Frederick concentrated his army at Konopischt, very near Beneschau. He could bring into the field sixty thousand men. Prince Charles was at the head of seventy thousand. In vain336 the Prussian king strove to bring his foes5 to a pitched battle. Adroitly6 Prince Charles avoided any decisive engagement. Frederick was fifty miles from Prague. The roads were quagmires7. November gales8 swept his camp. A foe4, superior in numbers, equal in bravery, surrounded him on all sides. The hostile army was led by a general whose greater military ability Frederick acknowledged.
A council of war was held. It was decided9 to commence an immediate10 and rapid retreat to Silesia. Prague, with its garrison11 of five thousand men, and its siege artillery12, was to be abandoned to its fate. Word was sent to General Einsiedel to spike13 his guns, blow up his bastions, throw his ammunition14 into the river, and to escape, if possible, down the valley of the Moldau, to Leitmeritz.
Frederick divided his retreating army into two columns. One, led by the young Leopold, was to retire through Glatz. The other, led by Frederick, traversed a road a few leagues to the west, passing through K?niggratz. It was an awful retreat for both these divisions—through snow, and sleet15, and mud, hungry, weary, freezing, with swarms16 of Pandours hanging upon their rear. Thousands perished by the way. The horrors of such a retreat no pen can describe. Their very guides deserted17 them, and became spies, to report their movements to the foe.
On one occasion the king himself narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. One of his officers, General Trenck, gives the following graphic18 narrative19 of the incident:
“One day the king entered the town of Collin, with his horse and foot guard and the whole of the baggage. We had but four small field-pieces with us. The squadron to which I belonged was placed in the suburb. In the evening our advanced posts were driven back into the town, and the huzzas of the enemy followed them pell-mell. All the country around was covered with the light troops of the Austrians. My commandant sent me to the king to take his orders.
“After a long search, I at length found him in a tower of a church, with a telescope in his hand. Never had I seen him in so much perplexity and anxiety as at this moment. The order he gave me was, ‘You must get out of this scrape as well as you can.’ I had hardly got back to my post when his adjutant337 followed me with a new order to cross the town, and to remain on horseback with my squadron in the opposite suburb.
THE KING IN THE TOWER AT COLLIN.
“We had just arrived there when it began to rain heavily, and the night became exceedingly dark. About nine o’clock one of the Austrian generals approached us with his light troops, and set fire to the houses close to which we were posted. By the blaze of the conflagration21 he soon discovered us, and began firing at us from the windows. The town was so full that it was impossible for us to find a place in it. Besides, the gate was barricaded22, and from the top they were firing at us with our small field-pieces, which they had captured.
“In the mean time the Austrians had turned in upon us a rivulet23, and by midnight we found our horses in the water up to their bellies24. We were really incapable25 of defending ourselves.”
338 Just at that time, when all hope seemed lost, it so happened that a cannon26-ball crushed the foot of the Austrian commander. This disaster, together with the darkness and the torrents27 of rain, caused the fire of the enemy to cease. The next morning some Prussian re-enforcements came to the rescue of the king, and he escaped.
It was on the night of the 25th of November, cold and dreary28, that General Einsiedel commenced his retreat from Prague. He pushed his wagon29 trains out before him, and followed with his horse and foot. The Austrians were on the alert. Their light horsemen came clattering30 into the city ere the rear-guard had left. The Catholic populace of the city, being in sympathy with the Austrians, immediately joined the Pandours in a fierce attack upon the Prussians. The retreating columns were torn by a terrific fire from the windows of the houses, from bridges, from boats, from every point whence a bullet could reach them. But the well-drilled Prussians met the shock with the stern composure of machines, leaving their path strewn with the dying and the dead.
The heroic General Einsiedel struggled along through the snow and over the pathless hills, pursued and pelted31 every hour by the indomitable foe. He was often compelled to abandon baggage-wagons and ambulances containing the sick, while the wounded and the exhausted32 sank freezing by the way. At one time he was so crowded by the enemy that he was compelled to continue his march through the long hours of a wintry night, by the light of pitch-pine torches. After this awful retreat of twenty days, an emaciate33, ragged34, frostbitten band crossed the frontier into Silesia, near Friedland. They were soon united with the other columns of the discomfited35 and almost ruined army.
