User:Lord Cornwallis/Prussia in the Seven Years War

The Kingdom of Prussia was one of the major participants of the Seven Years War who were actively involved from the formal declaration of war in 1756 until the Peace treaties that ended the war in 1763. During that time the Prussians faced a coallition of states which included Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony.

Having tried to avoid war breaking out, the Prussians struck pre-emtively by invading Saxony in 1756 when they realised that war with Austria was inevitable. This triggered the outbreak of war in Continental Europe, which became merged to a colonial struggle that had broken out in 1754 between France and Britain (to whom the Prussians were bound by the Convention of Westminster). Britain became a vital source of financial subsidies during the war, helping to keep Prussia afloat. While Britain fought a global war, Prussia's operations were confined entirely to Central and Northern Europe.

Several times Prussia was pulled back from the brink of defeat by a prominent battlefield victory.

Despite seven years of fighting, Prussia ultimately made no gains in the conflict which ended with a return to the pre-war status quo. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Hubertsburg.

Background

Silesian Wars

Diplomatic Revolution

On 17 January 1756 Prussia and Britain signed the Convention of Westminster in which both garunteed the neutrality of Germany (principally Hanover) from any coming war. Neither side saw this Convention as creating an alliance between them, and both continued to negotiate with other parties in try to create an alliance. However, the Convention was widely seen as having created such an alliance between the two states. Austria was angered by Britain's decision to exclude the Austrian Netherlands from the garuntee, thereby leaving it open to attack.^[1] The French were outraged by what they considered a betrayal by Frederick, and ordered home their envoy from Prussia.

News of the Convention sped up ongoing talks between Austria and France which led to the signing on 1 May of the First Treaty of Versailles which created an Franco-Austrian Alliance setting the stage for a dual campaign in Germany with France invading Hanover while both states would attack Prussia to recover Silesia for Austria. The Diplomatic Revolution was completed when Russia and Sweden subsequently joined the new allies in war with Prussia. The Dutch Republic meanwhile, a historic ally of Britain, refused to join the Anglo-Prussian Alliance despite Frederick's hopes that they would do so.

1756

Invasion of Saxony

Knowing that he was about to be attacked by several states, in August 1756 Frederick launched what he considered a pre-emptive strike against his enimies by invading the Electorate of Saxony.^[2] Saxony was techically neutral, but was considered close to Austria, and was a nessecary route for Frederick to reach his intended target of Bohemia. Saxony had a small army of just 23,000 troops which Frederick easily brushed aside.

His troops ransacked the Saxon capital looking for evidence of their collusion in an anti-Prussian plot^[3], but finding little. The reprecussions of this sudden attack, however, were enormous. It outraged public opinion across Europe, particurly amongst smaller German states such as Bavaria and Wurttemburg who later supplied troops to Austria. Even George II, Frederick's uncle and now notionally his ally, rebuked him for violating the territory of a fellow elector in such a way.^[4]

Frederick fought a brief battle with the Austrians at Lovosice before retiring to winter quarters. He besieged and captured Pirna incoporated the remains of the Saxon army into his own forces.

Alliance with Britain

William Pitt was one of Prussia's strongest supporters in London and an advocate of the Anglo-Prussian Alliance.

Prussia's invasion of Saxony had wrecked British plans to try and prevent war from breaking out on the European continent. The British considered Hanover, which was also ruled by George II, to be their weak spot and wished to avoid it being dragged into their ongoing war with France. They had signed the Convention of Westminster with Prussia aiming to prevent this, hoping that Germany would be declared neutral by all parties. Instead it now appeared that France would attack Hanover and Austria Silesia, triggering the major European war the British had hoped to avoid.

Britain now found itself being dragged, almost by accident, into an alliance with Prussia - as they were the only country who could help Britain resist an attack on Hanover. An army made up largely of Hanoverians and Hessians was formed and the Duke of Cumberland sent to command it, and Prussia pledged to provide artillery and cavalry.

this co-incided with the rise to power of William Pitt who had developed a strategy to defeat France. Pitt believed that Britain needed to tie France down by drawing them further into a war in Germany while Britain would be free to attack her colonies around the world. Pitt pushed for Prussia to be given large financial subsidies to help her field armies (a long-term British policy, often known as the Golden Cavalry of St George).

However, the British rejected a Prussian request to send ships to the Baltic Sea to protect the Prussian coast from Russian attack. The British were still at peace with Russia, and did not want to provoke them to war.^[5] There was also a deep popular resistance at this point to despatch any British troops to the continent in aid of either Prussia or Hanover.

1757

Invasion of Bohemia

Frederick moved to surprise his enemies, and struck south into Bohemia. Once again the Austrians were caught off-guard, as Frederick had intended.

