The First Silesian War () was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia (the lands of the Bohemian Crown) and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia. No particular triggering event started the war.
Introduction
First Silesian War
First Silesian War | Introduction
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when did the first silesian war take place?
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1740
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where?
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Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia
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between whom?
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The First Silesian War () was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia (the lands of the Bohemian Crown) and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia. No particular triggering event started the war.
First Silesian War | Introduction
As the Franco-Bavarian allies made territorial gains, Frederick became concerned that Prussia might be sidelined in the eventual peace agreement, so he repudiated the Convention of Klein Schnellendorf, accusing the Austrians of violating its secrecy, and joined the general advance southward into Bohemia and Moravia. In December Schwerin's army advanced through the Sudetes into Moravia, occupying the capital at Olmütz on 27 December, while Prince Leopold's army besieged the fortress at Glatz on the edge of Bohemia. In January 1742 the Imperial election was held at Frankfurt, where Bavarian Elector Charles Albert was chosen as the next Holy Roman Emperor.
First Silesian War | Bohemia–Moravia campaign of 1741–42
Neipperg's Austrian forces were then recalled from Silesia to defend Austria against the western invaders, abandoning Neisse after a sham siege in early November and leaving the whole of Silesia under Prussian control.
First Silesian War | Negotiations of Mid-1741
The Moravian campaign achieved no significant gains, and on 5April the Prussians retreated into Bohemia and Upper Silesia.
First Silesian War | Bohemia–Moravia campaign of 1741–42
In return, he offered to guarantee all other Habsburg possessions against any attack, pay a large cash indemnity, acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction, and give his vote as elector of Brandenburg in the imperial election to Maria Theresa's husband. Not waiting for a response, he and his troops advanced into Silesia.
First Silesian War | Moves toward war
In early 1742 Frederick organised a joint advance through Moravia toward Vienna with the Saxons and French, which began after their forces met on 5February at Wischau. The French, however, proved reluctant and uncooperative allies, and, after the seizure of Iglau on 15 February, they withdrew into Bohemia. The Prussians and Saxons marched on toward Brünn, the main Austrian stronghold remaining in Moravia, but they made little progress due to the substantial Austrian garrison and a shortage of supplies. The Saxons abandoned the effort on 30 March and returned to Bohemia, where they would remain until withdrawing completely from the war in July.
First Silesian War | Bohemia–Moravia campaign of 1741–42
The Franco-Bavarian forces occupying Prague were isolated and besieged, eventually giving up the city in December. By mid-1743, Austria would recover control of Bohemia, drive the French back across the Rhine into Alsace, and occupy Bavaria, exiling Emperor Charles Albert to Frankfurt.
First Silesian War | Austria
He fought near Glogau Fortress ("29 December 1740 – 2 January 1741"), near Breslau ("30 December 1740 – 3 January 1741"), Ohlau ("9 January 1741"), the Siege of Neisse ("15 – 22 January 1741"), in skirmishes between Nossen and Lindenau (‘’2 March 1741’’), at Göding (‘’10 March 1742’’), and at the Siege of Brno (‘’31 March – 3 April 1742’’) in Moravia.
Isaac de Forcade de Biaix | <a href="Silesian%20Wars%23First%20Silesian%20War">First Silesian War</a> (1740–42)
The two belligerents eventually reached an agreement in the 11 June Treaty of Breslau, which ended the First Silesian War. Under this treaty, Austria conceded to Prussia the large majority of Silesia along with the Bohemian County of Glatz, territories which would later be consolidated to form the Prussian Province of Silesia. Austria retained the remainder of Bohemia and two small portions of the extreme southern end of Silesia, including the Duchy of Teschen and parts of the Duchies of Jägerndorf, Troppau, and Neisse; these lands would later be combined to form the crown land of Austrian Silesia. Prussia also agreed to take on some of Austria's debts that had been secured against assets in Silesia, as well as committing to remain neutral for the remainder of the ongoing War of the Austrian Succession.
First Silesian War | Treaties of Breslau and Berlin
The Second Silesian War () was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1744 to 1745 and confirmed Prussia's control of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Bohemia, and Upper Saxony and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. It was the second of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia. The conflict has been viewed as a continuation of the First Silesian War, which had concluded only two years before.
Second Silesian War | Introduction
This arrangement was formalised and confirmed in the Treaty of Berlin, signed 28 July 1742.
First Silesian War | Treaties of Breslau and Berlin
Prussian forces resumed offensive operations in December, invading Moravia and blocking an Austrian drive toward Prague in early 1742. Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria won the 1742 Imperial election and became Holy Roman Emperor. In July 1742 Prussia and Austria made a separate peace in the Treaty of Berlin, under which Austria ceded the majority of Silesia to Prussia in return for Prussia's neutrality in the continuing war. In late 1742, while Prussia enjoyed the restored peace and worked to assimilate Silesia into its administration and economy, Austria fought on against Bavaria and France, reversing its losses from 1741. By the middle of 1743 Austria had recovered control of Bohemia, driven the French back across the Rhine into Alsace, and occupied Bavaria, exiling Emperor Charles Albert to Frankfurt.
Second Silesian War | First Silesian War
Maria Theresa's determination to recover Silesia would lead to renewed conflict with Prussia in the Second Silesian War only two years later, with a Third Silesian War to follow after another decade; Saxony would take Austria's side in both future conflicts.
First Silesian War | Outcomes
In the early 18th century, Brandenburg–Prussia's ruling House of Hohenzollern held dynastic claims to various duchies within the Habsburg province of Silesia, a populous and prosperous region contiguous with Prussia's core territory in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Besides its value as a source of tax revenue, industrial output (particularly minerals) and military recruits, Silesia held great geostrategic importance to the belligerents. The valley of the Upper Oder formed a natural military conduit between Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia, and whichever power held the territory could threaten its neighbours. Silesia also lay along the north-eastern frontier of the Holy Roman Empire, allowing its controller to limit the influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Russian Empire within Germany.
First Silesian War | Context and causes
The Silesian Wars () were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Austria (under Archduchess Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The First (1740–1742) and Second (1744–1745) Silesian Wars formed parts of the wider War of the Austrian Succession, in which Prussia acted as one member of a coalition seeking territorial gain at Austria's expense. The Third Silesian War (1756–1763) was one theatre of the global Seven Years' War, in which Austria in turn led a coalition of powers aiming to seize Prussian territory.
