embarrassments of frederick.—attempts a compromise.—new invasion of silesia.—intrigues for the imperial crown.—rivalry between england and france.—death of anne of russia.—energy of austria.—narrow escape of frederick.—frederick’s antipathy to christianity.—capture of glogau.—peril of frederick.—the siege of neisse.
frederick, returning to berlin from his six weeks’ campaign in silesia, remained at home but three weeks. he had recklessly let loose the dogs of war, and must already have begun to be appalled in view of the possible results. his embassadors at the various courts had utterly failed to secure for him any alliance. england and some of the other powers were manifestly unfriendly to him. like frederick himself, they were all disposed to consult merely their own individual interests. thus influenced, they looked calmly on to see how frederick, who had thrown into the face of the young queen of austria the gage of battle, would meet the forces which she, with great energy, was marshaling in defense of her realms. frederick was manifestly and outrageously in the wrong.
the chivalry of europe was in sympathy with the young and beautiful queen, who, inexperienced, afflicted by the death of her father, and about to pass through the perils of maternity, had been thus suddenly and rudely assailed by one who should have protected her with almost a brother’s love and care. every court in europe was familiar with the fact that the father of maria theresa had not only humanely interceded, in the most earnest terms, for the life of frederick, but had interposed his imperial authority’ to rescue him from the scaffold, with which he was threatened by his unnatural parent. frederick found that he stood quite alone, and that he had nothing to depend upon but his own energies and those of his compact, well-disciplined army.
it would seem that frederick was now disposed to compromise. he authorized the suggestion to be made to the court at vienna by his minister, count gotter, that he was ready to withdraw238 from his enterprise, and to enter into alliance with austria, if the queen would surrender to him the duchy of glogau only, which was but a small part of silesia. but to these terms the heroic young queen would not listen. she justly regarded them but as the proposition of the highway robber, who offers to leave one his watch if he will peaceably surrender his purse. whatever regrets frederick might have felt in view of the difficulties in which he found himself involved, not the slightest indication of them is to be seen in his correspondence. he had passed the rubicon. and now he summoned all his energies—such energies as the world has seldom, if ever, witnessed before, to carry out the enterprise upon which he had so recklessly entered, and from which he could not without humiliation withdraw.
on the 19th of february, 1741, frederick, having been at home but three weeks, again left berlin with re-enforcements, increasing his army of invasion to sixty thousand men, to complete the conquest of silesia by the capture of the three fortresses which still held out against him. on the 21st he reached glogau. after carefully reconnoitring the works, he left directions with prince leopold of dessau, who commanded the prussian troops there, to press the siege with all possible vigor. he was fearful that austrian troops might soon arrive to the relief of the place.
the king then hastened on to schweidnitz, a few miles west from breslau. this was a small town, strongly fortified, about equally distant from the three beleaguered fortresses—neisse, brieg, and glogau. the young monarch was daily becoming more aware that he had embarked in an enterprise which threatened him with fearful peril. he had not only failed to secure a single ally, but there were indications that england and other powers were in secret deliberation to join against him. he soon learned that england had sent a gift or loan of a million of dollars—a large sum in those days—to replenish the exhausted treasury of maria theresa. his minister in russia also transmitted to him an appalling rumor that a project was in contemplation by the king of england, the king of poland, anne, regent of russia, and maria theresa, to unite, and so partition the prussian kingdom as to render the ambitious frederick powerless to disturb the peace of europe. the general motives which239 influenced the great monarchies in the stupendous war which was soon evolved are sufficiently manifest. but these motives led to a complication of intrigues which it would be alike tedious and unprofitable to attempt to unravel.
frederick wished to enlarge his liliputian realms, and become one of the powers of europe. this he could only do by taking advantage of the apparent momentary weakness of austria, and seizing a portion of the territory of the young queen. in order to accomplish this, it was for his interest to oppose the election of maria theresa’s husband, the grand-duke francis, as emperor. the imperial crown placed upon the brow of francis would invest austria with almost resistless power. still, frederick was ready to promise his earnest concurrence in this arrangement if maria theresa would surrender to him silesia. he had even moderated his terms, as we have mentioned, to a portion of the province.
