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1756–1763The Seven Years’ War

After 1,955 days of war, a death — not a battle — saved Prussia

Frederick II invaded Saxony on 29 August 1756. By the autumn of 1757 he was at war with Austria, France, Russia and Sweden at once. Then, on 5 January 1762, Tsarina Elizabeth died. Her successor took Russia out of the war, and 406 days later the Peace of Hubertusburg left Silesia Prussian.

Scroll through the war

Adolph Menzel, “Frederick the Great addresses his generals before the Battle of Leuthen, 1757”, painted 1859–61 and left unfinished. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.Adolph von Menzel, 1860. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

01The two sides

One kingdom at war with four powers at once

29 Aug 1756: Frederick pre-empts the gathering coalition by occupying Saxony. By the autumn of 1757 Prussia is at war with Austria, France, Russia and Sweden at once.

Prussia’s allies were Britain, Hannover and Hesse. Overseas, the war between Britain and France had already begun in 1754. At stake for Frederick was Silesia — and at the peace of 1763 it stayed Prussian.

A woman in a pale pink lace court dress sits beside a table holding three crowns.
Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg lands, by Martin van Meytens. Beside her are the crowns of the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary and Bohemia.Martin van Meytens, 1752. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A hand-coloured 18th-century map of central European lands with coloured borders and a large title cartouche.
Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia on a map published in 1747: the province the war was fought to keep.Majer, 1747. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

02The war, day by day

2,361 days from the first invasion to the peace — and one day that turned them

2,361days of war1756–1763
invasion to peace
The war drawn as one line, day by day, from the invasion of Saxony to the Peace of Hubertusburg. Each event is placed on its date. The line fills as you read; after Tsarina Elizabeth’s death it changes colour.
An engraved panorama of a river valley with rows of tents, earthworks and a fortress on a hill, with a numbered legend beneath.
Unknown author, 1758. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A round bronze medal showing a rider on a horse above a landscape, with a Latin legend around the rim and LISSA DEC 5 beneath.
(unattributed), 1757. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

29 Aug 1756

Frederick struck first, and soon faced four powers

Frederick pre-empts the gathering coalition by occupying Saxony. By the autumn of 1757 Prussia is at war with Austria, France, Russia and Sweden at once.

Sources: Wikipedia, Third Silesian War · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985)

A wide panoramic battle scene: lines of infantry in powder smoke across rolling fields, cavalry in the foreground.
Unknown artist, 1757. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

5 Nov 1757

Rossbach: an army nearly twice his size, destroyed in under 90 minutes

Franco-Imperial army of some 41,000 destroyed by about 22,000 Prussians in under 90 minutes. Frederick's most efficient victory.

Sources: Wikipedia, Battle of Rossbach · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985) · Blanning, Frederick the Great (2015)

Soldiers in blue coats charge through snow towards a burning brick gateway; fallen men lie in the foreground.
Carl Röchling, 1920. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

5 Dec 1757

Leuthen, a month later: 36,000 Prussians break 65,000 Austrians

Austrian army of some 65,000 broken by 36,000 Prussians, who marched unseen around the Austrian left and struck it end-on. Napoleon called it a masterpiece of movement, manoeuvre and resolution.

Sources: Wikipedia, Battle of Leuthen · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985)

A wide battle painting: masses of infantry and cavalry fight across sandy hills under heavy smoke.
Alexander von Kotzebue, 1848. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

12 Aug 1759

Kunersdorf: the night he believed all was lost

Catastrophe. Frederick loses some 19,000 men against a combined Russo-Austrian army; that night he writes to his minister Finckenstein that he believes all is lost. The Russians fail to follow up — the first Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.

Sources: Wikipedia, Battle of Kunersdorf · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985) · Wikipedia, Miracle of the House of Brandenburg

A city street of palaces filled with mounted Russian troops, carts and crowds.
Alexander von Kotzebue, 1849. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

9 Oct 1760

Enemy columns march into Berlin

Russian and Austrian raiding columns enter Berlin, levy a contribution and leave on 12 October. Austrian hussars under Hadik had already raided the city in October 1757.

