Outbreak of the Seven Years' War: The Battle of Lobositz (Part 1)

[Music] it was around 6 00 a.m as a thick layer of mist covered the alba plain that morning of october 1 1756 frederick the great's army marched onwards between the hills neither the king nor his generals could make out what awaited them behind the fog and marshes all they knew was that the enemy was close unbeknownst to them austrian field marshal maximilian ulysses brown had deployed his numerically superior army much earlier fully expecting to meet the prussians here he had enough time to deploy his entire army proven by the rustling of leaves on the hill next to frederick's army little did the prussians know that general franz moritz von laisi and 2000 hidden irregular troops were more than ready for the battle to commence tensions between prussia and other european great powers remained high after the minor kingdom's stunning victories of the first and the second silesian war a decade of international developments detailed in my video dedicated to the so-called diplomatic revolution followed by 1756 frederick learned of an anti-prussian alliance against him he tried his best to navigate the muddled geopolitical waters then on a whim he decided to sign a treaty with britain the arch enemy of his main ally in continental europe france perhaps ironically this treaty meant to guarantee its safety led to the rapid deterioration of prussia situation in response france moved into austria's embrace and russia was already preparing a war against the kingdom in the months following the treaty signing france and austria concluded the defensive first alliance of versailles austrian minister kownitz the chief architect of ra pujman with the archenemy france also established an alliance with sweden by promising them to return pomerania upon prussia's defeat three great powers all vying to destroy the kingdom rightly unearthed frederick at first he tried to use diplomacy to determine their exact plans but none of the courts even pretended to assure him that they would not attack him so finally frederick decided to use his trusted recipe which granted him success in the first two salesian wars he decided to strike first he set his eyes on saxony and why saxon well once again the policy was based on frederick's mistaken assumptions he thought saxony joined the anti-prussian alliance which they had not however whether it was justified his invasion provided him with a strategic advantage none of his primary adversaries had mobilized close to his borders by conquering saxony he prevented austria france and russia from establishing a springboard only 80 kilometers away from his capital after conquering the electorate he wanted to cross into bohemia and capture prague before winter fell thanks to saxony's abundance of resources and decent economic infrastructure frederick would be able to subsidize a significant portion of the upcoming war through saxon it would turn out to be true during the entire seven years war saxony funded up to one third of prussia's expenses in august 1756 frederick deployed his army on the saxon border on that misty morning he marched into the unsuspecting electorate immediately things did not go the way frederick anticipated whereas he expected a quick and swift victory the saxons evaded the invading prussian army they took up their defensive position in the fortress of birna described as one of the most tactically strong positions in central europe the saxon's resistance was significant enough to delay frederick's timetable on september 9 he finally captured paystone but was already behind on schedule the international response to and the surprise by his illegitimate invasion was not mao to show how unexpected the invasion was maria teresa was at her country retreat at holidge where news of the advancing prussian army reached her she immediately returned to vienna and coordinated a surprisingly swift response eleven days later feared marshall maximilian ulysses von braun commanding the main austrian army reached budin in northern bohemia his objective was to relieve the saxons appear now however meanwhile frederick was already advancing into bohemia with his main army leaving a prussian garrison behind his lines to keep pierna under siege near the village of lobosits in the valley of the river elba brown and frederick's main armies ran into each other at 6am in the early morning of october 1756 frederick's army marched into the elba plain brown had chosen this location to halt the prussian advance he fielded 34 000 troops 26 500 infantry in 15 regiments four crowed battalions 7 500 cavalry in 12 regiments and 94 guns he deployed his austrian army from the north to the south of lobosits the central part of his infantry was situated behind the middlebuck with infantry and cavalry deployed relatively scattered between the elbow and the stream in the village of sulovitz lay several hidden infantry units and artillery pieces finally in front of lobosits stood austrian artillery these artillery units had received a massive overhaul during the interbellum and this battle was the first time prussia faced them they would definitely notice