It will generally be admitted by military men that Frederick did not display much ability of generalship in this campaign. He was fearless, indomitable in energy, and tireless in the endurance of fatigue36, but in generalship he was entirely37 eclipsed by his formidable rival. Indeed, Frederick could not be blind to this, and he had sufficient candor38 to confess it. Subsequently, giving an account of these transactions in his “Works,” he writes:
339 “No general has committed more faults than did the king in this campaign. The conduct of Marshal Traun is a model of perfection, which every soldier who loves his business ought to study, and try to imitate if he have the talent. The king has admitted that he himself regarded this campaign as his school in the art of war, and Marshal Traun as his teacher.”
He then adds the philosophical39 reflection: “Bad is often better for princes than good. Instead of intoxicating40 them with presumption41, it renders them circumspect42 and modest.”76
Frederick, leaving his army safe for a short time, quartered, as he supposed, for the winter, in his strong fortresses43 of Silesia, returned hastily to Berlin. It was necessary for him to make immediate preparation for another campaign. “From December 13, 1744,” writes Carlyle, “when he hastened home to Berlin, under such aspects, to June 4, 1745, when aspects suddenly changed, are probably the worst six months Frederick had yet had in the world.”77
His wintry ride, a defeated monarch44 leaving a shattered army behind him, must have been dark and dreary. He had already exhausted nearly all the resources which his father, Frederick William, had accumulated. His army was demoralized, weakened, and his materiel of war greatly impaired45. His subjects were already heavily taxed. Though practicing the most rigid46 economy, with his eye upon every expenditure47, his disastrous48 Bohemian campaign had cost him three hundred and fifty thousand dollars a month. The least sum with which he could commence a new campaign for the protection of Silesia was four million five hundred thousand dollars. He had already melted up the sumptuous49 plate, and the massive silver balustrades and balconies where his father had deposited so much solid treasure.
“It was in these hours of apparently50 insurmountable difficulty that the marvelous administrative genius of Frederick was displayed. No modern reader can imagine the difficulties of Frederick at this time as they already lay disclosed, and kept gradually disclosing themselves, for months coming; nor will ever know what perspicacity51, what patience of scanning, sharpness of340 discernment, dexterity52 of management, were required at Frederick’s hands; and under what imminency of peril too—victorious deliverance or ruin and annihilation, wavering fearfully in the balance, for him more than once, or rather all along.”78
To add to the embarrassments53 of Frederick, the King of Poland, entirely under the control of his minister Brühl, who hated Frederick, entered into an alliance with Maria Theresa, and engaged to furnish her with thirty thousand troops, who were to be supported by the sea powers England and Holland, who were also in close alliance with Austria.
Maria Theresa, greatly elated by her success in driving the Prussians out of Bohemia, resolved immediately, notwithstanding the severity of the season, to push her armies through the “Giant Mountains” for the reconquering of Silesia. She ordered her generals to press on with the utmost energy and overrun the whole country. At the same time she issued a manifesto54, declaring that the treaty of Breslau was a treaty no longer; that the Silesians were absolved55 from all oaths of allegiance to the King of Prussia, and that they were to hold themselves in readiness to take the oath anew to the Queen of Hungary.
On the 18th of December a strong Austrian army entered Silesia and took possession of the country of Glatz. The Prussian troops were withdrawn56 in good order to their strong fortresses on the Oder. The old Prince Leopold, the cast-iron man, called the Old Dessauer, the most inflexible57 of mortals, was left in command of the Prussian troops. He was, however, quite seriously alienated58 from Frederick. A veteran soldier, having spent his lifetime on fields of blood, and having served the monarchs59 of Prussia when Frederick was but a child, and who had been the military instructor60 of the young prince, he deemed himself entitled to consideration which an inexperienced officer might not command. In one of the marches to which we have referred, Leopold ventured to take a route different from that which Frederick had prescribed to him. In the following terms the Prussian king reprimanded him for his disobedience:
“I am greatly surprised that your excellency does not more accurately61 follow my orders. If you were more skillful than C?sar, and did not with strict fidelity62 obey my directions, all341 else were of no help to me. I hope this notice, once for all, will be enough, and that in future you will give no cause for complaint.”
