The Arsenal

By 1740 the flintlock musket was universal across European armies, replacing the earlier matchlock and doglock designs. Firing a .69–.75 caliber lead ball from a smoothbore barrel, a trained soldier could deliver three to four volleys per minute. The Prussian army under Frederick William I had developed loading and firing drills to a mechanical precision that allowed Prussian infantry to deliver a higher sustained rate of fire than any rival. The British Long Land Pattern ('Brown Bess') and the French Charleville were the two dominant national patterns, widely copied.

The socket bayonet — which fitted around the muzzle rather than plugging it — had by 1740 entirely replaced the plug bayonet and the pike in most European armies. It allowed a soldier to fire and then immediately present a pike-point without reloading. Austrian, Prussian, French, and British armies all used national variants. The bayonet charge remained a psychologically decisive weapon even when casualties from it were relatively low.

Field cannon in the 3- to 12-pounder range formed the backbone of battlefield artillery. Named for the weight of their iron roundshot, they fired solid shot for long range, grapeshot for anti-personnel use at close range, and canister for devastating short-range fire against infantry. Frederick the Great increasingly grouped his guns in batteries rather than dispersing them along the line, concentrating fire for decisive effect. Austria's artillery was often heavier and better equipped than Prussia's early in the war.

The howitzer fired at a higher trajectory than a cannon, lobbing shells in an arc that could drop behind fortifications or reach troops sheltering in depressions. Its shells were hollow iron spheres packed with powder and fitted with a fuse, designed to burst among enemy formations. Prussian Brummbär (growling bear) howitzers were used effectively in siege operations and to reach troops behind cover.

The heavy cavalry saber — long, slightly curved, with a substantial hand-guard — was the decisive weapon of the mounted arm. Frederick the Great, after the cavalry disaster at Mollwitz, reformed Prussian cavalry tactics to emphasize the charge at the gallop with cold steel, forbidding his horsemen from firing pistols before contact. This aggressive doctrine, implemented by General Seydlitz in the Seven Years' War but begun here, made Prussian cavalry the most feared in Europe.

Cavalrymen carried a shortened flintlock carbine (for shoulder fire from horseback) and one or two pistols for close-quarters use. Despite Frederick's doctrine forbidding their use before a charge, pistols and carbines remained standard equipment for dragoons and hussars who operated in a more flexible role — screening, raiding, and reconnaissance rather than shock action.

Hollow iron spheres packed with powder and fitted with a slow-match fuse, hand grenades were the specialty weapon of elite grenadier companies — the tallest, strongest men in each regiment, selected for their ability to throw accurately. Grenadiers were typically formed into composite battalions for assault tasks, and their distinctive bearskin or mitre caps (replacing the normal tricorne, which was knocked off by throwing) became a mark of elite status.

The mortar was a short, wide-bore weapon firing shells at very high angles into fortifications, designed to drop rounds over walls and into enclosed spaces that cannon fire could not reach. Mortars were essential siege weapons, used extensively in the siege warfare that accompanied the campaign in the Austrian Netherlands (Saxe's methodical reduction of fortresses) and in the Silesian theater.

The heaviest field guns — 18- and 24-pounders — were used primarily for siege work, battering fortress walls at close range to create breaches for infantry assault. Moving these weapons required enormous logistical effort: teams of draft horses, specialized carriages, and engineer support. Prussian siege operations against fortified Silesian towns and French sieges in the Netherlands both relied on this heavy ordnance.

While smoothbore muskets were universal for line infantry, Jäger (hunter) units in Prussian and some Austrian service carried rifled weapons — longer, heavier, and much slower to load, but accurate to 200–300 yards. Jägers were recruited from gamekeepers, hunters, and foresters who were already skilled marksmen. They served as light infantry skirmishers, sharpshooters, and screening forces.

The spontoon was a decorative and functional half-pike carried by infantry officers as a mark of rank and command tool. At 6–7 feet long with a cross-piece below the blade, it could parry sword strokes and direct soldiers by pointing. By 1740 it was primarily ceremonial in most armies, though officers still used it to dress the line and signal formations. British and Austrian officers carried spontoons; Prussian officers were more likely to carry a cane as a disciplinary tool.