Silesian Wars | Introduction
In the aftermath of Chotusitz, Prussia intensified its efforts to reach a separate peace with Austria, and negotiators from the two belligerents met again in Breslau in late May. Frederick now demanded almost the whole of Silesia, as well as the County of Glatz; Maria Theresa was reluctant to make such concessions, but the British envoy, Lord Hyndford, pressed her to make peace with Prussia and concentrate her forces against the French. The British treasury had financed much of Austria's war effort through cash subsidies meant to weaken France, and Hyndford threatened to withdraw Britain's support if Maria Theresa refused to concede Silesia.
First Silesian War | Treaties of Breslau and Berlin
The First Silesian War marked the unexpected defeat of the Habsburg Monarchy by a lesser German power and initiated the Austria–Prussia rivalry that would shape German politics for more than a century.
First Silesian War | Introduction
The Third Silesian War () was a war between Prussia and Austria (together with its allies) that lasted from 1756 to 1763 and confirmed Prussia's control of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Bohemia and Upper Saxony and formed one theatre of the Seven Years' War. It was the last of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia. This conflict can be viewed as a continuation of the First and Second Silesian Wars of the previous decade.
Third Silesian War | Introduction
In 1740, in the first year of his reign and shortly after his coronation Frederick II sent the Prussian Army to invade Austrian-ruled Silesia and so precipitated the First Silesian War and, in its broader sense, the Austrian War of Succession. Because Prussia allied itself with Bavaria, France, Saxony, the Electorate of Cologne, Spain, Sweden and Naples, whilst Prussia's main enemy, Austria allied itself with Great Britain, Sardinia, the Netherlands and Russia. For Prussia, the war was restricted to Silesia, and was able to capture the province after several victories.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | First Silesian War (1740–1742)
In mid-October, Charles Albert of Bavaria and his French allies were encamped near Vienna, ready to besiege it, but he became concerned that Saxony and Prussia would seize parts of Bohemia, which he had also claimed. The French also deprecated a decisive move on Vienna, wishing to see Austria reduced rather than destroyed. So, on 24 October their forces turned north to march instead on Prague. The Bavarian, French and Saxon armies converged in November, besieging it and ultimately storming it on 26 November; Charles Albert went on to proclaim himself King of Bohemia on 7December. Meanwhile, in early November Frederick negotiated the border between putative territories of Prussian Silesia and Saxon Moravia with Frederick Augustus of Saxony, also securing French and Bavarian support for his seizure of the entirety of Silesia, along with the Bohemian County of Glatz.
First Silesian War | Bohemia–Moravia campaign of 1741–42
Prussia's withdrawal from the War of the Austrian Succession under a separate peace embittered its erstwhile allies, and the diplomatic position shifted in Austria's favour.
Second Silesian War | First Silesian War
Two generations later, the newly crowned Hohenzollern King Frederick II of Prussia formed designs on Silesia soon after succeeding to the throne in May 1740. Frederick judged that his dynasty's claims were credible, and he had inherited from his father a large and well-trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury. Austria was in financial distress, and its army had not been reinforced or reformed after an ignominious performance in the 1737–1739 Austro-Turkish War. The European strategic situation was favourable for an attack on Austria, with Britain and France occupying each other's attentions in the War of Jenkins' Ear and Sweden moving toward war with Russia; The Electors of Bavaria and Saxony also had claims against Austria and seemed likely to join in the attack.
First Silesian War | Austrian succession
Brandenburg–Prussia's claims in Silesia were based, in part, on a 1537 inheritance treaty between the Silesian Piast Duke Frederick II of Legnica and the Hohenzollern Prince-Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, whereby the Silesian Duchies of Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg were to pass to the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg should the Piast dynasty in Silesia become extinct. At the time, the Habsburg King FerdinandI of Bohemia (Silesia's feudal overlord) rejected the agreement and pressed the Hohenzollerns to repudiate it. In 1603, Hohenzollern Elector JoachimIII Frederick of Brandenburg separately inherited the Silesian Duchy of Jägerndorf from his cousin, Margrave George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and installed his second son, Johann Georg, as duke.
First Silesian War | Brandenburg–Prussia's claims
Thus, upon the death of Charles VI on 29 October 1740, Frederick disputed the succession of the 23-year-old Maria Theresa to the Habsburg lands, while simultaneously making his own claim on Silesia. Accordingly, the First Silesian War (1740–1742, part of the War of the Austrian Succession) began on 16 December 1740 when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied the province. Frederick was worried that if he did not move, Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, would seek to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. The Prussian king quickly snatched the territory, using as justification an obscure treaty from 1537 between the Hohenzollern and the Piast dynasty of Brieg (Brzeg).
Frederick the Great | War of the Austrian Succession
Military supplies were stored in centralised magazines and distributed by baggage trains that were highly vulnerable to enemy raids. Armies were generally unable to sustain combat operations during winter and normally established winter quarters in the cold season, resuming their campaigns with the return of spring.
First Silesian War | Methods and technologies
After Austria's failure at Mollwitz to repel the Prussian invasion, other powers were emboldened to attack the beleaguered archduchy, widening the conflict into what would become the War of the Austrian Succession. France declared its support for Prussia's seizure of Silesia in the 5June Treaty of Breslau, and in July it joined in the Treaty of Nymphenburg, by which France and Spain committed to support Bavaria's territorial claims against Austria. French forces began crossing the Rhine on 15 August, joining the Bavarian forces on the Danube and advancing toward Vienna, while a Spanish–Neapolitan army attacked Austria's holdings in northern Italy.
First Silesian War | Negotiations of Mid-1741
The conflict over Silesia foreshadowed a wider Austro-Prussian struggle for hegemony over the German-speaking peoples, which would later culminate in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
Silesian Wars | Introduction
In June, the Treaty of Breslau ended the First Silesian War, allowing Austria to recapture Prague in December. Hostilities resumed in 1744.
