commencement of the sixth campaign.—the fortified camp at bunzelwitz.—skillful engineering.—unintermitted toil of the soldiers.—retreat of the russians.—loss of schweidnitz.—peculiar treatment of general zastrow.—close of the sixth campaign.—the king at breslau.—desponding letter to d’argens.—death of elizabeth of russia.—accession of peter iii.—his marriage with the daughter of a prussian general.—takes the baptismal name of catharine.—assassination of peter iii.—curious proclamation by the empress.—commencement of the seventh campaign.—alliance of russia with prussia.—withdrawal from the alliance.—termination of the war.
the fifth campaign of the seven years’ war closed with the year 1760. by exertions such as mortal man perhaps never made before, frederick succeeded, during the winter, in raising an army of ninety-six thousand men. in the mean time the allies had concentrated in bohemia, to crush him, seventy-two thousand austrians and sixty thousand russians. the capture of four fortresses would drive frederick hopelessly out of silesia. early in may, frederick, leaving his brother henry with about forty thousand men to protect saxony, set out with fifty thousand for the relief of neisse, which was then besieged. general goltz, probably the most able of the prussian commanders, was detached to the fortified camp at glogau.
“but, alas! poor goltz, just when ready to march, was taken with sudden, violent fever, the fruit probably of overwork; and in that sad flame blazed away his valiant existence in three or four days; gone forever, june 30, 1761, to the regret of frederick and of many.”167
the russians were entering silesia from the northeast by the way of poland. frederick, by one of his incredibly rapid marches, for a time prevented the junction of the two hostile armies. after innumerable marchings and man?uvrings, during which frederick displayed military ability which commanded the admiration even of his foes, the prussian king found himself, on the 16th of august, at nicolstadt, in the very heart of silesia, at the head of fifty-seven thousand men. in front of him, obstructing his advance, there were sixty thousand russians. in523 his rear, cutting off his retreat, there were seventy-two thousand austrians. from a commanding eminence frederick could watch the movements of both of these hostile bands. both russians and austrians stood in such awe of the prowess of their redoubtable antagonist that they moved cautiously, like hounds surrounding the lion at bay.
at three o’clock in the morning of the 20th of august, and after the march of a few hours, the little army of frederick commenced constructing a fortified camp near the poor little village of bunzelwitz, about half way between the silesian fortresses of schweidnitz and striegau. spades were provided. fifty thousand men were instantly employed, according to a well-matured plan, in digging and trenching. the extraordinary energies of frederick seemed to nerve every arm. here there was speedily reared the camp of bunzelwitz, which has attained world-wide renown.
an ordinary eye would not have seen in the position any peculiar military strength. it was an undulating plain about eight miles long and broad, without any abrupt eminences. a small river bordered it on the west, beyond which rose green hills. on the east was the almost impregnable fortress of schweidnitz, with its abundant stores. farm-houses were scattered about, with occasional groves and morasses. there were also sundry villages in the distance.
frederick himself was chief engineer. the army was divided into two forces of twenty-five thousand each. carlyle gives a graphic description of this enterprise.
“and twenty-five thousand spades and picks are at work, under such a field engineer as there is not in the world when he takes to that employment. at all hours, night and day, twenty-five thousand of them: half the army asleep, other half digging, wheeling, shoveling; plying their utmost, and constant as time himself: these, in three days, will do a great deal of spadework. batteries, redoubts, big and little; spare not for digging. here is ground for cavalry, too. post them here, there, to bivouac in readiness, should our batteries be unfortunate. long trenches are there, and also short; batteries commanding every ingate, and under them are mines.”
many of the trenches were sixteen feet broad by sixteen feet524 deep. under each battery there were two mines. in case of capture, the mines and the victors could be blown high into the air. knowing that the batteries were all mined, the russian and austrian soldiers would be slow to make charges in which victory would be certain death. the small villages around were all strongly fortified.
