Battle of Kolin
The Battle of Kolin was a battle fought on June 18, 1757 during the Seven Years' War.
A Prussian army of 32,000 men fought an Austrian army under Daun of 44,000 men. The Prussians lost the battle and nearly 14,000 men, the Austrians lost 9,000 men.
Friedrich II. had won a battle against Austria and was now sieging Prague.
Marshall Daun had been too late to participate in the battle of Prague, but picked up 16,000 men who had escaped from the battle of Prague. With this army he slowly moved to relieve Prague and the Prussian forces had to be split.
Friedrich took 32,000 of his men to intercept Daun. Knowing that the Prussian forces were to weak to both siege Prague and keep Daun away from Prague for a longer time (or to fight the Austrian army reinforced by the Prague garrison), the Austrian took defence positions on hills at Wien, and entailed raising the siege of Prague, and the Prussians fell back on Leitmeritz. The Austrians, reinforced by the 48,000 troops in Prague, followed them 100,000 strong, and, falling on Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, who was retreating eccentrically (for commissariat reasons) on Zittau, inflicted a severe check upon him.
The king was compelled to abandon Bohemia.
Fredrick blamed his defeat on his generals such as Prince Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau.
The truth is more subtle. The greatest blame must be laid in Fredrcik himself. He opted for an assault against a numerically superior opponent. He choose a risky strategy for the battle. An often underestimated factor in the battle was the tenacious and skillful defense organized by the Austrian marshall Daun.
In other battles Fredrick opted for the same flanking strategy, and won a brilliant victory. The Austrian army under Daun not only withstood the Prussian assaults but also selected the correct momentum for a careful counter attack.
