Battle of Rossbach 1757
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 5 November 1757 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1757 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Seven Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of France, Prussia | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.2694, 11.8944 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Rossbach took place on 5 November 1757 during the Third Silesian War (1756–1763, part of the Seven Years' War) near the village of Rossbach (Roßbach), in the Electorate of Saxony. It is sometimes called the Battle of, or at, Reichardtswerben, after a different nearby town. In this 90-minute battle, Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, defeated an Allied army composed of French forces augmented by a contingent of the Reichsarmee (Imperial Army) of the Holy Roman Empire. The French and Imperial army included 41,110 men, opposing a considerably smaller Prussian force of 22,000. Despite overwhelming odds, Frederick managed to defeat the Imperials and the French.
The Battle of Rossbach marked a turning point in the Seven Years' War, not only for its stunning Prussian victory, but because France refused to send troops against Prussia again and Britain, noting Prussia's military success, increased its financial support for Frederick. Following the battle, Frederick immediately left Rossbach and marched for 13 days to the outskirts of Breslau. There he met the Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen; he employed similar tactics to again defeat an army considerably larger than his own.
Rossbach is considered one of Frederick's greatest strategic masterpieces. He crippled an enemy army twice the size of the Prussian force while suffering negligible casualties.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Rossbach (revision 1381069746), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Seven Years' War
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- Battle of Lobositz 1756
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- Siege of Fort St Philip (1756) 1756
- Siege of Pirna 1756
- Battle of Breslau (1757) 1757
- Battle of Cap-Français 1757
- Battle of Chandannagar 1757
- Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf 1757
- Battle of Hastenbeck 1757
All 102 battles of the Seven Years' War →
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