The Battle of Kunersdorf was one of the main battles of the Seven Years' War. Despite the fact that it was decisive, the winner could not use the results of the triumph for a number of reasons. Thus, the results of the Seven Years' War were determined not by the Battle of Kunersdorf, but by a number of other factors. Nevertheless, this fact does not detract from the significance of this battle in the history of military art.
Causes of the Seven Years' War
The main cause of the Seven Years' War was the growing contradiction between the major European powers: Prussia and Great Britain on the one hand and the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, France, Spain and the Russian Empire on the other. A number of smaller states also joined the conflict. The subject of contention was the lands in the overseas colonies, as well as the territorial dispute between the Prussian Hohenzollerns and the Austrian Habsburgs over Silesia.
Most of the great European states were dissatisfied with the rise of Prussia, which violated the existing system of geopolitical relations. At the same time, there were ongoing disputes between the British crown and France over overseas colonies, turning into local wars. This prompted the Britishto an alliance with the Prussians, who were opposed by the French. The Russian Empress Elizabeth was also not satisfied with the way Frederick II, the King of Prussia, got stronger.
Start of war
The Prussian troops were the first to start the fighting. On their part, it was a kind of preemptive strike. Frederick II - King of Prussia - did not want to wait for his numerous enemies to gather all their forces and act at a convenient time for them.
In August 1756, Prussian troops invaded the territory of the electorate of Saxony, which was an ally of the Austrian Habsburgs. They quickly occupied this principality. Immediately afterwards, the Russian and Holy Roman Empires declared war on Prussia.
During 1757, the battles between the Habsburg and Prussian troops went on with varying success. At the same time, Sweden and Russia joined the active hostilities, the commander-in-chief of the army of which was Field Marshal Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin. Quite effective actions of the Russian troops ended in a brilliant victory at Gross-Egersdorf.
In 1758, the command of the Russian army was entrusted to General Fermor. Initially, under his leadership, the troops acted quite successfully. But in August, the Battle of Zorndorf took place, which did not bring victory to either side, but cost huge casu alties.
Military operations on the eve of the Battle of Kunersdorf
In the spring of 1759 General-in-Chief Pyotr Semyonovich S altykov was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian troops. He was considered a reliable and experienced commander, butuntil then, he had no outstanding achievements.
Under his leadership, the Russian army moved west towards the Oder River, intending to unite with the Austrian troops. During this transition, on June 23, 1759, a Prussian corps consisting of 28,000 people was defeated at Palzig. So successfully PS S altykov started his military campaign. Soon the Russian and Austrian armies joined in Frankfurt an der Oder.
At the same time, Frederick II was moving towards the united troops, wanting to defeat them in a key battle and thereby secure a decisive advantage during the entire war.
On August 12, opposing armies met to try to decide the fate of the war in a battle known as the Battle of Kunersdorf. The year 1759 was marked by this great battle.
Side Forces
To the site of the battle that would later become known as the Battle of Kunersdorf, the Prussian King Frederick II led an army of 48,000 fighters. For the most part, these were experienced veterans who had gone through the Prussian military school and had taken part in more than one battle. In addition, the Prussian army had 200 artillery pieces.
The Russian troops numbered forty-one thousand soldiers. In addition, PS S altykov had a cavalry consisting of 5200 Kalmyk horsemen. The Austrian troops under the leadership of Ernst Gideon von Lauden numbered 18,500 soldiers and horsemen. The allied army had a total of 248 artillery pieces.
Disposition of troops before the battle
The Prussian army deployed in the standard way. The main troops were in the center, the cavalry was located on the sides, and a small vanguard was advanced a little forward.
Russian-Austrian troops are located on three hills. Thus, they tried to gain an advantage over the enemy. The hills were convenient for defending their positions, but for the enemy they represented a rather significant obstacle.
It was this arrangement of the allied troops that had a significant impact on how the battle of Kunersdorf went. Commander S altykov was with the main forces in the center. The left flank of the Russian army was commanded by Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn. Since this was the weakest link in the allied army, manned in a significant number of recruits, Frederick II intended to deal the main blow of his army against him.
Track of battle
The battle of Kunersdorf began at nine o'clock in the morning, when Prussian artillery fired on the Allied army. The direction of fire was concentrated towards the left flank of the Russian troops, commanded by Prince Golitsyn. At 10 o'clock in the morning, Russian artillery returned fire. However, its effectiveness was much less than the Prussian. An hour later, the enemy troops struck with infantry on the weakest left wing of the Russian troops. In front of the outnumbered Prussians, the unit under the command of Prince Golitsyn had to retreat.
During the further battle, the troops of Frederick II managed to capture almost all of the Russian artillery. The Prussian king was already triumphant and even sent a messenger to the capital with this news.
But the allied forces didn't even think about stopping the resistance. Pyotr Semenovich S altykov ordered to transfer additional forces to the height of Spitsberg, for which at that time there were the most fierce battles. To put the squeeze on the allied forces, Frederick II decided to use the cavalry. But due to the hilly terrain, its effectiveness was significantly reduced. The allied forces managed to push back the Prussian offensive and throw off the army of Frederick from the height of Svalbard.
