History of First Silesian War in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: January 1, 1970

1603

Prussia's claims in Silesia were based, in part, on a 1537 inheritance treaty between the Silesian Piast Duke Frederick II of Legnica and the Hohenzollern Prince-Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, whereby the Silesian Duchies of Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg were to pass to the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg should the Piast dynasty in Silesia become extinct. At the time, the Habsburg King Ferdinand I of Bohemia (Silesia's feudal overlord) rejected the agreement and pressed the Hohenzollerns to repudiate it. In 1603, Hohenzollern Elector Joachim III Frederick of Brandenburg separately inherited the Silesian Duchy of Jägerndorf from his cousin, Margrave George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and installed his second son, Johann Georg, as duke.

1675

In the 1618 Bohemian Revolt and the ensuing Thirty Years' War, Johann Georg joined the Silesian estates in revolt against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. After the Catholic victory in the 1621 Battle of White Mountain, the Emperor confiscated Johann Georg's duchy and refused to return it to his heirs after his death, but the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg continued to assert themselves as the legitimate rulers of Jägerndorf. In 1675 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg laid claim to Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg when the Silesian Piast line ended with the death of Duke George William of Liegnitz, but the Habsburg Emperor disregarded the Hohenzollern claims and the lands escheated to the Bohemian crown.

1685

In 1685, when Austria was engaged in the Great Turkish War, Emperor Leopold I gave Great Elector Frederick William immediate control of the Silesian exclave of Schwiebus in return for military support against the Turks and the surrender of the outstanding Hohenzollern claims in Silesia. After the accession of the Great Elector's son and successor, Frederick III of Brandenburg, the Emperor took back control of Schwiebus in 1694, claiming the territory had only been personally assigned to the late Great Elector for life. As a young prince, Frederick III had secretly agreed to this repossession in return for Leopold's payment of some of his debts, but as monarch he repudiated the agreement and reasserted the old Hohenzollern claims to Jägerndorf and the Silesian Piast heritage.

May 1740

Two generations later, the newly crowned Hohenzollern King Frederick II of Prussia formed designs on Silesia soon after succeeding to the throne in May 1740. Frederick judged that his dynasty's claims were credible, and he had inherited from his father, King Frederick William I, a large and well-trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury. Austria was in financial distress, and its army had not been reinforced or reformed after an ignominious performance in the 1737–1739 Austro-Turkish War. The European strategic situation was favourable for an attack on Austria, with Britain and France occupying each other's attentions in the War of Jenkins' Ear and Sweden moving toward war with Russia; the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony also had claims against Austria and seemed likely to join in the attack. Though the Hohenzollerns' dynastic claims provided a legalistic casus belli, considerations of Realpolitik and geostrategy played the leading role in provoking the war.

October 1740

An opportunity arose for Prussia to press its claims when Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died in October 1740 without a male heir. With the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, Charles had established his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as the successor to his hereditary titles. Upon his death she duly became ruler of Austria, as well as of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg monarchy. During Emperor Charles's lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction had been generally acknowledged by the imperial states, but when he died it was promptly contested by Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony.

December 1740

The Prussian army had massed quietly along the Oder during early December 1740, and on 16 December, without a declaration of war, Frederick moved his troops across the frontier into Silesia. The Prussian force consisted of two corps totalling 27,000 soldiers, while Silesia was defended by an Austrian garrison of only 8,000 men. The Austrians were able to offer only light resistance and garrison a few fortresses; the Prussians swept through the province, taking control of the capital at Breslau without a fight on 2 January 1741. The fortress at Ohlau was also taken without resistance on 9 January, after which the Prussians used it for their winter quarters. By the end of January 1741, almost the entirety of Silesia had come under Prussian control, and the remaining Austrian strongholds of Glogau, Brieg and Neisse were besieged.

