Third Silesian War
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Was the last of three wars between Austria and Prussia for the control of Silesia. It was also part of the Seven Years' War.
Chronology
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Was the theatre of War in the Electorate of Saxony, which was invaded by Prussia, during the Third Silesian War.
October 1756: The Saxon army was briefly besieged at Pirna and surrendered on 14 October, after which its men were forcibly incorporated into the Prussian army under Prussian officers.
October 1757: In late October 1757, during the Seven Years' War, the Prussian army under King Frederick II retreated from Dresden to Leipzig to defend against the advancing Austrian and Saxon forces. This strategic move was crucial in protecting Prussia's heartland from potential invasion.
July 1760: Frederick the Great of Prussia led his army back into Saxony and besieged Dresden.
July 1760: Daun's army marched westward and forced the Prussians to lift the siege and withdraw.
September 1757: The Austrians under Daun and Prince Charles, advancing into Upper Lusatia, defeated a Prussian force under Bevern and Hans Karl von Winterfeldt at the Battle of Moys.
November 1757: After this series of manoeuvres, on 5 November, a Prussian corps under Frederick located and engaged Soubise's much larger force near the village of Rossbach in Saxony. The ensuing Battle of Rossbach ended in a stunning Prussian victory, in which Frederick lost fewer than 1,000 men, while the Franco-German force under Soubise lost around 10,000.This victory secured Prussia's control of Saxony for a time.
September 1756: Prussians occupied Dresden against little resistance.
October 1762: After the Battle of Freiberg it controlled most of Saxony outside of Dresden. Austria still held Dresden and the southeastern edge of Saxony.
September 1758: In 1758, during the Seven Years' War, Austrian forces led by Field Marshal Daun captured Dresden, the capital of Saxony, from the Prussian army. The surrender of Dresden on 4 September was a significant blow to the Prussian forces, who had been preparing for a major battle at Kunersdorf.
September 1758: And quickly occupying most of the electorate.
Was the Bohemian theatre of the Third Silesian War.
April 1757: In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, the Prussian forces under Field Marshal von Bevern defeated the Austrian corps led by Count Königsegg in the Battle of Reichenberg. This victory resulted in the territory of Reichenberg falling under Prussian military occupation.
June 1757: The resulting Battle of Kolín on 18 June ended in a decisive Austrian victory; the Prussian position was ruined, and the invaders were forced to lift the siege and withdraw from Bohemia altogether, pursued by Daun's army, which was enlarged by the Prague garrison.
April 1758: Frederick the Great, King of Prussia led a field army into Moravia, reaching Olmütz.
June 1758: On June 30 Austrian forces commanded by General Ernst von Laudon intercepted a massive supply convoy from Silesia bound for the Prussian army at Olmütz and destroyed it in the Battle of Domstadtl. After this loss, the Prussians were forced to break off the siege and withdraw from Moravia, abandoning their final major invasion of Austrian territory during the war.
May 1757: The invading columns reunited north of Prague, while the retreating Austrians reformed under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine to the city's east, and on 6 May the two armies fought the Battle of Prague.
Was the Russian invasion of East Prussia during the Third Silesian War.
January 1758: In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, the Russian forces under Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin were unable to capture Königsberg from the Kingdom of Prussia. The Russians had exhausted their supplies at Memel and Gross-Jägersdorf, leading to their retreat from East Prussia.
February 1758: In January 1758 a Russian army commanded by Count William Fermor again invaded East Prussia, where the few remaining Prussian troops put up little resistance. Frederick abandoned the province to Russian occupation, judging it strategically expendable and preferring to concentrate on achieving another decisive victory in the Silesian theatre to force the Austrians to the peace table.
July 1757: In mid-1757 a Russian force of 75,000 troops under Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin invaded East Prussia and took the fortress at Memel.
August 1757: In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, the Russian forces, led by Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin, defeated a smaller Prussian army commanded by Field Marshal Lehwaldt in the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf.
Was the Russian invasion of Brandenburg during the Third Silesian War.
October 1757: Cavalrymen of the Holy Roman Empire attacked and briefly occupied Berlin, the capital of Prussia.
October 1757: The Holy Roman Empire army leaves Berlin.
August 1758: Advancing Russians, who had by then reached the borders of Brandenburg, besieged and burned Küstrin.
August 1758: Russian Field Marshal Saltykov reached and occupied Frankfurt an der Oder.
October 1758: Despite the coalition's overwhelming superiority of force in Brandenburg, Russia withdrew from Prussian territory (but not from East Prussia).