france had no fear of prussia. even with the addition of silesia, it would be comparatively a feeble realm. but france did fear the supremacy of austria over europe. it was for the apparent interest of the court of versailles that austria should be weakened, and, consequently, that the husband of the queen should not be chosen emperor of germany. therefore france was coming into sympathy with frederick, and was disposed to aid him in his warfare against austria.
england was the hereditary foe of france. it was one of the leading objects in her diplomacy to circumvent that power. “our great-grandfathers,” writes carlyle, “lived in perpetual terror that they would be devoured by france; that french ambition would overset the celestial balance, and proceed next to eat the british nation.” strengthening austria was weakening france. therefore the sympathies of england were strongly with austria. in addition to this, personal feelings came in. the puerile little king, george ii., hated implacably his nephew, frederick of prussia, which hatred frederick returned with interest.
spain was at war with england, and was ready to enter into an alliance with any power which would aid her in her struggle with that formidable despot of the seas.
the czarina, anne of russia, died the 28th of october, 1740,240 just eight days after the death of the emperor. she left, in the cradle, the infant czar iwan, her nephew, two months old. the father of this child was a brother of frederick’s neglected wife elizabeth. the mother was the russian princess catharine of mecklenburg, now called princess anne, whom frederick had at one time thought of applying for as his wife. russia was a semi-barbaric realm just emerging into consideration, and no one could tell by what influences it would be swayed. the minor powers could be controlled by the greater—constrained by terror or led by bribes. such, in general, was the state of europe at this time.
austria was rapidly marshaling her hosts, and pouring them through the defiles of the mountains to regain silesia. her troops still held three important fortresses—neisse, brieg, and glogau. these places were, however, closely blockaded by the prussians. though it was midwinter, bands of austrian horsemen were soon sweeping in all directions, like local war tempests borne on the wings of the wind. wherever there was an unprotected baggage-train, or a weakly-defended post, they came swooping down to seize their prey, and vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. their numbers seemed to be continually increasing. all the roads were swept by these swarms of irregulars, who carefully avoided any serious engagement, while they awaited the approach of the austrian army, which was gathering its strength to throw down to frederick the gauntlet on an open field of battle.
much to frederick’s chagrin, he soon learned that a body of three hundred foot and three hundred horse, cautiously approaching through by-paths in the mountains, had thrown itself into neisse, to strengthen the garrison there. this was on the 5th of march. but six days before a still more alarming event had occurred. on the 27th of february, frederick, with a small escort, not dreaming of danger, set out to visit two small posts in the vicinity of neisse. he stopped to dine with a few of his officers in the little village of wartha, while the principal part of the detachment which accompanied him continued its movement to baumgarten.
241
frederick on the field of baumgarten.
the leader of an austrian band of five hundred dragoons was on the watch. as the detachment of one hundred and fifty horse approached baumgarten, the austrians, from their ambuscade, plunged upon them. there was a short, sharp conflict, when the prussians fled, leaving ten dead, sixteen prisoners, one standard, and two kettle-drums in the hands of the victors. the king had just sat down at the dinner-table, when he heard, at the distance of a few miles, the tumult of the musketry. he sprang from the table, hurriedly mustered a small force of forty hussars and fifty foot, and hastened toward the scene. arriving at the field, he found it silent and deserted, and the ten men lying242 dead upon it. the victorious austrians, disappointed in not finding the king, bore their spoils in triumph to vienna. it was a very narrow escape for frederick. had he then been captured it might have changed the history of europe, and no one can tell the amount of blood and woe which would have been averted.
it is perhaps not strange that frederick should have imbibed a strong feeling of antipathy to christianity. in his father’s life he had witnessed only its most repulsive caricature. while making the loudest protestations of piety, frederick william, in his daily conduct, had manifested mainly only every thing that is hateful and of bad report. still, it is quite evident that frederick was not blind to the distinction between the principles of christianity as taught by jesus and developed in his life, and the conduct of those who, professing his name, trampled those principles beneath their feet. in one of his letters to voltaire, dated cirey, august 26, 1736, frederick wrote:
“may you never be disgusted with the sciences by the quarrels of their cultivators; a race of men no better than courtiers; often enough as greedy, intriguing, false, and cruel as these.