Prince Leopold was keenly wounded by this reproof63. Though he uttered not a word in self-defense, he was ever after, in the presence of his majesty64, very silent, distant, and reserved. Though scrupulously65 faithful in every duty, he compelled the king to feel that an impassable wall of separation had risen up between them. He was seeking for an honorable pretext66 to withdraw from his majesty’s service.
Frederick had hardly reached Berlin ere he was astonished to learn, from dispatches from the Old Dessauer, that the Austrians, not content with driving him out of Bohemia, had actually invaded Silesia. Amazed, or affecting amazement67, at such audacity68, he sent reiterated69 and impatient orders to his veteran general to fall immediately upon the insolent70 foe and crush him.
“Hurl them out,” he wrote. “Gather twenty, thirty thousand men, if need be. Let there be no delay. I will as soon be pitched out of Brandenburg as out of Silesia.”
But it was much easier for Frederick to issue these orders than for Leopold to execute them. As Leopold could not, in a day, gather sufficient force to warrant an attack upon the Austrians, the king was greatly irritated, and allowed himself to write to Leopold in a strain of which he must afterward71 have been much ashamed. On the 19th he addressed a note to the veteran officer couched in the following terms:
“On the 21st I leave Berlin, and mean to be at Neisse on the 24th at least. Your excellency will, in the mean time, make out the order of battle for the regiments72 which have come in. For I will, on the 25th, without delay, cross the Neisse, and attack those people, cost what it may, and chase them out of Silesia, and follow them as far as possible. You will, therefore, take measure and provide every thing, that the project may be executed the moment I arrive.”
In this fiery74 humor, the king leaped upon his horse and galloped75 to Schweidnitz. Here he met the Old Dessauer. He must have been not a little mortified76 to learn that his veteran general was right, and he utterly77 in the wrong. Prince Charles had returned home. Marshal Traun was in command of the Austrians.342 He had a compact army of 20,000 men, flushed with victory and surrounded by countless78 thousands of Pandours, who veiled every movement from view. He had established himself in an impregnable position on the south side of the Neisse, where he could not be assailed79, with any prospect80 of success, by the force which Leopold could then summon to his aid.
Frederick was silenced, humiliated81. He returned to Berlin, having accomplished82 nothing, and having lost four days in his fruitless adventure. Leopold was left to accumulate his resources as rapidly as he could, and to attack the Austrians at his discretion83.
Prince Charles had married the only sister of Maria Theresa. She was young, beautiful, and amiable84. While the prince was conducting his arduous85 campaign on the Moldau, his wife, grief-stricken, consigned86 her new-born babe to the tomb. The little stranger, born in the absence of his father, had but opened his eyes upon this sad world when he closed them forever. The princess sank rapidly into a decline.
Charles, feeling keenly the bereavement87, and alarmed for the health of his wife, whom he loved most tenderly, hastened to his home in Brussels. The prince and princess were vice-regents, or “joint governors” of the Netherlands. The decline of the princess was very rapid. On the 16th of December, the young prince, with flooded eyes, a broken-hearted man, followed the remains88 of his beloved companion to their burial. Charles never recovered from the blow. He had been the happiest of husbands. He sank into a state of deep despondency, and could never be induced to wed20 again. Though in April he resumed, for a time, the command of the army, his energies were wilted89, his spirit saddened, and he soon passed into oblivion. This is but one among the countless millions of the unwritten tragedies of human life.
On the 9th of January, Leopold, having gathered a well-furnished army of 25,000 men, crossed the Neisse to attack Marshal Traun. The marshal did not deem it prudent90 to hazard a battle. Large bodies of troops were soon to be sent to re-enforce him. He therefore retired91 by night toward the south, breaking the bridges behind him. Though Silesia was thus delivered from the main body of the Austrian army, the fleet-footed Pandours343 remained, scouring92 the country on their shaggy horses, plundering93 and destroying. The energetic, tireless Old Dessauer could seldom get a shot at them. But they harassed94 his army, keeping the troops constantly on the march amidst the storms and the freezing cold.
“The old serene95 highness himself, face the color of gunpowder96, and bluer in the winter frost, went rushing far and wide in an open vehicle which he called his ‘cart,’ pushing out his detachments; supervising every thing; wheeling hither and thither97 as needful; sweeping98 out the Pandour world, and keeping it out; not much fighting needed, but ‘a great deal of marching,’ murmurs99 Frederick, ‘which in winter is as bad, and wears down the force of battalions100.’”79
PRINCE LEOPOLD INSPECTING THE ARMY IN HIS “CART.”