“würben, in the centre, is like a citadel looking down upon striegau water. heavy cannon, plenty of them, we have brought from schweidnitz. we have four hundred and eighty cannon in all, and one hundred and eighty-two mines. würben, our citadel and centre, is about five miles from schweidnitz. before our lines are palisades and chevaux-de-frise. woods we have in abundance in our circuit, and axes for carpentries of that kind. there are four intrenched knolls; twenty-four big batteries capable of playing beautifully, all like pieces in a concert.”168
frederick had been three days and nights at work upon his fortress before the allies ventured forward to look into it. it was then a gibraltar. still for eight days more the spade was not intermitted. cogniazo, an austrian, writes: “it is a masterpiece of art, in which the principles of tactics are combined with those of field fortifications as never before.”
the austrians took position upon the south, at the distance of about six miles. the russians were at the same distance on the west, with their head-quarters at hohenfriedberg.
it would seem that frederick’s troops must have had iron sinews, and that they needed as little repose as did their master. those not at work with the spade were under arms to repel an assault. two or three times there was an alarm, when the whole fifty thousand, in an hour, were in battle-array. frederick was fully aware of the crisis he had encountered. to be beaten there was irretrievable ruin. no one in the army performed more exhausting labor than the king himself. he seemed to be omnipresent, by day and by night. near the chief battery, in a clump of trees, there was a small tent, and a bundle of straw in the corner. here the king occasionally sought a few moments of repose. but his nervous excitement rendered him so restless, that most of the time he was strolling about among the guard parties, and warming himself by their fires.
525
the king’s bivouac.
“one evening,” writes carlyle, “among the orders is heard this item: ‘and remember a lock of straw, will you, that i may not have to sleep upon the ground, as last night!’ many anecdotes are current to this day about his pleasant, homely ways, and affabilities with the sentry people, and the rugged hospitalities they would show him at their watch-fires. ‘good evening, children.’ ‘the same to thee, fritz.’ ‘what is that you are cooking?’—and would try a spoonful of it, in such company; while the rough fellows would forbid smoking. ‘don’t you know he dislikes it?’ ‘no! smoke away,’ the king would insist.”
general loudon was in command of the austrians, and general butturlin of the russians, who were arrayed against frederick. they could not agree upon a plan of attack. neither commander was willing to expose his troops to the brunt of a battle in which the carnage would necessarily be dreadful. thus the weeks wore away. frederick could not be safely attacked, and winter was approaching.
at ten o’clock at night on the 9th of september, the russian camp went up in flame. the next morning not a russian was526 to be seen. the whole army had disappeared over the hills far away to the north. frederick immediately dispatched eight thousand men under general platen to attack the flank of the retreating foe, and destroy his baggage-wagons. the feat was brilliantly accomplished. on the 15th of september, before the dawn of the morning, general platen fell upon the long train, took nearly two thousand prisoners, seven cannon, and destroyed five thousand heavily-laden wagons.
frederick remained at bunzelwitz a fortnight after the retreat of the russians. in the mean time the french and english were fighting each other with varying success upon the banks of the rhine. it is not necessary to enter into the details of their struggles. frederick’s magazines at schweidnitz were getting low. on the 26th of september he broke up his camp at bunzelwitz, and in a three days’ march to the southeast reached neisse. the austrians did not venture to annoy him. frederick had scarcely reached neisse when he learned, to his amazement and horror, that general loudon, with a panther-like spring, had captured schweidnitz, with its garrison and all its supplies. it was a terrible blow to the king. the austrians could now winter in silesia. the anguish of frederick must have been great. but he gave no utterance to his gloomy forebodings.
“the king,” writes küster, “fell ill of the gout, saw almost nobody, never came out. it was whispered that his inflexible heart was at last breaking. and for certain there never was in his camp and over his dominions such a gloom as in this october, 1761, till at length he appeared on horseback again, with a cheerful face; and every body thought to himself, ‘ha! the world will still roll on, then.’”
frederick’s treatment of the unfortunate general zastrow, who was in command at schweidnitz, was quite peculiar. very generously he wrote to him:
“my dear general von zastrow,—the misfortune which has befallen me is very grievous. but what consoles me in it is to see by your letter that you have behaved like a brave officer, and that neither you nor your garrison have brought disgrace or reproach upon yourselves. i am your well-affectioned king.
“frederick.