October 1760: With Prussian forces concentrated in Silesia and Saxony, Brandenburg was left largely undefended. In early October a Russian corps under General Gottlob Heinrich Tottleben advanced through Neumark and joined Lacy's Austrians in briefly occupying Berlin.
October 1760: A rumour that Frederick the Great was marching to the rescue of Berlin with his superior forces prompted the commanders to withdraw from the city as they had completed their major objectives. The occupiers withdrew from the city on 12 October. he Russians rejoined their main army in the vicinity of Frankfurt.
December 1761: The town of Kolberg, located in modern-day Poland, was besieged by Russian forces in 1761 during the Seven Years' War. The Prussian garrison, led by Lieutenant Colonel August von Gneisenau, was forced to surrender due to the town's weakened defenses.
July 1758: The Russians continued to press into Neumark. On 23 July the new Russian commander, Count Pyotr Saltykov, led 47,000 men in defeating 26,000 Prussians commanded by General Carl Heinrich von Wedel at the Battle of Kay.
Was the Silesian theatre of the Third Silesian War.
December 1757: Breslau were besieged until their surrender on 19-20 December, bringing the bulk of Silesia back under Prussian control.
July 1760: Glatz was taken by the Austrians on 29 July.
October 1762: Daun's forces withdrew to Glatz, and the Prussians besieged Schweidnitz, recapturing it at length on 9 October.
December 1757: Despite his troops' fatigue from the rapid march, Frederick engaged the superior Austrian force on 5 December and won another unexpected victory in the Battle of Leuthen.The Prussians pursued Prince Charles's defeated army all the way back to Bohemia.
August 1760: Laudon's corps, moving ahead of Daun's main army, attacked Frederick's position near Liegnitz on 15 August. The resulting Battle of Liegnitz ended in a Prussian victory, with the Prussians defeating Laudon before Daun's larger force could arrive to support him. This reversal disrupted the Austrians' manoeuvres and restored Prussian control of Lower Silesia, as Daun moved his army back into Saxony.
October 1761: The allies, led by Russian Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin, Austrian Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun, and Swedish Field Marshal Carl Gustav Armfeldt, achieved a modest victory by capturing the fortress at Schweidnitz on 1 October 1761. This forced the Prussians, under the command of King Frederick the Great, to retreat to winter quarters in northern Silesia and Brandenburg.
June 1760: Battle of Landeshut.
July 1760: Parchwitz conquered by austria.
July 1760: Liegnitz conquered by austria.
March 1760: After an inconclusive engagement with the Prussian garrison near Neustat on 15 March, Laudon's Austrians gradually advanced through Lower Silesia.
April 1758: Schweidnitz, the last Austrian-occupied stronghold in Silesia, surrendered.
November 1757: While Frederick's army manoeuvred in western Saxony and Thuringia, the Austrian army of Prince Charles and Daun pressed eastward into Lower Silesia. In November they reached Breslau, where they were opposed by the Silesian garrison under Bevern. The Austrians had overwhelming numbers, and in the Battle of Breslau on 22 November they drove the Prussians from the field. the commander of the garrison surrendered Breslau to the Austrians on 25 November in return for safe passage.
On 5 January 1762 the ailing Russian Empress Elizabeth died. Her nephew and successor, Tsar Peter III, was an ardent admirer of Frederick the Great of Prussia, and he reversed Russia's foreign policy and ordered a ceasefire with Prussia. Peter agreed to an armistice with Prussia in March and lifted the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania.
April 1762: On January 5, 1762, Russian Empress Elizabeth passed away. Her nephew and successor, Tsar Peter III, an ardent admirer of Prussian King Frederick, immediately reversed Elizabeth's foreign policy and ordered a ceasefire with Prussia. In March, Peter agreed to an armistice with Prussia and lifted the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania.
May 1762: The province of East Prussia was returned by the Russians to the Kingdom of Prussia by treaty in 1762.
July 1762: Since France had never formally declared war on Prussia, he agreed to a ceasefire with Frederick and evacuated Prussia's territories in the Rhineland, ending France's involvement in the war in Germany.
Was the treaty that ended the Third Silesian War, and, together with the Treaty of Paris (1763) it ended also the Seven Years' War.
February 1763: At the end of the Third Silesian War, the warring parties agreed restore the status quo ante bellum. Austria withdrew from Glatz, restoring full Prussian control of Silesia, in exchange for Prussia's evacuation of Saxony.
Selected Sources
Tucker, S.C. (2011) Battles that changed History - An Encyclopedia of World Conflict, ABC-CLIO, p.230