the river protected brown's left flank the lowbush protected his right he had the strategic high ground for sure frederick initially believed he was only facing a minor austrian rear guard covering their crossing of the album frederick commanded around 28 500 soldiers 17 500 infantry in 25 battalions 10 500 horses in 59 squadrons 97 artillery guns and a small force of 300 hazards frederick and brunswick and about 10 artillery guns seized the homologa an excellent observation point to direct the battle it is uncertain at which stage frederick realized he faced the main army many sources indicate he was unaware of his foe's superior numbers until after the battle commenced as the prussians arrived general lacey commanding around 2 000 hungarian and croatia regulars made his way around the low bush intending to fall onto the prussian army from an elevated position as soon as the prussian infantry entered the elba valley the austrian artillery positioned in front of lobosits opened fire on them the prussian artillery returned fire in response though unknown whether frederick noticed lacy's outflanking maneuver he ordered august wilhelm duke of brunswick bayvourne and his entire prussian left flank to seize the lowbush hill the infantry began the climb they ran into lacy's regulars on top and heavy combat ensued due to the uneven terrain the comet was not orderly and infantry was scattered around fighting for their lives frederick ordered lieutenant general friedrich wilhelm from kyo's currencies to scout the valley and expose brown's center and left positions frederick still considered the army he faced a minor force although chiao warned the king that the fog may hold more than the king imagined yao split up his cavalry with part moving against sulovitz and its infantry part against lobosits skirmishes erupted in front of sulovitz while chiao continued towards lobosits austrian dragoons exploited the emerging gap by flanking chiao's cavalry a savage skirmish evolved slowly moving towards lobos then suddenly the austrian cavalry commander ordered to disengage the prussians found themselves close to ditches from which croatia regulars emerged these opened fire against the surprised cavalry strategically hidden artillery to their west joined the murderous fire then the dragoons re-engaged crashing into kyau the prussian cavalry deteriorated into a chaotic and unorganized route at a terrible cost the cavalry at sulovitz attempted to protect them to no avail as they fell back the fog cleared and for the first time frederick saw the extent of his enemy stretched from the middleback to valhalten he ordered the remainder of the cavalry to link up but to hold off on their second charge combined they numbered approximately 10 000 despite their orders to wait the continuous shelling by the austrian artillery caused its commanders to become impatient and unnerved this culminated in an uncoordinated charge by the prussian cavalry they charged towards lobos it's uncertain where the enemy was positioned and how many there were but again soldiers behind the middlebug hidden artillery and sulovitz and the regulars around the ditches picked them off as they clashed with the austrian dragoons still the impact and their advance unnerved brown he ordered the cavalry behind the murder to charge the flank of the prussians which they did they caught them hard within minutes most regiments lost over 100 men including dozens of officers when the austrian infantry around lobosits opened fire the horsemen fortunate enough to survive until now realized their efforts would bear no results they fell back to the infantry line during all this the fight on the low bush against lazy was still ongoing despite outnumbering the austrians bavern required multiple reinforcements due to the lack of ammunition soldiers on the hill resorted to looting fallen comrades to continue firing the rest of the infantry had remained relatively dormant throughout the entire battle similarly to brown's main army behind the middlebuck but in the background brown had been frantically preparing his infantry to move on to sulovitz then with a large part of his army already drawn up the prussian artillery on the top of the homoka unleashed hell on them the village was reduced to a burning power of rubble and the army was pushed back over the bridges regardless of fending off the main army's attack trouble brewed behind the prussian front lines the howitzers on the homoka were running low on ammunition and the battle on the hill was costly but stagnant around this moment frederick handed over command to field marshal james keith and ordered him to consider retreat as he left the battlefield frankly prussia's prospects were not that good the scene was slightly reminiscent of the battle of molovitz 15 years before when frederick abandoned the battlefield after the austrians routed his cavalry but then prussia's fortune changed on top of the low bush fighting had deteriorated to savage hand-to-hand musket button bayonet fighting the slopes were covered with corpses but bavern did come out on top he pushed lacy's irregulars off the hill exhausted by fled towards velhoten