Book: History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20

T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

"In BUSCHING'S MAGAZINE are some Love-letters from the old Marshal
Munnich to Catharine just after this event, which are
psychologically curious. Love-letters, for they partake of that
character; though the man is 82, and has had such breakages and
vicissitudes in this Earth. Alive yet, it would seem; and full of
ambitions. Unspeakably beautiful is this young Woman to him;
radiant as ox-eyed Juno, as Diana of the silver bow,--such a power
in her to gratify the avarices, ambitions, cupidities of an
insatiable old fellow: O divine young Empress, Aurora of bright
Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun,--grant me the
governing of This, the administering of That: and see what a thing
I will make of it (I, an inventive old gentleman), for your
Majesty's honor and glory, and my own advantage! [Busching,
Magazin fur die neue Historie und Geographie
(Halle, Year 1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 LETTERS, and only thrice or so
a word of RESPONSE from "MA DIVINITE:" dates, "Narva, 4th August,
1762" ... "Petersburg, 3d October, 1762").]--Innumerable persons of
less note than Munnich have their Biographies, and are known to the
reading public and in all barbers'-shops, if that were an advantage
to them. Very considerable, this Munnich, as a soldier, for one
thing. And surely had very strange adventures; an original German
character withal:--about the stature of Belleisle, for example;
and not quite unlike Belleisle in some of his ways? Came originally
from the swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser Country,--son of a
DEICHGRAFE (Ditch-Superintendent) there. REQUIESCANT in oblivious
silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being lied of, and
maundered of, and blotched and blundered of.

"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as life,
earnest as transcendent human Insight risen to the Singing pitch;
some Homer, nay some Psalmist or Evangelist, spokesman of reverent
Populations, was the Biographer. Rhythmic, WITH exactitude,
investigation to the very marrow; this, or else oblivion, Biography
should now, and at all times, be; but is not,--by any manner of
means. With what results is visible enough, if you will look!
Human Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy and UNflogged
condition, is truly an awful thing."

Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian determination.
July 9th, the Manifesto had been indignantly emphatic on Prussia;
July 22d, in a Note to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn
again. [Rodenbeck, ii. 171.] Looking into the deceased Czar's
Papers, she found that Friedrich's Letters to him had contained
nothing of wrong or offensive; always excellent advices, on the
contrary,--advice, among others, To be conciliatory to his clever-
witted Wife, and to make her his ally, not his opponent, in living
and reigning. In Konigsberg (July 16th, seven days after July 9th),
the Russian Governor, just on the point of quitting, emitted
Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No; altered, all that;
under pain of death, your Oath to Russia still valid!" Which for
the next ten days, or till his new proclamation, made such a
Konigsberg of it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is
understood to have turned the scale; which had hung wavering till
July 22d in the Czarina's mind. "Can it be good," she might
privately think withal, "to begin our reign by kindling a foolish
War again?" How Friedrich received the news of July 9th, and into
what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon see. His Campaign had
begun July 1st;-- and has been summoning us home, into ITS horizon,
for some time.

Chapter XI.

SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.

Freidrich's plan of Campaign is settled long since: Recapture
Schweidnitz; clear Silesia of the enemy; Silesia and all our own
Dominions clear, we can then stand fencible against the Austrian
perseverances. Peace, one day, they must grant us. The general tide
of European things is changed by these occurrences in Petersburg
and London. Peace is evidently near. France and England are again
beginning to negotiate; no Pitt now to be rigorous. The tide of War
has been wavering at its summit for two years past; and now, with
this of Russia, and this of Bute instead of Pitt, there is ebb
everywhere, and all Europe determining for peace. Steady at the
helm, as heretofore, a Friedrich, with the world-current in his
favor, may hope to get home after all.

