Battle of Zorndorf
Battle of Zorndorf | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Third Silesian War (Seven Years' War) | |||||||
Frederick the Great at the Battle of Zorndorf by Carl Röchling | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Prussia | Russia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Frederick II | William Fermor | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
36,000 167 guns[2] |
42,590 210 guns[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
11,390–12,800[3]
| 27 flags[7] |
The Battle of Zorndorf, during the
Seven Years' War
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it was particularly intense in the European theater based on the recently concluded
At the outset of the war, Frederick had one of the finest armies in Europe: his troops—any company—could fire at least four volleys a minute, and some of them could fire five.[10] By the end of 1757, the course of the war had gone well for Prussia, and poorly for Austria. Prussia had achieved spectacular victories at Rossbach and Leuthen, and reconquered parts of Silesia that had fallen back to Austria.[11] The Prussians then pressed south into Austrian Moravia. In April 1758, Prussia and Britain concluded the Anglo-Prussian Convention in which the British committed to pay Frederick an annual subsidy of £670,000. Britain also dispatched 7,000–9,000 troops [Note 1] to reinforce the army of Frederick's brother-in-law, the Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Ferdinand evicted the French from Hanover and Westphalia and re-captured the port of Emden in March 1758; he crossed the Rhine, causing general alarm in France. Despite Ferdinand's victory over the French at the Battle of Krefeld and the brief occupation of Düsseldorf, successful maneuvering of larger French forces required him to withdraw across the Rhine.[12]
After the
While Ferdinand kept the French occupied in the Rhineland, Prussia had to contend with Sweden, Russia, and Austria. There remained a possibility that Prussia could lose Silesia to Austria, Pomerania to Sweden, Magdeburg to Saxony, and East Prussia to Poland-Lithuania or Russia: for Prussia, this represented an entirely nightmarish scenario.[15] By 1758, Frederick was concerned by the Russian advance from the east and marched to counter it. East of the
Terrain
Zorndorf is a sizeable hamlet in a peat wilderness, full of scraggy firs, heaths, and cultivated spaces resembling light green islands in a mass of dark fir. In the mid-18th century, it was very marshy, full of bogs; eventually Prussians developed a firm broad road, but this was not even dreamed of in 1758, when it was characterized by bog pools and a semi island some 5–6 mi (8–10 km) from the Oder river, and about 50 ft (15 m) above the river. Thomas Carlyle, who toured the ground 100 years later, investigated some of the old records: he called these marshes "leakages" approximately 2–3 miles broad, mostly bottomless and woven with sluggish creeks and stagnant pools. Zorndorf lies at the crown of this morass of nearly unpassable terrain.[17]
Battle
On 25 August Frederick's infantry attacked a Russian "Observation Corps," which consisted of young conscripts only. The Russians managed to hold their own until the famed cavalry of Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz struck against them. The Russian cavalry clashed with the Prussians, but was routed and had to flee towards the lines of the Russian infantrymen who, confused by clouds of dust and gun smoke, mistook them for the Prussians and opened artillery fire.