and lobosits the subsequent interplay on the prussian site was nothing short of exquisite keith ordered the prussian left to charge in lobos's direction the right was to defend the homoka in case of a counter-attack he also sent a messenger to frederick to inform him of their change in fortune the prussian infantry put up a brutal fight against the austrians between lobosits and velhotu the fighting was fierce and ruthless but they soon pushed through as their artillery lit up logos the prussians advancing picked off whatever infantry remained in the burning village all houses were on fire as the infantry moved from house to house most habsburg troops jumped in the elbow in the hopes of escaping some fled to the west towards the other side of the muddleback pursuing them was impossible for the fresh austrian infantry on the other side launched follies against the prussians it showed the prussians hadn't decisively won but they certainly hadn't lost understanding his precarious position brown ordered the general retreat for the main army behind the muddleback the battle had lasted over nine hours once again the artillery and cavalry combat proved inconclusive it was the prussian infantry saving the day the prussians suffered 2 906 casualties whereas the austrians suffered 3 291 the prussian army camped on the field of beto in his letters after the battle frederick recounted how the prussians routed the over twice more numerous austrian army but of course this was not the entire truth in fact despite perhaps traditionally emerging victorious perhaps brown has to be credited with at least fighting to a draw he voluntarily withdrew and suffered a similar number of casualties but he had commanded a larger force perhaps more importantly the habsburg army was not as easily defeated as had been the case during the two silesian wars beforehand frederick realized the army he faced was wildly different from that a decade earlier writing in a report detailing the battle that the austrians are more cunning than formerly and you can take it from me that if we cannot put much heavier cannon against them it would cost innumerable lives to beat them the taking of the low bush was reminiscent of the assault against the granacoppa back in 1745 at the battle of soar this was an incredibly costly affair but ultimately proved crucial in securing a victory a few days after the battle brown personally commanded 8 000 austrian soldiers pushing north towards the region where he agreed to meet the saxon garrison they were supposed to break out to meet him there but the saxons were unable to do so and on october 14 over 15 000 soldiers surrendered to the prussians despite this setback for the austrians the six-week delay meant that brown and his army quartered in prague for the winter while frederick was stuck in dresden a surviving account from one of the prussian officers participating in the battle reveals a lot about what prussia and frederick were up against on this occasion frederick did not come up against the same kind of austrians he had beaten in four battles in a row he was not dealing with people like nyberg or the blustering prince charles of lorraine he faced field marshal brown who had grown grey in the surface and whose talent and experience had raised him to be one of the heroes of his time he faced artillery which prince liechtenstein had brought to perfection at his own expense he faced an army which during 10 years of peace had attained a greater mastery of the arts of war and it's driven to adopt the methods of its former victors and shape itself according to their discipline as for the saxons frederick conscripted all of them into the prussian army ten entire new regiments were formed but perhaps unexpectedly the desertion among these troops was incredibly high within a few months two regiments were already disbanded because of their rebellious nature not to mention individual desertions for now it was winter but both sides knew the new year would be filled with combat and warfare thank you very much for watching this video if there's a topic beto or event you would like to know more about let me know your thoughts in a comment i would also really like to thank all my patrons and channel members for their generous support if you enjoy house of history and you want to support my work consider joining me on patreon for just one dollar a month you already gain early access to my videos and your name will be featured at the end of every video don't forget to subscribe see you next time you

Channel: House of History

Views: 58,755

Keywords: House of History, history documentary, history, documentary, battle of mollwitz, frederick the great, frederick the great's battles, first silesian war, second silesian war, silesian wars battle, silesian war battle, frederick the great battle, battle of mollwitz 1741, battle of chotusitz, war of the austrian succession, first silesian war battles, battle of hohenfriedberg, battle of soor, prussia's rise, history of prussia, prussia battle, hohenfriedberg, soor, lobositz

Id: J7dZzvXM45w

Length: 17min 6sec (1026 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 29 2022