Austrian Head-quarters had been at Waldenburg, under Loudon or his
Lieutenants, all Winter. Loudon returned thither from Vienna April
7th; but is not to command in chief, this Year,--Schweidnitz still
sticking in some people's throats: "Dangerous; a man with such rash
practices, rapidities and Pandour tendencies!" Daun is to command
in Silesia; Loudon, under him, obscure to us henceforth, and
inoffensive to Official people. Reichs Army shall take charge of
Saxony; nominally a Reichs Army, though there are 35,000 Austrians
in it, as the soul of it, under some Serbelloni, some Stollberg as
Chief--(the fact, I believe, is: Serbelloni got angrily displaced
on that "crossing of the Mulda by Prince Henri, May 13th;"
Prince of Zweibruck had angrily abdicated a year before; and a
Prince von Stollberg is now Generalissimo of Reich and Allies:
but it is no kind of matter),--some Stollberg, with Serbelloni,
Haddick, Maguire and such like in subaltern places. Cunctator Daun,
in spite of his late sleepy ways, is to be Head-man again:
this surely is a cheering circumstance to Friedrich; Loudon, not
Daun, being the only man he ever got much ill of hitherto.

Daun arrives in Waldenburg, May 9th; and to show that he is not
cunctatory, steps out within a week after. May 15th, he has
descended from his Mountains; has swept round by the back and by
the front of Schweidnitz, far and wide, into the Plain Country, and
encamped himself crescent-wise, many miles in length, Head-quarter
near the Zobtenberg. Bent fondly round Schweidnitz; meaning, as is
evident, to defend Schweidnitz against all comers,--his very
position symbolically intimating: "I will fight for it, Prussian
Majesty, if you like!"

Prussian Majesty, however, seemed to take no notice of him;
and, what was very surprising, kept his old quarters:
"a Cantonment, or Chain of Posts, ten miles long; Schweidnitz Water
on his right flank, Oder on his left;" perfectly safe, as he
perceives, being able to assemble in four hours, if Daun try
anything. [Tempelhof, vi. 66.] And, in fact, sat there, and did not
come into the Field at all for five weeks or more;--waiting till
Czernichef's 20,000 arrive, who are on march from Thorn since June
2d. Mere small-war goes on in the interim; world getting all
greener and flowerier; the Glatz Highlands, to one's left yonder
(Owl-Mountains, EULENGEBIRGE so called), lying magically blue and
mysterious:--on the Plain in front of them, ten miles from the
final peaks of them, is Schweidnitz Fortress, lying full in view,
with a picked Garrison of 12,000 under a picked Captain, and all
else of defence or impregnability; and Friedrich privately
determined to take it, though by methods of his own choosing, and
which cannot commence till Czernichef come. Daun, with his right
wing, has hold of those Highland Regions, and cautiously guards
them; can, when he pleases, wend back to Waldenburg Country; and at
once, with his superior numbers, block all passages, and sit there
impregnable. The methods of dislodging him are obscure to Friedrich
himself; but methods there must be, dislodged he must be, and sent
packing. Without that, all siege of Schweidnitz is
flatly impossible.

June 27th, Friedrich's Head-quarter is Tintz, Czernichef now nigh:
[Tempelhof, vi. 76.] two days ago (June 25th), Czernichef's
Cossacks "crossed the Oder at Auras,"--with how different objects
from those they used to have! JULY 1st, Czernichef himself is here,
in full tale and equipment. Had encamped, a day ago, on the Field
of Lissa; where Majesty reviewed him, inspected and manoeuvred him,
with great mutual satisfaction. "Field of Lissa;" it is where our
poor Prussian people encamped on the night of Leuthen, with their
"NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT," five years ago, in memorable circumstances:
to what various uses are Earth's Fields liable!

