Battle of Kolín

Overview

The Battle of Kolín (Kolin) on 18 June 1757 saw 54,000 Austrians under Count von Daun defeat 34,000 Prussians under Frederick the Great during the Third Silesian War. Prussian attempts to turn the Austrian right flank turned into piecemeal frontal attacks and were defeated in five and a half hours of combat. The Prussians lost 13,733 men, the Austrians 8,100. Frederick gave up the Siege of Prague as well as his planned march on Vienna and retreated to Saxony.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Kolín on 18 June 1757 marked Frederick the Great's first significant defeat in the Seven Years' War and directly reversed the strategic gains Prussia had made in Bohemia. Frederick was compelled to abandon the Siege of Prague, which had been underway since May 1757 and which, if successful, might have knocked Austria out of the war or at least opened the road to Vienna. The forced retreat into Saxony surrendered the initiative Frederick had seized at Lobositz in 1756 and Prague in May 1757, restoring Austrian operational freedom in Bohemia. The engagement demonstrated that a numerically inferior Prussian force could not sustain an aggressive offensive posture against a prepared Austrian army in defensive ground, and it checked Prussian ambitions of delivering a rapid, war-ending blow against Vienna. Kolín is consequently treated as a turning point in the Seven Years' War at which Austria regained strategic footing after the catastrophic spring campaign, prolonging the conflict and forcing Prussia onto a defensive footing in the east and south simultaneously.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (2)