Battle of Leuthen

Battle of Leuthen
Part of the Seven Years' War
Storming of the breach
Date 5 December 1757 Location Leuthen, Prussian Silesia, present-day Poland Result Prussian victory
Belligerents
Prussia	Austria
Commanders and leaders
Frederick the Great	Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine
Strength
33,000 167 guns	66,000 210 guns
Casualties and losses
Total: 6,344 1,141 dead 5,118 wounded 85 captured	Total: 22,000 3,000 dead 7,000 wounded 12,000 captured 51 flags 116 cannons

In the Battle of Leuthen, fought on 5 December 1757, Frederick the Great's Prussian army used maneuver and terrain to decisively defeat a much larger Austrian army under Prince Charles of Lorraine, thus ensuring Prussian control of Silesia during the Seven Years' War.

The battle was fought at the Silesian town of Leuthen, 10 kilometers (6 mi) northwest of Breslau. By exploiting the training of his troops and his superior knowledge of the terrain, Frederick created a diversion at one end of the battlefield, and moved most of his small army behind a series of low hillocks. The surprise attack in the oblique order on the unsuspecting Austrian flank baffled Prince Charles; it took the Prince several hours to realize that the main action was to his left, and not to his right. Within seven hours, the Prussians destroyed the Austrian force, erasing any advantage the Austrians had gained throughout the summer and fall of campaigning.

After over-running Saxony, Frederick campaigned in Bohemia and defeated the Austrians on 6 May 1757 at the Battle of Prague. Learning that French forces had invaded his ally's territory of Duchy of Hanover, Frederick moved west. On 5 November 1757, he defeated the combined French and Austrian force at the Battle of Rossbach. In his absence, the Austrians had managed to slowly retake Silesia: Prince Charles had taken the city of Schweidnitz and moved on Breslau in lower Silesia. While heading back to Silesia, Frederick learned of the fall of Breslau (22 November). He and his 22,000 men covered 274 km (170 mi) in 12 days and, at Liegnitz, joined up with the Prussian troops who had survived the fighting at Breslau. The augmented army of about 33,000 troops arrived near Leuthen (now Lutynia, Poland), 27 km (17 mi) west of Breslau, to find 66,000 Austrians in possession.

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