The Battle of Burkersdorf took place on 21 July 1762 during the Third Silesian War (part of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

). A

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n army of 23,000 men fought an Austrian army of around 20,000 men. After the death of

Elizabeth of Russia Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of Russian rulers, Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, ...

, czarina of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, her nephew Peter III came to the throne. Peter was a great admirer of

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

and all things Prussian, and Frederick used this to his advantage. Peter promptly withdrew his army from the war, abandoned Russian-occupied East Prussia, and signed a treaty of peace with Frederick. Peter then sent a force to aid the Prussian army in the campaign against the Austrians. Peter's reign was short-lived, however, as his wife

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

seized the throne, and he died shortly afterwards. Catherine withdrew from the war and sent orders for Count Zakhar Tchernyshov aiding the Prussians to withdraw. The Austrian army was not aware of the exit of the Russian forces until Frederick began the battle. Frederick attacked and won, and the Russian force returned home. Catherine's attempts to resume the war against Prussia were in vain, as peace talks were already being initiated at Hubertsberg.

References

*
"Battle of Burkersdorf Frederick the Great"
''www.britishbattles.com.'' Retrieved 30 November 2023.

Specific

External links

* Battle of Burkersdorf Battles of the Seven Years' War Battles involving Prussia Battles involving Austria 1762 in the Habsburg monarchy Battles of Frederick the Great Battles of the Silesian Wars History of Lower Silesian Voivodeship {{Austria-battle-stub