We seldom hear from Frederick any recognition of God. But on this occasion, perhaps out of regard to the feelings of his subjects, he ordered the Te Deum to be sung in the churches of Berlin “for the deliverance of Silesia from invasion.”
On the 20th of January, 1745, Charles Albert, the unhappy344 and ever-unfortunate Emperor of Germany, died at Munich, in the forty-eighth year of his age. Tortured by a complication of the most painful disorders101, he had seldom, for weary years, enjoyed an hour of freedom from acute pain. An incessant102 series of disasters crushed all his hopes. He was inextricably involved in debt. Triumphant103 foes drove him from his realms. He wandered a fugitive104 in foreign courts, exposed to humiliation and the most cutting indignities105. Thus the victim of bodily and mental anguish106, it is said that one day some new tidings of disaster prostrated107 him upon the bed of death. He was patient and mild, but the saddest of mortals. Gladly he sought refuge in the tomb from the storms of his drear and joyless life. An eye-witness writes, “Charles Albert’s pious108 and affectionate demeanor109 drew tears from all eyes. The manner in which he took leave of his empress would have melted a heart of stone.”
“The death of the emperor,” says Frederick, “was the only event wanting to complete the confusion and embroilment110 which already existed in the political relations of the European powers.”
Maximilian Joseph, son of the emperor, was at the time of his father’s death but seventeen years of age. He was titular111 Elector of Bavaria; but Austrian armies had overrun the electorate112, and he was a fugitive from his dominions113. At the entreaty114 of his mother, he entered into a treaty of alliance with the Queen of Hungary. She agreed to restore to him his realms, and to recognize his mother as empress dowager. He, on the other hand, agreed to support the Pragmatic Sanction, and to give his vote for the Grand-duke Francis as Emperor of Germany.
Thus Bavaria turned against Frederick. It was manifest to all that Maria Theresa, aided by the alliances into which she had entered, and sustained by the gold which the English cabinet so generously lavished115 upon her, would be able to place the imperial crown upon her husband’s brow. It was equally evident that the sceptre of power, of which that crown was the emblem116, would be entirely in her own hands.
Frederick had now France only for an ally. But France was seeking her own private interests on the Rhine, as Frederick was aiming at the aggrandizement117 of Prussia on his Austrian frontiers. Neither party was disposed to make any sacrifice for the benefit of the other. Frederick, thus thrown mainly upon his345 own resources, with an impoverished118 treasury119, and a weakened and baffled army, made indirect application to both England and Austria for peace. But both of these courts, flushed with success, were indisposed to listen to any terms which Frederick would propose.
There was nothing left for his Prussian majesty but to abandon Silesia, and retire within his own original borders, defeated and humiliated, the object of the contempt and ridicule120 of Europe, or to press forward in the conflict, summoning to his aid all the energies of despair.
Old Prince Leopold of Dessau, whom he had left in command of the army in Silesia, was one of the most extraordinary men of any age. He invented the iron ramrod, and also all modern military tactics. “The soldiery of every civilized121 country still receives from this man, on the parade-fields and battle-fields, its word of command. Out of his rough head proceeded the essential of all that the innumerable drill-sergeants in various languages repeat and enforce.”80
Dessau was a little independent principality embracing a few square miles, about eighty miles southwest of Prussia. The prince had a Liliputian army, and a revenue of about fifty thousand dollars. Leopold’s mother was the sister of the great Elector of Brandenburg’s first wife. The little principality was thus, by matrimonial alliance as well as location, in affinity122 with Prussia.
Leopold, in early youth, fell deeply in love with a beautiful young lady, Mademoiselle Fos. She was the daughter of an apothecary123. His aristocratic friends were shocked at the idea of so unequal a marriage. The sturdy will of Leopold was unyielding. They sent him away, under a French tutor, to take the grand tour of Europe. After an absence of fourteen months he returned. The first thing he did was to call upon Mademoiselle Fos. After that, he called upon his widowed mother. It was in vain to resist the will of such a man. In 1698 he married her, and soon, by his splendid military services, so ennobled his bride that all were ready to do her homage124. For half a century she was his loved and honored spouse125, attending him in all his campaigns.
