History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 03Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 03
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
He himself follows hard;--swift riding enough, in the summer night,
through those damp Havel lands, in the old Hohenzollern fashion: and
indeed old Freisack Castle, as it chances,--Freisack, scene of Dietrich
von Quitzow and LAZY PEG long since,--is close by! Follows hard, we
say: strikes in upon this midmost party (nearly twice his number, but
Infantry for the most part); and after fierce fight, done with good
talent on both sides, cuts it into utter ruin, as proposed. Thereby
he has left the Swedish Army as a mere head and tail WITHOUT body; has
entirely demolished the Swedish Army. [Stenzel, ii. 350-357.] Same feat
intrinsically as that done by Cromwell, on Hamilton and the Scots, in
1648. It was, so to speak, the last visit Sweden paid to Brandenburg, or
the last of any consequence; and ended the domination of the Swedes
in those quarters. A thing justly to be forever remembered by
Brandenburg;--on a smallish modern scale, the Bannockburn, Sempach,
Marathon, of Brandenburg. [See Pauli, v. 161-169; Stenzel, ii. 335,
340-347, 354; Kausler, _Atlas des plus memorables Batailles, Combats
et Sieges,_ or _Atlas der merkwurdigsten Schlachten, Treffen und
Belagerungen_ (German and French, Carlsruhe and Freiburg, 1831), p. 417,
Blatt 62.]
Exploit Second was four years later; in some sort a corollary to
this; and a winding-up of the Swedish business. The Swedes, in farther
prosecution of their Louis-Fourteenth speculation, had invaded Preussen
this time, and were doing sad havoc there. It was in the dead of winter,
Christmas, 1678, more than four hundred miles off; and the Swedes, to
say nothing of their other havoc, were in a case to take Konigsberg, and
ruin Prussia altogether, if not prevented. Friedrich Wilhelm starts
from Berlin, with the opening Year, on his long march; the Horse-troops
first, Foot to follow at their swiftest; he himself (his Wife, his
ever-true "Louisa," accompanying, as her wont was) travels, towards the
end, at the rate of "sixty miles a day." He gets in still in time, finds
Konigsberg unscathed. Nay it is even said, the Swedes are extensively
falling sick; having, after a long famine, found infinite "pigs, near
Insterburg," in those remote regions, and indulged in the fresh pork
overmuch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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