527 “p.s.—you may, in this occurrence, say what francis i., after the battle of pavia, wrote to his mother: ‘all is lost except honor.’ as i do not yet completely understand the affair, i forbear to judge of it, for it is altogether extraordinary.”
notwithstanding this letter, frederick refused to give general zastrow any further employment, but left him to neglect, obscurity, and poverty. zastrow wrote to the king imploring a court-martial. he received the following laconic reply:
“it is of no use. i impute nothing of crime to you. but after such a mishap it would be dangerous to trust you with any post or command.”
the freezing gales of winter soon came, when neither army could keep the open field. frederick established his winter quarters at breslau. general loudon, with his austrians, was about thirty miles southwest of him at kunzendorf. thus ended the sixth campaign.
the winter was long, cold, and dreary. fierce storms swept the fields, piling up the snow in enormous drifts. but for this cruel war, the prussian, russian, and austrian peasants, who had been dragged into the armies to slaughter each other, might have been in their humble but pleasant homes, by the bright fireside, in the enjoyment of all comforts.
“the snow lies ell-deep,” writes archenholtz; “snow-tempests, sleet, frost. the soldiers bread is a block of ice, impracticable to human teeth till you thaw it.”
it was on the 9th of december that the king, after incredible exposure to hunger, and cold, and night-marchings, established himself for the winter in the shattered apartments of his ruined palace at breslau. he tried to assume a cheerful aspect in public, but spent most of his hours alone, brooding over the ruin which now seemed inevitable. he withdrew from all society, scarcely spoke to any body except upon business. one day general lentulus dined with him, and not one word was spoken at the table. on the 18th of january, 1762, the king wrote in the following desponding tones to d’argens:
“the school of patience i am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, nay, barbarous. i have not been able to escape my lot. all that human foresight could suggest has been employed, and528 nothing has succeeded. if fortune continues to pursue me, doubtless i shall sink. it is only she that can extricate me from the situation i am in. i escape out of it by looking at the universe on the great scale, like an observer from some distant planet. all then seems to me so infinitely small; and i could almost pity my enemies for giving themselves such trouble about so very little.
“what would become of us without philosophy, without this reasonable contempt of things frivolous, transient, and fugitive, about which the greedy and ambitious make such a pother, fancying them to be solid! this is to become wise by stripes, you will tell me. well, if one do become wise, what matters it how? i read a great deal. i devour my books, and that brings me useful alleviation. but for my books, i think hypochondria would have had me in bedlam before now. in fine, dear marquis, we live in troublous times and in desperate situations. i have all the properties of a stage hero—always in danger, always on the point of perishing. one must hope that the conclusion will come, and if the end of the piece be lucky, we will forget the rest.”169
“the darkest hour is often nearest the dawn.” the next day after frederick had written the above letter he received news of the death of his most inveterate enemy, elizabeth, the empress of russia. as we have mentioned, she was intensely exasperated against him in consequence of some sarcasms in which he had indulged in reference to her private life. elizabeth was the daughter of peter the great, and had inherited many of her father’s imperial traits of character. she was a very formidable foe.
“russia may be counted as the bigger half of all he had to strive with; the bigger, or at least the far uglier, more ruinous, and incendiary; and, if this were at once taken away, think what a daybreak when the night was at the blackest.”170
the nephew of elizabeth, and her successor, peter iii., was a very warm admirer of frederick. one of his first acts was to send to the prussian king the assurance of his esteem and friendship. peter immediately released all the prussian prisoners in his dominions, entered into an armistice with frederick, which529 was soon followed by a treaty of alliance. the two sovereigns commenced a very friendly correspondence. frederick returned all the russian prisoners, well clothed and fed, to their homes. the change was almost as sudden and striking as the transformations in the kaleidoscope. on the 23d peter issued a decree that there was peace with prussia, that he had surrendered to his prussian majesty all the territorial conquests thus far made, and had recalled the russian armies.
peter iii. had been left an orphan, and titular duke of schleswig-holstein, when eleven years of age. his mother was a daughter of peter the great. his aunt, the czarina elizabeth, who had determined not to marry, adopted the child, and pronounced him to be her heir to the throne. being at that time on friendly terms with frederick, the empress elizabeth had consulted him in reference to a wife for the future czar. it will be remembered that the king effected a marriage between peter and sophia, the beautiful daughter of a prussian general, prince of anhalt-zerbst, and at that time commandant of stettin. his wife was sister to the heir-apparent of sweden. carlyle, speaking of this couple, says:
“they have a daughter, sophie-frederike, now near fifteen, and very forward for her age; comely to look upon, wise to listen to. ‘is not she the suitable one?’ thinks frederick in regard to this matter. ‘pier kindred is of the oldest—old as albert the bear. she has been frugally brought up, spartan-like, though as a princess by birth. let her cease skipping ropes on the ramparts yonder with her young stettin playmates, and prepare for being a czarina of the russias,’ thinks he. and communicates his mind to the czarina, who answers, ‘excellent! how did i never think of that myself!’”
