Battle of Mollwitz

Significance

The Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741 was the first major engagement of Frederick II's reign and a significant early action of the First Silesian War within the broader War of the Austrian Succession. The Prussian force of approximately 21,600 faced an Austrian army of between 15,800 and 19,000 under Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg, with both sides committing numerous military blunders in the course of the fighting. Frederick himself left the battlefield before the outcome was decided, yet the Prussian army secured a victory regardless, inflicting roughly 4,550 Austrian casualties against Prussian losses of approximately 4,850. Despite the disorderly character of the engagement, the result carried concrete strategic weight: it cemented Prussian control over Silesia, the territory Frederick had seized at the outset of the war, and denied Austria the battlefield success that might have reversed that conquest. The victory also provided Frederick with direct operational experience that would shape his conduct in subsequent campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)