In the meantime, Frederick's infantry fell upon the left wing of the Russian army. Frederick intended to repeat the oblique order assault that had granted him victory at the Battle of Leuthen, yet as the Russian lines were unable to retreat due to the swamps in their rear,[4] and the left flank of Frederick's army was likewise unable to enclose the Russian lines because of the unfavorable terrain and successful Russian resistance,[18] the battle took the course of an extremely bloody, frontal clash of the adversaries' armies within a narrow battlefield setting.[19]
During the ensuing battle, both sides quickly ran out of gunpowder and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. When some of the Prussian battalions showed signs of tiring, Frederick himself led them in an attack. The battle was described by contemporaries as the bloodiest in the 18th century. One Prussian officer reported that "bodies of Russians covered the field row by row; they kissed their cannons while their bodies were cut to pieces by our sabers, but still they would not retreat."[20] After the battle, Frederick famously declared that "it's easier to kill the Russians than to win over them."[21]
Aftermath
The Prussians lost 11,390 men and immediately claimed that the Russians numbered 70,000 men and lost between 20,000 and 22,000 in total. Two days later they claimed to have defeated 80,000 men and killed 26,000; eventually, this inflated number rose to 30,000 dead in a letter of Frederick to his sister. The actual Russian losses were about 16,000 men, still a significant number.[22] That the Russians took such heavy casualties and did not pull back, left an imprint on the Prussian soldiers and upon Frederick himself. Before the battle he regarded the Russian army as weaker than his own, but in this battle the Russians proved themselves tough opponents and Frederick was frustrated by their tenacity.[6] The battle appeared inconclusive: since neither side was driven from the battlefield, both could declare themselves victorious.[23]
The Russians had no choice but to leave the region; the heavy extractions they had exacted on the countryside meant there was nothing to keep man or beast alive. The Prussians still had their supplies, but otherwise were in the same position as the Russians. Nonetheless, Frederick ended the battle in possession of the terrain, with his lines of communication intact, and his fighting force mobile. The Russians also had disputes with the Austrians. The envoy from Vienna, while in the Russian camp, cast doubts upon Fermor's competence. Fermor responded with detraction on the Austrians' abilities, who had not sent even an auxiliary corps to his assistance. The Austrians were, instead, preparing for a thrust into Saxony against the weaker army Frederick had left behind under the command of his younger brother, Prince Henry. The Austrians advanced so slowly, Henry and his army were gone when the Austrians arrived; and all they managed to achieve during Frederick's absence was to capture a minor Prussian fortress and a garrison of 1,400. Even that feat was a modest one, and achieved by Imperial (Reichsarmee) troops, not Austrian ones.[24]
After the fighting, Frederick withdrew his cavalry to stop their incessant and destructive skirmishing with the Cossacks, thereby allowing the Russian army to re-establish contact with their baggage wagons. Considering himself the victor, Fermor sent a triumphant letter to Saint Petersburg, assembled his troops into two columns and marched towards Landsberg to link up with the forces of Count Pyotr Rumyantsev.[25] Upon hearing the news of the battle, three Allied capitals, Saint Petersburg, Vienna and Paris, celebrated a triumph.[26] As Fermor left, Frederick was eager to proclaim it a retreat, although in reality the Russians were not fleeing and marched in perfect order, not being worried by the remaining Prussian troops.[22] The Prussians followed them but refrained from launching another attack.[25] This retreat prevented the Russians from reaching their Austrian allies and allowed Frederick to claim the battle as his victory, a view also popular in 19th century historiography, but historians still disputed the outcome.[27]
In culture
Carl Röchling's 1904 depiction, Frederick the Great in the battle of Zorndorf before the frontline of the von Bülow regiment became a widely perceived symbol of the early 20th century ideal of soldiers' heroism.[28]
Notes
- ^ Anderson says 7,000, p. 301. Szabo says 9,000.
References
- ^ Duffy 2015, p. 275; Black 2002, pp. 66; Szabo 2013, pp. 167–168; Scott 2001, p. 44; Hook 2003, p. 83; Zabecki 2014, p. 1525.
- ^ a b MacDonogh 1999, pp. 275–276.
- ^ Redman 2015, p. 217.
- ^ a b Füssel 2010, p. 46; Kunisch 2011, p. 391.
- ^ Szabo 2013, pp. 167–168; Füssel 2010, p. 46; Kunisch 2011, p. 391.
- ^ a b Hook 2003, p. 83.
- ^ Schottmüller 1858, p. 67.
- ^ Wilson 2016, pp. 478–479.
- ^ Horn 1957, pp. 440–464; Black 1990, pp. 301–323; Berenger 2014, pp. 80–89.
- ^ Anderson 2007, p. 302.
