Yes, died, and poor EC, losing not one but two brothers in Frederician battles...
Oh, no, it's even worse than that!
For context, the battle of Soor is in 1745, Second Silesian War, Fritz wins the battle but loses his dogs (gets at least one of them back), EC's brother Albrecht dies, Fritz writes condolence letters to two of Albrecht's siblings saying, "I'm only surprised he didn't die sooner!" *facepalm*
Well, from one of the military history books I'm reading: "No less than three ducal brothers of Brunswick were fighting on one side or the other at the battle of Soor in 1745. Ferdinand was a brigade commander on the Prussian left; Ludwig was facing him on the Austrian right; the third brother, the young Albrecht, was killed on the Prussian right."
Fritz, what have you done?!
At least Ferdinand and Ludwig didn't get killed in his battles. And the youngest brother who got killed at Hochkirch was too young to be at Soor.
Re Albrecht, my book provides this additional context:
"Volunteers were individuals who attached themselves to the army or a regiment, without making any claim to pay or rank from the force concerned...Typically the volunteers were types like high-spirited young gentlemen, clerks or schoolmasters in search of adventure, card-sharps, fugitives, or foreign princes completing their knowledge of the world.
"A number of the volunteers made themselves genuinely useful. However, most of the surviving evidence indicates that the tribe was a nuisance. The volunteers got in the way of busy men. They occupied accommodation which might otherwise have been available for the wounded, and their horses chomped through precious forage. They were accused of seeing too little, and getting themselves killed for no particular reason, like young Duke Albrecht of Brunswick at Soor."
I mean, Fritz, I never said you were wrong about this guy, just that announcements of his death purporting to be condolence letters to his nearest and dearest may not the place to go, "See? See?! I told you so!"
Now for some military history background for cahn.
On the subject of 2 of EC's brothers dying in Frederician battles, Fritz had a pretty high turnover among his officers, because 1) he had high casualties in his battles (one reason people are starting to put question marks around "???great tactician???"), 2) he insisted on his officers leading from the front lines, so they were part of those casualties.
Now, one of the things Fritz got a lot of respect and even acclaim for from contemporaries and posterity was his commitment to leading from the front himself. Not in every engagement, he considered that blatantly irresponsible (you need continuity of leadership to win a war, and the general at the top can't be getting himself killed every day), but he always said, when the going got tough, the men needed to see that he wasn't asking them to do anything he wouldn't do. And he lived on campaign, was always on site, never stayed home and told his army to go win his wars for him.
He was grazed by bullets (and I think was knocked out once), had several horses shot under him, had bullets tear through his clothes...the fact that he didn't get killed in one of his own battles was just sheer dumb luck. This is part of why he was constantly writing wills and writing letters to AW going, "If I kick it, you're in charge." And he was doing all this campaigning with numerous health problems that would have me calling in sick at work.
This kind of behavior was not usual for reigning monarchs in the 18th century. Maybe MT would have done it if she'd had the chance, George II was present at at least one battle that I can name off the top of my head, but it was definitely exceptional.
(It's also dumb luck that none of Fritz's brothers got killed, especially Heinrich. Heinrich, if he wasn't leading his own forces independently--and granted, he was less engagement-happy when it came to deciding to give battle in unfavorable circumstances--was usually on a horse near his brother in the same battles.)
It has been argued that leadership traits like this helped Fritz compensate for his "I see no reason not to engage with the enemy today and lose 10% of the army again but declare it a victory" approach to tactics that had people like Heinrich constantly facepalming. And while delegating to better tacticians would have been an A+ leadership move, imo, it's also worth noting this is the same decision-making process as "I see no reason we can't win this three-and-a-half front war."
Less fun was the part where Fritz used to drag musicians on his campaigns. They weren't meant to go anywhere near combat, but they had to endure the privations of campaigning, and still be expected to perform up to his exacting standards. I gather it was not considered enviable to be selected to accompany the King to war.
Oh, I can't leave this discussion about Fritz fighting in the front lines without bringing up the infamous topic of Mollwitz. It was Fritz's very first battle, he did not show well, and (in part due to what my biographers have attributed to Austrian propaganda), he took a lot of heat for it. What happened was he made bad tactical decisions at the beginning, things started to fall apart, and young Fritz panicked. He was apparently darting here and there and everywhere on the field, in the thick of the fighting, trying to rally everyone, not demonstrating cool-headed leadership.