“and how sad for mankind that the very interpreters of heaven’s commandments—the theologians, i mean—are sometimes the most dangerous of all! professed messengers of the divinity, yet men sometimes of obscure ideas and pernicious behavior, their soul blown out with mere darkness, full of gall and pride in proportion as it is empty of truths. every thinking being who is not of their opinion is an atheist; and every king who does not favor them will be damned. dangerous to the very throne, and yet intrinsically insignificant.
“i respect metaphysical ideas. rays of lightning they are in the midst of deep night. more, i think, is not to be hoped from metaphysics. it does not seem likely that the first principles of things will ever be known. the mice that nestle in some little holes of an immense building know not whether it is eternal, or who the architect, or why he built it. such mice are we. and the divine architect has never, that i know of, told his secret to one of us.”
notwithstanding these sentiments, the king sent throughout silesia a supply of sixty protestant preachers, ordained especially243 for the work. though frederick himself did not wish to live in accordance with the teachings of jesus christ, it is very evident that he did not fear the influence of that gospel upon his silesian subjects. very wisely the protestant preachers were directed carefully to avoid giving any offense to the catholics. they were to preach in barns and town-halls in places where there was no protestant church. the salary of each was one hundred and fifty dollars a year, probably with rations. they were all placed under the general superintendence of one of the army chaplains.
every day it became more clear that maria theresa was resolved not to part with one inch of her territory, and that the austrian court was thoroughly roused in its determination to drive the intrusive prussians out of silesia. though frederick had no scruples of conscience to prevent him from seizing a portion of the domains of maria theresa, his astonishment and indignation were alike aroused by the rumor that england, poland, and russia were contemplating the dismemberment of his realms. an army of thirty-six thousand men, under the old duke leopold of dessau,51 was immediately dispatched by frederick to g?tten, on the frontiers of hanover, to seize upon that continental possession of the king of england upon the slightest indication of a hostile movement. george ii. was greatly alarmed by this menace.
frederick found himself plunged into the midst of difficulties and perils which exacted to the utmost his energies both of body and of mind. every moment was occupied in strengthening his posts, collecting magazines, recruiting his forces, and planning to circumvent the foe. from the calm of reinsberg he found himself suddenly tossed by the surges of one of the most terrible tempests of conflict which a mortal ever encountered. through night and storm, almost without sleep and without food, drenched and chilled, he was galloping over the hills and through the valleys,244 climbing the steeples, fording the streams, wading the morasses, involved in a struggle which now threatened even the crown which he had so recently placed upon his brow. had frederick alone suffered, but few tears of sympathy would have been shed in his behalf; but his ambition had stirred up a conflict which was soon to fill all europe with the groans of the dying, the tears of the widow, the wailings of the orphan.
frederick deemed it of great importance to gain immediate possession of glogau. it was bravely defended by the austrian commander, count wallis, and there was hourly danger that an austrian army might appear for its relief. frederick, in the intensity of his anxiety, as he hurried from post to post, wrote from every stopping-place to young leopold, whom he had left in command of the siege, urging him immediately to open the trenches, concentrate the fire of his batteries, and to carry the place by storm. “i have clear intelligence,” he wrote, “that troops are actually on the way for the rescue of glogau.” each note was more imperative than the succeeding one. on the 6th of march he wrote from ohlau:
“i am certainly informed that the enemy will make some attempt. i hereby, with all distinctness, command that, so soon as the petards are come, you attack glogau. and you must make your dispositions for more than one attack, so that if one fail the other shall certainly succeed. i hope you will put off no longer. otherwise the blame of all the mischief that might arise out of longer delay must lie on you alone.”
on the 8th of march leopold summoned all his generals at noon, and informed them that glogau, at all hazards, must be taken that very night. the most minute directions were given to each one. there were to be three attacks—one up the river on its left bank, one down the river on its right bank, and one on the land side perpendicular to the other two. the moment the clock on the big steeple in glogau should give the first stroke of midnight, the three columns were to start. before the last stroke should be given they were all to be upon the silent, rapid advance.
count wallis, who was intrusted with the defense of the place, had a garrison of about a thousand men, with fifty-eight heavy guns and several mortars, and a large amount of ammunition. glogau was in the latitude of fifty-two, nearly six degrees north245 of quebec. it was a cold wintry night. the ground was covered with snow. water had been thrown upon the glacis, so that it was slippery with ice. prince leopold in person led one of the columns. the sentinels upon the walls were not alarmed until three impetuous columns, like concentrating tornadoes, were sweeping down upon them. they shouted “to arms!” the soldiers, roused from sleep, rushed to their guns. their lightning flashes were instantly followed by war’s deepest thunders, as discharge followed discharge in rapid succession.
