Battle of Leuthen (1757): Frederick the Great's Masterpiece

The Battle of Leuthen, fought on 5 December 1757 near Breslau in Silesia, is widely regarded as Frederick the Great’s finest victory. With roughly 35,000 men he defeated an Austrian army almost twice as large, using a hidden flank march and the so-called oblique order. The battle won back Silesia for Prussia and is still taught as a model of manoeuvre.

Background

Silesia, a rich province on the upper Oder, was the heart of the conflict between Prussia and Austria. Frederick had seized it in 1740, and Empress Maria Theresa was determined to recover it. The Seven Years’ War, which began in 1756, gave her a coalition with France and Russia to do so.

While Frederick was in Saxony winning the Battle of Rossbach against the French on 5 November 1757, the Austrians overran Silesia. They took the fortress of Schweidnitz, beat the Prussian army of the Duke of Bevern outside Breslau on 22 November, and occupied the provincial capital. Unless Frederick acted at once, Silesia would be lost for the winter and perhaps for good.

Preparing for battle

Frederick marched about 270 kilometres east from Saxony in roughly two weeks and joined the remnants of Bevern’s army. On 3 December, at his camp at Parchwitz, he addressed his generals and officers. In a speech recorded in several versions, he told them he intended to attack the Austrians wherever he found them, against all the rules of the art of war, and that any officer who wished could leave now without reproach.

The Austrian commander, Prince Charles of Lorraine, with Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun as his senior colleague, chose to leave the shelter of Breslau and meet the Prussians in the open. They drew up their army on a front of about seven kilometres around the village of Leuthen, facing west.

What happened

At dawn on 5 December the Prussians advanced and brushed aside an Austrian outpost at Borne. Frederick knew the ground well from peacetime manoeuvres. He sent a small force towards the Austrian right wing, near the village of Nippern, and Charles moved reserves north to meet what looked like the main attack.

Meanwhile the bulk of the Prussian army turned south, marching behind a line of low hills that screened it from Austrian view. Around 1 pm it emerged opposite the far end of the Austrian left near Sagschütz, held mainly by troops from Württemberg and Bavaria. The Prussian battalions advanced in echelon, one after another, so that their full weight fell on this single flank. This was the oblique order in practice.

The Austrian left collapsed. Charles tried to form a new line facing south around Leuthen itself, where the walled churchyard became the scene of bitter fighting. Prussian artillery placed on a hill, the Butterberg, pounded the crowded Austrian ranks.

Late in the afternoon the Austrian cavalry under General Lucchesi prepared to attack the exposed Prussian left. Lieutenant General Georg Wilhelm von Driesen’s Prussian cavalry, held back for this moment, charged first and routed them. Lucchesi was killed. By dusk the Austrian army was in retreat towards Breslau.

Key people

Frederick II (1712–1786) planned and directed the battle personally, relying on his knowledge of the ground and the discipline of his infantry.

Prince Charles of Lorraine (1712–1780), Maria Theresa’s brother-in-law, commanded the Austrian army. After Leuthen he was removed from field command.

Leopold Joseph von Daun (1705–1766), the victor of Kolin earlier that year, shared command and would later become Frederick’s most persistent opponent.

Georg Wilhelm von Driesen (1700–1758) led the decisive cavalry charge on the Prussian left.

By the numbers

Figures are approximate and differ between sources.

Consequences

Breslau, with a garrison of around 17,000 Austrian troops, surrendered to Frederick on 19–20 December. By the end of the year almost all of Silesia was back in Prussian hands, apart from Schweidnitz, which fell in April 1758. The Austrian field army had lost about a third of its strength and retreated into Bohemia.

Together with Rossbach, Leuthen turned 1757 from a year of disaster into one of triumph for Prussia. It did not end the war, however. Frederick would face much harder years, including the near-catastrophe of Kunersdorf in 1759.

Myths and facts

The famous Leuthen Chorale, the singing of Nun danket alle Gott by Prussian soldiers on the night after the battle, is a strong tradition but appears in later accounts rather than official reports. It may be true, but its details were embroidered in the 19th century.

Another popular story has Frederick riding into the manor at Lissa that evening and finding it full of Austrian officers, who could easily have captured him. It is an attractive anecdote but not securely documented. The oblique order, by contrast, was real and was a technique Frederick had written about and practised.

Timeline

• 1757, 22 November: Austrians defeat the Duke of Bevern outside Breslau.
• 1757, 24 November: Breslau falls to the Austrians.
• 1757, 3 December: Frederick addresses his officers at Parchwitz.
• 1757, 5 December, morning: Prussians drive in the Austrian outpost at Borne.
• 1757, 5 December, about 1 pm: Main Prussian attack hits the Austrian left near Sagschütz.
• 1757, 5 December, late afternoon: Driesen’s cavalry defeats Lucchesi; the Austrians retreat.
• 1757, 19–20 December: The Austrian garrison of Breslau surrenders.

Why it matters

Leuthen saved Silesia for Prussia and confirmed Frederick as the outstanding commander of his age. It remains a textbook example of how surprise, movement and concentration of force can defeat a larger enemy.