One of his Generals, August Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Bevern beat an Austrian force at the Battle of Reichenberg capturing large amounts of Austrian supplies. Frederick's main force then avanced towards the Bohemian capital of Prauge. He defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Prague and then besieged the city and its 40,000 defenders.^[6]

Total war

The Treaty of St Petersburg signed in --- 1757

but troop shortages had forced the Allies to delay their attack for a year. By Spring 1757 they were now prepared to move. Caught by surprise by the Prussia thrust towards Prague,

The French and Austrians, meanwhile, had concluded a Second Treaty of Versailles with more aggressive measures against Prussia.^[7] The French now planned to launch an invasion of Hanover, which would be followed by an attack on the western Prussian fortress of Magdeburg. The British had assembled an Army of Observation unde ther Duke of Cumberland to protect Hanover.

In July 1757 the French forces defeated the Anglo-German Army of Observation at the Battle of Hastenback forcing them to retreat. The French invaded and overran much of Hanover, and forced Cumberland to sign the Convention of Klosterzeven the terms of which included Hanover's withdrawal from the war, France being allowed to occupy large chunks of territory and French troops being given free passage across their territory. ^[8]

The Convention was a potential disaster, leaving Prussia's western flank horribly exposed to a French attack. However the French invasion of Hanover had gone far slower than expected and the French were forced to delay their assault on Magedeburg for several months after they ecountered some resistance from Prussian troops under Ferdinand of Brunswick.

Defence of Silesia

when, after their victory at the Battle of -----, the Russian forces surprisingly began to retreat and evacuate East Prussia. This allowed Frederick to bring his eastern army to fight the Swedes in Pomerania, driving them back

Rossbach and Leuthen

1758

Hanover re-enters the war

Prussia had lobbied hard in London for the Convention of Klosterzeven to be revoked. As there was a great deal of public anger in Hanover over the Convention, and the French occupiers had commited numerous atrocities, Pitt had little trouble in persuading the Hanoverians to revoke the Convention and re-enter the war. The Army of Observation was reformed, now under the command of Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who had previously served with the Prussian forces, and was Frederick's brother-in-law.

Brunswick launched an offensive campaign during the early Spring, driving the French back across the Rhine and winning the Battle of Krefeld. With the help of the British navy he recaptured the port of Emden. In a matter of months the situation in Western Germany had changed dramatically. In late 1757 the French had believed they were close to total victory there, while by summer 1758 they were facing a resurgant 40,000 strong Anglo-German army. ^[9] Combined with the defeat at Rossbach, this was a huge setback to France's hopes of a quick end to the war.

Moravia Campaign

Ferdinand had once again decided to take the offensive, and this time he planned an invasion of Moravia hoping to wrongfoot the Austrians who expected an attack on neighbouring Bohemia.

Zorndorf

1759

1760

1761

Raid on Berlin

Fall of Kolberg

1762

The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg

Frederick opened negotiations with Denmark with the hope of their lending him a fleet to re-capture Kolberg and with the Ottoman Empire to launch an attack on Austria.

Frederick's final offensive

Peace treaty

Aftermath

Frederick has been widely criticised for his conduct during the war,

Frederick justified himself by stating that he had not wanted the war which had been forced on him by Austria and its allies.

Large parts of Prussia were left in ruins and took decades to rebuild. A huge shortage of manpower had been created by the many casualties, leading to heavy immigration from neighbouring states – between 1763 and 1786 more people emigrated to Prussia than to the Thirteen Colonies.^[10]

Frederick's anger at what he considered a "betrayal" by the British led to him spurning several attempts to restore the Anglo-Prussian Alliance, in spite of the efforts of William Pitt. When the American War of Independence turned into a global war with Britain fighting alone against an alliance including France, Spain and the Dutch Republic - the Prussians remained neutral arguably contributing to Britain's defeat. During the course of the war, a dispute broke out triggering the War of the Bavarian Succession which ivolved a stand-off between the Prussians and Austrian. However, with an eye to the destruction caused by the Seven Years War to their countries, the two states managed to resolve the conflict without major bloodshed.^[11]

References

^ Dull p.64
^ Anderson p.171
^ Simms p.419
^ Dull p.70-71
^ Rodger p.
^ Anderson p.176
^ Dull p.72-73
^ Anderson p.211-12
^ McLynn p.259-61
^ MacDonogh p.319
^ Simms p.

Bibliography

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. Faber and Faber, 2001
Brown, Peter Douglas. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: The Great Commoner. George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
Carter, Alice Clare. The Dutch Republic in Europe in the Seven Years War. MacMillan, 1971.
Dull, Jonathan R. The French Navy and the Seven Years' War. University of Nebraska, 2005.
McLynn, Frank. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. Pimlico, 2005.
Simms, Brendan. Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Penguin Books, 2008.

[1] Dull p.64

[2] Anderson p.171

[3] Simms p.419

[4] Dull p.70-71

[5] Rodger p.

[6] Anderson p.176

[7] Dull p.72-73

[8] Anderson p.211-12

[9] McLynn p.259-61

[10] MacDonogh p.319

[11] Simms p.

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