Friedrich, by degrees, has considerably changed his opinion, and
bent towards the late Keith's, about Russian Soldiery: a Soldiery
of most various kinds; from predatory Cossacks and Calmucks to
those noble Grenadiers, whom we saw sit down on the Walls of
Schweidnitz when their work was done. A perfectly steady obedience
is in these men; at any and all times obedient, to the death if
needful, and with a silence, with a steadfastness as of rocks and
gravitation. Which is a superlative quality in soldiers. Good in
Nations too, within limits; and much a distinction in the Russian
Nation: rare, or almost unique, in these unruly Times. The Russians
have privately had their admirations of Friedrich, all this while;
and called him by I forget what unpronounceable vernacular epithet,
signifying "Son of Lightning," or some such thing.
[Buchholz, Neueste Preussisch-Brandenburgische Geschichte
(1775), vol ii. (page irrecoverable).] No doubt they
are proud to have a stroke of service under such a one, since
Father Peter Feodorowitsh graciously orders it: the very Cossacks
show an alertness, a vivacity; and see cheery possibilities ahead,
in Countries not yet plundered out. They stayed with Friedrich only
Three Weeks,--Russia being an uncertain Country. As we have seen
above; though Friedrich, who is vitally concerned, has not yet
seen! But their junction with him, and review by him in the Field
of Lissa, had its uses by and by; and may be counted an epoch in
Russian History, if nothing more. The poor Russian Nation, most
pitiable of loyal Nations,--struggling patiently ahead, on those
bad terms, under such CATINS and foul Nightmares,--has it, shall we
say, quite gone without conquest in this mad War? Perhaps, not
quite. It has at least shown Europe that it possesses fighting
qualities: a changed Nation, since Karl XII. beat them easily, at
Narva, 8,000 to 80,000, in the snowy morning, long since!--

Czernichef once come, and in his place in the Camp of Tintz,
business instantly begins,--business, and a press of it, in right
earnest;--upon the hitherto idle Daun. July 1st, there is general
complex Advance everywhere on Friedrich's part; general attempt
towards the Mountains. Upon which Daun, well awake, at once rolls
universally thitherward again; takes post in front of the
Mountains,--on the Heights of Kunzendorf, to wit (Loudon's old post
in Bunzelwitz time);-and elaborately spreads himself out in defence
there. "Take him multifariously by the left flank, get between him
and his Magazine at Braunau!" thinks Friedrich. Discovering which,
Daun straightway hitches back into the Mountains altogether,
leaving Kunzendorf to Friedrich's use as main camp. His outmost
Austrians, on the edge of the Mountain Country, and back as far as
suitable, Daun elaborately posts; and intrenches himself behind
them in all the commanding points,--Schweidnitz still well in
sight; and Braunau and the roads to it well capable of being
guarded. Daun's Head-quarter is Tannhausen; Burkersdorf,
Ludwigsdorf, if readers can remember them, are frontward posts:--in
his old imperturbable way Daun sits there waiting events.

And for near three weeks there ensues a very multiplex series of
rapid movements, and alarming demonstrations, on Daun's front, on
Daun's right flank; with serious extensive effort (masked in that
way) to turn Daun's left flank, and push round by Landshut Country
upon Bohemia and Braunau. Effort very serious indeed on that
Landshut side: conducted at first by Friedrich in person, with
General Wied (called also NEUwied, a man of mark since Liegnitz
time) as second under him; latterly by Wied himself, as Friedrich
found it growing dubious or hopeless. That was Friedrich's first
notion of the Daun problem. There are rapid marches here, there,
round that western or left flank of Daun; sudden spurts of fierce
fighting, oftenest with a stiff climb as preliminary: but not the
least real success on Daun. Daun perfectly comprehends what is on
foot; refuses to take shine for substance; stands massed, or
grouped, at his own skilful judgment, in the proper points for
Braunau, still more for Schweidnitz; and is very vigilant
and imperturbable.

