Battle of Kolin
Frederick the Great lost his first battle at Kolin in June 1757 and had to abandon Bohemia. He had invaded that spring, beaten an Austrian army outside Prague in May at a cost of some 14,000 men including Marshal Schwerin, and settled down to besiege the city with an Austrian force bottled up inside it. Daun approached from the east with about 54,000 men to relieve it, and Frederick took roughly 34,000 to stop him. The plan was the oblique attack that had worked before: march across the Austrian front under cover of a ridge and strike the right flank with everything. It came apart in execution. The column was fired on from a village as it marched, a subordinate wheeled his brigade to deal with it and drew the whole line into a frontal engagement, and the attack went in piecemeal up a slope against artillery and Croatian light infantry in cover. Frederick fed in units as they arrived and lost about 14,000 men to Daun's 8,000. He is said to have shouted at his guards, asking whether they meant to live forever. The siege of Prague was raised and Prussia was out of Bohemia within weeks, with the French and Russians closing in. He wrote afterwards that he had attacked with too few men on ground of the enemy's choosing, which is an unusually plain admission from him. Rossbach and Leuthen followed within six months. The day is commemorated in the Austrian army as the founding of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, instituted by the empress for the victory. It was the first defeat Frederick had suffered in seventeen years of command.
- Year: 1757 CE
- Category: Military
