Talk:Battle of Mollwitz

Alternitive Losses/Force Numbers:
 * According to Reed Browning in “The War of Austrian Succession” Page 52-53, At Mollwitz Prussia suffered 4,500 men as casualties and Austria 4,600 men while outnumbering the army under Count Neipperg by 23,400 to 16,000.

Why is the Kingdom of Bohemia "Czech"?. Czech is an ethnic name, and Bohemia was bi-national then (German and Czech). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.70.42.26 (talk) 04:21, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

"Many historians believe that Schwerin advised Frederick to leave so that Schwerin could take command of the troops himself since he was a veteran general who had served in other armies." A source for this would be very welcome. Who are these "many historians"? --TheBlobThing (talk) 20:07, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

"Opportunity"
After the ascension of Maria Theresa of Austria to the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech) and Kingdom of Hungary, Frederick II saw an opportunity to quickly invade and annex the province of Silesia ....

Why was the ascension of Maria Theresa an "opportunity" for Frederick to invade?

BTW, I agree that "Czech" is out of place here. It wasn't the Czech Crown, as the article states, it was the Bohemian Crown. (Historically, the King of Bohemia was an elector of the Holy Roman Empire.) Prior to 1945, the historic provinces of Bohemia and Moravia that constitute today's Czech Republic were of both Czech and German ethnicity. The so-called "Sudeten" Germans were expelled after WWII.

A solely Czech nation-state wasn't formed until the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Czechoslovakia existed in 1918-38 and 1945-92.

Sca (talk) 14:46, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

"Aftermath"
"The victory was actually the responsibility of Field Marshal Schwerin. The Prussian king had fled from the battlefield when the Austrians seemed to be winning. Later Frederick the Great swore never again to leave his troops behind in battle and adhered to this promise faithfully until his death in the late 18th century."

Not true! Frederick would later leave the battlefield of Lobositz (October 1, 1756) early, only to have his infantry again win the battle. And on June 18, 1757, Frederick would leave the field of his first defeat at Kolin before the fighting was over. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gregdorrance (talk • contribs) 12:39, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
 * ... and at Torgau 1760. Rebel Redcoat (talk) 13:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)


 * While adding sources, I could not find a citation supporting the sentence about Frederick's resolution not to leave the field. If there is a citation on it, it'd be great to add it back in, though if Rebel Redcoat and Gregdorrance are correct, the statement starting at "and adhered..." may not be appropriate anyway. The sources I found, (including Reddaway, Storring, and Carlyle) all seem to suggest that the issue was excused away or glossed over depending on the circumstance. Wtfiv (talk) 04:31, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

I have changes the sentence he annexed Slesia from the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia ( without Eastprussia) was part of the Holy Roman Empire so was Austria ( the German part without Hungary) and Slesia. The wars between germany and Austria where, if you like to say so, inner German wars.

Johann —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.39.84.178 (talk) 18:41, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

An additional source
Fletcher Pratt, in his The Battles that Changed History link, argues for the importance of this battle not only that it set the outline of how King Frederick fought his later wars, but that it started him on the path that ended with Prussia becoming a major power, & "established in north Germany a new state and a new type of state, with a standing army, a centralized administration, officials who looked to the building of dams, canals, roads, bridges, internal communications, and who promoted agriculture and internal colonization. Before Friedrich the Great’s death he had settled 200,000 people on previously unoccupied lands; and the efficiency of his administration was such that the other nations of Europe were forced to imitate him if they wished to remain level in the complex game of the balance of power." Pratt provides an opinion worth considering. -- llywrch (talk) 17:36, 7 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Integrated Pratt's work as a reference in the text as it is a good, freely available source. Used the limited access version from archive.org rather than the linked version from Gutenberg here due to uncertainty about copyright.  If someone feels the Canadian Gutenberg link is better please change it. It's fully accessible. Added Pratt's description of battle and its aftermath where appropriate.  Pratt's arguments regarding the grand strategic issues and the apparent benefits of the invasion seem more appropriate to the article on the First Silesian War, as there was a lot more of maneuver, fighting, and politics required before those outcomes were achieved. But interested readers can now access the work and see the arguments for themselves. (For an opposing view that subjects Frederick actions to a great deal of criticism, see Fairburn's, 1919, post-WWI analysis Frederick the Great) Wtfiv (talk) 04:20, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Obelisk
de:Schlacht bei Mollwitz mentions an obelisk memorial for the Prussian victory set up on November 5th, 1878. Does anyone have a clue if that thing still exists and where it is located? --Flominator (talk) 09:09, 15 October 2016 (UTC)