Battle of Chotusitz | Introduction
The other belligerents in the wider Seven Years' War had already begun peace talks; now, negotiators from Austria, Prussia and Saxony convened on 30 December at Hubertusburg palace, near the front lines in Saxony, to discuss terms of peace.
Third Silesian War | Stalemate
The Empire was headed by the Holy Roman Emperor; in theory an elected post, it had been held by a Habsburg since 1437. France, Prussia and Saxony now challenged Austrian dominance by nominating Charles of Bavaria as Emperor. In December 1740, Frederick II seized the opportunity to invade Silesia and begin the First Silesian War. With a population of over one million, the Silesian mining, weaving and dyeing industries produced 10% of total Imperial income. Under Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, the Prussians quickly over-ran most of the province and settled into winter quarters but failed to capture the southern fortresses of Glogau, Breslau, and Brieg.
Battle of Mollwitz | Background
The Second Silesian War was also part of the Austrian War of Succession, but also a war fought for supremacy in Silesia between Prussia and Austria. Frederick II had allied himself at that time with France. Austria formed an alliance with Saxony, Great Britain and the Netherlands. In August 1744, Prussia ambushed Bohemia with 80,000 soldiers and thereby opened the Second Silesian War. After several hard battles, it was agreed in the Treaty of Dresden that Silesia would always remain in Prussian hands.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Second Silesian War (1744–1745)
Meanwhile, the main Austrian force under Prince Charles of Lorraine would be occupied by the French in Alsace, where the French would counterattack on the opposite front as Prince Charles's army was pulled in two directions.
Second Silesian War | Preparations for a second war
Saxony, formerly an Austrian ally, now joined the French alliance, and Britain declared itself neutral to prevent French or Prussian attacks on Hanover. Faced with the prospect of a total partition of her realm, Maria Theresa worked through the following months to regroup and prepare a counter-attack. On 25 June she received her formal coronation as Queen of Hungary in Pressburg and began trying to recruit a new army from her eastern lands. In August she offered Frederick concessions in the Low Countries and a cash payment if Prussia would evacuate Silesia, though she was immediately rebuffed. Meanwhile, fresh enemies attacked Austria on multiple fronts: the Franco-Bavarian force seized Linz on 14 September and advanced through Upper Austria, reaching the vicinity of Vienna by October, while Bohemia was simultaneously invaded by the Saxons.
First Silesian War | Negotiations of Mid-1741
Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of Silesia as a "casus belli", but "Realpolitik" and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict. Maria Theresa's contested succession to the Habsburg Monarchy provided an opportunity for Prussia to strengthen itself relative to regional rivals such as Saxony and Bavaria. The war began with a Prussian invasion of Habsburg Silesia in late 1740, and it ended in a Prussian victory with the 1742 Treaty of Berlin, which recognised Prussia's seizure of most of Silesia and parts of Bohemia. Meanwhile, the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued, and conflict over Silesia would draw Austria and Prussia into a renewed Second Silesian War only two years later.
First Silesian War | Introduction
In 1685, when Austria was engaged in the Great Turkish War, Emperor LeopoldI gave Great Elector Frederick William immediate control of the Silesian exclave of Schwiebus in return for military support against the Turks and the surrender of the outstanding Hohenzollern claims in Silesia. After the accession of the Great Elector's son and successor, FrederickIII of Brandenburg, the Emperor took back control of Schwiebus in 1694, claiming the territory had only been personally assigned to the late Great Elector for life. As a young prince, FrederickIII had secretly agreed to this repossession in return for Leopold's payment of some of his debts, but as monarch he repudiated the agreement and reasserted the old Hohenzollern claims to Jägerndorf and the Silesian Piast heritage.
First Silesian War | Brandenburg–Prussia's claims
Prussian forces converged upon Prague, seizing the city on 16 September, and this new threat drew the Austrian army back from France through Bavaria. The French failed to harass and disrupt the Austrian redeployment, so Austria's army was able to return to Bohemia quickly and at full strength. Frederick gathered his forces around Prague and tried to force a decisive engagement, but Austrian commander Otto Ferdinand von Traun focused on harassing the invaders' supply lines, eventually forcing the Prussians to abandon Bohemia and retreat into Upper Silesia in November. With the January 1745 Treaty of Warsaw, Austria established a new "Quadruple Alliance" between Austria, Britain, Saxony and the Dutch Republic.
Silesian Wars | Second Silesian War
As Prussia reactivated its Silesian claims and prepared for war against Austria, several other European powers made similar moves. Charles Albert of Bavaria launched a claim to the imperial throne along with the Habsburg territories of Bohemia, Upper Austria and Tyrol, while Frederick Augustus of Saxony laid claim to Moravia and Upper Silesia. The Kingdoms of Spain and Naples hoped to seize Habsburg possessions in northern Italy, while France, which viewed the Habsburgs as traditional rivals, sought control of the Austrian Netherlands. The Electorates of Cologne and the Palatinate joined these to form an alliance known as the League of Nymphenburg, which aimed at the diminution or destruction of the Habsburg Monarchy and its dominant position among the German states.
First Silesian War | Moves toward war
He also stationed Field Marshal Count Kurt von Schwerin in Silesia with 25,000 men to deter incursions from Moravia and Hungary. Finally, in August 1756 he personally led the main Prussian army of around 60,000 into Saxony, beginning the Third Silesian War.
Third Silesian War | Preparations for war
After Emperor Charles's death on 20 October 1740, Frederick quickly resolved to strike first; on 8November he ordered the mobilisation of the Prussian army, and on 11 December he issued an ultimatum to Maria Theresa demanding the cession of Silesia. In return, he offered to guarantee all other Habsburg possessions against any attack, pay a large cash indemnity, acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction, and give his vote as elector of Brandenburg to Maria Theresa's husband, Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine, in the forthcoming imperial election to replace the deceased Charles. Not waiting for a response and without a declaration of war, he led Prussian troops across the lightly defended Silesian frontier on 16 December, beginning the First Silesian War.
Silesian Wars | First Silesian War
But neither recognized this, and the last three years of the war are marked by an ever-increasing friction between the "Fabius" and the "Marcellus," as they were called, of the Austrian army.