346 With a tender heart, Leopold was one of the most stern and rugged126 of men. Spending his whole life amidst the storms of battle, he seemed ever insensible to fatigue, and regardless of all physical comforts. And yet there was a vein127 of truly feminine gentleness and tenderness in his heart, which made him one of the most loving of husbands and fathers.
His young daughter Louisa, bride of Victor Leopold, reigning128 Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, lay dying of a decline. A few days before her death she said, “I wish I could see my father at the head of his regiment73 once again before I die.” The remark was reported to Leopold. He was then with his regiment at Halle, thirty miles distant. Immediately the troops were called out, and marched at rapid pace to Bernburg. With banners flying, music playing, and all customary display of military pomp, they entered the court-yard of the palace. The dying daughter, pale and emaciate, sat at the window. The war-worn father rose in his stirrups to salute129 his child, and then put his regiment through all its most interesting man?uvrings. The soldiers were then marched to the orphan-house, where the common men were treated with bread and beer, all the officers dining at the prince’s table. “All the officers except Leopold alone, who stole away out of the crowd, sat himself upon the Saale bridge, and wept into the river.”
Leopold was now seventy years of age. On the 5th of February his much-loved wife died at Dessau. Leopold, infirm in health, and broken with grief, entreated130 the king to allow him to go home. He could not, of course, be immediately spared.
On the 15th of March Frederick left Berlin for Silesia. Stopping to examine some of his works at Glogau and Breslau, he reached Neisse on the 23d. On the 29th he dismissed the Old Dessauer, with many expressions of kindness and sympathy, to go home to recover his health.
“Old Leopold is hardly at home at Dessau,” writes Carlyle, “when the new Pandour tempests, tides of ravaging131 war, again come beating against the Giant Mountains, pouring through all passes, huge influx132 of wild riding hordes133, each with some support of Austrian grenadiers, cannoniers, threatening to submerge Silesia. Precursors134, Frederick need not doubt, of a strenuous135, regular attempt that way. Hungarian majesty’s fixed136 intention,347 hope, and determination is to expel him straightway from Silesia.”81
The latter part of April Prince Charles had gathered a large force of Austrian regulars at Olmütz, with the manifest intention of again invading Silesia. The King of Poland had entered into cordial alliance with Austria, and was sending a large army of Saxon troops to co-operate in the enterprise. Frederick’s indignation was great, and his peril still greater. Encamped in the valley of the Neisse, assailed on every side, and menaced with still more formidable foes, he dispatched orders to the Old Dessauer immediately to establish an army of observation (thirty thousand strong) upon the frontiers of Saxony. He was to be prepared instantly, upon the Saxon troops leaving Saxony, to ravage137 the country with the most merciless plunderings of war.
The Queen of Hungary had purchased the co-operation of the Polish king by offering to surrender to him a generous portion of Silesia after the province should have been reconquered. Indeed, there was a great cause of apprehension138 that the allied139 army would make a rush upon Berlin itself. The aspect of his Prussian majesty’s affairs was now gloomy in the extreme.
Frederick wrote to his minister Podewils in Berlin, under date of Neisse, March 29, 1745, as follows: “We find ourselves in a great crisis. If we don’t by mediation140 of England get peace, our enemies from different sides will come plunging141 in against me. Peace I can not force them to. But if we must have war, we will either beat them, or none of us will ever see Berlin again.”
On the 17th of April again he wrote, still from Neisse: “I toil142 day and night to improve our situation. The soldiers will do their duty. There is none among us who will not rather have his back-bone broken than give up one foot-breadth of ground. They must either grant us a good peace, or we will surpass ourselves by miracles of daring, and force the enemy to accept it from us.”
On the 20th of April he wrote: “Our situation is disagreeable, but my determination is taken. If we needs must fight, we will do it like men driven desperate. Never was there a greater peril than that I am now in. Time, at its own pleasure, will untie143 this knot, or destiny, if there is one, determine the event. The348 game I play is so high, one can not contemplate144 the issue with cold blood. Pray for the return of my good luck.”
The alarm in Berlin was very great. The citizens were awake to the consciousness that there was danger; that the city itself would be assaulted. Great was the consternation145 in the capital when minute directions came from Frederick respecting the course to be pursued in the event of such a calamity146, and the places of refuge to which the royal family should retreat.