but the assailants were already so near the walls that the shot passed harmlessly over their heads. without firing a gun or uttering a sound, these well-drilled soldiers of frederick william hewed down the palisades, tore out the chevaux-de-frise, and clambered over the glacis. with axe and petard they burst open the gates and surged into the city.
in one short hour the gallant deed was done. but ten of the assailants were killed and forty-eight wounded. the loss of the austrians was more severe. the whole garrison, one thousand sixty-five in number, and their materiel of war, consisting of fifty brass cannons, a large amount of ammunition, and the military chest, containing thirty-two thousand florins, fell into the hands of the victors. to the inhabitants of glogau it was a matter of very little moment whether the austrian or the prussian banner floated over their citadel. neither party paid much more regard to the rights of the people than they did to those of the mules and the horses.
but to frederick the importance of the achievement was very great. the exploit was justly ascribed to his general direction. thus he obtained a taste of that military renown which he had so greatly coveted. the king was, at this time, at his head-quarters at schweidnitz, about one hundred and twenty miles from glogau. a courier, dispatched immediately from the captured town, communicated to him, at five o’clock in the afternoon, the glad tidings of the brilliant victory.
frederick was overjoyed. in the exuberance of his satisfaction, he sent prince leopold a present of ten thousand dollars. to each private soldier he gave half a guinea, and to the officers sums in proportion. to the old duke of dessauer, father of the young prince leopold, he wrote:
246
the assault on glogau.
“the more i think of the glogau business the more important i find it. prince leopold has achieved the prettiest military stroke that has been done in this century. from my heart i congratulate you on having such a son. in boldness of resolution, in plan, in execution, it is alike admirable, and quite gives a turn to my affairs.”
leaving a sufficient force to garrison glogau, the king ordered247 all the remaining regiments to be distributed among the other important posts; while prince leopold, in high favor, joined the king at schweidnitz, to assist in the siege of neisse. frederick rapidly concentrated his forces for the capture of neisse before the austrian army should march for its relief. he thought that the austrians would not be able to take the field before the snow should disappear and the new spring grass should come, affording forage for their horses.
map illustrating the mollwitz campaign.
but general neipperg, the austrian commander-in-chief, proved as watchful, enterprising, and energetic as frederick.248 his scouting bands swarmed in all directions. the prussian foraging parties were cut off, their reconnoitrers were driven back, and all the movements of the main body of the austrian army were veiled from their view. general neipperg, hearing of the fall of glogau, decided, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather and the snow, to march immediately, with thirty thousand men, to the relief of neisse. his path led through mountain defiles, over whose steep and icy roads his heavy guns and lumbering ammunition-wagons were with difficulty drawn.
at the same time, frederick, unaware of the movement of the austrians, prepared to push the siege of neisse with the utmost vigor. leaving some of his ablest generals to conduct the operations there, frederick himself marched, with strong re-enforcements, to strengthen general schwerin, who was stationed among the jagerndorf hills, on the southern frontier of silesia, to prevent the austrians from getting across the mountains. marching from ottmachau, the king met general schwerin at neustadt, half way to jagerndorf, and they returned together to that place. but the swarming horsemen of general neipperg were so bold and watchful that no information could be obtained of the situation or movements of the austrian army. frederick, seeing no indications that general neipperg was attempting to force his way through the snow-encumbered defiles of the mountains, prepared to return, and, with his concentrated force, press with all vigor the siege of neisse.
as he was upon the point of setting off, seven austrian deserters came in and reported that general neipperg’s full army was advancing at but a few miles’ distance. even as they were giving their report, sounds of musketry and cannon announced that the prussian outposts were assailed by the advance-guard of the foe. the peril of frederick was great. had neipperg known the prize within his reach, the escape of the prussian king would have been almost impossible. frederick had but three or four thousand men with him at jagerndorf, and only three pieces of artillery, with forty rounds of ammunition. bands of austrian cavalry on fleet horses were swarming all around him. seldom, in the whole course of his life, had frederick been placed in a more critical position.