- ^ Asprey 2007, p. 43.
- ^ Szabo 2013; Anderson 2007.
- ^ Asprey 2007, p. 500.
- ^ Szabo 2013, pp. 195–202.
- ^ Simms 2013, p. 120.
- ^ Asprey 2007, pp. 494–499.
- ^ Carlyle 1888, p. 382.
- ^ Kunisch 2011, p. 390.
- ^ Füssel 2010, p. 46; Kunisch 2011, p. 390.
- ^ Jarymowycz 2008, p. 238.
- ^ Jarymowycz 2008, p. 83.
- ^ a b Szabo 2013, p. 167.
- ^ Szabo 2013, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Blanning 2015, pp. 247–258.
- ^ a b Hook 2003, p. 85.
- ^ Szabo 2013, pp. 169–170.
- ^ Kugler 1845, pp. 382–383; Macaulay 1882, p. 103; Robson 1957, p. 474.
- ^ Füssel 2010, pp. 104–105.
Sources
- Anderson, Fred (2007). Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
- Asprey, Robert (2007). Frederick the Great: A Magnificent Enigma. Ticknor & Fields.
- )}
- Black, Jeremy (2002). "European Warfare, 1660–1815". Routledge.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - Blanning, Tim (2015). Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. Penguin.
- Berenger, Jean (2014). The Habsburg Empire 1700–1918. Routledge.
- Carlyle, Thomas (1888). Carlyle's Complete Works, Vol. 7: Friedrich II of Prussia called Frederick the Great. Estes and Lauriat.
- Duffy, Christopher (2015). Frederick the Great: A Military Life. Routledge.
- Füssel, Marian (2010). Der Siebenjährige Krieg. Ein Weltkrieg im 18. Jahrhundert. Beck Wissen. München: Beck.
- Hook, A. (2003). Zorndorf 1758: Frederick Faces Holy Mother Russia. Osprey Publishing.
- Horn, D. B. (1957). "The Diplomatic Revolution". In Lindsay, J.O. (ed.). The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume 7. The Old Regime, 1713–1763. Cambridge University Press. pp. 440–464.
- Jarymowycz, R. J. (2008). Cavalry from Hoof to Track. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Kugler, Franz Theodor (1845) [1840]. History of Frederick the Great: Comprehending a Complete History of the Silesian Campaigns and the Seven Years' War. Translated by Moriarty, Edward Aubrey. Illustrated by Menzel, Adolph. London: Henry G. Bohn.
- Kunisch, Johannes (2011). Friedrich der Grosse. Der König und seine Zeit. Beck.
- Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1882). The Life of Frederick the Great. Useful Knowledge Publishing.
- MacDonogh, Giles (1999). Frederick The Great: A Life in Deeds and Letters. St. Martin's Griffin.
- Redman, H. (2015). Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War, 1756–1763. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1300-0.
- Robson, Eric (1957). "The Seven Years War". In Lindsay, J.O. (ed.). The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume 7. The Old Regime, 1713–1763. Cambridge University Press. pp. 465–486.
- Scott, H. M. (2001). The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756–1775. Cambridge University Press.
- ISBN 978-0465065950.
- Schottmüller, Adolf (1858). Die Schlacht bei Zorndorf: Eine Jubelschrift Mit 1 Schlachtplan. Friedrich Schultze. (In German.)
- Szabo, Franz (2013). The Seven Years War in Europe: 1756–1763. Routledge.
- Wilson, Peter H. (2016). The Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Penguin.
- Zabecki, D. T. (2014). Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. ABC-CLIO.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-7100-0797-3.
- ISBN 1-883476-02-X.
- Duffy, Christopher (2005). Military Experience in the Age of Reason. Routledge.
- Koch, H. W. (1993). A History of Prussia. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-88029-158-3.
- ISBN 1-85532-585-3.
- Millar, Simon (2003). Zorndorf 1758. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-696-8..