Kunzendorf Heights, which are not of the Hills, but in front of
them, with a strip of flat still intervening;--these, we said, Daun
had at once quitted: and these are now Friedrich's;--but yield him
a very complex prospect at present. A line of opposing Heights,
Burkersdorf, Ludwigsdorf, Leuthmannsdorf, bristling with abundant
cannon; behind is the multiplex sea of Hills, rising higher and
higher, to the ridge of the Eulenberg in Glatz Country 10 or 12
miles southward: Daun, with forces much superior, calmly lord of
all that; infinitely needing to be ousted, could one but say how!
Friedrich begins to perceive that Braunau will not do; that he must
contrive some other plan. General Wied he still leaves to prosecute
the Braunau scheme: perhaps there is still some chance in it;
at lowest it will keep Daun's attention thitherward. And Wied
perseveres upon Braunau; and Braunau proving impossible, pushes
past it deeper into Bohemia, Daun loftily regardless of him.
Wied's marches and attempts were of approved quality;
though unsuccessful in the way of stirring Daun. Wied's Light
troops went scouring almost as far as Prag,--especially a 500
Cossacks that were with him, following their old fashion, in a new
Country. To the horror of Austria; who shrieked loudly, feeling
them in her own bowels; though so quiet while they were in other
people's on her score. This of the 500 Cossacks under Wied, if this
were anything, was all of actual work that Friedrich had from his
Czernichef Allies;--nothing more of real or actual while they
stayed, though something of imaginary or ostensible which had its
importance, as we shall see.

Friedrich, in the third week, recalls Wied: "Braunau clearly
impossible; only let us still keep up appearances!" July 18th, Wied
is in Kunzendorf Country again; on an important new enterprise, or
method with the Daun Problem, in which Wied is to bear a principal
hand. That is to say, The discomfiture and overturn of Daun's right
wing, if we can,--since his left has proved impossible. This was
the STORMING OF BURKERSDORF HEIGHTS; Friedrich's new plan.
Which did prove successful, and is still famous in the Annals of
War: reckoned by all judges a beautiful plan, beautifully executed,
and once more a wonderful achieving of what seemed the impossible,
when it had become the indispensable. One of Friedrich's prettiest
feats; and the last of his notable performances in this War.
Readers ought not to be left without some shadowy authentic notion
of it; though the real portraiture or image (which is achievable
too, after long study) is for the professional soldier only,--for
whom TEMPELHOF, good maps and plenty of patience are the recipe.

"The scene is the Wall of Heights, running east and west, parallel
to Friedrich's Position at Kunzendorf; which form the Face, or
decisive beginning, of that Mountain Glacis spreading up ten miles
farther, towards Glatz Country. They, these Heights called of
Burkersdorf, are in effect Daun's right wing; vitally precious to
Daun, who has taken every pains about them. Burkersdorf Height (or
Heights, for there are two, divided by the Brook Weistritz; but we
shall neglect the eastern or lower, which is ruled by the other,
and stands or falls along with it), Burkersdorf Height is the
principal: a Hill of some magnitude (short way south of the Village
of Burkersdorf, which also is Daun's); Hill falling rather steep
down, on two of its sides, namely on the north side, which is
towards Friedrich and Kunzendorf, and on the east side, where
Weistritz Water, as yet only a Brook, gushes out from the
Mountains,--hastening towards Schweidnitz or Schweidnitz Water;
towards Lissa and Leuthen Country, where we have seen it on an
important night. Weistritz, at this part, has scarped the eastern
flank of Burkersdorf Height; and made for itself a pleasant little
Valley there: this is the one Pass into the Mountains. A Valley of
level bottom; where Daun has a terrific trench and sunk battery
level with the ground, capable of sweeping to destruction whoever
enters there without leave.

"East from Burkersdorf Lesser Height (which we neglect for the
present), and a little farther inwards or south, are Two other
Heights: Ludwigsdorf and Leuthmannsdorf; which also need capture,
as adjuncts of Burkersdorf, or second line to Burkersdorf; and are
abundantly difficult, though not so steep as Burkersdorf.