This failure was fatal for the Prussian army. Many of its commanders were killed, and Frederick himself narrowly escaped death. To remedy the situation, he connected his last reserve - cuirassiers. But they were swept away by the Kalmyk cavalry.
After that, the Allied offensive began. The Prussian army fled, but the crush at the crossing further aggravated the situation. Frederick II had never known such a crushing defeat before. Of the 48,000 warriors, the king was able to take away only three thousand combat-ready soldiers from the battlefield. Thus ended the Battle of Kunersdorf.
Losses of the parties
During the battle, 6271 people from the Prussian army were killed. 1356 soldiers were missing, although it is likely that most of them also found death. 4599 people were taken prisoner. In addition, 2055 soldiers deserted. But the most significant share among the Prussian losses were the wounded - 11342 people. Naturally,they could no longer be considered full-fledged combat units. The total number of losses of the Prussian army amounted to 25623 people.
In the allied forces, the losses were no less. So, 7060 people were killed, of which 5614 Russians and 1446 Austrians. 1150 soldiers were missing, of which 703 were Russians. The number of wounded in total exceeded 15,300 people. In addition, at the beginning of the battle, five thousand soldiers of the allied army were taken prisoner by the Prussian troops. The total losses amounted to 28512 people.
After the battle
Thus, the Prussian army suffered a severe defeat, which marked the battle of Kunersdorf. 1759 could be the time of the complete destruction of the kingdom of Prussia. Frederick II had only three thousand combat-ready soldiers who could not offer worthy resistance to the Allied army, numbering tens of thousands of people. The way to Berlin was opened for Russian troops. Even Frederick at that time was sure that his state would soon come to an end. Already this year the results of the Seven Years' War could be summed up. True, then it would not have been called that already.
The Miracle of the Brandenburg House
However, despite such bright prospects for the Allied army, the battle of Kunersdorf could not make a decisive turning point in the course of hostilities. This was due to the presence of a number of contradictions between the leadership of the Russian and Austrian troops. At the time when it was necessary to organize a lightning march on Berlin, they withdrew their armies, notreaching agreement on further joint actions. Moreover, both the Russians and the Austrians blamed the other side for violating the agreements.
Such inconsistency of the allied army inspired Friedrich, who had already lost all hope for a prosperous outcome for his country. In just a few days, he was able to recruit an army of thirty-three thousand again. Now everyone was sure that the Allied forces would not be able to enter Berlin without fierce resistance. Moreover, there were great doubts that the Prussian capital could be taken at all.
In fact, due to the inconsistency of the actions of the command, the allied forces lost the huge advantage that they received after the Kunersdorf battle. Frederick II dubbed this fortunate combination of circumstances the “Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.”
Further course of hostilities
Although Prussia managed to avoid a complete catastrophe, further hostilities in 1759 were not in her favor. The troops of Frederick II suffered one defeat after another. Prussia and England were forced to ask for peace, but Russia and Austria, hoping to finish off the opponent, did not agree to an agreement.
Meanwhile, the English fleet managed to inflict a major defeat on the French in the Quiberon Bay, and Frederick II in 1760 defeated the Austrians at Torgau. However, this triumph cost him dearly.
Then the fighting went on with varying degrees of success. But in 1761, the Austrian and Russian armies again inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Prussian state, from which few believed that itrecover.
And again Frederick II was saved by a miracle. The Russian Empire made peace with him. Moreover, she entered the war on the side of a recent enemy. This was explained by the fact that the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who always saw a threat in Prussia, was replaced on the throne by a German-born Peter III, who literally idolized Frederick II. This led to the fact that the Prussian crown was once again saved.
End of the Seven Years' War
After that, it became clear that in the near future none of the parties to the conflict could achieve final victory. At the same time, human losses in all armies reached a huge number, and the resources of the warring countries were depleted. Therefore, the states participating in the war began trying to reach an agreement among themselves.
In 1762, France and Prussia agreed on peace. And the next year the war was over.
General results of the Seven Years' War
The overall results of the Seven Years' War can be characterized by the following theses:
1. Neither side of the conflict achieved complete victory, although the British-Prussian coalition was more successful.
2. The Seven Years' War was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 18th century.
3. The battle of Kunersdorf and other successful actions of the Russian army were leveled by the inconsistency of positions with the Austrians and the separate peace between Peter III and Frederick II.
4. Britain managed to capture a significant part of the French colonies.
5. Silesia finally went to Prussia, which was claimed by the AustrianHabsburgs.
Consequences of the Seven Years' War
Even after the conclusion of peace, the contradictions between the groupings of countries were not resolved, but only escalated even more. But the huge human losses and economic exhaustion of the warring parties as a result of the Seven Years' War made it impossible to resume a large-scale military conflict between coalitions of European countries until the very end of the 18th century, when the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars began. However, local conflicts in Europe quite often arose even during this period. But the main wars with the aim of the colonial division of the world were yet to come.
