, Denmark and Sweden, were ready towage war against Austria, Bavaria and the papacyin defence of their religion and local liberties. Forone of the causes of the disastrous Thirty YearsWar in Germany (1618-1648) had been the rejec­tion by the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II ofthe provisions of the t 555 Treaty of Augsburg, acompromise whereby the religion ofany particularGerman state was to be determined by that of itsruler. For Ferdinand, intent on a Roman Catholicrevival, stifled protestantism in Austria andBohemia and wanted to enforce a similar policyon his neighbours.

A hussar in parade order. c. 1770

AUSTRO-HUNGAR Y IN THEEIGHTEENTH CENTURY

When Charles II, the last Habsburg monarch ofSpain, died in t 700 without an heir, he left hisdominions to Philip of Anjou, a grandson of theFrench monarch, Louis Bourbon. Fearing a unionof France and Spain under a common Bourbonmonarch, the Austrian Emperor formed theGrand Alliancc with England and Holland tofight what became known as the War of theSpanish Succession. The Austrian troops, underPrince Eugene, and Austria's allies under Marl­borough, won Blenheim in t 704 and invadedFrance and Spain. Mutual exhaustion ended thewar in l7 I 3, with the Peace of Utrecht. In EuropeAustria was the victor and Spain the loser. Forthe Habsburgs held Hungary, Croatia andTransylvania, the Austrian lands of Upper andLower Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, Tyrol, Breis­gau, Burgau, Moravia, Silesia and Bohemia; inaddition the Treaty of Utrecht gave them theBelgian Netherlands, Naples, Sardinia and Milan.More than a third of the German territory of theHoly Roman Empire was now ruled directly fromVienna. Austria ranked with France and Britainas one of the most powerful states in Europe.

Meanwhile, however, the relationship betweenAustria and Hungary had deteriorated once more,the Hungarian rebels under Rakoczi refusing to

recognize the Habsburg hereditary claim to thethrone of Hungary or the separation of Tran­sylvania from Hungary (it was now ruled directfrom Vienna). The Treaty ofSzatmar, which putan end to the rebellion but did little to alleviategrievances, coincided with the accession in 171 I

of the Emperor Charles VI (Charles III ofHungary).

In contrast to his predecessors, Charles showedmuch goodwill towards his non-Germanic sub­jects and in particular towards the Hungarians.Sincc Charles was the last surviving male memberof the Habsburg line hc required the acceptanceby the Hungarians and Bohemians of thc 17 I 3Pragmatic Sanction which extended the pro­visions of a former family agreement so thatCharles's daughters should become heirs to thethrone. This was eventually accepted and adefensive union was established between Austria,

,:..---

Green-coated light horse, the successors to the horse­grenadiers,c.1770

Bohemia and Hungary through the person of theEmperor. One of the most important measurespassed by the Hungarian Diet between 17 I 5 and1722 was the establishing of a common Austro­Hungarian standing army, since the Hungarianinsurrectio could hardly be called a trained anddisciplined force. Since the insurrectio, the almostfictional noble levy, theoretically remained inbeing as the national Hungarian army, conscriptsfor the Austro-Hungarian Army were, more oftenthan not, incorporated into the Germanic mili­tary organization of the Empire, mostly underGerman officers using German words of com­mand. Once again the Hungarian nobility wasexempted from taxation and military service andthe burden of filling the conscription and payingfor the new army resied on the jobbagy.

The policy-making body for the government ofHungary remained the Viennese Hofkammerruling through the Hungarian Chancellery, alsoin the Austrian capital, which was in effect theintermediary between king and nation. Its exe­cutive in Buda, known as the helytartotanacs, wasnominated by the king and had no connectionwith the diet, which was responsible only for thevoting of war taxes. The administration of thetaxes and all other financial questions were in thehands of the kamara which was answerable onlyto the Viennese Hofkammer.

9

Two more wars were fought against the Turksin 17.6 and '736. In the first, Temesvar in thesouth-east of Hungary was finally freed fromoccupation and Belgrade and the northernBalkans were taken by Austro-Hungarian troopsunder the leadership of the veteran PrinceEugene of Savoy. As a result of the second war,however, many of these former gains were lost.

~randenburg~russia

GhallengesrJlustriaAs Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI had his ownseparate machinery of German imperial govern­ment with a diet in Ratisbon representing themembers of the three colleges (cuTiae) of electors,princes and imperial cities, but these were merelydebating delegates from independent states. Forin spite of the fact that the .648 settlementrecognized only the territorial supremacy (Landes­hohei!) of the rulers, they still enjoyed undisputedand complete sovereignty. The diet concerneditself with little of importance and its decisionshad only marginal effect since there was no meansof forcing their implementation. There was nostanding imperial defence force, since the exist­ence of such an army depended on contributions.The empire was divided into ten regions or circlesbut across these administrative borders ran apatchwork of more than 300 sovereign Germanstates, large and small. The most important ofthese, in addition to Austria, were Bavaria,Saxony and Prussia.

Prussia had developed from the Electorate ofBrandenburg, increasing in area during theseventeenth century by the acquisition of Cleves,Mark and Ravensburg, East Pomerania, Halber­stadt, Minden and Magdeburg. Many of thesestates were scattered throughout Germany and itbecame the ambition of the Brandenburg Elec­tors to uni te them. The Elector also ownedPrussia (later known as East Prussia), lying to theeast of the Vistula outside the border of the Ger-

10

man Empire, the area of which was almost twothirds as great as that ofBrandenburg. From '70 I

onwards the Elector of Brandenburg was alsostyled the King of Prussia.

To King Frederick William I, the father ofFrederick the Great, Prussia owed its centralizedmilitary form of government, a large and welltrained army (Prussian contingents fought atBlenheim, Ramillies and Oudenarde), popularschools, an efficient civil service and a wellordered fiscal system. Under such a administra­tion the Prussian population grew up inured tohardship and glorifying in austerity, obedienceand duty. In spite of extensive immigrationschemes to attract West German and Dutchsettlers to open up the barren and sandy wastelandand reclaim the marshes (about twenty per centof the Prussian-Brandenburgers were such immi­grants), the total population of Prussia and all itsdependencies hardly numbered much more thanfour and a half million. The population of the

Hussar officer in undress uniform

territories of the Austrian Habsburgs was abouttwenty-five million, ten million within and fifteenmillion without the borders of the Empire.

Frederick William believed that Prussia mustexpand or stagnate and in 1728 he made an agree­ment with the Emperor Charles VI by which hewas to be guaranteed the West German Duchyof Berg on the death of its ruler, in return forPrussia's adherence to the Pragmatic Sanctionassuring the female succession to the Austrianpossessions. Spain and Russia were already signa­tories and Bri tain and France became addi tionalguarantors a few years later. After securingsignatures from the major European powers,Charles VI had misgivings about his earlier under­taking to support the transfer of Berg to Prussia.Frederick William, nursing a grievance, came to asecret understanding with France.

When Frederick the Great carne to the throneshortly afterwards he inherited both the agreementwith France and the Prussian hostility to Austria.

Gertnan infantry, a drummer, fusilier and a grenadier

A few months later, in October 1740, the EmperorCharles VI died and his daughter Maria Theresa,a young married woman of twenty-three years ofage, succeeded him.

Frederick immediatelyinvaded Austrian Silesia,and the war began between Prussia and Austriawhich was to become the struggle for the masteryof Germany. Unexpectedly, it was Hungary thatcame to Austria's aid.

'7he71itroft/le~strian~uccession

Frederick the Great was arbiter of his own fate,from the time ofhis accession accountable to none.In going to war he was certainly not entirelymotivated by spite against Austria; he mayormay not have wanted to cut a dashing figure onthe contemporary political scene, but primarilyhe was an opportunist guided by what he judgedto be Prussian interests, and the European fieldwas clear for ambition. He was untroubled anduninhibited by conscience, by a standard ofcommon decency or by any fellow feeling for hisbrother Germans outside of Prussia. He wasperfidious, irreligious and cynical; for him the endjustified the means. He rightly judged Austro­Hungary, in spite of it, size and large population,to be disunited and militarily weak, and he wascorrect in believing that the political climate inEurope was auspicious for an unprovoked attack.He was wrong, however, in his assessment of theenergy, strength and wisdom of the new Austrianruler, by far the most distinguished monarch theHabsburgs ever produced, and in the ferventsupport she was to receive, as Queen of Hungary,from the Hungarian people.

Frederick attacked Silesia because he wantedits rich territory. The province was contiguous toBrandenburg, and brought to him further politicaland strategic advantages in that it cut off theElector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland,from his territories in the east. Silesia outflanked

II

Western Poland, also coveted by Frederick.Anxious for a share in the spoils, France de­manded the Austrian Netherlands and Luxem­bourg while the Elector of Bavaria claimed theimperial crown. Franco-Bavarian troops invadedAustria and Bohemia, threatening Vienna andtaking Prague. England and Holland, as usual,sided against the French and sent an annualsubsidy to Vienna.

The War of the Austrian Succession, in so far asit concerns operations in Central Europe, em­braces what is usually referred to as the First andthe Second Silesian Wars.

Thefirst<Jilesian'Uitr

Before Frederick the Great entered Silesia he hadmade his preparations in the greatest of secrecy,cloaking all activity in the guise of a march to bemade to the wcst to secure the provinces ofJillich-Berg on thc Rhine, already promised to hisfather. In December 1740 the main body of the28,000 strong Prussian force crossed into Silesia;Frederick himself assumed full control and Countvon Schwerin, who had been commander-in­chiefup to this time, was relegated to the commandof a division. The hereditary Prince of Anhalt­Dessau (the Young Dessauer) was to follow fromBerlin with a further 12,000 men.

A month before, the Austrian force in Silesia,which had numbered barely 600 horse and 3,000

foot, was under the command of the militarygovernor, Count von Wallis, a soldier of Scottishdescent whose forbears had come to Austriagenerations before. Wallis had been surprised bythe outbreak of the new war and, having receivednei ther aid nor instructions from Vienna, pre­pared for siege the nearby town ofGlogau, said tobe the key to orth Silesia, with the only troopshe had readily to hand, about 1,000 men. Walliswas a man of energy and he had brought in fromthe surrounding countryside salt, meat and meal,

12

constructed trenches and palisades and burneddown the suburbs to create fields of fire. And yetwar was still conducted according to the peculiarmid-eighteenth century rules of Austrian formal­ism, for when Wallis proposed to blow up theProtestant church outside t.he town, 'in case thePrussians make a blockhouse out of it', the chiefProtestant burgher in Glogau pleaded againstthis action and was sent to Frederick by Wallis fora written undertaking that the church would notbe used by the military. This the King readilygave and the church was spared.

Meanwhile Wallis's deputy, a General Countvon Browne, a German-Irish Roman Catholicdescendant ofan exiled Jacobite, born in Basic in1705 and cousin of Field-Marshal Browne,Governor ofRiga in the Russian service, happenedto be in the south; he began to draw in detachedunits from Moravia and South Silesia untileventually he had concentrated 7,000 fool. But

A collection of hussar arms and accoutrements

many of these he dissipated, in accordance withthe military code at the time, by allocating themto fortresses and strongholds, keeping only 600

dragoons under his own hand. The sectionalinterests of the Silesian people proved recalcitrantand obstructive, and Browne was obliged toabandon Breslau, the capital, to its own devices.Wallis sent a messenger to Frederick warning himthat if he attacked Glogau 'it would be mostresolutely defended'; so the King, having in­spected the defences from afar, marched on,leaving the Young Dessauer to mask the townwith part of the reserve 'but not attack'. ThePrussian force marched on in two columns,Frederick with the larger and Schwerin with the

smaller, the town of Liegnitz being taken bySchwerin by a CQUp de main. Browne and hiselusive flying cavalry column had not been idle,for he visited and encouraged his numerousgarrisons and detachments. The first of these, only260 stout-hearted Austrian grenadiers at Ott­machau on the Neisse, held out against Frederickfor three days before being reduced by bombard­ment. Von Roth, the Austrian commander atNeisse, held out successfully so that Frederickhad to be content with another masking blockadeas at Glogau and Brieg. The rest ofSilesia had forthe time being been overrun by Prussian troopsso that Browne was forced to withdraw intoMoravia.

