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The most unforgivable mistake of Frederick the Great

As an officer, Friedrich August von Finck (1718–1766) had a career typical of the 18th century.

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The most unforgivable mistake of Frederick the Great

As an officer, Friedrich August von Finck (1718–1766) had a career typical of the 18th century. Born in the German duo-dez principality of Strelitz, he and his father entered the Russian service, where he took on the post of head equerry. As a military man, Finck initially fought for Emperor Charles VI, returned to Russian service and became a major in the Prussian army in 1742. During the Seven Years' War he became a colonel and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1759. Later he was to enter Danish service as a general.

Finck was one of the generals who survived the heavy defeat of Frederick the Great by the Russians at Kunersdorf in August 1759. There he had taken command of the remnants of the army after the king's retreat. Now he was challenged to somehow hold the Prussian positions with the remaining forces until the end of the campaign season.

Finck was assigned to Prince Henry, Frederick's brother, who had the thankless task of pushing back the Austrian troops under Field Marshal Leopold von Daun in Saxony. The company initially got off to a good start. On September 21, Finck defeated an enemy corps under the command of General Andreas Hadik von Futak near Körbitz. Friedrich awarded him the "Order of the Black Eagle" for this.

The next target was Dresden, whose Prussian garrison had surrendered to the Austrians two weeks earlier. Since Saxony was of crucial importance for Frederick's warfare as an apron and supplier of resources, the king did everything in his power to push the enemy back before the onset of winter. Daun helped him by avoiding facing his opponent in pitched battle.

But then the king made a crucial mistake. In order to persuade the Austrians to hasten their retreat, he ordered Finck to occupy the Maxen plateau with his corps of 15,000 soldiers. From there, the general was supposed to put pressure on Daun by disrupting his supply routes from the Ore Mountains to the north.

However, this strategy was not without risk. Because if the Austrian recognized Finck's numerical inferiority, he could easily dispense with his superior forces to bypass Maxen and instead encircle the Prussian corps. Friedrich, who was himself standing with Prince Heinrich north of Dresden, would hardly have been in a position to come to his general's aid in this case.

It is possible that he simply overestimated Finck after his recent successes. Nevertheless, that was the king's responsibility, as was the fact that a not inconsiderable number of Finck's soldiers were from Saxony, who had been pressed into the Prussian army in Kunersdorf. Prince Heinrich and experienced officers at Friedrich's headquarters also repeatedly pointed out the exposed position of Finck's corps. But the king stubbornly stuck to his disposition.

It happened the way it had to. On November 19, light Austrian formations occupied possible escape routes of the Prussians in snowy rain. A day later, Daun positioned 32,000 Austrian and imperial contingents against Finck. After heavy artillery fire, the attack began in the early afternoon.

Daun's troops occupied the town of Maxen, but a Prussian counterattack was able to drive them out again. Eventually, however, Finck was forced to retreat, but found the routes blocked by the enemy. Because of the poor ground and visibility conditions, the breakout of the Prussian cavalry failed. Finck had no choice but to capitulate.

"We had to line up," a musketeer described his capture. "Then we were told that we would defend ourselves as prisoners, but we would have to keep our knapsacks and gear, but we would have to lay down our guns and satchels." A total of 11,000 soldiers, including nine generals, as well as 70 cannons, 96 flags and 24 standards fell into Austrian hands. Thousands of Saxons had deserted before. In Vienna, a Te Deum was immediately celebrated for the “Finckenfang bei Maxen”.

Incidentally, hardly any of the prisoners were to return. Most succumbed to red dysentery, the bloody manifestation of dysentery. However, this meant that they would no longer be available to Friedrich for future recruitment, i.e. as total losses. By the rules of the time, it was common for prisoners to be re-enlisted or pressed in one army or another after being released.

Frederick the Great was taken aback. "I am so stunned by the misfortune that befell General Finck that I can't even recover," he wrote on November 22. "That upsets all my measures and hits me to the core." In order to complete the measure, a Prussian force of 3,500 men was shortly thereafter surrounded at Meißen and forced to give up.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War, Brandenburg was in ruins. But in just a few generations, its electors and kings turned it into the second major power in the Holy Roman Empire.

Source: WORLD

The plan to expel the Austrians from Saxony thus failed. Accordingly, Friedrich received the unfortunate Finck with anger when he returned from Austrian captivity. He was put on trial, which earned the general a year in prison and a dishonorable discharge. This evidence of Frederick's inability to self-criticism did not prevent Frederick V of Denmark from immediately appointing Finck General of the Infantry.

Prince Henry also sharply condemned his royal brother: "From the day he came to my army he spread disorder and misfortune, all my toil in this campaign and the fortune that favored me, all is lost through Frederick." .” None other than Napoleon I agreed and called Maxen's operation the most unforgivable mistake Frederick ever made. And his British biographer Tim Blanning draws the conclusion: "Even the most die-hard admirers of Friedrich will find nothing to gloss over here."

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