Ernst Gideon von Laudon | Silesian Wars
The Prussian army had massed quietly along the Oder during early December 1740, and on 16 December, without a declaration of war, Frederick moved his troops across the frontier into Silesia. The Prussian force consisted of two corps totalling 27,000 soldiers, while Silesia was defended by an Austrian garrison of only 8,000 men. The Austrians were able to offer only light resistance and garrison a few fortresses; the Prussians swept through the province, taking control of the capital at Breslau without a fight on 2January 1741. The fortress at Ohlau was also taken without resistance on 9January, after which the Prussians used it for their winter quarters.
First Silesian War | Silesian campaign of 1740–41
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg died in 1740 without a male heir; he was succeeded by his eldest daughter, who became ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, as well as of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg Monarchy, as Archduchess Maria Theresa. During Emperor CharlesVI's lifetime, this female succession was generally acknowledged by the imperial states, but when he died it was promptly contested by several parties. The newly crowned King FrederickII of Prussia took this Austrian succession crisis as an opportunity to press his dynasty's territorial claims in the Habsburg crown land of Silesia, invading in December 1740 and beginning the First Silesian War.
Second Silesian War | First Silesian War
The Prussian's supplies were exhausted, however, and they withdrew again into Upper Silesia for the winter, driving out the Austrian light troops that had entered the region ahead of Prince Charles's main force.
Second Silesian War | Mid-1745: Battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor
He fought near Glogau ("29 December 1740 - 2 January 1741"), Breslau ("29 December 1740 - 2 January 1741"), Ottmachau Palace ("12 January 1741"), Troppau ("23 January 1740"), Graetz ("25 January 1741"), the Battle of Mollwitz ("10 April 1741"), at Neisse ("19 October 1741 - 31 October 1741"), Laa ("12 March 1742"), Bruenn ("31 March 1742 - 3 April 1742"), Austerlitz ("10 April 1742") and Wartha ("25–26 May 1742").
Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix | <a href="Silesian%20Wars%23First%20Silesian%20War">First Silesian War</a> (1740–42)
As Austria, France and Russia formed a new anti-Prussian coalition, Frederick became convinced that Prussia would be attacked in early 1757 and once again chose to strike first. On 29 August 1756 he preemptively invaded neighbouring Saxony, beginning the Third Silesian War. As Austria's and Prussia's allies joined the fighting, the conflict quickly widened into what became the pan-European Seven Years' War. The Prussians occupied Saxony in late 1756 and made large advances in Bohemia in early 1757, winning a series of battles while advancing to Prague. In May Prussian forces drove back the Austrian defenders in the Battle of Prague, taking great losses, and then besieged the city.
Silesian Wars | Third Silesian War
By the end of January 1741, almost the entirety of Silesia had come under Prussian control, and the remaining Austrian strongholds of Glogau, Brieg and Neisse were besieged. After leaving winter quarters in early 1741, the Prussian forces began a spring campaign, and on 9March Prince LeopoldII of Anhalt-Dessau took Glogau by storm. In late March, an Austrian force of around 20,000 under the command of Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg crossed the Sudetes mountains from Moravia and broke the siege of Neisse on 5April, after which the main Prussian force manoeuvred to oppose its advance. The two armies engaged each other near the village of Mollwitz on 10 April, where the Prussians under Marshal Kurt von Schwerin successfully stopped the Austrian advance in the Battle of Mollwitz.
First Silesian War | Silesian campaign of 1740–41
The Treaties of Breslau and Berlin cost the Habsburg Monarchy its wealthiest province, and capitulating to a lesser German prince significantly dented the Habsburg Monarchy's prestige. The House of Habsburg was also defeated in the Imperial election, calling into question its preeminence within Germany. The Austrian army had found itself outmatched by the more disciplined Prussians, and in late 1741 the Nymphenburg alliance had threatened the Habsburg Monarchy with disaster. However, peace in the Silesian theatre gave the Austrian forces a free hand to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians the previous year. The western invaders were driven back up the Danube Valley in early 1742, and Saxony withdrew its forces from Bohemia after the Treaty of Berlin, making peace with Austria near the end of the year.
First Silesian War | Austria
By the end of January 1741 almost the entirety of Silesia was under Prussian control, and the remaining Austrian strongholds of Glogau, Brieg and Neisse were besieged. In late March an Austrian force relieved the siege of Neisse, but the main Prussian force engaged and defeated it in the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April, securing Prussian control of the region. Seeing Austria's defeat at Mollwitz, other powers were emboldened to attack the beleaguered archduchy, widening the conflict into what would become the War of the Austrian Succession. As Bavaria, Saxony, France, Naples and Spain attacked Austria on multiple fronts during the succeeding months, Frederick began secret peace negotiations with Maria Theresa, with British urging and mediation; on 9October Austria and Prussia agreed to a secret armistice known as the Convention of Klein-Schnellendorf, under which Austria committed to eventually concede Lower Silesia in return for peace.
Silesian Wars | First Silesian War
In 1741, during the first of the Silesian Wars, Frederick the Great, of Prussia, defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Mollwitz, which took place here, cementing his conquest of Silesia from the Austrian Monarchy.
Małujowice | Battle of Mollwitz
Based on the terms of the treaty, Maria Theresa ceded most of the Silesian duchies to Prussia except for the Duchy of Teschen, the districts of Troppau and Krnov south of the Opava river as well as the southern part of the Duchy of Nysa, that were all to become the province of Austrian Silesia. Furthermore, Frederick annexed the Bohemian County of Kladsko. Despite the popular name of the treaty, it was actually signed in Berlin. This treaty, along with the Treaty of Berlin signed on 28 July 1742, officially ended the First Silesian War. Except for the partition of Cieszyn Silesia and the incorporation of the Hlučín Region in 1920, the 1742 demarcation line today still determines the border of the Czech Republic with Poland.
Treaty of Breslau | Content
However, it did not prevent the Hussites from invading Silesia in 1420 (see also Hussite Wars).
Silesian Przesieka | Introduction
While the Seven Years' War was a global conflict among many belligerents, its Central European theatre turned on lingering grudges from the War of the Austrian Succession (1741–1748). The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which had concluded the latter war, confirmed Prussian King Frederick II's seizure of the region of Silesia from the Habsburg Monarchy through two Silesian Wars. The defeated Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria nevertheless fully intended to retake the lost province and reassert Austria's hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire; after peace was restored, she set about rebuilding her armed forces and seeking out new alliances.
