Frederick the Great: the Battle of Maxen, 1759 ⚔️ (Part 16)

The Battle of Maxen was a fierce encounter in the Seven Years' War. On that fateful day, the Austrian army, under the command of Field Marshal Daun, sprang a surprise ambush on the unsuspecting Prussian army led by General Finck. The Prussians were taken off guard, but they fought back with relentless determination, striking back at the enemy with ferocity.
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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:49 After Kunersdorf
7:47 The Battle of Maxen
14:00 Aftermath
Watch my documentary series:
►Battles and History of Prussia: • Prussian Battles
►End of Empire - Downfall of the Qing Dynasty playlist: • End of Empire - China'...
►World War 2 playlist: • World War 2
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If you have any feedback, questions or criticism feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion truly aids me in improving the content of the channel! If you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I will either write a reply, answer your question in a Q&A video, or make an entire video about it!
📚 Sources:
Asprey, Robert B. Frederick the Great: The magnificent enigma. Ticknor & Fields, 1986.
Blanning, Tim. Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. Penguin UK, 2015.
Clark, Christopher M. Iron kingdom: the rise and downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947. Harvard University Press, 2006.
Duffy, Christopher. Frederick the Great: a military life. Routledge, 2015.
Fraser, David. Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. Penguin Uk, 2000.
Redman, Herbert J. Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War, 1756-1763. McFarland, 2014.
Kronoskaf.com
Written by House of History
🎵 Music courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
#HouseofHistory #History

[@HoH]

📜This video is not sponsored. Support House of History on Patreon and for as little as $1 per video you get ad-free early access to my videos and help support my work: www.patreon.com/houseofhistory

[@JoeOvercoat]

Just FYI, I’m having difficulty recalling which side a given army is on whenever it is just the general’s avatar, perhaps because I don’t really care about the generals names in many cases, rather I just care about where the armies moved and what happened on the battlefield….so not having any flags or colors to go by leaves a viewer like me behind.

[@yourroyalchungusness]

I love that for every austrian victories with Daun in command, it's always ended with "Daun was too cautious, he didn't exploit his victories"

[@HoH]

Every. Time.

[@luitpoldwalterstorffer2446]

As Austrian this is hard to watch. I think Daun was a paid actor! Or corrupted by some freemasonish conspiracy that he should act to secure Prussia's existence... I mean they had them after the battle of Kunersdorf. The way was open! 1758 only the battle of Hochkirch!??? Maria Theresa must have been so frustrated with her Generals. She always had to force them to attack.

[@commy1231]

So many losses for Fritz, hard to believe that they turned it around. Can’t wait to see them start winning again but that wasn’t for another couple of years if I remember correctly. I hope you keep making these and cover the seven year war until the end.

[@elmascapo6588]

Yeah the campaign of 1760 doesn't start good for old Fritz, but theb he turns it into a bad time for everyone involved. He even defeats Daun

[@LoLMasterManiac]

Another high quality video on Frederick the Great's campaign, my favourite content of yours, thank you House of History. I hope you will continue and cover all of Fredericks wars and battles.

[@HoH]

More to come!

[@LoLMasterManiac]

@@HoH I will be patiently waiting, sir.

[@benjaminrobbins8458]

The fact that Frederick somehow lead Prussia through all of this…. And they didn’t get partitioned… that’s unbelievable

[@Back4Fungame]

a german legend, but not without consequences

[@huntermad5668]

At the end it was luck more than anything else, Frederick was lost but voila, the Tsar was dead ...

[@phbrinsden]

It’s so good to hear the narration in perfect English but also pronouncing all European names with local skill.

[@DaHuuudge]

I’ve had a sort of vague idea of Frederick as a military genius, which may indeed be the case… but I never understood how his ultimate success was bought at the cost of many catastrophic blunders and defeats.

[@luisangelgonzalezmunoz7071]

I think that he consistently underestimated his opponents, and did not credit them with initiative. Daun was deceptively slow, but he could see an opportunity for a surprise when it arose, and exploited it to the full. He also attacked Frederick by surprise at Hochkirch, and inflicted a catastrophic defeat on him. Frederick was not prudent enough and suffered as a a result.

[@linming5610]

I realized why the Prussians were defeated in Jena and aurstedt badly. It finally makes sense if things like this happened during seven years war.

[@elmascapo6588]

@@luisangelgonzalezmunoz7071 Daun was even more cautius that old Mac could have ever dreamed off. Never attaking unless he was sure he will win. And even then he never exploited his victories, the best cases being both Maxen and Hochkirch. Especially the second one, it was a slauther with that ended in no serious strategic change, no city was taken, and he país high for his victory. Compare that to say, leuthen. In wich after the battle and persuit the austrians were left with less than 30.000 men of the original 100.000 that invaded silesia in 1757

[@blecao]

​@@elmascapo6588 Mac wasnt cautius by any mean He literally adventured on an atack on Baviera alone despite having orders to dont do exactly that

[@elmascapo6588]

@@blecao i'm talking about the Mac of the civil war

[@augustin5611]

It's not that Daun didn't exploited his victory but rather that the weather wouldn't allow it. When Frederick II sent Flink to his rear, Daun was already on the way to Dresden for his winter quarters. His victory didn't made the weather any better and he still had to go south if he didn't want to see his army starving. Furthermore with a dozen thousand prisoners.

