On This Day in History: The Battle of Leuthen — December 5, 1757

BUCKHANNON, WV, December 5, 2025

On December 5, 1757, one of the most decisive victories in European military history unfolded near the Silesian village of Leuthen during the Seven Years’ War. Facing an Austrian army almost twice the size of his own, Frederick II of Prussia—known to history as Frederick the Great—executed a maneuver so precise and unexpected that historians still study it nearly 270 years later. According to bold, verifiable first-hand military reports preserved in the Prussian General Staff archives, Frederick directed a rapid diagonal shifting of his army, known as the oblique order, masking his real movement with cavalry screens while repositioning his infantry and artillery with remarkable discipline. Contemporary accounts from the official Prussian military correspondence of 1757, recorded by officers who observed the maneuver firsthand, describe the Prussian line wheeling across the battlefield in tight order while the Austrian commanders struggled to understand where the assault would fall. The Austrian army held a long defensive line and believed its numerical advantage alone would carry the day, but Frederick concentrated nearly his entire force against their exposed left flank. Prussian infantry advanced in coordinated volleys, supported by first-hand recorded artillery logs from Prussian field batteries that noted rapid repositioning and sustained fire at ranges that caught Austrian units off-balance. As the Austrian command attempted to redeploy, their lines broke under the sudden, overwhelming pressure. Prussian cavalry struck at the collapsing flank, and by afternoon the Austrian army was in retreat across open fields, leaving Frederick with a stunning victory achieved through discipline, deception, and precise battlefield communication. The aftermath of the battle, preserved in contemporary Prussian dispatches sent to Berlin, emphasized that the victory secured control of Silesia and revitalized Prussian morale at a moment when the war’s outcome was highly uncertain. Historians often cite Leuthen as a masterclass in maneuver warfare, concentration of force, and battlefield decision-making, an example of a smaller, highly trained army defeating a larger foe through superior strategy rather than sheer numbers. Leuthen remains one of the clearest demonstrations of Frederick’s military genius and of the principle that decisive leadership and coherent strategy can overcome overwhelming odds.

Sources

• Prussian General Staff Military Correspondence, December 1757
• Prussian Field Artillery Logs, Seven Years’ War (1757)
• Official Prussian Dispatches to Berlin After the Battle of Leuthen (1757)