Third Silesian War | Context and causes
Prince Henry's army pursued some "Reichsarmee" forces into Franconia and raided pro-Austrian principalities in the Holy Roman Empire in November and December. In November Maria Theresa proposed to open peace negotiations, to which Frederick immediately agreed; on 24 November the two belligerents declared an armistice in Saxony and Silesia, and formal peace talks began in late December.
Third Silesian War | Final campaigns
In 1740, the annexation of Silesia by King Frederick II the Great of Prussia was welcomed by many Silesians, not only by Protestants or Germans. Frederick based his claims on the Treaty of Brieg, and his 1740 invasion began the First Silesian War (part of the War of the Austrian Succession). By war's end, the Kingdom of Prussia had conquered almost all of Silesia, while some parts of Silesia in the extreme southeast, like the Duchy of Cieszyn and Duchy of Opava, remained possessions of the Crown of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy. The Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763) confirmed Prussian control over most of Silesia.
History of Silesia | Kingdom of Prussia
Peace with Prussia allowed the Austrians and their British–Hanoverian allies to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians in 1741. By mid 1743 Austria recovered control of Bohemia, drove the French back across the Rhine, and occupied Bavaria. In September 1743 Britain, Austria and Savoy–Sardinia concluded a new alliance under the Treaty of Worms, which led Frederick to suspect that Maria Theresa meant to retake Silesia as soon as the war elsewhere was concluded. So, on 7August 1744 Prussia declared its intervention in the ongoing conflict on behalf of Emperor Charles Albert, and Frederick led soldiers across the frontier into Bohemia on 15 August, beginning the Second Silesian War.
Silesian Wars | Second Silesian War
Two generations later, the newly crowned Hohenzollern King Frederick II of Prussia formed designs on Silesia soon after succeeding to the throne in May 1740. Frederick judged that his dynasty's claims were credible, and he had inherited from his father a large and well trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury. Austria was in financial distress, and its army had not been reinforced or reformed after an ignominious performance in the 1737–1739 Austro-Turkish War. The European strategic situation was favourable for an attack on Austria, as Britain and France were occupying each other's attentions in the War of Jenkins' Ear and Sweden was moving toward war with Russia.
Silesian Wars | Austrian succession
The coronation of Maria Theresa as queen regnant of the Kingdom of Bohemia immediately triggered an invasion of the region of Silesia by King Frederick the Great of Prussia, thereby starting the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). By the end of the First Silesian War in 1742, the Prussian forces had conquered almost all of the Habsburg crown land in Silesia, while according to the peace treaties of Breslau and Berlin, only some smaller parts in the extreme southeast, like the Duchy of Teschen as well as the southern parts of the duchies of Troppau and Nysa, remained possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy as Austrian Silesia.
Province of Silesia | Prussian Silesia, 1740–1815
Having made peace with Bavaria, in late April Austria prepared for a large-scale invasion of Silesia, moving the army of Charles of Lorraine into Moravia, while a Saxon army organised near Leipzig. Frederick abandoned the mountainous southern tip of Upper Silesia to the Austrian vanguard of pandurs, concentrating his defences around the town of Frankenstein in the valley of the Eastern Neisse. Meanwhile, LeopoldI of Anhalt-Dessau was put in command of a smaller force in Brandenburg to prevent a Saxon invasion. At the end of May, the Austrian–Saxon force crossed through the Giant Mountains and camped around the Silesian village of Hohenfriedberg, where Frederick staged a surprise attack on the morning of 4 June.
Second Silesian War | Mid-1745: Battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor
The area originally formed the south-eastern part of the Medieval Duchy of Silesia, a province of the Piast Kingdom of Poland. During the 14th century most Dukes of Silesia had declared themselves Bohemian vassals. As part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, Silesia was inherited by the Habsburg archduke Ferdinand I of Austria in 1526, after the last Jagiellon king Louis II of Bohemia had died at the Battle of Mohács. With the female succession of the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa to the throne in 1740, the Prussian king Frederick the Great laid claim to the Silesian province and, without waiting for any reply, on 16 December started the First Silesian War, thereby opening the larger War of the Austrian Succession.
Austrian Silesia | History
Cooperation between Russian and Austrian forces was breaking down, as the two allied powers grew less willing to pursue each other's goals in the field.
Third Silesian War | Dwindling resources
In the Third Silesian War campaign of 1758 came his first opportunity for fighting an action as a commander-in-chief, and he used it so well that Frederick the Great was obliged to give up the siege of Olomouc and retire into Bohemia (Battle of Domstadtl, 30 June). He was rewarded with the grade of lieutenant-field-marshal and having again shown himself an active and daring commander in the campaign of Hochkirch, he was created a Freiherr in the Austrian nobility by Maria Theresa and in the peerage of the Holy Roman Empire by her husband the emperor Francis. Maria Theresa gave him, further, the grand cross of the order she had founded and an estate near Kutná Hora in Bohemia.
Ernst Gideon von Laudon | Silesian Wars
During Emperor Charles's lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction was generally acknowledged by the imperial states, but when he died it was promptly contested by Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony.
Silesian Wars | Austrian succession
After early Prussian successes, other powers were emboldened to attack the beleaguered Habsburg realm, widening the conflict into what became the War of the Austrian Succession. Prussia, France, Spain, Bavaria and others formed an alliance known as the League of Nymphenburg to support each other's efforts to seize Habsburg territory and Bavaria's bid for the imperial election. The allies invaded on multiple fronts in mid-1741, soon occupying Austrian Tyrol, Upper Austria and Bohemia, and even threatening Vienna. Faced with a potential war of partition, Austria negotiated a secret armistice with Prussia in October and redeployed its forces to face its other enemies.
Second Silesian War | First Silesian War
On 16 December 1740 Prussian troops invaded Silesia under King Frederick the Great. This was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Austria and Prussia in this period (1740–1742, 1744–1745 and 1756–1763). Soon other powers began to exploit Austria's weakness. Charles VII claimed the inheritance to the hereditary lands and Bohemia, and was supported by the King of France, who desired the Austrian Netherlands. The Spanish and Sardinians hoped to gain territory in Italy, and the Saxons hoped to gain territory to connect Saxony with the Elector's Polish Kingdom. France even went so far as to prepare for a partition of Austria.