this was in january, 1744. the young lady, with her mother, by express invitation, and with this object in view, visited the russian court. sophia embraced the greek religion, received in baptism the new name of catharine, and on the 1st of september, 1745, was married to her second cousin peter. “and with invocation of the russian heaven and russian earth they were declared to be one flesh, though at last they turned out to be two fleshes, as my reader well knows.”171
530
the empress catharine.
about a year before this, on the 17th of july, 1744, frederick’s sister ulrique had been married to adolf frederick, the heir-apparent to the throne of sweden. eighteen years of this weary world’s history, with its wars and its woes, had since passed away. on the 5th of april, 1751, the old king of sweden died. thus adolf became king, and frederick’s sister ulrique queen of sweden. and now, on the 5th of january, 1762, the empress of russia died, and peter iii., with his wife catharine, ascended the throne of that majestic empire.
the withdrawal of russia from the alliance against frederick, though hailed by him with great joy, still left him, with wasted armies and exhausted finances, to struggle single-handed against austria and france united, each of which kingdoms was far more powerful than prussia. the winter passed rapidly away without any marked events, each party preparing for the opening of the campaign in the ensuing spring. on the 8th of june, 1762, frederick wrote to d’argens:
“in fine, my dear marquis, the job ahead of me is hard and difficult, and nobody can say positively how it will all go. pray for us; and don’t forget a poor devil who kicks about strangely in his harness, who leads the life of one damned.”
peter iii. was a drunken, brutal, half-crazed debauchee. catharine was a beautiful, graceful, intellectual, and dissolute woman. they hated each other. they did not even pretend to be faithful to each other. catharine formed a successful conspiracy, dethroned her husband, and was proclaimed by the army sole empress. after a series of the wildest scenes of intrigue, corruption, and crime, the imbecile peter iii., who had fled to the remote palace of ropscha, was murdered, being first compelled to drink of poison, and then, while writhing in pain, he was strangled with a napkin. whether catharine were a party to this531 assassination is a question which can now probably never be decided. it is certain that she must have rejoiced over the event, and that she richly rewarded the murderers.
assassination of peter iii.
in the following curious proclamation, the empress catharine ii. announced to her subjects the death of her husband:
“the seventh day after our accession to the throne of all the russias we received information that the late emperor, peter iii., was attacked with a violent colic. that we might not be wanting in christian duty, or disobedient to the divine command by which we are enjoined to preserve the life of our neighbor, we immediately ordered that the said peter should be furnished with every thing that might be judged necessary to restore his health by the aids of medicine. but, to our great regret and affliction, we were yesterday evening apprized that, by permission of the almighty, the late emperor departed this life.”
the seventh campaign of the seven years’ war commenced on the 1st of july, 1762. peter iii. had sent an army of twenty thousand men to the support of frederick. aided by these troops, united with his own army, frederick had emerged from532 his winter quarters, and was just about to attack the austrian army, which was intrenched upon the heights of burkersdorf, a little south of schweidnitz, which fortress the austrians then held. the evening before the contemplated attack the russian general czernichef entered the tent of frederick with the following appalling tidings:
“there has been a revolution in st. petersburg. the czar peter iii., your majesty’s devoted friend, has been deposed, and probably assassinated. the czarina catharine, influenced by the enemies of your majesty, and unwilling to become embroiled in a conflict with austria and france, has ordered me to return instantly homeward with the twenty thousand troops under my command.”
for a moment the king was quite stunned by the blow. the withdrawal of these troops would expose him to be speedily overwhelmed by the austrians. by earnest entreaty, frederick persuaded czernichef to remain with him three days longer. “i will require of you no service whatever. the austrians know nothing of this change. they will think that you are still my ally. your presence simply will thus aid me greatly in the battle.”