it was soon ascertained that the main body of the austrian249 army was fifteen miles to the southwest, at freudenthal, pressing on toward neisse. general neipperg, without the slightest suspicion that frederick was any where in his vicinity, had sent aside a reconnoitring party of skirmishers to ascertain if there were any prussians at jagerndorf. general neipperg, at freudenthal, was as near neisse as frederick was at jagerndorf.
there was not a moment to be lost. general neipperg was moving resolutely forward with a cloud of skirmishers in the advance and on his wings. with the utmost exertions frederick immediately rendezvoused all his remote posts, destroying such stores as could not hastily be removed, and by a forced march of twenty-five miles in one day reached neustadt. general neipperg was marching by a parallel road about twenty miles west of that which the prussians traversed. at neustadt the king was still twenty miles from neisse. with the delay of but a few hours, that he might assemble all the prussian bands from the posts in that neighborhood, the king again resumed his march. he had no longer any hope of continuing the siege of neisse. his only aim was to concentrate all his scattered forces, which had been spread over an area of nearly two thousand square miles, and, upon some well-selected field, to trust to the uncertain issues of a general battle. there was no choice left for him between this course and an ignominious retreat.
therefore, instead of marching upon neisse, the king directed his course to steinau, twenty miles east of neisse. the siege was abandoned, and the whole prussian army, so far as was possible, was gathered around the king. on the 5th of april frederick established his head-quarters at steinau. on that same day, general neipperg, with the advanced corps of his army, triumphantly entered neisse. apprehensive of an immediate attack, frederick made all his arrangements for a battle. in the confusion of those hours, during which the whole prussian army, with all its vast accumulation of artillery and baggage-wagons, was surging like an inundation through the streets of steinau, the village took fire and was burned to ashes. with great difficulty the artillery and powder were saved, being entangled in the narrow streets while the adjoining houses were enveloped in flames. the night was intensely cold. the prussian army bivouacked in the open frozen fields.
250 general neipperg, as his men were weary with their long march, did not make an attack, but allowed his troops a short season of repose in the enjoyment of the comforts of neisse. the next morning, the 6th, frederick continued his retreat to friedland, ten miles farther north. he was anxious to get between the austrians and ohlau. he had many pieces of artillery there, and large stores of ammunition, which would prove a rich prize to the austrians. it was frederick’s intention to cross the river neisse at a bridge at sorgau, eight miles from friedland; but the officer in charge there had been compelled to destroy the bridge, to protect himself from the austrian horsemen, who in large numbers had appeared upon the opposite banks. prince leopold was sent with the artillery and a strong force to reconstruct the bridge and force the passage, but the austrian dragoons were encountered in such numbers that the enterprise was found impossible.
frederick therefore decided to march down the river twenty miles farther, to lowen, where there was a good bridge. to favor the operation, prince leopold, with large divisions of the army and much of the baggage, was to cross the neisse on pontoons at michelau, a few miles above lowen. both passages were successfully accomplished, and the two columns effected a junction on the west side of the river on the 8th of april. the blockade of brieg was abandoned, and its blockading force united with the general army.
general neipperg had now left neisse; but he kept himself so surrounded by clouds of skirmishers as to render his march entirely invisible. frederick, anxious to unite with him his troops under the prince of holstein beck, advanced toward grottkau to meet that division, which had been ordered to join him. the prince had been stationed at frankenstein, with a force of about eight thousand, horse and foot; but the austrian scouts so occupied all the roads that the king had not been able to obtain any tidings from him whatever.
it was saturday, the 8th of april. a blinding, smothering storm of snow swept over the bleak plains. breasting the gale, and wading through the drifts, the prussian troops tramped along, unable to see scarcely a rod before them. at a little hamlet called leipe the vanguard encountered a band of austrian251 hussars. they took several captives. from them they learned, much to their chagrin and not a little to their alarm, that the austrian army was already in possession of grottkau.
the night before mollwitz.
instantly the prussian troops were ordered to the right about. rapidly retracing their steps through the streets of leipe, much to the surprise of its inhabitants, they pressed on seven miles farther toward ohlau, and encamped for the night. the anxiety of frederick in these hours when he was retiring before the foe, and when there was every probability of his incurring disgrace instead of gaining honor, must have been dreadful. there was no sleep for him that night. the prussians were almost surrounded by the austrians, and it was quite certain that the morrow would usher in a battle. oppressed by the peril of his position, the king, during the night, wrote to his brother augustus252 william, who was at breslau, as follows. the letter was dated at the little village of pogerell, where the king had taken shelter.
