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August 30, 1757-

The Prussians were defeated by a much more superior Russian army at Gross-Jagersdorf. The battle proved the Prussians cannot stand extended bayonet fighting. It was the bloodiest battle so far in the history of the 18th century.

August 31, 1757-

The Russians resume their advance on Konigsberg. In the meantime, King Frederick begins to pull back towards Prussian territory after Austrian reinforcements begin to close in.

September 3, 1757-

The Battle of Konigsberg is fought. The Prussians, pressured to attack by their commanders, leave the town to confront the Russians at around 1:00. The Russians rush the Prussian line at 1:30. Organized volleys of the vastly superior Prussian infantry bloody and slow the Russian charge, but do not stop it. The Russians paused, fired a scattered volley at around 1:45, and then continued their advance. The Prussian front line is mobbed as the soldiers desperately try to fight off the Russians. By 3:00, the thin blue line was breached, and the Prussians routed in chaos.

September 4, 1757-

The Russians enter into Konigsberg. King Frederick is furious, and leads a relief force from Drahim towards East Prussia. In the meantime, inspired by their ally’s victories, the Austrian army begins a lumbering advance into Silesia, and the French beat a forced march into Germany, under the command of Soubise.

September 6, 1757-

The Russians advance from Konigsberg towards King Frederick. In the meantime, the Austrian advance bloodily overruns the town of Oppein, but the Prussians retreat in good order after suffering light casualties.

September 8, 1757-

The Russians and King Frederick meet at just south of Gdansk. The Russians, who King Frederick thought were at Malbork, surprise the Prussian camp with an early morning assault. Russian artillery pummeled the army’s billets while infantry swarmed over the perimeter, trying to open a breach for Russian cavalry to enter the fight. King Frederick, still in his nightclothes, organizes a defense, but the Russian sappers cut a hole in the perimeter barricade just as his troops began a counterattack. Russian cavalry charged through the breach, entering the melee. The Prussians began to break and run. The King, hoping to save the situation, lead a desperate last stand with his grenadiers to help organize a retreat, but was cut down by a Russian saber. His grenadiers tried to recover the body, but failed. By 7:45, the camp was clean, but some 13,000 men were killed.




September 9, 1757-

News of the death of King Frederick spreads across the front. Prussian morale is at an all time low. Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz is placed in command of the remaining Prussian forces. Afraid that the Russians will overrun Brandenburg, he places the majority of the remnant on the Polish border. But the Russians were tired, bloodied, and running low on supplies. They were happy to remain just across the border from the Prussian army and lob cannonballs while gathering supplies and waiting for reinforcements. The lumbering Austrians fight a Prussian army of 14,000, simply using their vastly superior numbers to surround and methodically annihilating them. The Prussians surrender after taking heavy losses. The French are slowed by a British-Hanoverian force of 11,000, but, after defeating them in two days, they continue their advance, bloodied but not stopped.

September 11, 1757-

Seydlitz, faced with the encroaching threat from the West and South, is ordered to fight and win a tactical victory in the East against the Russians by King Frederick William. Calling on his troops to fight in memory of their king, they assault the Russian positions at 7:00 a.m. The Russians, who had taken the time to consolidate their position, fight off the Prussians with canister and musket volleys. Three times the Prussians tried to take the Russian positions- three times they were driven back down. Seydlitz, when asked by his adjutant whether he would try again, he shouted back “I will not rest until Prussian colors are planted over there!” The Russians, however, running low on ammunition, took the initiative and charged down the hill while the Prussians gathered to attack. The Prussians, unlike at Gdansk, pulled back to fight another day, as Seydlitz’s cavalry lead a rearguard effort. But, it is a Russian victory, and weakens the Prussian situation.

September 12, 1757-

The garrison at Breslau surrenders to the Austrians after a three day bombardment. Seydlitz pulls his troops back towards Berlin, leaving behind a screen of riflemen to keep the Russians occupied. The Russians, however, were having a grand old time eating the countryside out of house and home, and lobbing Prussian cannonballs fired at them during the Battle of the Hill at the riflemen. The French army hit into the West of Brandenburg, torching a few villages and killing their garrisons. The young King, Frederick William, under the influence of his father’s advisors, tells Seydlitz to gather an army to fight the Austrians. Seydlitz, though, knew the French were more of a threat, and refuses. He is imprisoned and will be court marshaled the next morning.

September 13, 1757-

As the French and Austrians close in on Berlin, the troops near the city launch a coup against the young king, who they claim is mad in the head for imprisoning the best general they have left. They kill Frederick William and anyone loyal to him after a hard-fought battle in the palace, and, in military manner, bayonets and swords dripping blood onto the ground, crown Seydlitz the new King of Prussia. He immediately marches with 20,000 men towards the French, leaving another 17,000 to defend Berlin and the surrounding countryside from the Austrians.




September 14, 1757-

Just east of Brandenburg, King Seydlitz and his men face off against the French at 6:45 a.m.. Using a screen of infantry as a diversion, he personally leads the cavalry around the French line and slams into the backs of the enemies left. The French left, taken by surprise, quickly routes, and Soubise pulls his troops back to Brandenburg, harried by cavalry all the way. Leaving 2,000 men and 15 guns to screen his moves, the moves quickly back towards Ludwigsfelde, where the Austrians have moved with uncharacteristic haste towards Berlin. Reaching the field hours before his army, King Seydlitz gathers militia and regular troops in the area and fights the Austrians to a standstill by sundown. Using a hard diagonal, like a bishop from chess, King Seydlitz leads his second cavalry charge of the day, crushing the Austrian center and forcing them to pull back towards Luckenwalde. It is the most amazing feat in the history of warfare, the Prussians cried- two victories at two different locations against two vastly superior armies in one day by the same man.

September 15, 1757-

But, the third enemy army, the Russians, finally got their reinforcements. The bear mobbed towards Berlin, swallowing the riflemen that Seydlitz had left behind as the Russian hordes burned and plundered the countryside. Seydlitz, realizing the conflict is lost, arranges a ceasefire with the Allied armies.

October 4, 1757-

The Treaty of Frankfurt on the Oder recognized the loss of Silesia to Austria and East Prussia to Russia. It also forced Prussia to pay reparations to all three powers, and recognized Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz as the King of Prussia. While victory celebrations were going on in Russia, Austria, and France, Great Britain sent a small peace delegation to Paris to tentatively arrange a cease fire and a peace.

October 19th, 1757-

The Treaty of Paris ended the American portion of King Fredericks War, as it began to be called. It was a status quo ante bellum, thus giving nothing on either side for the soldiers who were killed and the territory which was captured. It was a satisfactory ending, perhaps, for some. For others in Prussia, mostly discharged veterans, it was not good at all. Calling themselves the Brotherhood of Frederick, they began to secretly plot for the destruction of the Prussian monarchy and the rise of a new form of government.
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