100 200, 'Illilu

AND

n._._.JJ .\-. }

l.,... rl. ....j

,,,,,,';

\>

oD

SEA

NORTH

Barcelona

FRANCE

____ HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE BOUNDARY

~ PRUSSIA~ BRANDENBURG

lIIIIIIIIIIIl HABSBURG LANDS If~' i~l OTTOMAN EMPIRE

EUROPE in 1740

13

Frederick, who had returned to Berlin expect­ing to hear from diplomatic channels that the warwas won, learned, to his chagrin, thal the Aus~

trians were mobilizing in earnesl. He set outalmost immediately for Silesia. There Browne andLentulus had established themselves in Glatz andwere infiltrating regular and irregular troops backinto Silesia. About 600 men had forced their waythrough the blockading Prussians and reinforcedthe Austrian garrison at Neisse. The Silesian roadsand backwoods had become infested with irregu­lars, both foot and horse, principally Hungarianand Serbo-Croat pandours (a corruption frombanderia) and Magyar hussars. These latter werenot necessarily part of the regular forces sincethey were, more often than not, irregular lighthorse or part of the insurrectio enlisted for thepurpose.

In Prussian eyes the pandour-hussars were in­disciplined predators, but they gave endlesstrouble, cutting off detachments and murderingthe wounded. Indeed, they wcre so bold thatscores of them would hang about the Prussianencampments in broad daylight, just outsidemusket range, watching and reporting all move­ment and activity. They were no match againstdisciplined Prussian infantry, but so great was theself-esteem of the Magyar horsemen, that theywere not afraid to attack Prussian cavalry. At onetime they put to flight a squadron of SchulenburgDragoons which served as the royal escort, andthe King of Prussia himself was nearly taken. Thepandours were excellent in collecting informationand denying the enemy reconnaissance, so that,even in those areas where the population wasProtestant and friendly, it became difficult for thePrussians to learn what was going on in Silesia.Beyond the borders it was impossible. When a newAustrian army under eipperg entered Silesia onits way to relieve the town of eisse, the Austrianfield-marshal, in the words of one chronicler,'walked invisible within clouds ofpandours'.

Frederick, by rare good fortune, first heard ofNeipperg's approach from Austrian deserters.Glogau had already been taken by the YoungDessauer in a night action, which lasted only anhour, hardly fifty men being lost by either side.The Brieg blockade was given up and Frederickprepared to meet the oncoming Austrians.

14

MOLLWITZ

Although it was already the first week in April,two feel of snow lay on the ground. Neipperg'sheadq uarters had reached a small hamlet calledMollwitz and his army lay there and in the area oftwo adjacent towns of Langwilz and Gruningen,astride Frederick's communications to thePrussian reserves and magazines at Ohlau.Neipperg's mounted pandours had captured allthe Prussian messengers sent by Frederick to bringup reinforcements. At daybreak on Monday 10

April Frederick, who was near Brieg, still did notknow the whereabouts of the Auslrians, althoughthey were in fact only seven miles away, until oneof his General-Adjutants chanced to ask a passingSilesian labourer if he had heard where theAustrians were. This farm servant knew full well(recht gut) and, on invitation, acted as the Prussianguide.

Neipperg, the Austrian commander, was justsitting down to dinner at the house of the Burger­meister of Mollwitz when the firing of outpost

A Gcr.ID.an fusilicr

signal rockets warned him that something wasafoot. A hussar party was sent out; this came backat the gallop with von Rothenburg's Prussiandragoons hard on its heels. Neipperg called forRomer, his Saxon General of Horse, the alarmwas sounded, and the troops sent for from the out­lying villages. By then the Prussians were alreadydeploying in two lines about 300 yards apart (justbeyond musket range so that they should not behit in each other's fire), each line consisting ofthree ranks.

Neipperg had about 20,000 troops, althoughmany of these were slow arriving on the field. ThePrussians had somewhat more. The Austriansdeployed 8,600 regular cavalry of good quality,outnumbering the Prussian horse by two to one;the Austrian artillery, however, was weak, onlyeighteen pieces to the Prussian sixty. Neipperg'sdeployment was in the orthodox military fashion,in two lines, exactly the same as the Prussian,having a frontage of perhaps two miles in length.The left wing under Romer formed up first, itsinfantry element being commanded by Goldlein,a Swiss; the right wing, when assembled, was tobe under Neipperg.

At two o'clock that afternoon all sixty Prussianguns opened a rapid and sustained fire on theAustrian left, with very damaging effect to horsestanding in line. Neipperg was far away on theextreme Austrian right, still engaged in bringingtroops in the field. Romer could get no orders.The counter-bombardment fire was weak and theAustrian horse became first restless and thenangry. 'Are we to be shot down like dogs! ForGod's sake lead us forward!' Romer could holdthem no longer and gave the order to advance. Thethirty squadrons fell on the Prussian ten squadrons,five of them Schulenburg's Dragoons, and caughtthem in the flank as they were changing position.The Prussian cavalry, of indifferent quality, wasunschooled in close-quarter fighting. Austrianand Hungarian discharged his pistol and thenset to with sabre, the first slash to the horse's headand the second to the rider as the horse went down.Schulenburg was slashed twice and went downfor ever. Within minutes the Prussian horse wasruined and in flight, hotly chased between its ownlines of infantry while the pursuing Austriansrode the gauntlet of musketry fire. It len the field.

Romer took nine of the Prussian guns and turnedhis intrepid horse against the infantry line. Romerand many of his companions were killed in theinfantry fire but the cavalry regrouped in excellentorder preparatory to charging once more. At thisstage it looked as if the Prussians were lost andFrederick their King fled the field of this, his firstbattle, to Oppeln thirty-five miles away. Many ofhis escort were cut down or captured by Hungarianhussar or pandour. The command of the remain­ing infantry force was left to Schwerin.

The Prussian infantry, most of it drilled fortwenty years but never in action before, stoodfirm in that great surging sea of horse. Neippergordered Goldlein's foot forward to dislodge thePrussians. Goldlein fell at the first Prussian volley.The design of the Prussian muskets with their ironramrods was much superior to that of the Austrian,with double the rate of fire, and the white-coatedattackers were unable to get to bayonet distance.Only artillery grape could have blown thePrussian away. The Austrian horse, however, con­tinued to charge the infantry lines, five timesduring the next four hours, until dispirited andraked by musketry, they, too, had to fall back.Schwerin's ammunition was running low andbetween cavalry charges foragers were runningout collecting ball and powder from the slain. Atseven o'clock, just before sunset, Schwerin sensedhe had the advantage and ordered the advance.Neither Austrian horse nor foot would acceptfurther battle, and they trooped off the field.There was never any question of pursuit, for theAustrian cavalry was too strong, but the Prussiansremained encamped on the field of battle. Theyhad lost in killed, wounded and missing 4,600men, against an Austrian loss of 4,400.

Neipperg should have won Mollwitz and nearlydid so, in spite ofhis inferior infantry and artillery.He failed because the Austrian way ofconductingwar was too confident, indolent and leisurely; allranks shared a traditional and misplaced con­tempt for Prussia. On leaving for the battle,Neipperg's staff officers had told their hosts tokeep the dishes hot 'for we will be back soon afterwe have brushed the Prussians' jackets for them'.Reconnaissance and intelligence had been neg­lected. On the Sunday, the day before the battle,there had been severe snowstorms which had

15

A three-pounder gun telUD in action, the Kanonier, who is theDUDl'ber ODe and the gun-layer, being astride the mounting.

red uced visi bili ty to twen ty yards and this mayhave accountcd for the scouts and pandours notbeing at their posts. But to have allowed Frederickto havc made his approach march unobservedwas hardly to bc forgiven. Had it not been thatFrederick was new to warfare and that Schwerinwas a soldier of the old school, the Prussians mighthave gone in to the attack without the lengthydeployment into line; then Neipperg's surprisedtroops would have been routed.

CHOTUSITZ

Frederick remained at Strehlen about twentymiles from Brieg bringing in reinforcements andreforming and retraining his cavalry. About sixyears before he had detached some officers,among them the Captain Ziethen afterwards tobecome so famous, to the Austrian cavalry tolearn what was known as the hussar art. Hussarswere originally Hungarian light cavalry, in somerespects akin to the Turkish uhlan. The nameappears to have come from the old Slavonic orSerbian husar or gusar, but its meaning andearlier origin are obscure. I t might have meant 'agooseherd' although there is some reason forbelieving that it was a Serbian corruption of the

16

The Bestul. sling over his left shoulder is clearly visible

old Italian corsare. The hussar, by degrees, hadbecome the Austrian light horse factotum; forthough he was in all respects a cavalryman of theline, he specialized in scouting, deep penetration,convoying and in combating partisans andenemy hussars.

After Mollwitz Frederick began the systematicretraining of his own horse in order to match itagainst the Austrian line cavalry and prepare itfor operations against the Magyar hussars andpandours.

Neipperg remained in Neisse until August andfor the next three months marched and counter­marched, trying to destroy the Prussian maga­zines. But meanwhile Maria Theresa, anxious tostart opera lions againsl the Franco·Bavarians,had, much against her will, begun negotiationswith Frederick. Frederick and Neipperg met instrict secrecy near Neisse and there the King ofPrussia played false to his allies. By the Conven­tion of Klein Schnellendorf, Frederick agreed toconduct sham skirmishes and sieges in order todeceive the French, but in reality to withdrawPrussia from the war. I n return, he demandedthat he be left in possession of his Silesian spoils.To this Maria Theresa agreed, possibly in no goodfaith, so that Austria might split its enemies and

B

deal with the Bavarian, French and Saxon forcesin Bohemia. Neipperg's troops then withdrewfrom Silesia.

However, the Franco-Bavarian troops appearedto have had little difficulty in overrunningBohemia. Frederick, incensed by jealousy andsurprised at what he believed to be the Austrianweakness, went back on his secret agreement andordered the occupation of Glatz and Moravia.But once in Moravia, Frederick received littlehelp from the French, who soon withdrew. TheSlovak inhabitants were hostile and the pandourswere everywhere, giving the Saxons in particulara rough handling. Frederick was unable to takeBrunn and the Saxons departed for home, thuscausing a permanent breach in Prusso-Saxonrelations. The discomfited Frederick was forcedto retire to Bohemia. There he was met atChotusitz by a 30,000 stTong Austrian Army underMaria Theresa's brother-in-law, Prince Charles ofLorra{ne.

The village of Chotusitz was held by theYoung Dessauer, his infantry drawn up, as usual,in two lines. Frederick with the foot grenadiers,the horse and much of the artillery was to hisright. Charles of Lorraine advanced, his infantrylikewise in two lines, with cavalry on both flanksedging forward so that the battle formation wasin a crescent pattern. Frederick followed thesequence of battle as at Mollwitz, his artilleryplaying on the Austrian cavalry flank, but with thedifference that it was the Prussian horse whichfirst rode into the attack. The Austrian first and

Detail of the 1760 three-pounder field gun. Until 1770 aboutfour-fifths of Austrian artillery was made up of three­pounders

second line of cavalry broke. The Austrian in­fantry in the centre, little daunted, marchedstraight into Chotusitz where the broken groundand ditches made it impossible for Frederick'scavalry to penetrate. The fiercest of infantryfighting took place in the village, the Austrianslosing heavily, 'rushing on like lions, shot down inranks, whole swaths of dead men, and theirmuskets by them l' The Austrian left was alreadyin a bad way; the right was in good condition,but the wings were now separated by the burningvillage. The indisciplined Habsburg horse wasplundering the Prussian rear. A final Prussianattack with guns and infantry on the faltering leftdecided the day and at noon Charles gave theorder to retreat. He had lost eighteen guns andnearly half his men, although many of thesewere stragglers or deserters.

