ORDER OF BATTLE // June 18, 1757
Battle of Kolín
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 86,790–88,000 estimated
Austria
53,790–54,000
Medium-confidence figure
Prussia
33,000–34,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
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.
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