On the 26th of April Frederick again wrote to M. Podewils: “I can understand how you are getting uneasy at Berlin. I have the most to lose of you all, but I am quiet and prepared for events. If the Saxons take part in the invasion of Silesia, and we beat them, I am determined147 to plunge148 into Saxony. For great maladies there need great remedies. Either I will maintain my all or else lose my all. To me remains only to possess myself in patience. If all alliances, resources, and negotiations149 fail, and all conjunctures go against me, I prefer to perish with honor rather than lead an inglorious life, deprived of all dignity. My ambition whispers me that I have done more than another to the building up of my house, and have played a distinguished150 part among the crowned heads of Europe. To maintain myself there has become, as it were, a personal duty, which I will fulfill151 at the expense of my happiness and my life. I have no choice left. I will maintain my power, or it may go to ruin, and the Prussian name be buried under it. If the enemy attempt any thing upon us, we will either beat them, or will all be hewed152 to pieces for the sake of our country and the renown153 of Brandenburg. No other counsel can I listen to. Perform faithfully the given work on your side, as I on mine. For the rest, let what you call Providence154 decide as it likes. I prepare myself for every event. Fortune may be kind or be unkind, it shall neither dishearten me nor uplift me. If I am to perish, let it be with honor, and sword in hand.”
Frederick was, with great energy, gathering155 all his resources for a decisive conflict in his fortresses along the banks of the Neisse. By almost superhuman exertions156 he had collected an army there of about seventy thousand men. The united army of Austria and Saxony marching upon him amounted to one hundred thousand regulars, together with uncounted swarms of349 Pandours sweeping around him in all directions, interrupting his communications and cutting off his supplies.
The mountain range upon the south, which separated Silesia from the realms of the Queen of Hungary, was three or four hundred miles long, with some twenty defiles157 practicable for the passage of troops. The French minister Valori urged Frederick to guard these passes. This was impossible; and the self-confidence of the Prussian king is revealed in his reply: “My friend, if you wish to catch the mouse, you must not shut the trap, but leave it open.”
The latter part of May, Frederick, in his head-quarters at Frankenstein, learned that an Austrian army under Prince Charles, and a Saxon army under the Duke of Weissenfels, in columns, by strict count seventy-five thousand strong, had defiled158 through the passes of the Giant Mountains, and entered Silesia near Landshut. Day after day he ascended159 an eminence160, and, with his glass, anxiously scanned the horizon, to detect signs of the approach of the foe. On Thursday morning, June 3, an immense cloud of dust in the distance indicated that the decisive hour was at hand.
As this magnificent army entered upon the smooth and beautiful fields of Southern Silesia they shook out their banners, and with peals161 of music gave expression to their confidence of victory. The Austrian officers pitched their tents on a hill near Hohenfriedberg, where they feasted and drank their wine, while, during the long and beautiful June afternoon, they watched the onward162 sweep of their glittering host. “The Austrian and Saxon army,” writes an eye-witness, “streamed out all the afternoon, each regiment or division taking the place appointed it; all the afternoon, till late in the night, submerging the country as in a deluge163.”
Far away in the east the Austrian officers discerned a Prussian column of observation, consisting of about twelve thousand horse and foot, wending along from hollow to height, their polished weapons flashing back the rays of the afternoon sun. Frederick, carefully examining the ground, immediately made arrangements to bring forward his troops under curtain of the night for a decisive battle. His orderlies were silently dispatched in all directions. At eight o’clock the whole army was in350 motion. His troops were so concentrated that the farthest divisions had a march of only nine miles. Silently, not a word being spoken, not a pipe being lighted, and all the baggage being left behind, they crossed the bridge of the Striegau River, and, deploying164 to the right and the left, took position in front of the slumbering165 allied troops.
BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG, JUNE 4, 1745.
a a. Austrian Army. b. Prince Weissenfels. c c. Prussian Army. d. Dumoulin. e. Gesler’s Dragoons.