The Austrian infantry had fought not withtheir customary obstinacy, but with fury. Afterthe battle the belief took hold, not only abroadbut in Vienna, that the Prussians were invincible.Maria Theresa decided to sue for peace, and bythe Treaty of Berlin in July 1742 marked the endof the First Silesian War. This took Frederickspeedily out of a European War which he hadhimself started, together with the only spoils.Saxony went out of the war with him. Austro­Hungarian troops then cleared Bohemia of theFrench and invaded Bavaria, driving the Elector,who had meanwhile been crowned as HolyRoman Emperor, from his own Munich capital.The Anglo-Hanoverians, together with the Aus­trians, won Dettingen, and France was forcedback on the defensive. Maria Theresa prepared toconq uer Alsace.

Frederick of Prussia had no wish to see Franceforced out of the war since this would, he believed,leave him alone to face Austria. He suspected thatMaria Theresa's cession of Silesia was merely anarrangement of convenience until Bavaria,France and Spain were beaten. Frederick hastenedto ally himself again by the Union of Frankfurt toBavaria, to the Palatine and Hesse-Cassel, and toFrance, to uphold the authority of the imperialcrown worn temporarily by Charles Albert ofBavaria. This was meant as a counter to Austria.As soon as the Austrian forces had entered Alsace,Frederick invaded Bohemia once more.

17

VzeeJecol1deJilesian'Uttr

In August 1744 Frederick set 80,000 Prussians onthe march towards Prague and had a further20,000 in reserve in Silesia. Prague itself wasgarrisoned by 4,000 Austrian troops and about10,000 local levies. Maria Theresa went oncemore to Pressburg to appeal to the Hungariannation for help and Charles of Lorraine wasordered to march out of Alsace eastwards.

By the first week in September Frederick'ssiege-artillery had arrived by Elbe barge and thecannonade of the city began. The Austrianbatteries were overwhelmed and after a week theAustrian commander, General Harsch, surren­dered. Two days later Frederick, Schwerin andthe Young Dessauer were on the march againtowards Tabor and Austria. It appeared thatnothing could withstand them.

The tide of battle changed, however, with thercappearance of the clouds of Hungarian horseand pandours. The Prussians were soon in adifficult position. Unlike the Silesian, the localpopulation was hostile, fleeing the path of theinvader and removing or destroying provisions.The irregular Magyar horse and pandoursinsolently enclosed encampments and columns,controlled the highways and captured all mes-

_......_~.

General Service flint-lock muskets with bayonets; theordiniir remained in service until 1754 when it was graduallyreplaced by the Commiss.Flinu. The Fiisilier-Flinte was aninterim substitute which was itself replaced by the 1754pattern fireann

18

sengcrs, so that for a whole month Frcderick wasou t of touch from his kingdom and the rest ofEurope, with no news of friend or foe.

During this time Charles of Lorraine had beenmarching hard from the west, having brokencontact with the French, and he arrived inBohemia in the early October, together withField-Marshal von Traun, an experienced Aus­trian who was his deputy and principal adviser.They made their way to the Elbe, not far fromKolin, where they were joined by 20,000 Saxons.Frederick was already in danger of being cut offfrom Prague, and the 20,000 Prussians remainingin the Bohemian capital were threatened. Inorder to keep the way open to Prague, Frederickmoved across the Moldau; the crossing of thisriver cost him seven hours of bitter fightingagainst the swarms of pandours.

Traun had skilfully evaded Frederick's effortsto bring him to a pitched battle on ground ofPrussian choosing but then, in the early hours oft9 November, Austrians and Saxons crossed theElbe by stealth and attacked the Prussians on thesouth bank. The woods were beset with infiltratingpandours 'uttering their blood-curdling shrieks';every Prussian scout, every messenger sent au t

was killed. Amid fierce and scattered fighting thePrussians were worsted and Frederick determinedon a rctreat out ofBohemia. Numbers ofguns werespiked and enormous quantities of small armsthrown into the river; powder and supplies weredestroyed. The Prussian field army and garrisonsmade their way back to Silesia, harried both byirregulars and the populace, and continuallyfighting as their progress was barred by Austrianand Saxon regular forces. Losses in casualties,deserters and equipment were heavy. AfterwardsFrederick was to say that he considered Traun'sconduct of the campaign 'a model of perfection'.

Traun then invaded Silesia with 20,000 regularforces and a large body of irregulars, but he wasmainly intent on giving as much trouble to theOld Dessauer who was in command, withoutbeing himself pinned and brought to battle. Theeffectiveness of the pandours may be gauged inthat Frederick, when he wanted to send a letterto jagerndorf ordering back a 12,000-strongPrussian detachment, had to entrust the messageto Ziethen, with his great reputation as a skirm-

isher and backwoodsman, and no fewer than 500Prussian hussars. Evcn this force, althoughtravelling at speed by carefully chosen and littleused routes was eventually brought to a halt andfuriously set on by the irregulars, so that it had tobe extricated by the Jagerndorf garrison. By nowyet another mounted irregular had appeared,the Polish uhlan light horse, usually in Saxon pay.

Meanwhile Charles Albert ofBavaria had died,and the resilient and energetic Maria Theresa,who had already detached the Saxons to hercause, invaded Bavaria, inducing the new Electorto support her husband's nomination to theimperial crown.

HOHE FRIEDBERG A D SOHR

Maria Theresll intended to invade Silesia in May1745, but she erred in entrusting the command toCharles of Lorraine rather than to Traun. By theclever use ofan unsuspecting double spy Frederickhad led Charles to believe that if Silesia were tobe attacked by the Austrians, the Prussians wouldbehave as they had done in '744, that is to sayretreat to the north to avoid being cut off fromBreslau. To strengthen this idea he evacuatedpart of South-east Silesia. In truth Frederick in­tended to take the offensive with a force of 70,000men as soon as the Austrian enemy could be lureddown to the Silesian plain.

Prince Charles came down from the mountainson 3 June and deployed in a valley about fivemiles broad. Behind, on the edge of the hills,was the little town of Hohenfriedberg, and in thehills to the front of the Austrians the larger townof Striegau. The Austrian vanguard, providedby the 20,000-strong Saxon contingent under theDuke of Saxe-Weissenfels, soon made contactwith a Prussian force, which it wrongly believedto be Frederick's rearguard, and it was ordered totake Striegau in the following morning. The bulkof the Prussian force lay beyond Striegau and washidden from the enemy.

On the night of 3 June Frederick orderedforward the whole of his force across the StriegauRiver and, having deployed it in the dark, at firstlight attacked the Saxon troops on the enemy left.The Saxons were soon dislodged by the cannonadeand by repeated assault of foot and horse. As a

OfficeI' and trumpeter of hussars

soldier the Saxon was somewhat inferior to theAustrian, and usually more unlucky; but he wascourageous and obstinate and, as he fought forevery yard of soil, his casualties mounted alarm­ingly. Meanwhile Charles of Lorraine slept, andwhen the artillery fire awoke him he imagined itto be the Saxon attack on Striegau. He went backto sleep. When finally aroused, the ballle wasmore than half lost and, as one chronicler said,'the Austrians were not distinguished for celerityof movement'. The Austrian cavalry on the rightwing could, and should, have been brought intoaction early in the engagement, but it remainedpassive and without orders.

Whereas the Prussian cavalry excelled itselfthe behaviour of the Austrian horse was sur­prisingly disappointing. Some Austrian regimentsshowed much reluctance to close with the enemy;they merely fired with their carbines, and, whenthe time came, ran. The Austrian infantry wereshaken to pieces by the rapidity of Prussianmusketry, delivered at a range of fifty paces. Ateight that morning the issue had finally beendecided and Charles of Lorraine ordered aretreat. Two hours later the Austrian and Saxoncolumns pulled back through Hohenfriedbergcovered by adasti's rearguard. The Prussian losshad been 5,000 dead and wounded; that of theAustro-Saxons 9,000 dead and wounded, 7,000prisoners and sixty-six cannon. A further 8,000

deserted. Frederick claimed that there had notbeen so great a victory since Blenheim. He did not,however, pursue the Austrians, reduced by now to40,000, but contented himsclf with following upinto Bohemia as far as Koniggratz.

Frederick had hoped that his victory would

19

bring Austria and Saxony to terms. In this hewas disappointed once more. Maria Theresa'sdetermination to continue the war was shared byAugustus of Saxony, who enjoyed the encourage­ment and support of the Russians. Nor couldEngland persuade Austria to make peace.

At the end of September, because he hadalready eaten up all the supplies in North-eastBohemia, Frederick began to fall back towardsSilesia, so troubled by adasti's Tolpatsche thatI 1,000 horse and foot had to be detached toguard ration convoys. For the irregulars werequite happy to set fire to their own Queen'stowns if by doing so they could deprive thePrussian. He crossed the Elbe and encampedwith 18,000 men at the foot of the mountains nearthe village of Soor. Charles of Lorraine followedup with an army of30,000. Then, borrowing a notvery original leaf from Frederick's book, hedetermined to repeat the tactics of Hohen­friedberg.

On the night of 29 September nearly 30,000Austrians, by a clever approach march in thedark, arrived on the high ground above Frederick,

A hussar trooper's arms and equipment, carbine, sabre,sabretache, ammunition-pouch and water-bottle

20

while a great force ofpandours under Nadasti andTrenk fell on the Prussian baggage, the wildCroats murdering all in their path, women camp­followers as well as men. But the arrival of theAustrian main force was an hour too late andtheir movement was espied at daybreak byPrussian picquets. Frederick and his staff werealready up and at work and the Prussian reactionswere much quicker than those of the Austrian.

On the Austrian left wing were twenty-eightguns and fifty squadrons of horse; the gunsopened fire but the horse and infantry stoodimmobile whereas, as Frederick said later, 'theyshould have thundered down on us'. WhenFrederick sent his cuirassiers at them, they met nocountercharge, 'merely the crackle of carbines'.The Austrian cavalry wing was swept away. ThePrussian foot on the right, following up the cuiras­siers, climbed the slope losing heavily in the case­shot fire which raked them. The Prussians threwin their three reserve regiments of infantry. Theguns were taken and the enemy driven off.Frederick then transferred the remainder of hiscavalry to his left wing where the two lines stillstood apart. Again the Austrian horse on thatwing broke, leaving bare the infantry flank. TheAustrians poured back into the forest where thePrussian cavalry could no longer pursue. Mean­while the pandours in the rear, fully engaged inlooting, brought no aid to the main battle. Theengagement cost the Austrians 4,000 dead andwounded and 3,000 prisoners. The Prussian losswas about 4,000.

HENNERSDORF ANDKESSELSDORF

Frederick, certain that Maria Theresa must nowmake peace, had returned to Berlin and his armyhad slowly withdrawn into Silesia, eating thecountry bare as it went, followed up as usual bypandours. His own army was dispersed intowinter quarters and he assumed that the Austrianwould do the same. The Saxons, however, haddrawn up a plan to invade Brandenburg andtake Berlin, and to this Maria Theresa readilyagreed. Traun was to march from the Rhine whileCharles made his way down the Oder. The detailsof the operation were blabbed, however, by the

A horse-grenadier in the so-called parade unifonn whichwas in fact used on field service

Saxon minister Bruhl, through the Swedish envoyto Berlin. The old Dessauer refused to believe it;Frederick, horrified and astonished, was finallyconvinced of its truth, and said that waging waron Maria Theresa 'was not living; it was beingkilled a thousand times a day'.