One of his most experienced generals, Field Marshal von Schwerin, took him aside and said, "Your Majesty, you're going to get yourself killed, and then where will we be? Please leave the battlefield so we can regroup and live to fight another day."
Reluctantly, Fritz let himself be talked into leaving. They were, of course, in enemy territory (you know, like you are when you invade your minding-their-own-business neighbors), so he wandered around for a while, looking for safety and narrowly avoiding being captured, and spent the night hiding out and depressed that he had lost his first battle.
Next day, someone finds him and informs him that Schwerin turned things around and won the battle in his absence, oops.
Friedrich's feelings were, as you can imagined, MIXED. MIXED AS HELL. Obviously, not losing your first battle in your first "I started this war in my arrogant conviction it would be easy" war is great! But while he obviously had to reward Schwerin for his actions, he personally never forgave him, officially for talking him into leaving the field, but really, we all suspect, also for daring to win. (Fritz, possibly not the world's greatest team player.)
Now, I bring this up because Fritz's reputation for courage took a hit as a result of his decision to *leave* a battlefield in the *middle* of the battle. How cowardly! But from what I've gathered from reading various sources, it seems to have been the case rather that Schwerin was worried because he was displaying too much personal courage and not enough leadership, in that he was putting himself in danger for no great benefit and not making good decisions. Regardless, pretty much everyone is convinced Schwerin talked Fritz into leaving not just to save his life, but because he had some better decisions in mind. Which most of us agree Fritz would have found hard to forgive.
My favorite part of this story is that anyone can flee a battle, lose the battle, and feel shame, but being talked into leaving the battle and then having it won without you...the embarrassment much have been something special. ;)
Anyway, Fritz seems to have treated this as a lesson (he called Mollwitz his "school"), and learned a few things.
Btw, apparently even before he started invading, shortly after he inherited in 1740, people were already noticing that he did not want to listen to advice and wanted not just to make all the decisions himself, but to come up with all the ideas himself, and some people were starting to worry, because, as someone pointed out, "He's only 28. He can't possibly have learned everything about everything yet."
Fritz: Never mind that. Onward to Silesia! Also, have I mentioned I teach castrati how to sing?
Re: Random facts
Oh, no, it's even worse than that!
For context, the battle of Soor is in 1745, Second Silesian War, Fritz wins the battle but loses his dogs (gets at least one of them back), EC's brother Albrecht dies, Fritz writes condolence letters to two of Albrecht's siblings saying, "I'm only surprised he didn't die sooner!" *facepalm*
Well, from one of the military history books I'm reading: "No less than three ducal brothers of Brunswick were fighting on one side or the other at the battle of Soor in 1745. Ferdinand was a brigade commander on the Prussian left; Ludwig was facing him on the Austrian right; the third brother, the young Albrecht, was killed on the Prussian right."
Fritz, what have you done?!
At least Ferdinand and Ludwig didn't get killed in his battles. And the youngest brother who got killed at Hochkirch was too young to be at Soor.
Re Albrecht, my book provides this additional context:
"Volunteers were individuals who attached themselves to the army or a regiment, without making any claim to pay or rank from the force concerned...Typically the volunteers were types like high-spirited young gentlemen, clerks or schoolmasters in search of adventure, card-sharps, fugitives, or foreign princes completing their knowledge of the world.
"A number of the volunteers made themselves genuinely useful. However, most of the surviving evidence indicates that the tribe was a nuisance. The volunteers got in the way of busy men. They occupied accommodation which might otherwise have been available for the wounded, and their horses chomped through precious forage. They were accused of seeing too little, and getting themselves killed for no particular reason, like young Duke Albrecht of Brunswick at Soor."
I mean, Fritz, I never said you were wrong about this guy, just that announcements of his death purporting to be condolence letters to his nearest and dearest may not the place to go, "See? See?! I told you so!"
Now for some military history background for
On the subject of 2 of EC's brothers dying in Frederician battles, Fritz had a pretty high turnover among his officers, because 1) he had high casualties in his battles (one reason people are starting to put question marks around "???great tactician???"), 2) he insisted on his officers leading from the front lines, so they were part of those casualties.
