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1757, in one of the most savage battles of history, Frederick defeated the Austrians at Prague, but lost about 14,000 men and one of his best generals, Schwerin. On 18th June he was defeated by another Austrian army at Kolin, the siege of Prague was raised and the Prussians fell back to Saxony. During the summer Frederick learned that the Swedes had advanced into Pomerania and the Russians into East Prussia, and the Austrians had occupied Berlin, though briefly and with little damage. His only ally, the army of Hanover (under English rule but consisting mainly of men from the German Protestant states) had surrendered to the French. On 5th November he won the battle of Rossbach against an army nearly double the size of his own, and had another brilliant though costly victory on 5th December at Leuthen near Breslau. By then Frederick had achieved immortal fame as a general, for he had proved his army's superiority not only against the ill-trained Imperial troops but also the Elite forces of their French allies.

In 1758, despite further victories in the field, Frederick lost most of Saxony and Silesia, and part of East Prussia was again invaded by the Russians. Another desperate battle at Zorndorf checked their advance, but having raced back to Saxony his army was taken by surprise at Hochkirch on 13th October. Frederick's army was no longer what it had been, its past efficiency had been much reduced by loss of men and inadequate training of their replacements.

1759 was an "annus horribilis" for Frederick, culminating with a heavy defeat on 12th August at Kunersdorf near Frankfurt, and by the humiliating surrender of some of his forces to the Saxons at Maxen (they included Bräker's regiment, Itzenblitz, but the commander was already dead from wounds received at Kunersdorf). In 1760 and 1761 Prussia's very survival was threatened and Frederick was seriously considering suicide.

On 5th January 1762, however, his luck changed abruptly: one of his bitterest enemies, the Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia, died and was succeeded by Peter III, by birth a German and a great admirer of Frederick and all things Prussian. He at once made peace and the Swedes followed his example. By October Frederick had recovered most of Silesia and defeated the Austrians again at Freiberg.

Peace was finally concluded at Hubertusberg in February 1763. Frederick retained all his territorial gains and achieved the status of a great power for his country, the foundation, eventually, of modern Germany. About half a million Prussian lives had been lost and great poverty and misery caused to the Prussian population; this and the famine of the early 1770s set back its economic development for many years.

50. Farewell, Berlin, and I'll see you no more!

At last came the longed-for day, when word reached us: Allons! We're on the march! Already in July some regiments had marched out of Berlin, and others had arrived from Prussia and Pomerania. Now all leave was stopped, and the great city swarmed with soldiers everywhere, but as yet no-one was certain what was the purpose of all this movement. I pricked up my ears like a hog behind a fence. Some said that if the army was going on campaign, we new recruits were not to go with it but would be placed in a garrison regiment. This would have made me deadly afraid, if I had believed it. I exerted all my strength of body and mind in the manoeuvres, to show myself a bold alert soldier, for some among the company who were older than I were indeed to be left behind. And now, on the 21st of August, late in the evening, came the order we longed for: to be ready to march in the morning. By heaven, what a bustle of cleaning and stowing our equipment! I would not have had the time, even if I had had the money, to pay the baker for two loaves that I had on credit. Besides, in such a case no creditor might think of pressing for his money. However, I left my linen-chest behind, and if the baker did not claim it I still to this day have a creditor in Berlin, also some debtors for a batz or two, and so you might say I am quits.

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