general czernichef, though at the risk of his head from the displeasure of catharine, generously consented so far to disobey the orders of his empress. the next day, july 2, 1762, frederick, with his remaining troops, attacked the foe, under general daun, at burkersdorf. from four o’clock in the morning until five in the afternoon the antagonistic hosts hurled themselves against each other. frederick was the victor. “on fall of night, daun, every body having had his orders, and been making his preparations for six hours past, ebbed totally away, in perfect order, bag and baggage; well away to southward, and left frederick quit of him.”172
early the next morning, czernichef, greatly admiring the exploit frederick had performed, commenced his march home. just before this there was a change in the british ministry, and the new cabinet clamored for peace. england entered into a treaty with france, and retired from the conflict. frederick, vehemently upbraiding the english with treachery—the same kind533 of treachery of which he had repeatedly been guilty—marched upon schweidnitz. after a vigorous siege of two months he captured the place.
nearly all of silesia was again in the hands of frederick. he seems to have paid no regard to the ordinary principles of honor in the accomplishment of his plans. indeed, he seems to have had no delicate perceptions of right and wrong, no instinctive appreciation of what was honorable or dishonorable in human conduct. he coined adulterated money, which he compelled the people to take, but which he refused to receive in taxes. in his military instructions, drawn up by his own hand, he writes:
“when you find it very necessary, yet very difficult, to gain any intelligence of the enemy, there is another expedient, though a cruel one. you take a rich burgher, possessed of rich lands, a wife, and children. you oblige him to go to the enemy’s camp, as if to complain of hard treatment, and to take along with him, as his servant, a spy who speaks the language of the country; assuring him at the same time that, in case he does not bring the spy back with him, after having remained a sufficient time in the enemy’s camp, you will set fire to his house, and massacre his wife and children. i was forced to have recourse to this cruel expedient. it answered my purpose.”173
a man’s moral nature must be indeed obtuse who could thus recommend the compulsion of a peaceable citizen to act the part of a traitor to his own country, under the alternative of having his house fired and his wife and children massacred.
winter was now approaching. the austrians in saxony made a desperate attack upon prince henry, and were routed with much loss. the shattered austrian army retired to bohemia for winter quarters. under the circumstances, it was a victory of immense importance to frederick. upon receiving the glad tidings, he wrote to henry:
“your letter, my dear brother, has made me twenty years younger. yesterday i was sixty, to-day hardly eighteen. i bless heaven for preserving your health, and that things have passed so happily. it is a service so important rendered by you to the state that i can not enough express my gratitude, and will wait to do it in person.”
534 on the 24th of november the belligerents entered into an armistice until the 1st of march. all were exhausted. it was manifest that peace would soon be declared. commissioners to arrange the terms of peace met at the castle of hubertsburg, near dresden. on the 15th of february, 1763, peace was concluded. frederick retained silesia. that was the result of the war.
according to frederick’s computation, he had succeeded in wresting this province from maria theresa at an expense of eight hundred and fifty-three thousand lives, actual fighters, who had perished upon the field of battle. of these, one hundred and eighty thousand were prussians. of the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who, in consequence of the war, had perished of exposure, famine, and pestilence, no note is taken. the population of prussia had diminished, during the seven years, five hundred thousand.
the day in which the treaty was signed frederick wrote to the marquis d’argens as follows: “the best thing i have now to tell you of, my dear marquis, is the peace. and it is right that the good citizens and the public should rejoice at it. for me, poor old man that i am, i return to a town where i know nothing but the walls, where i find no longer any of my friends, where great and laborious duties await me, and where i shall soon lay my old bones in an asylum which can neither be troubled by war, by calamities, nor by the wickedness of men.”
archenholtz, who was an eye-witness of the miseries which he describes, gives the following account of the state of germany at the close of the conflict:
“whole provinces had been laid waste. even in those which had not been thus destroyed, internal commerce and industry were almost at an end. a great part of pomerania and brandenburg was changed into a desert. there were provinces where hardly any men were to be found, and where the women were therefore obliged to guide the plow. in others women were as much wanting as men. the most fertile plains of germany, on the banks of the oder and the wesel, presented only the arid and sterile appearance of a desert. an officer has stated that he had passed through seven villages without meeting a single person excepting a curate.”174
on the 15th of march, 1763, frederick left leipsic, and on the 30th entered his capital of berlin, from which he had been absent six years. it was nine o’clock in the evening when his carriage drove through the dark and silent streets to his palace. his arrival at that hour had not been anticipated. it is said that he repaired immediately to the queen’s apartment, where he met the several members of the royal family. as soon as it was known that the king had arrived, berlin blazed with illuminations and rang with rejoicings.