Sources: Wikipedia, Third Silesian War · Wikipedia, 1757 raid on Berlin

An engraved plan: a ring of numbered fortifications around villages, with a legend down the right side.
Hoffmann, [?], 1824. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

Aug–Sep 1761

Bunzelwitz: dug in, he waits for an assault that never comes

Frederick entrenches at Bunzelwitz in Silesia against the combined Austro-Russian army; the allies call off their assault and the camp survives without a battle. Bankruptcy approaches.

Sources: britishbattles.com; Carlyle · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985)

A full-length portrait of a woman in a gold-green gown with a blue sash and ermine mantle, wearing a small crown.
Louis Caravaque, 1750. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

5 Jan 1762

The Tsarina dies

The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg, second occurrence. Peter III withdraws Russia, returns East Prussia, and in June 1762 signs an alliance with Frederick. The eastern front collapses within months.

Sources: Presidential Library, St Petersburg · Wikipedia, Miracle of the House of Brandenburg

A hand-coloured engraving of a broad river with sailing ships and rowing boats in front of a long row of palaces under a pale sky, with a French title beneath.
G. A. Kachalov and Ye. G. Vinogradov after M. I. Makhaev, 1753. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A portrait of a man in a powdered wig, dark blue coat and pale blue sash, one hand on a baton.
Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt, 1762. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

5 May 1762

Russia makes peace — then signs an alliance with Frederick

Peace between Russia and Prussia is signed at Saint Petersburg, 120 days after Elizabeth’s death. In June the new tsar signs an alliance with Frederick — never ratified.

Sources: Presidential Library, St Petersburg

An ornate engraving with oval portrait medallions of rulers surrounded by allegorical figures and a Latin inscription.
Johann Esaias Nilson, 1763. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A long yellow baroque palace with a central clock tower at the end of a broad gravel avenue under a blue sky.
Marco Linke on de.wikipedia, 2004. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

15 Feb 1763

Hubertusburg: every border back where it was in 1756

Peace signed at the Saxon hunting lodge. Status quo ante 1756. Silesia stays Prussian, and Prussia is a great power.

Sources: Wikipedia, Third Silesian War · Duffy, Frederick the Great (1985) · Blanning, Frederick the Great (2015)

03Rossbach and Leuthen

Two victories 30 days apart, each against an army nearly twice his size

5 Nov 1757, Rossbach: Franco-Imperial army of some 41,000 destroyed by about 22,000 Prussians in under 90 minutes. Frederick's most efficient victory.

5 Dec 1757, Leuthen: Austrian army of some 65,000 broken by 36,000 Prussians, who marched unseen around the Austrian left and struck it end-on.

41,000
Franco-Imperial army at Rossbach, against about 22,000 Prussians
65,000
Austrians at Leuthen, against 36,000 Prussians
<90
minutes: the length of Rossbach
A wide panoramic battle scene: lines of infantry in powder smoke across rolling fields, cavalry in the foreground.
The Battle of Rossbach, oil on canvas, 1757, by an unknown artist. Weißenfels Museum, Neu-Augustusburg Castle.Unknown artist, 1757. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Soldiers in blue coats charge through snow towards a burning brick gateway; fallen men lie in the foreground.
Carl Röchling’s Battle of Leuthen: Prussian infantry storm a walled gateway in the snow.Carl Röchling, 1920. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

“A masterpiece of movements, manoeuvres and resolution”

Napoleon on Leuthen, as quoted by Fuller

A round bronze medal showing a rider on a horse above a landscape, with a Latin legend around the rim and LISSA DEC 5 beneath.
A bronze medal of 1757: Frederick on horseback, inscribed “LISSA · DEC · 5” — the village beside the Leuthen battlefield, and the day of the battle. Cleveland Museum of Art.(unattributed), 1757. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.
A dark monochrome reproduction of a night scene: riders in tricorn hats lit by a man holding up a lantern.
Bernhard Rode, about 1793: after Leuthen an innkeeper lights Frederick’s way along the causeway to Lissa, with General Ziethen beside him. The painting was lost in war; this is a reproduction.Bernhard Rode, 1793. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

0412 August 1759

Kunersdorf: some 19,000 men lost, and a king who wrote that all was lost

Catastrophe. Frederick loses some 19,000 men against a combined Russo-Austrian army; that night he writes to his minister Finckenstein that he believes all is lost. The Russians fail to follow up — the first Miracle of the House of Brandenburg. The letter went to Count Finck von Finckenstein.

