📅 On This Day in Military History
1 event across history
Frederick's last major offensive battle — and his bloodiest victory. Attacking Field Marshal Daun's entrenched Austrian army on the heights of Torgau, Frederick split his force in a double envelopment. The first Prussian column was repulsed with devastating losses; Frederick himself was briefly knocked unconscious by a spent bullet. General Ziethen's cavalry and infantry arrived at dusk and broke the Austrian right. The Austrians withdrew, leaving the field to Prussia — and 40,000 dead and wounded between both sides.
Torgau demonstrated both Prussian resilience and the war's accelerating attrition. Frederick won the field but could not exploit the victory — his army was bleeding out. Prussia had entered the war with one of the finest armies in Europe; by 1760 it was being rebuilt with boys and older men conscripted from conquered Saxony. Frederick knew the war could not be sustained much longer. The salvation he needed came from St. Petersburg, not the battlefield.
Full battle details →