History of Austria | War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748)
Meanwhile, Emperor Charles Albert died on 20 January, destroying the rationale behind Frederick's alliance. Austria renewed its offensive against Bavaria in March 1745, decisively defeating the Franco-Bavarian army at the 15 April Battle of Pfaffenhofen, and making peace with MaximilianIII of Bavaria (the son of the late Emperor Charles Albert) by the Treaty of Füssen on 22 April. Having defeated Bavaria, Austria began an invasion of Silesia. At the end of May an Austrian–Saxon army crossed through the Giant Mountains into Silesia, only to be surprised and decisively defeated by Frederick in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4June, removing any immediate prospect of Austria recovering Silesia.
Silesian Wars | Second Silesian War
The Prussians followed the retreating Austrian–Saxon army into Bohemia, encamping along the Elbe while Frederick pursued a peace agreement. During the following months Maria Theresa won the support of enough prince-electors to see her husband named Holy Roman Emperor FrancisI on 13 September in Frankfurt, achieving one of her major goals in the war.
Silesian Wars | Second Silesian War
In the Treaty of Versailles, after the defeat of Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, it was decided that the population of Upper Silesia should hold a plebiscite to determine the division of the province between Poland and Germany, with the exception of a area around Hlučín ("Hultschiner Ländchen"), which was granted to Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite it being German-speaking majority. The plebiscite, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Cieszyn Silesia there was an interim deal between the Polish "Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego" and the Czech "Národní výbor pro Slezsko" about partition of past lands of the Duchy of Cieszyn along ethnic lines.
History of Silesia | Interwar period
The ensuing Battle of Hohenfriedberg ended in a decisive Prussian victory, sending Prince Charles's army retreating in disarray back into the mountains. Austria's reversal at Hohenfriedberg removed any immediate prospect of recovering Silesia. The Prussians followed the retreating Austrian–Saxon army into Bohemia, harassing its rear as far as Königgrätz, where the two forces camped on opposite sides of the Elbe. The armies faced off but fought little during the next two months, while Frederick pursued a peace agreement that would again guarantee his control of Silesia. Britain's willingness to subsidise Austria's war against Prussia was greatly reduced by the outbreak of a new Jacobite uprising, and on 26 August Britain and Prussia agreed to the Convention of Hanover, in which both sides recognised each other's German possessions (including Prussian Silesia), and Prussia committed not to seek territorial gains in Bohemia or Saxony in any eventual peace agreement.
Second Silesian War | Mid-1745: Battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor
The succeeding months saw the Austrians retake Dresden and most of Saxony, with intermittent skirmishing in Saxony continuing into the next year.
Silesian Wars | Third Silesian War
He again took action by a preemptive war, invading Saxony and opening a Third Silesian War (and the wider Seven Years' War).
Austria–Prussia rivalry | History
Though the Hohenzollerns' dynastic claims provided a legalistic "casus belli", considerations of "Realpolitik" and geostrategy played the leading role in provoking the war. An opportunity arose for Brandenburg–Prussia to press its claims when Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor CharlesVI died in October 1740 without a male heir. With the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, Charles had established his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as the successor to his hereditary titles. Upon his death she duly became ruler of Austria, as well as of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg Monarchy. During Emperor Charles's lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction had been generally acknowledged by the imperial states, but when he died it was promptly contested by Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony.
First Silesian War | Austrian succession
After the Treaty of Berlin ended hostilities between Austria and Prussia in 1742, the Habsburg Monarchy's fortunes improved greatly in the continuing War of the Austrian Succession. As Austria expanded its alliances with the 1743 Treaty of Worms, Prussia entered a renewed alliance with Austria's enemies in the League of Frankfurt and rejoined the war, hoping to prevent a resurgent Austria from taking back Silesia. The war began with a Prussian invasion of Habsburg Bohemia in mid-1744, and ended in a Prussian victory with the Treaty of Dresden in December 1745, which confirmed Prussian control of Silesia. Continuing conflict over Silesia would draw Austria and Prussia into a Third Silesian War a decade later.
Second Silesian War | Introduction
After the First World War a dispute arose about the future of Upper Silesia. This part of the Silesia region was the least affected by centuries of Germanisation. The population was predominately Slavic, especially in rural areas. Many of them considered themselves Poles, and some Czechs. The rest did not feel any strong connections to either of those nations; according to Wojciech Korfanty's estimations, this last group represented up to a third of the total whole population of the region. The Treaty of Versailles resolved that a plebiscite be conducted so that the local population could decide whether Upper Silesia should be assigned to Poland or to Germany.
Silesian Voivodeship (1920–1939) | History
In the 1618 Bohemian Revolt and the ensuing Thirty Years' War, Johann Georg joined the Silesian estates in revolt against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor FerdinandII. After the Catholic victory in the 1621 Battle of White Mountain, the Emperor confiscated Johann Georg's duchy and refused to return it to his heirs after his death, but the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg continued to assert themselves as the legitimate rulers of Jägerndorf. In 1675 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg laid claim to Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg when the Silesian Piast line ended with the death of Duke George William of Liegnitz, but the Habsburg Emperor disregarded the Hohenzollern claims and the lands escheated to the crown.
First Silesian War | Brandenburg–Prussia's claims
Prussia and Britain hoped the Austrian defeats at Hohenfreidberg and Soor would persuade Austria to come to terms and concentrate its efforts against France, but Maria Theresa was resolved to fight on. On 29 August Austria and Saxony had agreed on a more offensive alliance aimed at seizing Prussian territory, and in early November they began a new offensive from multiple directions toward Brandenburg. Prince Charles's Austrian army marched north from Bohemia toward Lusatia, while the main Saxon army under Frederick Augustus Rutowsky prepared to attack from western Saxony, hoping together to seize Berlin and end the war outright. On 8 November Frederick was informed of these movements and ordered LeopoldI to prepare his troops in western Brandenburg, while Frederick himself departed for Lower Silesia to gather forces to meet Charles's advance.