“my dearest brother,—the enemy has just got into silesia. we are not more than a mile from them. to-morrow must decide our fortune. if i die, do not forget a brother who has always loved you most tenderly. i recommend to you my most dear mother, my domestics, and my first battalion. eichel and schuhmacher are informed of all my testamentary wishes.
“remember me always, but console yourself for my death. the glory of the prussian arms and the honor of the house have set me in action, and will guide me to my last moment. you are my sole heir. i recommend to you, in dying, those whom i have the most loved during my life—keyserling, jordan, wartensleben, hacke, who is a very honest man, fredersdorf, and eichel, in whom you may place entire confidence.
“i bequeath eight thousand crowns ($6000) to my domestics. all that i have elsewhere depends on you. to each of my brothers and sisters make a present in my name; a thousand affectionate regards to my sister at baireuth. you know what i think on their score; and you know, better than i can tell you, the tenderness and all the sentiments of most inviolable friendship with which i am, dearest brother, your faithful brother and servant till death,
frederick.”
to his friend jordan, who was also in breslau, he wrote:
“my dear jordan,—we are going to fight to-morrow. thou knowest the chances of war. the life of kings is not more regarded than that of private people. i know not what will happen to me.
“if my destiny is finished, remember a friend who loves thee always tenderly. if heaven prolong my days, i will write to thee after to-morrow, and thou shalt hear of our victory. adieu, dear friend; i shall love thee till death.
frederick.”
it is worthy of notice that there is no indication that the king sent any word of affectionate remembrance to his neglected wife. it is a remarkable feature in the character of the emperor napoleon253 i. that in his busiest campaigns rarely did a day pass in which he did not write to josephine. he often wrote to her twice a day.
sunday morning, the 9th, dawned luridly. the storm raged unabated. the air was so filled with the falling snow that one could not see the distance of twenty paces, and the gale was piling up large drifts on the frozen plains. neither army could move. neipperg was in advance of frederick, and had established his head-quarters at the village of mollwitz, a few miles northwest of pogerell. he had therefore got fairly between the prussians and ohlau. but frederick knew not where the austrian army was. for six-and-thirty hours the wild storm drove both prussians and austrians to such shelter as could be obtained in the several hamlets which were scattered over the extended plain.
frederick dispatched messengers to ohlau to summon the force there to his aid; the messengers were all captured. the prussians were now in a deplorable condition. the roads were encumbered and rendered almost impassable by the drifted snow. the army was cut off from its supplies, and had provisions on hand but for a single day. both parties alike plundered the poor inhabitants of their cattle, sheep, and grain. every thing that could burn was seized for their camp-fires. we speak of the carnage of the battle-field, and often forget the misery which is almost invariably brought upon the helpless inhabitants of the region through which the armies move. the schoolmaster of mollwitz, a kind, simple-hearted, accurate old gentleman, wrote an account of the scenes he witnessed. under date of mollwitz, sunday, april 9, he writes:
“country, for two days back, was in new alarm by the austrian garrison of brieg, now left at liberty, who sallied out upon the villages about, and plundered black cattle, sheep, grain, and whatever they could come at. but this day in mollwitz the whole austrian army was upon us. first there went three hundred hussars through the village to grüningen, who quartered themselves there, and rushed hither and thither into houses, robbing and plundering. from one they took his best horses; from another they took linen, clothes, and other furnitures and victual.
“general neipperg halted here at mollwitz with the whole254 army before the village, in mind to quarter. and quarter was settled, so that a plow-farmer got four to five companies to lodge, and a spade-farmer two or three hundred cavalry. the houses were full of officers, and the fields full of horsemen and baggage; and all around you saw nothing but fires burning. the wooden railings were instantly torn down for firewood. the hay, straw, barley were eaten away, and brought to nothing. every thing from the barns was carried out. as the whole army could not lodge itself with us, eleven hundred infantry quartered at laugwitz. b?rzdorf got four hundred cavalry; and this day nobody knew what would come of it.”