Battle of Rossbach, 1757: Frederick the Great's ninety-minute victory

Few battles were decided so quickly or so completely. At Rossbach the French and Imperial commanders tried to march around Frederick the Great's flank, believed he was running away, and blundered into a cavalry charge and then a wall of Prussian musketry. The fighting lasted little more than an hour. In Paris the beaten French commander was mocked in song; for Frederick, Herodote.net notes, the way he turned a desperate situation around earned him the name Frederick the Great.²

A desperate autumn for Prussia

The Seven Years' War had turned against Prussia in 1757. Frederick was beaten by the Austrians at Kolin on 18 June and had to give up the siege of Prague. His enemies went over to the offensive: the Russians invaded East Prussia, and an army of French regiments and the Reichsarmee, the army of the Holy Roman Empire, moved into western Saxony. Herodote.net puts the allied force at 42,000 men against Frederick's 22,000.³ › Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, 1757

Frederick concentrated at Leipzig in late October, crossed the Saale and spent the first days of November maneuvering for position. When he rode out to look at the allies, BritishBattles.com says, he found about 41,000 men, though rumor made them 60,000. The Project Seven Years War gives the detail: 30,200 French and 10,900 Imperial troops, against some 16,600 Prussian infantry and 5,400 cavalry. The allied command was divided. Prince Soubise led the French, and Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen the Reichsarmee; it was Hildburghausen who pressed for an attack.⁴

The march around the flank

On the morning of 5 November the allied council of war adopted Hildburghausen's plan: march south and east around the Prussian camp and strike its left flank from the heights. Getting the army moving took hours. The Project Seven Years War describes Soubise insisting on a new order of battle and waiting for foragers to return, so the march began only around 11:30 in the morning. BritishBattles.com paints the columns as noisy and loose, with bands playing and the regiments spreading out the further they went.⁵

Frederick watched from the attic of a building in Rossbach, the inn or the manor house in different accounts. Just after 1 p.m. he saw the allied cavalry and infantry swinging around his left and grasped what they were doing. He ordered his army to march east at once and gave command of 38 squadrons of cavalry to Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, a major general, over the heads of more senior officers.⁶

The Prussians broke camp at about 2:30. Seydlitz's horsemen disappeared behind a low ridge, the Janus Hill, while the infantry followed. From the allied side it looked like a retreat toward Merseburg. Soubise and Hildburghausen ordered a fast pursuit, and their cavalry trotted ahead of the infantry columns.⁷

Seydlitz's charge

At about 3:15 p.m. a Prussian battery on the Janus Hill opened fire on the leading allied cavalry. On that signal Seydlitz led some 4,000 horsemen over the crest in two lines and fell on the front and right flank of the allied squadrons while they were still climbing toward him. Austrian cuirassiers and hussars tried to counterattack, and French squadrons came up behind them, but the Prussians wheeled and struck them in turn. By 4 p.m. the allied cavalry was in full flight, some of it riding through its own infantry. Seydlitz rallied his squadrons instead of chasing them off the field.⁸

The infantry collapse

Now the Prussian infantry came over the heights in echelon and swung into line, its left under Field Marshal Keith leading. The French and Imperial infantry were still in marching columns, a formation poorly suited for fighting. Artillery fire tore gaps in them, and the French attack columns pressed to within about 40 paces before Prussian volleys stopped them. In the words of the Project Seven Years War, a few salvoes were enough to rout them. As the allied infantry dissolved, Seydlitz charged again into its right flank.⁹

By 4:30 the battle was over. A Swiss brigade and some Imperial troops covered the retreat, and the light troops of Saint-Germain and Loudon, posted west of the field, helped shield the flight. Hildburghausen later wrote that he had never in his life seen such a rout and such panic. That evening Frederick found the castle where he meant to sleep full of wounded French officers.¹⁰

Counting the losses

The Prussian loss is well recorded: 7 officers and 162 men killed, 23 officers and 356 men wounded, 548 in all. Allied losses are much less certain. BritishBattles.com gives 6,600 French and 3,552 Reichsarmee troops killed, wounded and captured; Herodote.net rounds the total to 10,000 and says Soubise lost all his artillery. The Project Seven Years War, which cautions that exact figures are unknown, counts 72 guns, 21 standards and most of the French baggage taken.¹¹

After Rossbach

The French and Imperial armies soon left Saxony, and Frederick was free to turn east, where the Austrians had taken Breslau. A month later he beat them at Leuthen. Seydlitz received the Order of the Black Eagle and promotion to lieutenant general. In Paris, Herodote.net notes, the beaten commander was mocked in a popular song that showed Soubise searching for his lost army with a lantern. For Frederick, BritishBattles.com observes, Rossbach vindicated his army and his leadership after the disaster of Kolin. The next year the same Prussian army was caught by surprise at Hochkirch.¹²