On 20 November 1745 Charles of Lorraine setout on his long march through Silesia wherethough the Austrians did not know it, Frederickhad already arrived. The King had concentratedthe Young Dessauer's forces, about 35,000 troops,near Naumburg. Three days later his forwardelements, light horse, cuirassiers and foot, werein contact with the uhlans of Prince Charles'sSaxon advance guard. At Hennersdorf, on 23November, Ziethen, who was in command, des­troyed the 6,000 strong Saxon force of horse andfoot. Surprise having been lost, Charles turned inhis tracks and retraced his steps to Bohemia. Andso the whole enterprise collapsed.

Frederick now invaded Saxony. The OldDessauer moved from Halle to Leipzig and thenbegan a march towards Dresden, throwing abridge over the Elbe so that Frederick, comingfrom Silesia, might join him. A Saxon force underCount Rutowski, together with an Austriancontingent, numbering in all 35,000, lay west ofthe Saxon capital. Charles of Lorraine wasmarching out of Bohemia with 46,000 men, inorder to aid his Saxon ally. Frederick goaded on

the Old Dessauer to attack the Saxons beforeCharles should join them, and not wait forFrederick's own arrival. When the Old Dessauerdid give battle to Rutowski on 15 December,Charles of Lorraine was not five miles away.

On 15 December 1745 at Kesselsdorf the OldDessauer attacked the entrenched Saxon force,the Prussian infantry marching uphill throughwet snow against the massed fire of 9,000 musketsand thirty guns. The Prussian cavalry hung abouton the outskirts. Time after time the Prussiansfell back, their ranks shot throu/,\h amid fearfulcasualties. This type of fighting suited the Saxontemperament, with time to think and time toreload. Victory would probably have been theirshad not an Austrian battalion, seeing the Prussianinfantry near disintegration, left its entrench­ments and, with repeated shouts of 'Sieg', rundown the slope with levelled bayonet to completethe destruction. The Saxons quickly followed andthere in the valley they were cu t to pieces by thePrussian horse. Rutowski lost the battle, 3,000dead and wounded and 6,000 prisoners. ThePrussians lost 4,600, but at long last gained thepeace. For Charles of Lorraine turned back yetagain into Bohemia.

This ended the Second Silesian War and, bythe Treaty of Dresden signed on Christmas Day,Maria Theresa who had once said, and still meant,that 'she would as soon part with Silesia as withher petticoat', was forced to agree to Silesia re­maining in Prussian hands. Frederick for his partacknowledged Maria Theresa's husband FrancisStephen as Emperor. Prussia, often faced withdisaster, had been saved by Frederick's audacityand mili tary skill.

The war between Austria and France continuedfor yet another three years in the Netherlandsand Italy, peace being finally made at Aix-la­Chapelle in October 1748. The astute MariaTheresa, no less a realist than Frederick the Great,was disappointed in the terms of the peace treatyand in Britain's effort during the war. MariaTheresa knew that Britain had little interest inSilesia, the Habsburgs or Austro-Hungary andthat London's only concern was to maintain thebalance of power in Europe by weighing downthe scales against France. She therefore began tolook about her for new allies and by 175 I was

21

already writing letters to the mistress of theFrench monarch, addressing her as Madame, rnachere s(£ur.

r0t(aria'IheresasImperial'Rifjnns

The Treaty of Aix-Ia-Chapelle was regarded byBritain and France as merely a truce. MariaTheresa remained as determined as ever to regainSilesia, and her first action was to reorganize theadministration and government ofher own crownlands in readiness for a resumption of the struggle.

In Bohemia many Czech nobles had welcomedthe Franco-Bavarian and Prussian interventionand had recognized Charles Albert, Elector ofBavaria, as the Imperial Emperor. When, twoyears later, the Austrians rcoccupied the Bohem­ian kingdom, Maria Theresa resolved to eliminateall separatist tcndcncies. The Bohemian royalregalia was removed from Prague to Vienna tocmphasize the permanency of the Austro-Czechunion and the government and administrationwere centralized in Austrian hands. Germanbecame the language of the administration andwas compulsorily taught in Czech schools; theAustrian code of law was introduced into Czechcourts. This Habsburg attempt to weaken Czechnationalism and the hold of the Czech language,although understandable in the circumstances,was in fact a violation of the autonomous rightsearlier guaranteed to Bohemia.

The situation in Hungary was very different.The diet, when it had met in I74! to confirmMaria Theresa as Queen of Hungary, had offeredher 100,000 Hungarian troops for use againstFrcderick. Only 60,000 had been forthcoming butthese had conducted themselves with great dashand bravery. The nobles, however, had turned togood account the vulnerability of Austria, insecuring concessions for themselves by a processakin to extortion. They insisted on a confirmationof their own freedom from taxation and their

22

A dragoon foot-drummer

retention of appointments to key governmentpositions in Hungary. Each concession was fol­lowed by a new demand. After the peace of J 748,Maria Theresa did not revoke these concessionsmade under duress but she simply declined toconvoke the Hungarian diet so that the nobleswould be denied the opportunity of thinking upand presenting new claims. Nor did she attemptto centralize Hungarian administration or makeit conform to the Austrian pattern as she haddone in Bohemia, partly in return for Hungarianloyalty and partly, as she said, 'because of thespecial conditions there'. Instead she tried to bindthe Magyar nobility to her cause by encouragingit to enter Austrian court circles, the Austriandiplomatic service and the Austrian Army, and byconferring on it the titles and dignities of theGerman Empire.

Owing to the century-and-a-halfoccupation bythe Turks, Hungary had become one of the moreprimitive states in Central Europe. The Hun­garian diet, however, represented the interests ofmedieval feudalism and was a barrier between

the monarchy and the Magyar people. MariaTheresa's rule was that of enlightened absolutismand she made determined efforts to improve thelot of the jobbagy. Serfdom was virtually elimin­ated in that the peasant had much of the burdenof socage lifted from him, and became free tochoose his own master and enter the professions.Maria Theresa did much, too, to remove eduea­tion from the hands of reactionary Jesuits andhasten its growth in secular hands and, becauseshe was decent, compassionate and charitable, setup popu lar elementary schools, orphanages andhospitals.

Hungary was not, however, to share the im­proved standard of living, even the new pros­perity, of the Austrian, and the blame for this laywith the Hungarian nobility. Since Hungarydeclined to be taxed per capita on the Austrianmodel, the Austrian taxpayer saw little reasonwhy he should subsidize his neighbour. Life inHungary remained simple and backward. Bothlord and peasant were hospitable and improvident;even by the not very exacting Austrian standardsthey were indolen t.

The entire Habsburg system of government,outside Hungary, the Austrian Netherlands andMilan, was reorganized in the period betweenAix-la-Chapelle and the outbreak of the Seven

1

'\,

An officer of cuirassiers together with a trooper in stablefatigue dress

Years War. Maria Theresa and her minister, vonHaugwitz, had been impressed by the efficiencyof Frederick the Great's civil and military ad­ministration and wished to improve the Austrian.The first requirement was to raise a standingarmy of 108,000 men together with a military voteadequate to maintain it. Taxes were not only in­creased bu t were reorganized on a modern systemof income tax, applicable to all, and a graduatedpoll tax; exem ptions were abolished and thevarious diets were deprived oftheir former rights tolevy their own taxes and duties. These new re­forms trebled the Habsburg revenues so that theAustrian provinces in Germany and Bohemiawere soon shouldering over three quarters of thecost of the new military expenditure. Much wasdone, laO, to extend industrialization and educa­tion in the Austrian homeland and restrict thehi therlo inviolable hereditary rights of the nobleand great landowner. The great improvement inAustrian military efficiency during the SevenYears War was largely due to von Haugwitz.

TheJeven rears'J1ltr

Wi th the assistance of the Austrian Chancellor,Count von Kaunitz-Reitberg, Maria Theresa atlast succeeded in breaking the Franco-Prussianalliance. The English King, George II ofHanover,would have welcomed a renewal of the Anglo­Austrian agreement in order to safeguard Han­over against Prussia. Vienna was little interested,so London turned to St. Petersburg where, inexchange for a subsidy, the Empress Elisabethpromised to mass a Russian force of 55,000

against the Prussian border. Frederick the Greatwas placed in a difficult situation. Fearing theRussian, so he said, more than he feared God, andbeing aware that Elisabeth and her minister,Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin, were bitterly anti­Prussian, he had good reason to expect a jointAustro·Russian attack on East Prussia and Silesia.

23

In this event France was too far away to affordhim direct and speedy assistance. In order toneutralize Russia, he turned to Britain and by theConvention of Westminster, signed in January1756, agreed to ensure the neutrality of Germanyon the understanding that London would drop theRussian pact; trus was some safeguard to Hanover.Elisabeth ofRussia, annoyed at the British action,offered Austria an alliance, undertaking to attackPrussia if the alliance were accepted. This set offa further diplomatic reaction in that France, un­willing to be isolated on the continent of Europeand angry at Frederick's new convention with theBritish, entered into a defensive alliance withAustria.

The loser was Frederick. His insulting railleryhad made enemies of the French king and Russianempress and rus attempt to neutralize the Anglo­Russian threat had drawn Russia, Austria andFrance in league againsl him. Russia, Austria andSaxony were openly hostile to Prussia. But he'hada standing army of 150,000 men and 14,000,000thalers put aside for war. He, therefore, withoutwarning and without consulting Britain, attacked

Austria in September 1756 by invading Saxony.thus setting loose a new continental war.

The Seven Years War, sometimes known as theThird Silesian War, was a resumption of thestruggle for the retention ofSilesia and the masteryof the German Empire. Moreover for Frederickit was a war of survival fOf, if Prussia failed, itwould be dismembered by the powerful coalitionwhich faced it.

Although heavily outnumbered, Rutowski and18,000 Saxon troops entrenched in mountainousPirna put up an unexpectedly tough resistance,gaining time for Austria to mobilize; Frederickbesieged but declined to attack them. Field­Marshal Browne was sent to relieve the besiegedSaxons but met with Frederick's forces on I

October 1756 at Lobositz. The Prussians weresomewhat shaken by the much improved qualityof the Austrian infantry and artillery, and by thenew efficiency in tactical command. Browne wason the ground first but failed to take the pass, anerror which he partially retrieved on- the day ofthe battle. For he put the Austrian horse out as abait which twenty squadrons of Prussian cavalry

Charge of the Austrian Dragoons at the Battle of Kolin 1757,where the Prussia.n.s under Frederick the Great were tolally

defeated. From a painting by Koch.

R. OTTENFElD

•

I Artillery Fusilier, surn.tner fieldservice uniforDt, c. '751

2: Artillerym.an. (Kanomer), -Interfield service uniform, c. 1740

3 Gunner (BucbsenD1eister) of ArtUJery,summer field service uDifo~ c. '751

A

B

Horse-Grenadier,winter parade unifonn, c.•750

R.OTTENFELD

1 Officer of Gennan Infantry,sununer field service uniform, c . •750

2 Dragoon, sununer fieldservice order, c.• '50

3 Hungarian Infantry Soldier,Surnn'1er field service unilorDl, c. 1756

R OTT£NFELD c

D

HU9sar, winter fieldservice uniform, c. ]743

R.OTTENFELD

-

R.OTTENFElD

3

I Soldier of Frontier Infantry,sum.tner field service uniform, c•• 750

2: Sharpshooter (Scharfschlitz) of FrontierInfantry, sununer patrol uniform c. 1750

3 Cuirassier, suauner fieldservice order, c. 1750

E

F

Trenk'scher Pandour andCarlstadter Sluiner Croat, c. 1756

R. OTTENFELO

R. OTTENFElO

• General of Cavalry,winter parade unUonn, c. 1760

2 Engineer Officer,winter field service uniforJn., c. 1760

3 Private Soldier of Sappers,winter field service unifortn, c. 1760

G

H

,,.