Prussian losses at Kunersdorf, as counted

A wide battle painting: masses of infantry and cavalry fight across sandy hills under heavy smoke.
Alexander von Kotzebue, The Battle of Kunersdorf, 1848. The Russian title dates the battle 1 August, in the Old Style calendar Russia then used.Alexander von Kotzebue, 1848. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

05Berlin and Bunzelwitz

His capital raided twice; his army dug in to survive

A city street of palaces filled with mounted Russian troops, carts and crowds.
Alexander von Kotzebue, The Capture of Berlin, 1849: Russian troops in the streets in October 1760. Its title gives the Old Style date.Alexander von Kotzebue, 1849. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

9 Oct 1760: Russian and Austrian raiding columns enter Berlin, levy a contribution and leave on 12 October. Austrian hussars under Hadik had already raided the city in October 1757.

They held the city for three days, from 9 October 1760 to 12 October 1760.

Aug–Sep 1761: Frederick entrenches at Bunzelwitz in Silesia against the combined Austro-Russian army; the allies call off their assault and the camp survives without a battle. Bankruptcy approaches. The camp stood from about 20 August 1761; the assault planned for 1–2 Sep was called off.

An engraved plan: a ring of numbered fortifications around villages, with a legend down the right side.
Plan of the Prussian camp at Bunzelwitz, engraved 1824. The fortified ring around the camp is drawn in the centre.Hoffmann, [?], 1824. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

065 January 1762

Then the Tsarina died, and within months Russia was out of the war

5 Jan 1762: Elizabeth of Russia dies. The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg, second occurrence. Peter III withdraws Russia, returns East Prussia, and in June 1762 signs an alliance with Frederick. The eastern front collapses within months.

Peace with Russia was signed at Saint Petersburg on 5 May 1762, 120 days after her death; the alliance of June 1762 was never ratified. The first “miracle” had come after Kunersdorf, when the Russians failed to follow up.

A full-length portrait of a woman in a gold-green gown with a blue sash and ermine mantle, wearing a small crown.
Empress Elizabeth of Russia by Louis Caravaque, 1750: ermine mantle, crown, sceptre and the Order of St Andrew. State Russian Museum.Louis Caravaque, 1750. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A portrait of a man in a powdered wig, dark blue coat and pale blue sash, one hand on a baton.
Peter III, the new tsar, by Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt.Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt, 1762. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The war, cut at her death

0715 February 1763

Peace at a hunting lodge: every border back where it was in 1756

15 Feb 1763, Hubertusburg: Peace signed at the Saxon hunting lodge. Status quo ante 1756. Silesia stays Prussian, and Prussia is a great power.

2,361
days of war, from the invasion of Saxony to the peace
1,955
of them before Elizabeth died
406
after her death
An ornate engraving with oval portrait medallions of rulers surrounded by allegorical figures and a Latin inscription.
Johann Esaias Nilson, engraving of 1763: the princes who took part in the Peace of Hubertusburg, in medallions.Johann Esaias Nilson, 1763. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A long yellow baroque palace with a central clock tower at the end of a broad gravel avenue under a blue sky.
Hubertusburg, the Saxon hunting lodge at Wermsdorf where the peace was signed, in spring 2004.Marco Linke on de.wikipedia, 2004. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Prussia · 1756–1763

Frederick won at Rossbach and Leuthen and survived Kunersdorf. What saved Prussia was not a battle but a death.

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Berlinfographics (2026). “The Seven Years’ War, 1756–1763”. Berlin Experiences. https://berlinfographics.com/seven-years-war/

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{{cite web |title=The Seven Years’ War, 1756–1763 |url=https://berlinfographics.com/seven-years-war/ |website=Berlinfographics |publisher=Berlin Experiences |date=2026-11-05 |access-date=2026-11-05}}