"The Enterprise, therefore, divides itself into two. Wied is to do
the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part; Mollendorf, the Burkersdorf.
The strength of guns in these places, especially on Burkersdorf,--
we know Daun's habit in that particular; and need say nothing.
Man-devouring batteries, abatis; battalions palisaded to the teeth,
'the pales strong as masts, and room only for a musket-barrel
between;' nay, they are 'furnished with a lath or cross-strap all
along, for resting your gun-barrel on and taking aim:'--so careful
is Daun. The ground itself is intricate, in parts impracticably
steep; everywhere full of bushes, gnarls and impediments.
Seldom was there such a problem altogether! Friedrich's position,
as we say, is Kunzendorf Heights, with Schweidnitz and his old
ground of Bunzelwitz to rear, Czernichef and others lying there,
and Wurben and the old Villages and Heights again occupied as
posts:--what a tale of Egyptian bricks has one to bake, your
Majesty, on certain fields of this world; and with such
insufficiency of raw-material sometimes!"

By the 16th of July, Friedrich's plans are complete. Contrived, I
must say, with a veracity and opulent potency of intellect,
flashing clear into the matter, and yet careful of the smallest
practical detail. FRIDAY, 17th, Mollendorf, with men and furnitures
complete, circles off northwestward by Wurben (for the benefit of
certain on-lookers), but will have circled round to Burkersdorf
neighborhood two days hence; by which time also Wied will be
quietly in his place thereabouts, with a view to business on the
20th and 21st. Mollendorf, Wied and everything, are prosperously
under way in this manner,--when, on the afternoon of that same
Friday, 17th, [Compare Tempelhof, vi. 99, and Rodenbeck, ii. 164.]
Czernichef steps over, most privately, to head-quarters: with what
a bit of news! "A Revolution in Petersburg [JULY 9th, as we saw
above, or as Herr Busching saw]; Czar Peter,--your Majesty's
adorer, is dethroned, perhaps murdered; your Majesty's enemies, in
the name of Czarina Catharine, order me instantly homeward with my
20,000!" This is true news, this of Czernichef. A most unexpected,
overwhelming Revolution in those Northern Parts;--not needing to be
farther touched upon in this place.

What here concerns us is, Friedrich's feelings on hearing of it;
which no reader can now imagine. Horror, amazement, pity, very
poignant; grief for one's hapless friend Peter, for one's still
more hapless self! "The Sisyphus stone, which we had got dragged to
the top, the chains all beautifully slack these three months past,
--has it leapt away again? And on the eve of Burkersdorf, and our
grand Daun problem!" Truly, the Destinies have been quite dramatic
with this King, and have contrived the moment of hitting him to the
heart. He passionately entreats Czernichef to be helpful to him,--
which Czernichef would fain be, only how can he? To be helpful;
at least to keep the matter absolutely secret yet for some hours:
this the obliging Czernichef will do. And Friedrich remains,
Czernichef having promised this, in the throes of desperate
consideration and uncertainty, hour after hour,--how many hours I
do not know. It is confidently said, [Retzow, ii. 415.] Friedrich
had the thought of forcibly disarming Czernichef and his 20,000:--
in which case he must have given up the Daun Enterprise;
for without Czernichef as a positive quantity, much more with
Czernichef as a negative, it is impossible. But, at any rate, most
luckily for himself, he came upon a milder thought: "Stay with us
yet three days, merely in the semblance of Allies, no service
required of you, but keeping the matter a dead secret;--on the
fourth day go, with my eternal thanks!" This is his milder
proposal; urged with his best efforts upon the obliging Czernichef:
who is in huge difficulty, and sees it to be at peril of his head,
but generously consents. It is the same Czernichef who got lodged
in Custrin cellars, on one occasion: know, O King,--the King,
before this, does begin to know,--that Russians too can have
something of heroic, and can recognize a hero when they see him!
In this fine way does Friedrich get the frightful chasm, or sudden
gap of the ground under him, bridged over for the moment;
and proceeds upon Burkersdorf all the same.