Second Silesian War | Late 1745: Battles of Hennersdorf and Kesselsdorf
In the early 18th century Brandenburg–Prussia's ruling House of Hohenzollern held dynastic claims to several duchies within the Habsburg province of Silesia, a populous and prosperous region contiguous with Prussia's core territory in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Besides its value as a source of tax revenue, industrial output and military recruits, Silesia held great geostrategic importance to multiple parties. The valley of the Upper Oder formed a natural military conduit between Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia, and whichever power held the territory could threaten its neighbours. Silesia also lay along the north-eastern frontier of the Holy Roman Empire, allowing its controller to limit the influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Russian Empire within Germany.
Silesian Wars | Context and causes
The rivalry is largely held to have begun when upon the death of the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI in 1740, King Frederick the Great of Prussia launched an invasion of Austrian-controlled Silesia, starting the First Silesian War (of three Silesian Wars to come) against Maria Theresa. Frederick had broken his promise to acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and the indivisibility of the Habsburg territories, whereby he sparked off the pan–European War of the Austrian Succession. He decisively defeated the Austrian troops at the 1742 Battle of Chotusitz, whereafter Maria Theresa, by the Treaties of Breslau and Berlin, had to cede the bulk of the Silesian lands to Prussia.
Austria–Prussia rivalry | History
Decisive field battles were relatively rare, though they played a larger part in Frederick's theory of warfare than was typical among his contemporary rivals. The Silesian Wars, like most European wars of the 18th century, were fought as so-called cabinet wars in which disciplined regular armies were equipped and supplied by the state to conduct warfare on behalf of the sovereign's interests. Occupied enemy territories were regularly taxed and extorted for funds, but large-scale atrocities against civilian populations were rare compared with conflicts in the previous century. Military logistics was the decisive factor in many wars, as armies had grown too large to support themselves on prolonged campaigns by foraging and plunder alone.
First Silesian War | Methods and technologies
Austria was supported by Great Britain (in personal union with the Electorate of Hanover) and, eventually, Savoy–Sardinia and the Dutch Republic; the Russian Empire under Empress Elizabeth also indirectly took Austria's side in the wider conflict by making war against Sweden (a French ally at the time). Maria Theresa's aims in the conflict were, first, to preserve her hereditary lands and titles and, second, to win or compel support for the election of her husband, Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine, as Holy Roman Emperor, defending her house's traditional preeminence within Germany. After Emperor Charles's death on 20 October, Frederick quickly resolved to strike first; on 8November he ordered the mobilisation of the Prussian army, and on 11 December he issued an ultimatum to Maria Theresa demanding the cession of Silesia.
First Silesian War | Moves toward war
Austria made a further concession by formally renouncing its claim to Silesia; in return, Prussia committed to support Maria Theresa's son, Archduke Joseph, in the forthcoming 1764 Imperial election. With that, the belligerents agreed to end the Third Silesian War with the Treaty of Hubertusburg, signed 15 February 1763.
Third Silesian War | Treaty of Hubertusburg
He fought with his unit at the Siege of Prague ("2–18 September 1744"), Beraun ("6 September 1744"), Selmitz ("19 November 1744"), Prague ("25 November 1744"), and the Battle of Hohenfriedberg ("4 June 1745"). He fought at the Battle of Soor ("30 September 1745"), Schönefeld near Leipzig ("29 November 1745"), Meißen ("9 December 1745"), and at the Battle of Kesselsdorf ("15 December 1745").
Isaac de Forcade de Biaix | <a href="Silesian%20Wars%23Second%20Silesian%20War">Second Silesian War</a> (1744–45)
This closed the Bavarian theatre of the War of the Austrian Succession, allowing Austria to concentrate its forces on the remaining fronts in Silesia, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Second Silesian War | Early 1745: Bavarian defeat
Meanwhile, Prince-Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria and Prince-Elector Frederick AugustusII of Saxony had each married one of Maria Theresa's older cousins from a senior branch of the House of Habsburg, and they used these connections to justify claims to Habsburg territory in the absence of a male heir. Frederick Augustus, who ruled Poland in personal union, was especially interested in gaining control of Silesia to connect his two realms into one contiguous territory (which would nearly surround Brandenburg); Frederick's concern to prevent this outcome contributed to his haste in moving against Austria when the contested succession provided an opportunity.
Silesian Wars | Moves toward war
Brandenburg–Prussia's claims in Silesia were based, in part, on a 1537 inheritance treaty between the Silesian Piast Duke Frederick II of Legnica and the Hohenzollern Prince-Elector JoachimII Hector of Brandenburg, whereby the Silesian Duchies of Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg were to pass to the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg should the Piast dynasty in Silesia become extinct. At the time, the Habsburg King FerdinandI of Bohemia (Silesia's feudal overlord) rejected the agreement and pressed the Hohenzollerns to repudiate it. In 1603, Hohenzollern Elector JoachimIII Frederick of Brandenburg separately inherited the Silesian Duchy of Jägerndorf from his cousin, Margrave George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and installed his second son, Johann Georg, as duke.
Silesian Wars | Brandenburg–Prussia's claims
Neither army acquitted itself well at Mollwitz, and Frederick at one point fled (on Schwerin's advice) to avoid capture, but the Prussians held the field and subsequently portrayed the battle as a victory. Brieg surrendered to the Prussians on 4May, after which the main Prussian force encamped through the succeeding months near Neisse, facing off against Neipperg's Austrians but fighting little.
First Silesian War | Silesian campaign of 1740–41
The Second Silesian War repeated the defeat of the Habsburg Monarchy by a lesser German power and contributed to the Austria–Prussia rivalry that shaped German politics for more than a century.
Second Silesian War | Introduction
When in 1740 King Frederick II of Prussia started the First Silesian War he occupied most of Silesia and also the County of Kladsko, which the king considered to be a vital forward post at the border with the Austrian lands under Empress Maria Theresa. It was therefore occupied by Prussian troops and by the 1742 Treaty of Breslau annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, again confirmed after the Seven Years' War by the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg. It was not until 1818, when King Frederick William III finally incorporated the County into the Prussian Province of Silesia, although Czech and Austrian influence is still evident in the architecture and culture of the region.
