Frederick's second battle was fought May 17, 1742 at Chotusitz in Moravia. This time the Prussian cavalry gave a better account of itself, while Frederick won the victory on his own. The Austrians left the field believing that the Prussians could not be defeated in any combat. By June, a new peace treaty was negotiated wherein Austria formally ceded all of Silesia and the County of Glatz to Prussia.
The Historical Background
During the three months following Mollwitz, Frederick was content to avoid battle with the Austrian general Neipperg. His army needed the rest and reorganization after the hard winter campaign and Frederick used this time to subject his cavalry to a thorough reorganization so that it could match up with the Austrian line cavalry. In addition, he expanded his force of hussars and trained them to deal with the Croats and Pandours that were the constant source of harassment to his army. Neipperg was also content to remain near Neisse and send out an occaisional raiding party to keep the Prussians on edge.
The war was going badly for the Austrians on other fronts. France and Bavaria had entered the war on Prussia's side and a large Franco-Bavarian army was advancing down the Danube River valley towards Vienna. A second French army was threatening the Bohemian capital of Prague. Austria needed Neipperg's army elsewhere, so in October, Austria and Prussia signed the secret Convention of Klein Schnellendorf. Neipperg was allowed to surrender Neisse after the formality of a week-long seige and would be free to march his army into Moravia. This deception was for the benefit of Frederick's allies, for he did not want them to know that he was secretly withdrawing from the war. Prussia would get to keep Lower Silesia and Breslau in return.
This saved Austria at a time when it desperately needed troops to fight the French and stop their drive on Vienna. By the spring of 1742, Austrian fortunes had improved as Marshal Khevenhuller recaptured Linz in Austria and was advancing on Munich itself. Things were improving in Bohemia, despite the fact that the allies occuppied Prague. In fact, Austria seemed to be recovering too fast so Frederick re-entered the war and invaded Moravia. His army advanced as far south as Znaim, on the Austrian border.
This entire expedition though was a disappointment and a failure, marked by an absence of cooperation among the four allied armies (France, Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussia). By April 1742, Frederick decided to fall back into Bohemia, where the forage was more plentiful and the populace was less hostile to foreign invaders. Frederick set up camp at Chrudim, some fifty miles east of Prague and waited to see what everyone else would do.
Battle of Chotusitz May 17, 1742
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© Copyright 1992 by James J. Mitchell
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