



Produced by D.R. Thompson





HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. OF PRUSSIA

FREDERICK THE GREAT

By Thomas Carlyle




BOOK XX.--FRIEDRICH IS NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED: THE SEVEN-YEARS WAR
GRADUALLY ENDS--25th April, 1760-15th February, 1763.




Chapter I.--FIFTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.

There were yet, to the world's surprise and regret, Three Campaigns
of this War; but the Campaign 1760, which we are now upon, was what
produced or rendered possible the other two;--was the crisis of them,
and is now the only one that can require much narrative from us here.
Ill-luck, which, Friedrich complains, had followed him like his shadow,
in a strange and fateful manner, from the day of Kunersdorf and earlier,
does not yet cease its sad company; but, on the contrary, for long
months to come, is more constant than ever, baffling every effort of
his own, and from the distance sending him news of mere disaster and
discomfiture. It is in this Campaign, though not till far on in it,
that the long lane does prove to have a turning, and the Fortune of War
recovers its old impartial form. After which, things visibly languish:
and the hope of ruining such a Friedrich becomes problematic, the effort
to do it slackens also; the very will abating, on the Austrian part,
year by year, as of course the strength of their resources is still
more steadily doing. To the last, Friedrich, the weaker in material
resources, needs all his talent,--all his luck too. But, as the
strength, on both sides, is fast abating,--hard to say on which side
faster (Friedrich's talent being always a FIXED quantity, while all
else is fluctuating and vanishing),--what remains of the once terrible
Affair, through Campaigns Sixth and Seventh, is like a race between
spent horses, little to be said of it in comparison. Campaign 1760
is the last of any outward eminence or greatness of event. Let us
diligently follow that, and be compendious with the remainder.

Friedrich was always famed for his Marches; but, this Year, they
exceeded all calculation and example; and are still the admiration of
military men. Can there by no method be some distant notion afforded
of them to the general reader? They were the one resource Friedrich had
left, against such overwhelming superiority in numbers; and they came
out like surprises in a theatre,--unpleasantly surprising to Daun.
Done with such dexterity, rapidity and inexhaustible contrivance and
ingenuity, as overset the schemes of his enemies again and again, and
made his one army equivalent in effect to their three.

Evening of April 25th, Friedrich rose from his Freyberg cantonments;
moved back, that is, northward, a good march; then encamped himself
between Elbe and the Hill-Country; with freer prospect and more
elbow-room for work coming. His left is on Meissen and the Elbe; his
right at a Village called the Katzenhauser, an uncommonly strong camp,
of which one often hears afterwards; his centre camp is at Schlettau,
which also is strong, though not to such a degree. This line extends
from Meissen southward about 10 miles, commanding the Reich-ward Passes
of the Metal Mountains, and is defensive of Leipzig, Torgau and the
Towns thereabouts. [Tempelhof, iv. 16 et seq.] Katzenhauser is but a
mile or two from Krogis--that unfortunate Village where Finck got his
Maxen Order: "ER WEISS,--You know I can't stand having difficulties
raised; manage to do it!"

Friedrich's task, this Year, is to defend Saxony; Prince Henri having
undertaken the Russians,--Prince Henri and Fouquet, the Russians and
Silesia. Clearly on very uphill terms, both of them: so that Friedrich
finds he will have a great many things to assist in, besides defending
Saxony. He lies here expectant till the middle of June, above seven
weeks; Daun also, for the last two weeks, having taken the field in a
sort. In a sort;--but comes no nearer; merely posting himself astride of
the Elbe, half in Dresden, half on the opposite or northern bank of the
River, with Lacy thrown out ahead in good force on that vacant side; and
so waiting the course of other people's enterprises.

Well to eastward and rearward of Daun, where we have seen Loudon about
to be very busy, Prince Henri and Fouquet have spun themselves out into
a long chain of posts, in length 300 miles or more, "from Landshut,
along the Bober, along the Queiss and Oder, through the Neumark,
abutting on Stettin and Colberg, to the Baltic Sea." [Tempelhof, iv.
21-24.] On that side, in aid of Loudon