Battle of Hochkirch
The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758, during the Third Silesian War. An Austrian army of 80,000 commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun surprised the Prussian army. The Austrian army overwhelmed the Prussians and forced a general retreat. Historians generally consider the battle as among Frederick the Great’s greatest blunders.
About Battle of Hochkirch in brief
The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758, during the Third Silesian War. An Austrian army of 80,000 commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun surprised the Prussian army of 30,000–36,000. The Austrian army overwhelmed the Prussians and forced a general retreat. Historians generally consider the battle as among Frederick the Great’s greatest blunders. Over 30% of Frederick’s army was defeated; five generals were killed and he lost his artillery park and a vast quantity of supplies. Although Daun had scored a complete surprise, his attempt to pursue the retreating Prussian was unsuccessful. The escaped force united with another corps in the vicinity, and regained momentum over the winter. By 1758 Prussia had to contend with Sweden, Russia, and Austria. By late summer, fighting had reached a draw. None of Prussia’s enemies seemed willing to take the decisive steps to pursue Frederick’s Prussia into the heart of his heartland. In early October, a Swedish army repulsed the Prussia army but did not move on Berlin. In late September, a Russian army, 43,000 men fought a PrussianArmy of 35,000, at the Battle of Zorndorf. In October, Frederick claimed victory over the Russians but the Russians withdrew, and Frederick claimed victory at Tornow a month later. The Battle of Tornow was the last major battle of the Seven Years’ War, which ended in September 1758. The battle took place in and around the village of Hochk Kirch, 9 kilometers east of Bautzen, Saxony.
The Prussian king was concerned by the Russian advance from the east and concerned by Poland for east and east Prussia. Frederick was also concerned by a Russian advance in East of the Oder river in Brandenburg, East Prussia, and Brandenburg. In 1754, escalating tensions between Britain and France in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade. The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick the prosperous province of Silesia. Austria put aside its old rivalry with France to form a new coalition. Britain aligned herself with Prussia; this alliance drew in not only the British king’s European territories held in personal union, including Hanover, but also those of his relatives in the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. The series of political maneuvers became known as the Diplomatic Revolution. 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 to support his army. In March 1758 Ferdinand evicted the French from Hanover and Westphalia and re-captured the port of Emden; he crossed the Rhine, causing general alarm in France. Despite Ferdinand’s victory over French, successful maneuvering of larger French forces required him to withdraw.
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