•

I Fifer of GerJnan Infantry,sum..mer field service unilonn, c. 1769

:z Private Soldier of Hungarian Infantry,SUD1..Dler field service uniforD'l, c. 1770

3 Fusilier of GerDUUl Infantry,slI.D1.ID.er field service unilorm, c. 1,69

,,i

3

)

R.OTTENFElO

greedily took, chasing off the Austrians helter­skelter; they were drawn almost into the muzzlesof hidden Austrian batteries which mowed themdown with case-shot. After this unpromising startFrederick ordered his infantry, loaded withninety cartridges a man, to take Lobositz.

Fighting was particularly fierce and the Aus­trian infantry, now equipped with iron instead ofwooden ramrods, were most determined, return­ing to the Prussian volley for volley. Browne'sflank broke, but he moved with haste and skilland soon recovered. After seven hours of fightingthe Prussians, though they had suffered morecasualties, 3,300 against the Austrian 2,900, stillbarred the way to Pima.

Maria Theresa ordered Browne 'to deliver methese poor Saxons at any price'. Browne's finalattempt, enterprising though it was, failed becausethe Saxons, much reduced by hunger, were tooweak to carry out their allotted part of the opera­tion. Rutowski capitulated. All Saxon officerswere dismissed and the Saxon rank and file wereforcibly incorporated into the Prussian army,with Prussian officers and uniform. Saxony itselfremained in Prussian occupation for nearly sixyears.

Vet Frederick had made a poor beginning tothe war. The German Protestant rulers were,admittedly, generally sympathetic to him but, inface of Austrian diplomacy, his position wasrapidly deteriorating. Russia agreed to enter thewar against him in return for an Austrian subsidy.Maria Theresa offered to trade the Austrian

etherlands to France and Spain in exchange foractive participation in the war and the return ofSilesia to Austria. Sweden entered the waragainst Prussia.

~striaVictoriousThe Prussian outposts were much troubled bypandours of all nationalities, Hungarians, Croatsand Poles, most wearing a uniform of a SOTt,

devised by the.ir leaders and improved upon by

the wearers. These so-called Frei Korps usuallytook the names ofcavalry or pandour leaders suchas Trenck, Nadasti, or the Scot, Loudon.

Frederick's answer to any political or militarythreat was to attack. In the spring of 1757 heinvaded Bohemia with four columns, three fromSaxony and the fourth, under Schwerin, fromSilesia. There 133,000 Austrians were makingready to cross into Silesia. Maria Theresa hadonce more given the overall Austrian command toher inexperienced brother-in-law, Charles ofLorraine. As the Prussians advanced Charles fellback with 60,000 men to the neighbourhood ofPrague to await the arrival of a further 30,000

Austrians under Field-Marshal Daun. Frederickwas determined to rout Charles before Daunshould join him and, against Schwerin's wishesand advice, he ordered the 64,000 tired Prussiansto attack the entrenched positions east of theBohemian capital. For Frederick had becomeoverweeningly confident in his own superiorityand in what he believed to be the invincibility ofhis troops. Time was pressing and Daun was notten miles away.

On 6 May 1757 Frederick was at the pinnacleof his fame. He had just joined with Schwerinoutside Prague and together they reconnoitredthe outskirts of the Austrian position. Theyreckoned this to be so strong that they decided tooutflank it by marching round the enemy rightto his rear, there to attack across what theyimagined to be green meadows. These lush fieldswere in fact carp ponds, two to three feet deep,covered wi th water weed. The circui tous marchwas conducted with skill, but the Prussians weredisconcerted to see the Austrians, under theenergetic leadership of Browne, counter withoutany hesitation by immediately changing front atthe double. When the Prussian infantry arrivedat the carp ponds they were met by the tearing fireof artillery case-shot at 400 paces. They stormedthe batteries, however, but were then thrown outagain by Austrian grenadiers. To and fro thebattle raged for hours, the seventy-three-year-oldSchwerin, a veteran of Blenheim, being killed bygrape as he rallied broken regiments. Browne, too,directing the Austrian defence at this spot, wasmortally wounded.

The Austrian horse had already been chased

2S

from the field but the infantry fought like lions,every surviving grenadier henceforth gettingdouble pay for life. Yet the battle ended with thePrussians in possession of the field, the Austrianshaving been forced back into Prague. But theKing himself had been most unpleasantly sur­prised; 'these are not by any means the oldAustrians' he wrote very mournfully, 'this daysaw the pillars of the Prussian infantry cut down'.He doubted whether he could ever replace thequality of his losses. Prussia certainly lost at least'3,000 men that day, the same number as theAustrians, but the King had earlier put his ownloss at 18,000. The battle was heralded abroadamong Prussia's allies as a great victory forFrederick, and the Tower of London guns fired asalute. The Prussians had, admittedly, capturedmuch equipment; on the other hand, Charles ofLorraine's army, 46,000 strong, was still in being,although besieged in Prague. Daun, not far away,had been further reinforced and, having collectedup and reformed the stragglers of the Praguebattle, had now 60,000 men under his command.

~.

··~·.4-..

. .

Mounted. and dismounted pandour irregulars, c. 1750

26

Daun was very cautious, known even amongthe Austrians as a 'Fabius Cunclator'. One braveheart in Vienna was still not dismayed, for MariaTheresa entreated him to give battle, assuringhim that even if he were defeated he would stillenjoy the royal favour. The choice was alreadyout of Daun's hands, however, for Frederick,having unsuccessfully besieged Prague for amonth, was on the march in search of the Aus­trian field-marshal.

Although Daun lacked dash and initiative, hewas experienced and clever in defence. He hadtaken up a strong position parallel to the Vienna­Prague highway not far from Kolin. WhileFrederick, only three miles away, remained inignorance of where the Austrians were to befound, Daun was well informed of the Prussianactivity by the pandours.

About 30,000 Prussians moved in march routealong the highway towards Kolin on 18 June, tofind the route blocked by a large force of Austrianhorse under Nadasti. These were soon driven offby Ziethen's Prussian cavalry. Frederick, re-

,.

garding Daun's entrenched position on the slopesto the right of the road as impregnable, decidedto outflank it by marching along the Austrianfront and round the enemy right, exactly as hehad done at Prague. On this day, however,nothing went right. Ziethen's force, gallopingafter enemy cavalry and foot, ran into a trap andwas taken in the flank by artillery and infantry,cleverly concealed in oak woods and copses.Thereafter Ziethen remained separated from themain battle. The Prussian infantry trying to getround the Austrian right flank were soon pinnedby enemy fire and counter-allacks. The followingup Prussian columns, still in march formation,were drawn, willy nilly, into the frontal battle onground of Daun's choosing. The Prussian centrewas said to be wrongly directed (although this didnot come to light until many years afterwards) byFrederick himself, in the heat of battle, mistakingleft for right. For the consequent disorder thePrussian General Mannstein got much of theblame, since his troops, angry at their risingcasualties caused by the fire of Hungarian andCroat skirmishers hidden in the corn and scrub,turned off the allotted march route to deal withthem. Mannstein, badly wounded himself, wasunable to make his excuses since he was murderedseveral days later by pandours who waylaid hiscarnage.

So the battle was joined along the whole of theAustrian front, raging indecisively for hours. Daunbegan to fear that he would be forced off the highground into the swamp behind, and sent outmessages in case a withdrawal should be needed.These were received by his subordinates withindignation. Some Austrian horse, ineludingNostitz's Saxon cavalry brigade and de ThiennesNetherland Walloon regiment of dragoons, heldback in reserve without seeing any action thatday, asked that they might be permitted at leastto strike a blow. Daun agreed 'if they thought itwould be any use'. A force was hastily improvisedineluding supporting infantry and guns, and thisAustrian cavalry decided the day. Frederickquitted the field, and the Prussians were alreadyin rapid retreat, harried by the Austrian GeneralSampach. Daun did not pursue further, althoughthe Prussian was by then thoroughly beaten, foras one historian said 'as a good Christian, he did

not like the sun to go down on his wrath'. Thelotal Austrian loss, including wounded, was8,000; the Prussians lost 8,000 dead and nearlyanother 6,000 prisoners, fony-five cannon andmuch equipmenl. The main casualties werecaused to the flower of the Prussian infantry.

Thereafter fortune deserted Frederick for, as hehimself admitted, he had been decisively defeatedat Kolin. He had to quit Bohemia. Britain, too,found lillIe consolation in its new choice of ally,since Frederick was powerless to prevent theFrench occupation of Hanover. In the second halfof 1757 the Swedes invaded Prussian Pomeraniawhile Ihe Russians defeated a Prussian force atGross-Jagerndorfin East Prussia. Maria Theresa'sforces spilled over into Silesia and an Austriancavalry and partisan force under General Haddik,15,000 strong, raided Berlin and extracted fromthe capital a ransom of a quarter of a millionthalers.

ThePrussian~very

Frederick survived the summer and autumn of1757 because of the lack of coordination betweenhis enemie~. The Russians, believing that theEmpress Elisabeth was dcad, withdrew out ofEast Prussia, while the French force in Hanoverremained inactive. [n Lusatia, Daun and PrinceCharles had outmanoeuvred a Prussian forceunder the King's brother Augustus William but,in spite ofMaria Theresa's urging, they would notcomc to grips with the enemy. In November aFrench army under Soubise began to movethrough Thuringia on Saxony, joining up withsome Saxons and an Austrian force under Hild­burghausen. In all Ihe Franco-Austrian forcenumbered 50,000 men.

The French were contemptuous of Prussianarms. When the Prussian force first approachedthe Franco-Austrian positions near Rossbach, andthen rapidly withdrcw as soon as engaged by

27

artillery fire (lhe position being very slrong andlittle to Frederick's liking), Soubise became ob­sessed with lhe idea that Frederick was in fullretreal and might escape him. Believing that thePrussians had only 10,000 men (in realilY theyhad more than twice that number), Soubise set offin immediate pursuit, intending to outflank andget across lhe Prussian line of wilhdrawal. Thetruth was much otherwise. For Frederick himselfentertained the same mistaken thoughts about hisenemy, who he knew to be short of rations, and hebelieved lhe French were about to run away.Having haIled in some dead ground and sat downto his dinner, he was astonished when his hussarsreported that the enemy was streaming by on theother side of the hill in column of roule, thetrotting cavalry in front leaving the pantinginfantry far behind.

It was already well past noon that winter'sday, but within half an hour the Prussians weredeployed to attack the moving enemy in the flank.Thirty-eight squadrons, aboul4,000 horse, underSeydlitz hit the surprised enemy column, andinfantry and guns followed. By four o'clock theFranco-Austrian force was in flight leaving 3,000dead and wounded and 5,000 prisoners, of whomeight were generals and 300 officers. The Prussianslost 500 dead and wounded, and not half of theirstrength had come into action; Seydlitz's horseand seven battalions had done all the work. Thusended the battle of Rossbach.

The days of the Dessauers were nearly over andSchwerin and Winterfeld were no more. Theonly Prussian general of outstanding distinction,besides Frederick, was Ferdinand of Brunswickand he was now in command of the Anglo-

Gennan infantry in parade order. The mounted figure in the dismounted-pattern gaiters. Dismounted officers carriedcentre is a Dlajor, the officer to the right a colonel wearing pikes as a badge of office and as protection against cavalry

28

German force in Hanover. Charles of Lorrainehad begun to inflict a series of defeats on thePrussian generals. He had taken Breslau. ThePrussian Bevern was captured by Croat irregularsand his army fled to Glogau. The Saxon andSilesian troops in Prussian service were desertingFrederick en masse. Silesia was about to fall fromthe Prussian grasp when, at the end of November,Frederick arrived at the head of only 14.,000

weary men. The command of Bevern's remnants,about ,8,000, he gave to Ziethen.

Frederick was determined to attack, whateverthe odds, though it is doubtful whether he knewthat Charles of Lorraine and Traun, now joinedby Nadasti, had 80,000 men drawn up at Leuthen.The Austrian position, however, was not a strongonc, being overextended and nearly seven milesin length. Its observation was masked by a ridgeto its front, and this was held only by a Saxonbrigade of horse and two Austrian hussar rcgi­ments. The ridgc was soon cleared by the Prus­sians, the Saxon General Nostitz being killed inthe encounter.