January 1742

As the Franco-Bavarian allies made territorial gains, Frederick became concerned that Prussia might be sidelined in the eventual peace agreement, so he repudiated the Convention of Klein Schnellendorf, accusing the Austrians of violating its secrecy, and joined the general advance southward into Bohemia and Moravia. In December Schwerin's army advanced through the Sudetes into Moravia, occupying the capital at Olmütz on 27 December, while Prince Leopold's army besieged the fortress at Glatz on the edge of Bohemia. In January 1742 the Imperial election was held at Frankfurt, where Bavarian Elector Charles Albert was chosen as the next Holy Roman Emperor.

July 1742

Under this treaty, Austria conceded to Prussia the large majority of Silesia along with the Bohemian County of Glatz, territories which would later be consolidated to form the Prussian Province of Silesia. Austria retained the remainder of Bohemia and two small portions of the extreme southern end of Silesia, including the Duchy of Teschen and parts of the Duchies of Jägerndorf, Troppau, and Neisse; these lands would later be combined to form the crown land of Austrian Silesia. Prussia also agreed to take on some of Austria's debts that had been secured against assets in Silesia, as well as committing to remain neutral for the remainder of the ongoing War of the Austrian Succession. This arrangement was formalised and confirmed in the Treaty of Berlin, signed 28 July 1742.

Late 2026

The war began with a Prussian invasion of Habsburg Silesia in late 1740, and it ended in a Prussian victory with the 1742 Treaty of Berlin, which recognised Prussia's seizure of most of Silesia and parts of Bohemia. Meanwhile, the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued, and conflict over Silesia would draw Austria and Prussia into a renewed Second Silesian War only two years later. The First Silesian War marked the unexpected defeat of the Habsburg monarchy by a lesser German power and initiated the Austria–Prussia rivalry that would shape German politics for more than a century.

Early 2026

After leaving winter quarters in early 1741, the Prussian forces began a spring campaign, and on 9 March Prince Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau took Glogau by storm. In late March, an Austrian force of around 20,000 under the command of Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg crossed the Sudetes mountains from Moravia and broke the siege of Neisse on 5 April, after which the main Prussian force manoeuvred to oppose its advance. The two armies engaged each other near the village of Mollwitz on 10 April, where the Prussians under Marshal Kurt von Schwerin successfully stopped the Austrian advance in the Battle of Mollwitz. Neither army acquitted itself well at Mollwitz, and Frederick at one point fled (on Schwerin's advice) to avoid capture, but the Prussians held the field and subsequently portrayed the battle as a victory. Brieg surrendered to the Prussians on 4 May, after which the main Prussian force encamped through the succeeding months near Neisse, facing off against Neipperg's Austrians but fighting little.

Late 2026

The Treaties of Breslau and Berlin cost the Habsburg monarchy its wealthiest province, and capitulating to a lesser German prince significantly dented the Habsburg Monarchy's prestige. The House of Habsburg was also defeated in the Imperial election, calling into question its pre-eminence within Germany. The Austrian army had found itself outmatched by the more disciplined Prussians, and in late 1741 the Nymphenburg alliance had threatened the Habsburg monarchy with disaster.

Early 2026

However, peace in the Silesian theatre gave the Austrian forces a free hand to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians the previous year. The western invaders were driven back up the Danube Valley in early 1742, and Saxony withdrew its forces from Bohemia after the Treaty of Berlin, making peace with Austria near the end of the year. The Franco-Bavarian forces occupying Prague were isolated and besieged, eventually giving up the city in December. By mid-1743, Austria would recover control of Bohemia, drive the French back across the Rhine into Alsace, and occupy Bavaria, exiling Emperor Charles VII to Frankfurt.

Early 2026

In early 1742 Frederick organised a joint advance through Moravia toward Vienna with the Saxons and French, which began after their forces met on 5 February at Wischau. The French, however, proved reluctant and uncooperative allies, and, after the seizure of Iglau on 15 February, they withdrew into Bohemia. The Prussians and Saxons marched on toward Brünn, the main Austrian stronghold remaining in Moravia, but they made little progress due to the substantial Austrian garrison and a shortage of supplies. The Saxons abandoned the effort on 30 March and returned to Bohemia, where they would remain until withdrawing completely from the war in July. The Moravian campaign achieved no significant gains, and on 5 April the Prussians retreated into Bohemia and Upper Silesia.

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