County of Kladsko | Conquest by Prussia
At the time, Austria still claimed the mantle of the Empire and was the chief force of the disunited German states. Until 1745, Maria Theresa was able to regain the Imperial crown from her Wittelsbach rival Charles VII by occupying his Bavarian lands, but, despite her Quadruple Alliance with Great Britain, the Dutch Republic and Saxony failed to recapture Silesia: The Second Silesian War started with Frederick's invasion into Bohemia in 1744 and after the Prussian victory at the 1745 Battle of Kesselsdorf, by the Treaty of Dresden the "status quo ante bellum" was confirmed: Frederick kept Silesia but finally acknowledged the accession of Maria Theresa's husband, Emperor Francis I.
Austria–Prussia rivalry | History
The Third Silesian War involved Prussia and Austria (1756–1763). On the Indian subcontinent, the conflict is called the Third Carnatic War (1757–1763). The war was described by Winston Churchill as the first "world war", although this label was also given to various earlier conflicts like the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession, and to later conflicts like the Napoleonic Wars. The term "Second Hundred Years' War" has been used in order to describe the almost continuous level of worldwide conflict between France and Great Britain during the entire 18th century, reminiscent of the Hundred Years' War of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Seven Years' War | Nomenclature
From there, his army and Frederick's converged toward Dresden in early December. Frederick's force attempted to come between the Saxon capital and Prince Charles's Austrians, while Leopold's army advanced directly upon Rutowsky's Saxons, who were entrenched beside the village of Kesselsdorf. On 15 December Leopold's force attacked and destroyed Rutowsky's army in the Battle of Kesselsdorf, opening the way to Dresden, as Prince Charles and the remaining Saxon soldiers retreated through the Ore Mountains into Bohemia. The Prussians occupied Dresden on 18 December, after which Frederick once again sent envoys to Maria Theresa and Frederick AugustusII to propose peace.
Second Silesian War | Late 1745: Battles of Hennersdorf and Kesselsdorf
After the First World War the region was divided between Poland (East Upper Silesia) and Germany (West Upper Silesia). After the Second World War, West Upper Silesia also became Polish as the result of the Potsdam Conference.
Upper Silesia | Introduction
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it was particularly intense in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia as a consequence of the First and Second Silesian Wars. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Silesian province. In 1754, escalating tensions with Britain in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Zorndorf | Seven Years' War
After Prussia's withdrawal the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued for another two years, ending with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Despite the commitments made under the Treaty of Dresden, Maria Theresa still refused to give the Holy Roman Empire's recognition of Prussia's sovereignty in Silesia, and Frederick in turn still declined to recognise Maria Theresa's legitimacy as sovereign in the Bohemian lands under the Pragmatic Sanction. The underlying conflict over Silesia was unresolved, and both sides spent the years of peace making preparations for renewed conflict. Prussia built and expanded fortifications at strategic points in Silesia, and the army began to reequip its artillery units with heavier guns.
Silesian Wars | Interbellum
In the territorial settlement that ended the war, Prussia gained control of extensive new lands in Glatz and Silesia, a populous and densely industrialised region that would contribute substantial manpower and taxes to the Prussian state. The small kingdom's unexpected victory over the Habsburg Monarchy set it apart from German rivals such as Bavaria and Saxony, marking the beginning of Prussia's rise toward the status of a European great power. The seizure of Silesia made Prussia and Austria into lasting and determined enemies, beginning the Austria–Prussia rivalry that would come to dominate German politics over the next century. Saxony, envious of Prussia's ascendancy and threatened by Prussian Silesia's geostrategic position, also turned its foreign policy firmly against Prussia.
First Silesian War | Prussia
The Silesians lived on the territory that became part of the Great Moravia in 875. Later, in 990, the first Polish state was created by Duke Mieszko I, and then expanded by king Boleslaw I at the beginning of the 11th century. He established the Bishopric of Wrocław in Lower Silesia in the year 1000. In the Middle Ages, Slavic tribal confederacies, and then Slavic states, dominated. Silesia was part of Great Moravia, then Kingdom of Bohemia and finally the Piast monarchy of Poland. The tribal differences started to disappear after the consolidation of Poland in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Silesians | Middle Ages
Whether or not the German-Polish invasion of Bohemia actually happened, the friendly relations between the Czechs and the Poles came to an end. Bohemia resumed its earlier alliance with the Lutici, which caused in 990 a war with Mieszko, who was supported by Empress Theophanu. Duke Boleslav II was probably the first one to attack. As a result of the conflict Silesia was taken over by Poland. However, the annexation of Silesia possibly took place around 985, because during this year the major Piast strongholds in Wrocław, Opole and Głogów were already being built. The issue of the incorporation of Lesser Poland is also not completely resolved.
Mieszko I | War against Bohemia; incorporation of Silesia and Lesser Poland
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it took on a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia as a consequence of the First and Second Silesian Wars. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as reacquiring Silesia. In 1754, escalating tensions between Great Britain and France in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Kunersdorf | Seven Years' War
By early November the Prussians were forced to retreat to Prague and the Elbe, and after some weeks of manoeuvre an Austrian–Saxon force crossed the Elbe on 19 November. At this point the Prussians abandoned Prague and gave up Bohemia, retreating in poor morale into Upper Silesia, which they defended through the winter against Austrian incursions.
Second Silesian War | Bohemian campaign of 1744
The only action the 'Inter-Allied Military Control Commission' and the French government made was demanding immediate prohibition of the recruiting of German volunteers from outside Upper Silesia, and this was promptly made public.
Silesian Uprisings | Third war (1921)
Another Austrian army invaded Silesia, making significant progress until it was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leuthen on 5December, after which the Prussians pursued the defeated Austrian army back to Bohemia and recovered control of nearly all of Silesia. Over the winter a combined Prussian-Hanoverian army launched a series of offensives that eventually drove the French out of Westphalia and across the Rhine, securing Prussia's western flank for the duration of the war. In mid-1758 Prussia invaded Moravia, besieging Olmütz in late May. The city was well defended, and by late June the Prussians' supplies were exhausted. Austrians intercepted and destroyed a major Prussian supply convoy on 30 June in the Battle of Domstadtl, and the invaders abandoned the siege, retreating into Upper Silesia.
Silesian Wars | Third Silesian War