In the main Austrian line, the Italian GeneralLucchesi commanded the right and Nadasti theleft, with Traun in the centre. Lucchesi was con­vinced that his right would be attacked and inresponse to his entreaties was eventually heavilyreinforced; in fact Frederick attacked the left,moving in on it in his new oblique order. Therethe Croats and Wiirtemburgers eventually broke;and when Lucchesi led a cavalry charge from theright of the field to the left, in support of thefaltering left wing, he was himself taken in theflank by hidden Prussian horse, routed, andkilled.

Yet Charles and Daun acted with greaterceleri ty than they had ever done before, throwingmen over from right to left into the village ofLeuthen, whcre the church and churchyard wercbitterly defended. But the far-flung positions costthem both time and the battle, for the men,arriving piecemeal, were blown before theystruck a blow. Three times the Austrians attemptedto rally and stand, only to be swept from the field.Leuthen, probably the greatest of all Prussianvictories, cost the Austrians 3,000 dead, 7,000wounded, 2 I ,000 prisoners and I 16 guns lost. Thetotal Prussian loss was under 7,000.

The defeat lost Charles of Lorraine his post asCommander-in-Chief, henceforth assumed byDaun.

'IhefinalcStagesThe French had been driven across the Rhineand, after Leuthen, most of Silesia was re­conquered by the Prussians. The British tookadvantage of Frederick's successes to reoccupyHanover.

In the spring of '758 a new Prussian armymoved through Moravia to Olmiitz on its way toVienna only to lose its heavily guarded supplytrain of 4,000 wagons to General Loudon, said tobe the best partisan leader of the times. Frederickwi thdrew once morc through Bohemia intoSilesia. Meanwhile the Russians, back again inEast Prussia, moved on Brandenburg only to berepulsed at Zorndorf in August in one of thebloodiest battles of the war.

The indomitable Austrians had raised two morearmies. One they dispatched to Saxony and theother to Silesia. That October, the first of thesearmies, under Daun, defeated Frederick at Hoch­kirch near Bautzen. Fredcrick had encamped his30,000 men in an untenable position facing Daun's60,000, and he mct thc protests of his ownPrussian generals 'that in such a situation Daunought to be hung if he did not attack', with thearrogant retort 'that the Austrians fear us morethan the gallows'. Daun did attack, however,before daylight and, although he lost 6,000 Aus­trians, he destroyed a quarter ofFrederick's force.This was the third of Daun's victories over thcKing in sixteen months. Once more he failed tofollow up his advantage, the Austrian neglectpermitting Frederick to keep his forces intact andoutmanoeuvre his foes.

By carly 1759 the Prussian field army had beenreduced to 100,000 men, many of them recruits,and in August of that year a large Russian forceunder Saltykov, already in Frankfurt-on-Oder,dcfeated, with some Austrian support, the Prus-

29

sians at Kunersdorf. The Russians refused topursue since they believed that the Grand DukePeter, an admirer of Frederick the Great, wasabout to ascend the Russian throne. Saltykovspent his time in debauchery. Meanwhile theAustrians remained in Saxony, manoeuvring andcounter-manoeuvring. In November Frederickreturned to his armies there and this was thesignal for Daun to wi thdra'v. The sneering Kingsent Finck and 15,000 Prussians to pursue;Frederick lost every single man when Daunturned on Finck's army and encircled it. On 21

ovember 1759 the Prussians laid down theirarms at Maxen.

The French, however, were still doing badly.They had been defeated at Minden by an Anglo­German force and had suffered serious militarydefeats overseas. By 1759 they had reduced thesubsidy to Maria Theresa and were no longerinterested even in the Austrian Netherlands asthe price of restoring Silesia to Austria. Francewas rapidly dropping out of the European war.

The year 1760 was the last year of the greatcampaigns. The Austrians sent a further armyinto Silesia. Loudon, the aggressive Scot, anexpcrienced Held commander as well as partisanleader, drove the Prussian force under Fougue

'.

A front view of the ubiquitous three pounder field gun

30

out of Landshut. Frederick indignantly orderedthe place to be retaken. Like Finck, Fougueobeyed his master's order to the letter and failed.For Loudon destroyed his lo,ooo-strong army,only 1,500 Prussian cavalry escaping.

Frederick was having no better fortune againstthe two Aus(rians, Daun and Lacy, in Saxony.He besieged Dresden but failed to take it. Then,hearing the bad news from the east, he set outyet again for Silesia, with Daun and Lacy hangingon his flanks. When they arrived in Silesia Daunjoined up with Loudon, outnumbering thePrussian force of 30,000 by nearly three to one,and barring Frederick's path at Liegnitz. Freder­ick was in a desperate position. He was short ofrations and had a string of defeats behind him; alarge Russian army stood across the Oder waitingthe outcome of Daun's battle and had alreadythrown bridges across the water; the fightingefficiency of thc Austrian soldier was greatlysuperior to that of the first two Silesian Wars and,whereas the Prussian recruit was in decline, theAustro-Hungarian material was still improving.

On '4 August Frederick was several miles to thesouth-west of Liegnitz while Daun and Loudonlay tcn miles to the north-east ofthe town. Hearingfrom an Austrian deserter that the enemy in­tended to make a night approach that very even­ing to attack his camp before Hrst light, thePrussian army moved immediately after darknessseveral miles towards the enemy and lay down onsome high ground near the village ofPanten, rightastride the Austrian approach route. The Hrst tocome up the hill was Loudon's force, out of touchwith Daun, Loudon himself leading with no ad­vance guard deployed. On being challenged theAustrians attacked. At first they thought they hadbrushed a Prussian baggage train, but when thetfuth became known, Loudon, undeterred, threwin his whole force with such dash and momentumthat the Prussian left was well-nigh cut in two.The Hghting lasted an hour and a half, thePrussians rallied and drove out the Austrianswith a loss, so they claimed, of 6,000 dead andwounded and 4,000 prisoners. Loudon had lost athird of his force and fell back unsupported, sinerDaun was still too far away to do anything butengage the Prussian right. Daun, in spite of theEmpress's urging, declined to attack once morc.

•

An officer of Hungarian infantry

Nor did the Russians across the Oder care to takeup the engagement, notwithstanding their superi­ority in numbers. Yet Frederick did not dare todclay on the field of battle and, only four hoursafterwards at nine o'clock in the morning of 15

August, he was already away, having cleared theficld of guns, muskets and wounded, bothPrussian and Austrian.

Loudon was censured by some for his im­petuousity. Yet the issue was so close that Freder­ick himself said that if the attack had been madeonly a quarter of an hour earlier, it would havegone badly with the Prussians.

At the beginning of October a Russian raidingforce of 20,000 tried to take Berlin but failed. Aweek later 15,000 Austrian troops under Lacyjoined them and the capital was occupied for afew days, the inhabitants paying a ransom offourmillion thalers. The raiding force, hearing thatFrederick was approaching, then withdrew, Lacymoving off to Saxony.

In Saxony was fought the last great battle of thewar, for Frederick had returned to his mainrecruiting ground and treasure-house. Daun had

followed, to be joined by Lacy. The master ofdefence had entrenched himself ncar the Elbc atTorgau with 50,000 troops; Frederick with44,000, was determined to attack him. Makingover a third of his force to Ziethen, who had,however, no experience of higher field command,he ordered him to attack frontally on the Austrianright flank. Frederick, with the main body, madea long circuitous march offourteen miles throughthe forest and attacked Daun from the rear.

Daun had 400 guns, a half of them new, andthese, quickly redeploying, did fearful executionamong Frederick's attacking infantry. The battlehad started at about midday and was of thefiercest, but because of some confusion Ziethen'sfrontal attack did not materialize; by earlyevening the Austrians had the best of it so that thewounded Daun sent a messenger off to Viennaannouncing a victory. This was Frederick's view,too, for he had withdrawn for the night, somemiles away, intending to renew the attack the nextday. At six in the evening in pitch darknessZiethen's force, over five hours late, came intoserious action for the first time at the placeappointed for its attack to the Austrian front.Htilsen, in command of Frederick's bivouacedforces, called them to arms again and went in toattack the rear. In a few hours the battle was lostto Daun. Torgau was his last great battle, as it wasFrederick's. Frederick was later to say it was theseverest and most crucial battle of the war. ThePrussians lost 14,000 men against an Austrian lossof 20,000 and 45 guns. Daun's army remained,however, still in being, and still ready for battle.

finaleThe strain of the war was telling not only againstPrussia, which with a population of under fivemillion was keeping an army in the ficld whichrarely fell in strength below 100,000, but alsoagainst the French and Austro-Russian coalition,which with a population of a hundred million

31

had near! y a quarter ofa million troops in Westernand Central Europe. Kaunitz warned MariaTheresa in December 1760 that Austria hadresources left for only one more campaign; in thefollowing spring the Austrian forces were reducedby 20,000 men.

Britain's new monarch, George III, wanted anend to the war and this was a widely sharedfeeling in Britain and France; overseas, Britainhad done well and France badly, and by [762 theBritish subsidy to Prussia was no longer paid. InJanuary 1762, however, the European situationwas entirely changed by the death of the TsarinaElisabeth. Her successor, the Grand Duke Peter,was a German whose principal interest appearedto be centred in the Duchy of Oldenburg and in adynastic claim against Denmark for Schleswig­Holstein. Moreover Peter admired Frederick theGreat and mistrusted Austria. So he withdrewfrom the war and concluded an alliance withPrussia directed at both Austria and Denmark.

A soldier carpenter, probably of a grenadier unit

32

Sweden also made peace. The murder of Petersome months later did not alter the politicalsituation in that the new monarch in St. Peters­burg, Catherine the Great, while having no in­tention of intervening on Frederick's behalf,merely confirmed the peace made by her pre­decessor. She ordered all Russian troops fromGermany.

Maria Theresa was now isolated and in Julyand October 1762 Frederick won two furthervictories when he began to clear Sile~ia ofAustrian troops. Realizing that she could nolongcr hope unaided to win and keep Silesia shecame to terms with Frederick. Frederick refusedto accept the mediation of Britain and France,stating his own terms of 'not a foot ofland and nocompensation to Saxony, not a village, not apenny'. He agreed to evacuate Saxony but heldSilesia. The Treaty of Hubertusburg of February1763 between Prussia and Austria made no altera­tions to the frontiers of Europe; and so 'a millionmen had perished but not a hamlet had changedits ruler'.

A USTRO-HUNGARIANARMY UNIFORM

In spite of Maria Theresa's efforts to enforceregulations, the Austro-Hungarian Army dress ofthe period was hardly uniform, for there was ageneral lack of orders on the subject and theappearance of regiments depended largely on themoney and stocks of materials available, the tastesof the colonels, the standard of discipline, and,finally, on the wearer himself. Hussar officersmight, admittedly, devise their own undress oroff-parade uniform by shedding the dolman anddonning a tricorne. Some of the cavalry too had afatigue stable dress. But most troops had only onepattern ofuniform, and this served both as paradedress and for field service. And the differencebetween summer and winter field service uniformwas simply a matter ofwith or without greatcoat.

ne'PlatesA 1 Artillery Fusilier, summer field service uniform,

c. 1751The artillery fusilier wore the distinctive artilleryuniform of the period except for the infantry­pattern button-up gaiters, and he was armed withthe usual infantry short sabre together with amusket and bayonet, his primary task being togive close infantry protection to the guns.Fusiliers had been raised initially because infantrycommanders objected to the whittling away oftheir fighting strength by detaching men to theartillery. In 1757 fusilier companies were groupedinto artillery fusilier regiments, a regiment havingthree battalions, each of eight companies of 116men. In addition to his protective role, the fusiliercould also perform the duties of the Handlanger­dienst, a pool of artillery labour which dug gunemplacements and fortifications, moved the gunsinto action and assisted with ammunition supply.After Hubertusburg the fusiliers were reduced toone regiment and finally disbanded in 1772.

