Frederick the Great and the Seven Years War: Life Stories for Young People
Ferdinand Schrader
9781465658395
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
What a glorious period of peace Germany enjoyed after the furious storms of war had devastated its flourishing provinces and brought ruin and death into so many homes! Prussia at this time had to stand the brunt of the storm, and had it not been for the indomitable spirit and great military skill of Frederick the Great, nothing could have saved the young kingdom from being forced back within the limits of its original territory. It was not the fault of its enemies that the effort failed. They left nothing undone to humiliate and subdue Prussia. Maria Theresa was never reconciled to the loss of Silesia, which had been taken from her by Frederick in the preceding war with Austria. They said that she shed tears whenever she saw a Silesian. Cherishing such a strong attachment, it is not remarkable that the high-spirited Empress busied herself with schemes for the recovery of her lost province. With this purpose in view, she made secret treaties with Russia, France, and Sweden, and was also assured of the help of Saxony and many of the German imperial princes. Thus united, the plan was made to seize Prussia and reduce it to its old limits of the Mark of Brandenburg, at the same time allotting Silesia to Austria, Westphalia to France, the bishopric of Magdeburg to Saxony, Pomerania to Sweden, and Prussia to Russia; but Frederick’s sharp eyes discovered the designs of his enemies at an early stage in the game. Two traitors assisted him. Wenzel, a secretary in Dresden, and Weingarten, an attaché of the Austrian embassy in Berlin, were paid for warning him of the impending danger. Frederick quietly and speedily formed his counterplans. He strengthened his army, concluded a subsidy agreement with England—which at that time was under the Hanoverian dynasty—and also secured promise of help from some of the German princes, particularly the dukes of Brunswick and Gotha and the Elector of Hesse-Cassel. With this comparatively small array he boldly prepared to oppose his powerful enemies. His motto was “Nothing venture, nothing have.” He quietly placed his army upon a war footing, concentrated it at a given point, and then gave the order to march into Saxony. Frederick’s army invaded that beautiful and fruitful country in three divisions, while Field-Marshal Schwerin, with a fourth, occupied Bohemia. In a few days its most important cities were in his possession. The invasion was effected with such startling quickness that the Elector and his family barely escaped being taken prisoners, but they were all treated with proper respect. The unexpected occupation caused great alarm all over Saxony, and the news of it created consternation at the Austrian court. Frederick was charged with bad faith and disturbance of the country’s peace. The Emperor went so far as to characterize the bold intruders as outlaws. Frederick, however, was not disturbed. All that he cared for was the rupture of the alliance between the Elector and Austria. Not succeeding in this at the outset, he treated that province as an enemy.