Of the Attack itself we propose to say almost nothing. It consists
of Two Parts, Wied and Mollendorf, which are intensely Real; and of
a great many more which are Scenic chiefly,--some of them Scenic to
the degree of Drury-Lane itself, as we perceive;--all cunningly
devised, and beautifully playing into one another, both the real
and the scenic. EVENING OF THE 20th, Friedrich is on his ground,
according to Program. Friedrich--who has now his Mollendorf and
Wied beside him again, near this Village of Burkersdorf; and has
his completely scenic Czernichef, and partly scenic Ziethen and
others, all in their places behind him--quietly crushes Daun's
people out of Burkersdorf Village; and furthermore, so soon as
Night has fallen, bursts up, for his own uses, Burkersdorf old
Castle, and its obstinate handful of defenders, which was a noisier
process. Which done, he diligently sets to trenching, building
batteries in that part; will have forty formidable guns, howitzers
a good few of them, ready before sunrise. And so,

WEDNESDAY, 21st JULY, 1762, All Prussians are in motion, far and
wide; especially Mollendorf and Wied (VERSUS O'Kelly and Prince de
Ligne),--which Pair of Prussians may be defined rather as near and
close; these Two being, in fact, the soul of the matter, and all
else garniture and semblance. About 4 in the morning, Friedrich's
Battery of 40 has begun raging; the howitzers diligent upon O'Kelly
and his Burkersdorf Height,--not much hurting O'Kelly or his
Height, so high was it, but making a prodigious noise upon O'Kelly;
--others of the cannon shearing home on those palisades and
elaborations, in the Weistritz Valley in particular, and quite
tearing up a Cavalry Regiment which was drawn out there; so that
O'Kelly had instantly to call it home, in a very wrecked condition.
Why O'Kelly ever put it there--except that he saw no place for it
in his rugged localities, or no use for it anywhere--is still a
mystery to the intelligent mind. [Tempelhof, vi. 107.]
The howitzers, their shells bursting mostly in the air, did O'Kelly
little hurt, nor for hours yet was there any real attack on
Burkersdorf or him; but the noise, the horrid death-blaze was
prodigious, and kept O'Kelly, like some others, in an agitated,
occupied condition till their own turn came.

For it had been ordered that Wied and Mollendorf were not to attack
together: not together, but successively,--for the following
reasons. TOGETHER; suppose Mollendorf to prosper on O'Kelly (whom
he is to storm, not by the steep front part as O'Kelly fancies, but
to go round by the western flank and take him in rear); suppose
Mollendorf to be near prospering on Burkersdorf Height,--unless
Wied too have prospered, Ludwigsdorf batteries and forces will have
Mollendorf by the right flank, and between two fires he will be
ruined; he and everything! On the other hand, let Wied try first:
if Wied can manage Ludwigsdorf, well: if Wied cannot, he comes home
again with small damage; and the whole Enterprise is off for the
present. That was Friedrich's wise arrangement, and the reason why
he so bombards O'Kelly with thunder, blank mostly.

And indeed, from 4 this morning and till 4 in the afternoon, there
is such an outburst and blazing series of Scenic Effect, and
thunder mostly blank, going on far and near all over that District
of Country: General This ostentatiously speeding off, as if for
attack on some important place; General That, for attack on some
other; all hands busy,--the 20,000 Russians not yet speeding, but
seemingly just about to do it,--and blank thunder so mixed with not
blank, and scenic effect with bitter reality, [Tempelhof, vi.
105-111.]--as was seldom seen before. And no wisest Daun, not to
speak of his O'Kellys and lieutenants, can, for the life of him,
say where the real attack is to be, or on what hand to turn
himself. Daun in person, I believe, is still at Tannhausen, near
the centre of this astonishing scene; five or six miles from any
practical part of it. And does order forward, hither, thither,
masses of force to support the De Ligne, the O'Kelly, among
others,--but who can tell what to support? Daun's lieutenants were
alert some of them, others less: General Guasco, for instance, who
is in Schweidnitz, an alert Commandant, with 12,000 picked men, was
drawing out, of his own will, with certain regiments to try
Friedrich's rear: but a check was put on him (some dangerous shake
of the fist from afar), when he had to draw in again. In general
the O'Kelly supports sat gazing dubiously, and did nothing for
O'Kelly but roll back along with him, when the time came. But let
us first attend to Wied, and the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25