A2 Artilleryman (Kanonier), winter field service uni-form c. 1740

Austria entered the First Silesian War withvirtually the same artillery as it had used atBlenheim. In 1740 all artillerymen wore thepearl-grey uniform with ponceau-rot facings,together with the black-and-gold-ribboned three­cornered hat which, incidentally, was common atthis time to artillerymen of other continentalarmies. The brown uniforms were introducedlater. Officers continued to wear the red waist­coat. All artillery, except for horse parties, wereclean shaven, and gunners were allowed to wearside locks not more than 16 em. in length. Officerswore a pigtail, either a short thick Zopfknown asthe 'cannon' or the long thin Rattenschwanz.Unter-kanon~ereand their corporals were armedwith an infantry musket and cartridge-pouch, butthe Kanonier carried pike and sword and wore aleather case (Besteck) for his tools, slung over oneshoulder. Until 1770 there were more three­pounder guns in the Austrian artillery than any

other piece, and this particular plate is of interestin that it shows the detail of gun, equipment,chocks, ramrod, charge-rod and linch-pins. Thegunner's pike (Luntenstock) was originally de­signed for the number one or gunlayer to touchoff the charge with the heated tip, but by 1740 thepike had become both a ceremonial badge ofoffice and a weapon of defence to ward offattacking cavalry.

A3 Gunner (Buchsenmeister) of Artillery, summer fieldservice uniform, c. 175/

The acknowledged founder of Austrian gunnerywas Joseph Wenzel, Prince of Lichtenstein, forwhen he took over responsibility for the artilleryit had only 800 gunners. Its size soon increased,however, so that by '755, when the corps ofartillery really came into being, it had threebrigades, each of eight companies, and thirty­three independent field and fortress companies.An artillery brigade was the equivalent of a regi­ment commanded by a colonel, with a lieuten­ant-colonel and two Obristwachtmeister (majors)as staff. A company was commanded by a captainand consisted ofseventy men. Within the artillery,but with an entirely separate corporate existence,were the bombardiers who manned the howitzersand mortars. The chief bombardier (Ober­feuerwerksmeister) was usually responsible for allhigher gunnery training. The artillery uniformcolour at this particular time was brown withpoppy-coloured (ponceau-rot) facings and linings,together with the black three-cornered hattrimmed with gold lace. The weapon common toall gunners was the short infantry-pattern sabre.The Biichsenmeister was a first-class gunner whocommanded onc or morc gun crews but he wasnot a master-gunner in the English sense of theterm.

B Horse-Grenadier, winter parade uniform, c. 1750The foot grenadier was originally a grenade­thrower, but when the function was extended tothe cavalry, the designation of horse-grenadierproved to be a misnomer since it was virtuallyimpossible for a mounted man to throw a grenadeany distance, and dragoons were already trainedin dismounted grenade-throwing. However, theAustrian forces, like those of the other continental

33

powers, introduced horse-grenadiers, who soonbecame light-horse or carabiniers, and a fewdecades later the light horse and dragoons weretemporarily amalgamated to form light dragoons.Cuirassiers, dragoons and light horse, whenmounted, carried the musket or carbine on abroad shoulder-belt, muzzle upwards as shown inthis plate. At about this time a cavalry commissionrecommended that the carbine and musket ofhussars and light cavalry should be carried in thefashion of other armies, suspended from theswivel muzzle down, since this enabled thesoldier to fire quickly from the saddle. The resultswere unfortunate in that the firing mechanismand lock were often damaged by the jolting, andthe ball fell out of the loaded barrel. Otherrecommendations of the commission were morcpertinent, particularly the abolition of the stiffleather boot-linings (known as Faschinen). Forthough they improved the look of the boot theywere a danger to the soldier since they preventedhim from running. The green coat shown herebecame traditional for light horse.

C I Olficer of German Infantry, summer field serviceuniform, c. 1750

In 1757, at the end of the Third Silesian War,there were fifty-seven regular infantry regimentsin Maria Theresa's army, of which forty-six wereGerman. There had been great difficulty in com­pelling the colonels to conform to the dressregulations, but eventually all regular Germaninfantry adopted the white half-length coat andbreeches. There was some variation, accordingto regiment, in the colours of the waistcoat(kamisol) and the coat-linings and facings. Thenumber and the position of buttons were at theregiment's discretion, except that they were to beof the standard brass metal issue. The blue of thefacings and lining shown in this plate indicate thatthe officer probably came from the Baden DurlachRegiment (later 27 Infantry Regiment), and hisboots and spurs show that he was a major orcolonel, for company officers usually wore a whitespat form of gaiter. Rank badges were not takeninto general use until 1765, when epaulettes andAchselschlingen were issued for all officer ranks

Sapper'S in ac:tion breaking down a church wall, c. 17~

34

from colonel to Fahnencadett.

C2 Dragoon, summer field service order, c. 1750It was Maria Theresa's wish that cuirassier regi­ments should gradually be converted to wearingwhite coats with red facings while dragoonsshould wear the white tunic (Rock) with bluefacings, as shown on this plate. She was in factunsuccessful, partly because of the intervention ofthe many wars, but principally because of theconservatism within the regiments. For thecolonels regarded regiments almost as their ownproperty, even to the extent of putting their ownheraldic devices on the shabracks instead of theimperial double-eagle. And so the Latour andWalloon Dragoons continued to wear theirhistoric Netherland green, while the SavoyDragoons kept their red and blue; few regimentsdid in fact convert to the white, and those that did,such as the AIthan and the Wallachian Dragoons,took scarlet instead of blue facings. The dragooncould fight as a cavalryman but he owed his originto mounted infantry, and carried a bayonet as wellas a sword; his musket was five inches longer thanthe cuirassier's carbine.

C3 Hungarian I'!fantry Soldier, summer field seroteeuniform, c. 1756

When Maria Theresa came to the throne therewere only three regular Hungarian infantry regi­ments forming part of the Austro-Hungarianarmed forces. The Queen was popular in Hun­gary and recruiting was successful for the '74'war, yet only eight new Hungarian infantry regi­ments were raised. This was considerably shortof the anticipated number, but difficulties arosesince few Magyar reerui (S, however enthusiasticthey might be, wanted to be infantrymen. Inaccordance with the national temperament allwanted to be hussars, or, if they could not becavalry, then they preferred to join the FreiKorps or irregulars. Because it was below Hun­garian dignity to march, the infantry enrolledwere hardly to be compared to the quality of theGerman regiments. The Hungarian lacked thementality to stick at laborious and monotonousroutine and he found discipline irksome; accord­ing to the Austrian account, some Magyar infantrydeserted at the time of the siege ofPrague 'because

A cuirassier's saddlery, broadsW"ord and carbine (untiI176g)

a cold rain had fallen throughout the previousnight'. Hungarian efficiency much improved,however, under the stricter discipline enforced byKhevenhiiller. In the year '746 the white coatwas taken into use by Hungarian infantry,usually with blue facings on the sleeve and theback of the collar and up to 1756 waistcoata andtrousers were of different regimental colours;thereafter most were changed to blue as in thisplate.

D Hussar, winter field service uniform, c. 1743Hussars first entered the Austrian service by wayof Hungary, where they had been used in thesouthern frontier areas as light horsemen. Thehussar had many functions for, although he wasused as a line cavalryman, he specialized inscouting and outpost duty, in denying the enemyreconnaissance and in long-range raiding. He wasarmed with a carbine, usually carried at his rightside suspended by a broad shoulder-strap, a pair ofpistols and a sabre, here shown hanging from hiswrist by the sword-knot. He never carried a lance.His distinctive fur headdress with hanging bag,dolman, boots, facings and accoutrements wereadopted by the hussars of other nations.

EI Soldier oj Frontier InJantry, summer field serviceuniform, c. 1750

Frontier infantry regiments had some specializedtraining in patrol work but they were primarilyintended to repel or take the first shock ofinvadingforces; in consequence they were equipped andtrained as line infantry. Like the line, they usedthe general service (ordinar) infantry flintlockmusket, first designed in 1722, with a barrel of18'3 mm. bore, a length of 157 cm. and a weight

3S

of 4.8 kg. Its stock and butt were of beech. Thismusket, which remained in service until after1754, could deliver up to three rounds a minutewhen fired by a trained soldier using a paper con­container cartridge. Fire was usually by volley,the grand volley (Salvenfeuer), or by Gassen-,Hohlweg-, Hecken-, and Bachfeuer, the type offire not being related to the ground but only tothe deployment formation of the troops. An in­fantry line was usually in fours, after 1756 inthrees. The bayonet was intended primarily fordefence against cavalry, and although infantrycould and did use it on occasion in close-quarterfighting, German infantry usually used the buttof the musket as a club, while the Hungarian was

EUROPE in 1763

FRANCE

'--100 200

'-- ,'--__--', mil ..

36

taught to rely on the sabre. All frontier infantrywore white trousers, but the colour of the coatcould be white, brown or wolfsgrau.

£2 Sharpshooter (Schaifschiitz) of Frontier Infantry,summer patrol uniform, c. 1750

The border sharpshooters formed a reinforcedcompany 256 strong in each frontier regiment, andthey were in fact snipers and light infantry, expertin patrolling, observation and the provision ofscreens. In training and marksmanship they werereckoned to be vastly superior to the regularinfantry of the line. Sharpshooters were equippedwith a variety of weapons, according to theirtasks, including high velocity air-guns and rifles.

POLAND

---- HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE BOUNDARV

~ PRUSSIA-BRANDENBURG

lIIIIIIIIIIIII HABSBURG LANDS

t4z .j1J OTTOMAN EMPIRE

The usual weapon, however, was a double­barrelled carbine, the upper barrel being rifledand the lower a smooth bore; forty paper cart­ridges were carried on each man for the smooth,and seventy ball for the rifled (the powder for thelatter being kept in a powder-horn). Theseexpensive weapons were often carried in a pro­tective leather case, slung over the shoulder. Thepike served both to protect the soldier from cavalryand as a rifle support when shooting; in additionthe sharpshooter carried a Hungarian sabre butno bayonet.

£3 Cuirassier, summer field service order, c. 1750In spite of the unauthorized variation and in­discipline in dress, cuirassier regiments wereprobably more uniform and stricter in detail thanany other horse. The cuirassier's three-corneredhat was always black with a black cockade, andusually without coloured edging; his coat waswhite and neckerchief black. Facings were usuallyred, as were pantaloons, although in one of theeighteen cuirassier regiments (the Modena),pantaloons were blue, and in four others (Stam­pach, Albert von Saehsen, Brettlach, Anhalt­Zerbst) they were yellow. There was some minorvariation in the colour of waistcoats. The heavybroadsword (Pallasch) had a leather scabbardwith the metal scabbard-furnishings, guard andhilt of the same colour as the buttons. The troopercarried a pair of pistols and a short carbine andwore the armoured cuirass. When fighting againstthe Turks the cuirassier used additional bodyarmour and a casque.