With the first dawn of the morning, the two armies, in close contact, rushed furiously upon each other. There were seventy351 thousand on the one side, seventy-five thousand on the other. They faced each other in lines over an undulating plain nearly ten miles in extent. It is in vain to attempt to give the reader an adequate idea of the terrible battle which ensued. With musketry, artillery, gleaming sabres, and rushing horsemen, the infuriate hosts dashed upon each other. For fifteen hours the blood-red surges of battle swept to and fro over the plain. At length Prince Charles, having lost nine thousand in dead and wounded, seven thousand prisoners, sixteen thousand in all, sixty-six cannon, seventy-three flags and standards, beat a retreat. Rapidly his bleeding and exhausted troops marched back through Hohenfriedberg, entered the mountain defiles, and sought refuge, a thoroughly166 beaten army, among the fortresses of Bohemia. Frederick remained the undisputed victor of the field. Five thousand of his brave soldiers lay dead or wounded upon the plain. Even his stoical heart was moved by the greatness of the victory. As he first caught sight of M. Valori after the battle, he threw his arms around him, exclaiming, “My friend, God has helped me wonderfully this day.”
“There was, after all,” says Valori, “at times a kind of devout167 feeling in this prince, who possessed168 such a combination of qualities, good and bad, that I know not which preponderates169.”
The Prussian army was so exhausted by its midnight march and its long day of battle that his majesty did not deem it wise to attempt to pursue the retreating foe. For this he has been severely170, we think unjustly, censured171 by some military men. He immediately, that evening, wrote to his mother, saying, “So decisive a defeat has not been since Blenheim,” and assuring her that the two princes, her sons, who had accompanied him to the battle, were safe. Such was the battle of Hohenfriedberg, once of world-wide renown, now almost forgotten.
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administrative
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humiliation
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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quagmires
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| n.沼泽地，泥潭( quagmire的名词复数 ) | |
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gales
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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14
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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15
sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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16
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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17
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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18
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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19
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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20
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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21
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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22
barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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23
rivulet
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| n.小溪，小河 | |
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24
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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25
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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26
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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27
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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28
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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29
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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30
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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31
pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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32
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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33
emaciate
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| v.使消瘦，使憔悴 | |
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34
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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35
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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36
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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37
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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38
candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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39
philosophical
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|
| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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40
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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41
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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42
circumspect
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| adj.慎重的，谨慎的 | |
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43
fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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44
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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45
impaired
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|
| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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47
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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48
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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49
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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50
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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51
perspicacity
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| n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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52
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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53
embarrassments
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| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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54
manifesto
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| n.宣言，声明 | |
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55
absolved
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|
| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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56
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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57
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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58
alienated
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|
| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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59
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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60
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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61
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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62
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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63
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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64
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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65
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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66
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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67
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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68
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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69
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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71
afterward
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|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
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72
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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73
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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74
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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75
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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76
mortified
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|
| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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77
utterly
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|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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78
countless
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|
| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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79
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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80
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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81
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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82
accomplished
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|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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83
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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84
amiable
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|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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85
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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86
consigned
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|
| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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87
bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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88
remains
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|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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89
wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
prudent
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|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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91
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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92
scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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93
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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94
harassed
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|
| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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95
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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96
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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97
thither
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|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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98
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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99
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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100
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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101
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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102
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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103
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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104
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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105
indignities
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| n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 ) | |
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106
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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107
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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108
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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109
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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110
embroilment
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| n.搅乱，纠纷 | |
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111
titular
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| adj.名义上的，有名无实的；n.只有名义（或头衔）的人 | |
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112
electorate
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| n.全体选民；选区 | |
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113
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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114
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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115
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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117
aggrandizement
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| n.增大，强化，扩大 | |
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118
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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119
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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120
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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121
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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122
affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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123
apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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124
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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125
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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126
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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127
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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128
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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129
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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130
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
ravaging
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| 毁坏( ravage的现在分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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132
influx
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| n.流入，注入 | |
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133
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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134
precursors
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| n.先驱( precursor的名词复数 )；先行者；先兆；初期形式 | |
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135
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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136
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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137
ravage
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| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
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138
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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139
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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140
mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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141
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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142
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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143
untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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144
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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145
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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146
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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147
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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148
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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149
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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150
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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151
fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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152
hewed
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的过去式和过去分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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153
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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154
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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155
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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156
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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157
defiles
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| v.玷污( defile的第三人称单数 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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158
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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159
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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161
peals
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| n.（声音大而持续或重复的）洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 )；隆隆声；洪亮的钟声；钟乐v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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162
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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163
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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164
deploying
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| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
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165
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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166
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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167
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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168
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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169
preponderates
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| v.超过，胜过( preponderate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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170
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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171
censured
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
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