Now, one of the things Fritz got a lot of respect and even acclaim for from contemporaries and posterity was his commitment to leading from the front himself. Not in every engagement, he considered that blatantly irresponsible (you need continuity of leadership to win a war, and the general at the top can't be getting himself killed every day), but he always said, when the going got tough, the men needed to see that he wasn't asking them to do anything he wouldn't do. And he lived on campaign, was always on site, never stayed home and told his army to go win his wars for him.
He was grazed by bullets (and I think was knocked out once), had several horses shot under him, had bullets tear through his clothes...the fact that he didn't get killed in one of his own battles was just sheer dumb luck. This is part of why he was constantly writing wills and writing letters to AW going, "If I kick it, you're in charge." And he was doing all this campaigning with numerous health problems that would have me calling in sick at work.
This kind of behavior was not usual for reigning monarchs in the 18th century. Maybe MT would have done it if she'd had the chance, George II was present at at least one battle that I can name off the top of my head, but it was definitely exceptional.
(It's also dumb luck that none of Fritz's brothers got killed, especially Heinrich. Heinrich, if he wasn't leading his own forces independently--and granted, he was less engagement-happy when it came to deciding to give battle in unfavorable circumstances--was usually on a horse near his brother in the same battles.)
It has been argued that leadership traits like this helped Fritz compensate for his "I see no reason not to engage with the enemy today and lose 10% of the army again but declare it a victory" approach to tactics that had people like Heinrich constantly facepalming. And while delegating to better tacticians would have been an A+ leadership move, imo, it's also worth noting this is the same decision-making process as "I see no reason we can't win this three-and-a-half front war."
Less fun was the part where Fritz used to drag musicians on his campaigns. They weren't meant to go anywhere near combat, but they had to endure the privations of campaigning, and still be expected to perform up to his exacting standards. I gather it was not considered enviable to be selected to accompany the King to war.
Oh, I can't leave this discussion about Fritz fighting in the front lines without bringing up the infamous topic of Mollwitz. It was Fritz's very first battle, he did not show well, and (in part due to what my biographers have attributed to Austrian propaganda), he took a lot of heat for it. What happened was he made bad tactical decisions at the beginning, things started to fall apart, and young Fritz panicked. He was apparently darting here and there and everywhere on the field, in the thick of the fighting, trying to rally everyone, not demonstrating cool-headed leadership.
One of his most experienced generals, Field Marshal von Schwerin, took him aside and said, "Your Majesty, you're going to get yourself killed, and then where will we be? Please leave the battlefield so we can regroup and live to fight another day."
Reluctantly, Fritz let himself be talked into leaving. They were, of course, in enemy territory (you know, like you are when you invade your minding-their-own-business neighbors), so he wandered around for a while, looking for safety and narrowly avoiding being captured, and spent the night hiding out and depressed that he had lost his first battle.
Next day, someone finds him and informs him that Schwerin turned things around and won the battle in his absence, oops.
Friedrich's feelings were, as you can imagined, MIXED. MIXED AS HELL. Obviously, not losing your first battle in your first "I started this war in my arrogant conviction it would be easy" war is great! But while he obviously had to reward Schwerin for his actions, he personally never forgave him, officially for talking him into leaving the field, but really, we all suspect, also for daring to win. (Fritz, possibly not the world's greatest team player.)
Now, I bring this up because Fritz's reputation for courage took a hit as a result of his decision to *leave* a battlefield in the *middle* of the battle. How cowardly! But from what I've gathered from reading various sources, it seems to have been the case rather that Schwerin was worried because he was displaying too much personal courage and not enough leadership, in that he was putting himself in danger for no great benefit and not making good decisions. Regardless, pretty much everyone is convinced Schwerin talked Fritz into leaving not just to save his life, but because he had some better decisions in mind. Which most of us agree Fritz would have found hard to forgive.
My favorite part of this story is that anyone can flee a battle, lose the battle, and feel shame, but being talked into leaving the battle and then having it won without you...the embarrassment much have been something special. ;)
Anyway, Fritz seems to have treated this as a lesson (he called Mollwitz his "school"), and learned a few things.
Btw, apparently even before he started invading, shortly after he inherited in 1740, people were already noticing that he did not want to listen to advice and wanted not just to make all the decisions himself, but to come up with all the ideas himself, and some people were starting to worry, because, as someone pointed out, "He's only 28. He can't possibly have learned everything about everything yet."
Fritz: Never mind that. Onward to Silesia! Also, have I mentioned I teach castrati how to sing?