F Trenk'scher Pandour and Carlstiidter Sluiner Croat,c. 1756

Trenck was born in Calabria in 171 I as the son ofa colonel in the Austrian service, a baron origin­ally from Prussia. He joined the Hungarian in­fanlry regimenl Leopold Paltry as a Fahnrich,retiring as a lieutenant to his estate at Brestovac.After serving in the Frei Korps in Bosnia heentered the Russian service from which he retiredwith the rank of major. He then set up his ownrobber band and soon fell foul of the law, fleeingto Vienna and taking sanctuary in a monastery.From there he was extricated by Charles ofLorraine, through whom Trenck gained an

A cuirassier on guard duty, c. 1750

audience with Maria Theresa. Recommissionedas an Obristwachtmeister he was given authorityto raise volunteers in the Danube-Save area to thesouth. The nature of the leader was such that heattracted to his ranks a bloodthirsty band of cut­throats and looters. Recruits received only sixKreuzer a day, a Kreuzer being worth abou t apenny, unless they were in rations when they gotless; they had no officer corps but merely a'harumbasha' in charge of each party of fifty men(and he, too, received no more than the statutorysix Kreuzer). Although they were brought toVienna and given a uniform orsorts, so that MariaTheresa could review them, in fact they worewhat they pleased; the only uniformity amongthem was that they shaved their heads, leavingonly a topknot of hair rather like a pig-tail. Yetfrom a military viewpoint their value was verygood for they tied down large numbers ofPrussiantroops and took Steyr in '741 and Claus in 1742.Provided they were paid a bounty on results, theirtasks could be extended over a wide field. On the

37

SILESIA & BOHEMIA 1763

o 50 100L'-'.I-LI--".....J..--L1 -l'miln

C PRUSSIA

C AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

N

+

HUNGARY

•Olmutz

.Bru"n

POLAND

Po. \i I A

'" 0 \\

LOWER AUSTRIA

Rossbach.Lutzen.

.Hsnover

.Hastenbeck

Minden•

other hand, like their leader, they were withoutdiscipline and terrified the local population. Somuch so that Field-Marshal Neipperg foundTrenck an embarrassment, particularly whenTrenck's pandours set on Neipperg's own irregu­lars commandcd by Menzel. Trenck was arrested,following which his pandours mutinied. Trenckand his pandours were then removed to the com­mand of Field-Marshal Graf Khevenhuller, whowas a pandour enthusiast, and under whom theyrecommenced operations. Trenck's pandours hadmuch notoriety and publicity, but there were infact many others, all owning allegiance to theirlocal leaders.

Since T535 the Christian Bosnian-Serbianrefugees from Islam, both of the Orthodox andRoman Catholic faiths, had been allowed to

sellie in the frontier areas, and there they hadbeen enrolled as a border guard. The newly

38

built fonress of Carlstadt, under the walls ofwhich were, so it is said, goo Turkish skulls,attracted Croat refugees. By 1634- these werealready providing the Austrians with a number ofcavalry squadrons and seven infantry regiments.Tn 174-0 the Carlstadter Generalat had a peacestrength ofonly several hussar and foot companiesbut these had a reserve of men numbering over20,000. By 174-6 it had 800 hussars and 17,000foot in the field. The Croat infantry totalled over5,000 men since it consisted offour battalions eachof four companies, but the company numberedno fewer than 24-0 men.

Gl General of Cavalry, winta parade unifomI, C. l760Until 175 I the Austrian generals had freedom tochoose their own dress and, more often than nOl,

they wore civilian clothes. The original designshown here was decreed by Maria Theresa in a

letter sent to general officers. Headdress, shirt,trousers and boots were uniform for all ranks ofgeneral, rank badges being shown by the numberof gold-ribboned stripes (Galonnierung) on thesleeves and lower pockets of the white topcoatand waistcoat.

G2 Engineer Officer, winter field service uniform,c. /760

Maria Theresa's corps of tnilitary engineers wassmall and its organization and role somewhatcomplicated. The main component was theEngineer Corps, which totalled only ninety-eightofficers, one of whom is shown in this plate. Inaddi tion to this corps and part of the mili taryengineer organization were the Sapper Corpsand the Miner Corps, each with their own officers,maintained on separate corps lists. Except in

An artillery officer (1750-1,69)

A well-laden carabineer carrying pickets, c. 1,69

certain minor details, however, the dress of allengineer, sapper and miner officers was the same.The headdress, not shown here, was the blackinfantry tricorne with gold edging; the greatcoatwas dunkelhechtgrau. The Rock half-coat wascornflower-blue, although dunkelhechtgrau wassometimes worn. Facings were always red.

G3 Private Soldier of Sappers, winter field sermceuniform, c. /760

The corps of sappers together with the corps ofpioneers carried out the main engineering tasksin the field, sometimes at the direction of the corpsofengineers. Entry into the corps ofsappers at thistime was a haphazard business, the other ranksusually being recruited from infantry regimentsdetailed to provide by transfer the requirednumber of men. In consequence they usually sentthe unwanted. The cap held in the soldier's handis the latter pattern infantry headdress with ahigh front and plume in red and white.

H/ Fifer of German Infantry, Summer Field ServiceUniform, c. /769

German and Hungarian infantry used thebayonet mainly for defence against cavalry.For close quarter fighting German infantry were

39

H] Fusilier of German Infantry, summer field serviceuniform, c. 1769

When the grenadiers were removed from theinfantry regiments, the line infantry were redesig­nated as rusiliers, the new name having no militarysignificance. The infantry or fusilier company wasstronger than that of grenadiers having a peaceestablishment of 1 '3, and consisted of threeofficers and a Fahnrich, a Feldwebel, fourcorporals, eight Gefreite (first-class privates) andninety-one Gemeine or fusiliers. The soldiershown in the plate wears the infantry cap, com­mon to both German and Hungarian, and thewhite uniform and black gaiters worn by allGerman infantry.

H 2 Private Soldier of Hungarian Infantry, summer field

service uniform, c. 1770There had been numerous changes in the colour­ing of the uniforms of Hungarian infantry. Coatswere usually white, but until 1756 waistcoats andtrousers were of the regimental colour. From 1757to about 1762 waistcoats and trousers were allblue, but from then onwards (until 17g8) theyreverted once more to the regimental colour. Inthis plate, therefore, the regimental colour of

trained to use the ·butt of the musket as a club, trousers and collar shows that the soldier iswielding it by ,he stock, while I;Iungarirn probably from the Palffy (Ig Regiment) or theinfantry used the short infantry pattenl sabre. :. Forgach (32 Regiment) both of which wore blueIn 1769, when all Austro-Hungarian infantry facings. The cost of the Hungarian infantry wasregiments changed their titles for numbers, the charged to the Hungarian Exchequer except thatgrenadier companies were removed and re- weapons, banners, drums and tents were providedformed as grenadier battalions, nineteen in all. from Austrian stocks. Except that he did not wearHungarian grenadiers and line infantry retained gaiters and carried a Hungarian-pattern sabre,their traditional sabres, and the infantry sabre the Hungarian's equipment was, therefore, thecontinued to be worn also by all German same as that of the German. The Hungariangrenadiers and by German infantry bandsmen. grenadier differed from infantry in that he wore aThe general-service pattern 1754 infantry musket white coat with yellow facings <\nd pale blue(not shown in the plate) was easily distinguish- trous~rs with a yellow stripe. He had a black tallable by its upper barrel ring and funnel shaped headdress surmounted by green oakleaves.ramrod socket. This musician, like those in theRussian Army service, carried his fife in a metalcontainer at his belt; his facings show that heprobably came from the Neipperg Regiment,later 7 Infantry Regiment.

40

H] Fusilier of German Infantry, summer field serviceuniform, c. 1769

When the grenadiers were removed from theinfantry regiments, the line infantry were redesig­nated as fusiliers, the new name having no militarysignificance. The infantry or fusilier company wasstronger than that of grenadiers having a peaceestablishment of 1 '3, and consisted of threeofficers and a Fahnrich, a Feldwebel, fourcorporals, eight Gefreite (first-class privates) andninety-one Gemeine or fusiliers. The soldiershown in the plate wears the infantry cap, com­mon to both German and Hungarian, and thewhite uniform and black gaiters worn by allGerman infantry.

H 2 Private Soldier of Hungarian Infantry, summer field

service uniform, c. 1770There had been numerous changes in the colour­ing of the uniforms of Hungarian infantry. Coatswere usually white, but until 1756 waistcoats andtrousers were of the regimental colour. From 1757to about 1762 waistcoats and trousers were allblue, but from then onwards (until 17g8) theyreverted once more to the regimental colour. Inthis plate, therefore, the regimental colour of

trained to use the ·butt of the musket as a club, trousers and collar shows that the soldier iswielding it by ,he stock, while I;Iungarirn probably from the Palffy (Ig Regiment) or theinfantry used the short infantry pattenl sabre. :. Forgach (32 Regiment) both of which wore blueIn 1769, when all Austro-Hungarian infantry facings. The cost of the Hungarian infantry wasregiments changed their titles for numbers, the charged to the Hungarian Exchequer except thatgrenadier companies were removed and re- weapons, banners, drums and tents were providedformed as grenadier battalions, nineteen in all. from Austrian stocks. Except that he did not wearHungarian grenadiers and line infantry retained gaiters and carried a Hungarian-pattern sabre,their traditional sabres, and the infantry sabre the Hungarian's equipment was, therefore, thecontinued to be worn also by all German same as that of the German. The Hungariangrenadiers and by German infantry bandsmen. grenadier differed from infantry in that he wore aThe general-service pattern 1754 infantry musket white coat with yellow facings "nd pale blue(not shown in the plate) was easily distinguish- trous~rs with a yellow stripe. He had a black tallable by its upper barrel ring and funnel shaped headdress surmounted by green oakleaves.ramrod socket. This musician, like those in theRussian Army service, carried his fife in a metalcontainer at his belt; his facings show that heprobably came from the Neipperg Regiment,later 7 Infantry Regiment.

40

(

r·

Men-at-Arms Series

TITLES ALREADY PUBUSHED

THE STONEWALL BRIGADE ]olm Selby

TH E BLACK WATCH\ Charla Grant

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION JHarti" Windrow

FOOT GRENADIERS OF THE IMPERIALGUARD CharllS Grant

THE IRO. BRIGADE J.h. &lb:J

CHASSEURS OF THE GUARD p,,,,. r"".gWAFFEN-55 Marti" IVindrow

THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS Charles Grant

U.S. CAVALRY John Selby

THE ARAB LEGION Peter Young

ROYAL SCOTS GREYS Charles Grant

ARGYLL AND SUTHERL"-ND HIGH·LANDERS William McEIWH

THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS AI.. ShLp/",d

30th PUNJABIS ]ama Lawford

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ARMYPeter Young

THE BUFFS Gregory Blax/and

LUFTWAFFE AIRBORN~;AND FIELDUNITS Marlin Windrow

THE SOVIET ARMY Albert Seaton

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPSJohn Selby

TH E COSSACKS Albert Staton

BLUCHER'S ARMY Peter Young

THE PANZER DIVISIONS Martin Windrow

ROYAL ARTILLERY W. 1', Carman

JAPA 'ESE ARMY OF WORLD WAR /IPhilip Warntr

MO 'TCALM'S ARMY .'Hartin Windrow

THE KING'S REGIMENT Alan Shepperd

THE RUSSIAN ARMY OF THENAPOLEONIC WARS Albtrt Staton

THE ENCLISH CIVIL WAR ARMIESPtUr )"ounC

THE RUSSIAN ARMY OF THE CRIMEAAlbtrt Staton

THE BLACK BRU lSWICKERS OUo von Pivka

AUSTRO-HUi\GARIAN ARMY Of THENAPOLEONIC WARS Albert Staton

THE AMERICAN PROVI 'CIAL CORPSPhilip Katcher

WELLINGTON'S Pt-:NINSULAR ARMYJamts Lawford

FREDERICK THE GREAT'S ARMYAlhert Staton

THE ARMY OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE1870-1688 Albert Staton

BRITISH TROOPS IN AMERICA '775-'783Gerald Embleton

THE GURKHA RIfLES ]. B. R. NiCholson

FUTURE TITLES INCLUDE

ARMIES OF THE AMERICAN WAR ,8,.­1814 Philip !LaUhtr

THE KING'S GERMAN LEGIONOtto von PivkaTHE BRITISH ARMY OF THE CRIMEA

]. 1J. R. NiCholson

NAPOLEON'S POLISH TROOPSOtto von Pivka

WOLFE'S ARMY Gerald Emhldon

THE ROMAN IMPERIAL ARMYMichael Simkins