Frederick the Great and his wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern.Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern was born on 8 November 1715 as the daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.In 1733, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia was ordered by his father to marry Elisabeth Christine, who also happened to be the niece of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI’s wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Frederick the Great himself is known to have composed 121 flute sonatas, four flute concertos, a "Symphony" in G major, a March in E flat major, various arias, and an overture to "Il Re pastore." Apart from the wholly Italianate arias, Frederick's works were written in the "mixed style" advocated by Quantz, an attempt to blend "Italian music of the senses" with "French music of reason". Remnants of baroque pathos are also intermingled with galant and "touching" elements. The three-movement sonatas are generally in the sequence slow - quick - quick, while the concertos are in the more customary form quick - slow - quick. The slow movements are characterized by "controlled singing." "If the first Allegro is serious, the last can be gay" (Quantz). In the fast movements of the concertos the solo episodes blossom in ever more brilliant arpeggios and passage work.
Following the outbreak of the seven years' War in 1756, Prussia found itself nearly surrounded by its enemies. So Prussian forces under Frederic the great won the battle of Rossbach. Casualties of the allied forces in the battle were around 5,000 dead/wounded and 5,000 captured. For the Prussians, the cost was a remarkably low only 169 were dead and 379 were wounded. The battle of Rossbach proved to be one of Frederic the Great's most dramatic victories. A month later, Frederic crushed the Austrians at the Battle of Leuthen ending the threat of invasion in 1757. So stunning (astonishing) was Frederic's Rossbach- Leuthen campaign that even Napoleon the great, later referred do it as " a masterpiece in maneuver (plan) and resolution (decision)".
Frederick the Great at the Battle of Zorndorf (1758). Frederick commanded Prussian forces fighting Russian troops commanded by Count William Fermor. The painting was the work of Carl Röchling painted more than a century later during the German Imperial era. Röchling was one of the most popular artist depicting historical scenes in Imperial Germany. This no doubt was the image that Kaiser Wilhelm II had in his head when he made the decisions that led to World War I. Of course the Kaiser unlike Frederick made no battlefield appearances.
Frederick the Great addresses his generals before the march to the Battle of Leuthen 5th December 1757 in the Seven Years War.Frederick went out of his way to revive the spirits of his soldiers. He slept in the open air among their ranks. Extra rations were distributed. The foreign element in the Prussian army had largely deserted leaving only native Prussian soldiers, of whom the core were Pomeranians, Brandenburgers and Magdeburgers. Frederick revelled in their company. Ammunition was ample and the artillery was well equipped, Zieten having brought in a train of large field pieces from the armament at Glogau.
Frederick the Great and his staff at the Battle of Leuthen.The Battle of Leuthen was fought on 5 December 1757, at which Frederick the Great's Prussian army used maneuver and terrain to decisively defeat a much larger Austrian force commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine and Count Leopold Joseph von Daun. The victory ensured Prussia control of Silesia during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War).
Contestants at the Battle of Kolin: Prussians against an Imperial Austrian Army comprising the various nationalities that made up the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Austrians, Hungarians, Bohemians, Netherlanders, Silesians, Croats, Italians and Moravians).Generals at the Battle of Kolin: King Frederick II of Prussia commanding the Prussian Army against Field Marshal Daun commanding the Austrian Army.
Prussian Grenadiers under Captain Möllendorf storm into the village of Leuthen during the Battle of Leuthen 5th December 1757 in the Seven Years War.At around 3.30pm the Prussians launched a heavy attack on the Austrians in Leuthen. Guns were used to batter breaches in the stone walls of the town buildings. It took half an hour of the subsequent infantry assault to clear the Austrians out of the town.
Rossbach war (1757), during the Seven Years War, was one of the few examples where it was the Prussian cavalry and artillery, not the infantry, that were the deciding factors of the battle.The opposing Austro-French army of 40,000 troops had marched south, in an effort to take the Prussian army in the flank. Although at first believing that they were retreating, Frederick soon woke up to the danger and set off to meet them with his army of 20,000.Taking advantage of the cover provided by a long ridge, General von Seydlitz led the Prussian cavalry south in an effort to meet the enemy cavalry head-on. Their initial charge was resisted stoutly by Austrian cuirassiers, allowing the French cavalry to rush in to support. However, when von Seydlitz ordered in his reserves, the allied cavalry buckled and fled.The Prussian artillery had set up on the heights to the northeast, and bombarded the advancing French infantry mercilessly as they advanced. This, and the sight of their cavalry in flight, sent tremors throughout the ranks.And then the Prussian infantry advanced. As the French army came within musket-shot, they were shredded by disciplined Prussian volleys from the leading battalions. When von Seydlitz’s cavalry took them in the flank, their lines collapsed entirely, and they fled the field in disorder. The Prussians suffered 600 casualties to almost 10,000 of the enemy.Frederick later boasted that "I won the battle of Rossbach with most of my infantry having their muskets shouldered." He had a point. In less than ninety minutes, the Prussians had wiped the French from the field with with a fraction of their entire force: 18 artillery pieces, 3,500 horsemen, and three battalions of infantry.Following his shattering victory at Rossbach, Frederick went east to confront the Austrians, his battle-weary forces marching a distance of 300km in 12 days. As he was wont to do, Frederick had seriously underestimated the size of the enemy force, and when his army of 35,000 met the Austrian army at Leuthen, he found that he was facing an army of 65,000 soldiers. But, as at Rossbach and Soor, superior numbers counted for little when facing the Prussians.The Austrian army formed up by the village of Leuthen, facing the Prussians. Taking advantage of the fog that covered the battlefield, Frederick feinted a frontal attack, while moving the bulk of his army south. He used a series of low hillocks to first move his infantry past, then beyond, the Austrian left flank. Once the columns were in position, the entire force formed up at a right angle to the Hapsburg line. And as the Prussian artillery opened up on the enemy, Frederick ordered his infantry to attack.Marching in staggered or “oblique” formation , the Prussians rolled up the Austrian left flank, the weakest part of their line. Astonished by the sudden appearance of the Prussian troops on their left, the Austrians attempted to turn their line 90 degrees and face the enemy head-on.But it was no use. The Hapsburg troops on the left - Lutheran Württembergers - had no stomach to face fellow Protestants in battle. They fired off a few volleys, but as soon as Frederick’s blue-coated legions broke through the haze, they turned and fled, crashing into the Bavarians rushing to reinforce them, who also broke and ran.The Austrian regiments withdrew to the village of Leuthen, where they attempted to make a stand. Prussian Lifeguards and Grenadiers led the assault on the village, aided by devastatingly accurate artillery fire, and after long, grinding close-quarter combat, they succeeded in taking the Austrian positions. The white-coats withdrew, and when they were hit on the flank by the Prussian cavalry, it was all over.The Austrian army had been utterly routed by a force that it had outnumbered 2:1, in what I would judge to be the greatest-ever Prussian feat of arms. The Prussians had lost 6,500 men, while the Austrians had lost 22,000, including 17 generals, 116 pieces of artillery, 51 standards, and their national pride.In August, 1786, he ordered the army to go through a number of sham fights. While witnessing one of these he caught a chill which brought on an illness from which he never recovered.At about twelve o'clock on the night of his death, one of his dogs which was sitting near him was shivering with cold, and Frederick said "Throw a quilt over him." These were the last words which he spoke, and at half past two he was dead.