[@reinodemacedonia7962]

I was waiting for this serie for the past two months, still one of your best works here in the channel, thanks for this HQ content!

[@KHK001]

Yes the seven years war is back! love this series thanks HOH!

[@michelwardynski6498]

Really enjoying the extended attention you’re giving to this series

[@HoH]

Thanks for noticing! 😄

[@aquilae1670]

Wow, you see really how your quality has improved over the years! I'm very glad that you shed light on rather unknown/undocumented periods of history here on YT.

[@jsudlow12]

A battle field that Napoleon would see about 50 years later, so much history

[@buninparadise9476]

You have risen to another quality level Great work

[@ludwigjohanssen3108]

At last! Beautiful! I wish to see more of the Seven Years war.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Ouch this defeat must've been very painful for Prussia. Great video

[@HoH]

Very!

[@DaHuuudge]

Damn your videos have become excellent. Hats off to you sir!! And thank you for covering the Seven Years War in Europe, and important episode of history of which I know little.

[@jaredsluss2239]

Love this series!

[@personnex4776]

Hi House of History thank you very much for this video about frederick II !

[@xjuliussx]

this looks like the most stupid move and manoeuvre in any campaign of history. He send Finck to wolf den and he left for good values 15.000 infantry to be captured.

[@elmascapo6588]

It's bot the first time he does this. In the opening months of 1759, he sent his brother to do a similar campaign to danage the enemies logistics and he was far more succesfull than flink

[@blecao]

@@elmascapo6588 I think one of the problems is that this cut from suply need to be done eigther by a strong contingent or by small irregular forces Frederick on this situation had none of both

[@elmascapo6588]

@@blecao the problem was that fred thought that Flink was his brother. Who did far more with at least a third of the men

[@Saleh-994]

@@elmascapo6588 Henry was certainly brilliant but he could afford to ignore some orders, flink couldn't, and these orders doomed him, I don't know about his orders to Henry but Blanning described Frederick's orders to flink as suicide.

[@elmascapo6588]

@@Saleh-994 that's not actually truth. There are many cases where Frederick's generals just wipping their ass with his orders and not being punished because they won. The two best examples being Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz at Zorndorf and Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau during the entire winter campaing of 1745 ending with the victory at Kesselsdorf

[@mputilin]

Just keep what you were doing. Not many content creators make content about this time period.

[@Another_opinion_]

It still surprises me how lucky Prussia was in that war. They were facing an enemy who clearly had no will to win this war.

[@xyz8512]

Great stuff! Well done.

[@1987MartinT]

1759 was the darkest year for Prussia during the Seven Years' War. It was indeed Frederick who is at fault for sending Finck on this dangerous mission in the first place, so he bears the blame for that. Finck is at fault for standing his ground against Daun, when he'd probably have been far better off avoiding this fight, or attacking one of the three forces arrayed against him(preferably the Reichsarmee, as it was the smallest).

[@xornxenophon3652]

I also wondered what the strategic idea behind that mission was. Raiding supply routes can be done by cavalry alone. Threatening to cut off the entire supply line would be better done with the whole army (if at all), as the whole prussian army probably could have fougth off the enemy. But putting a small army in front of your vastly superior enemy is calling for a beating. One wonders what Frederick the Great thought what would happen.

[@1987MartinT]

@@xornxenophon3652 In all honesty, Frederick's skills as a general are very mixed, to me at least. There are times where I go "Wauw! This guy's a genius!" And there are times where I go "Wauw! This guy's an idiot!"

[@xornxenophon3652]

@@1987MartinT That is indeed true. One wonders whether Frederich truly decided on strategy and battle-tactics himself or whether he was more dependend on his professional generals. That would explained why we have those very mixed results between brilliant and simply horribly dumb.

[@nathanhull8302]

YAYYY MORE FREDERICK IVE BEEN WAITING

[@charlesiragui2473]

And how did he spend his time during this depressing year? Writing a monograph of one of the most crushing failures in European military history, Charles XII of Sweden. Charles may have been an even better general than Frederick and yet he made one mistake and was defeated, erasing everything that he had accomplished. Nice things to contemplate Frederick! It probably showed what steely nerve Frederick had.

[@xornxenophon3652]

In those times, political leaders spoke several languages, were educated in law, science and philosophy and were well versed in history. Maybe abolishing monarchy was a bad idea after all?

[@charlesiragui2473]

@@xornxenophon3652 That was the age of the “Enlightened Despots”. Frederick certainly agreed with you.

[@sirwolly]

finally a new 7 years war video 🤩

[@marchfabmeirchiawn_OGISM]

I loved this video and your content overall. I didnt know about this battle beforhand but I was often in the region. It is kinda funny and surprising that Maxen a village with nearly 500 people holds so much history. In the time of August the strong it provident marble for his court and magnificent palace "der Zwinger" in Dresden. This coincidence reminded me to keep my eyes open as history can be found anywhere❤!

[@angelostriandos6659]

Thank you, nice video as always, better even !

[@HoH]

Glad you liked it!

[@jedrzejlehman3987]

Great job !

[@szalard]

Thumbs up for this great video.

[@The_Mad_King]

Woah ! That was a butt kicking

[@luffyh7193]

Will you cover asia anytime soon? If you do I recommend Nader shahs campaigns known as napoleon of the east

[@davidhunt8685]

Love the way the narrator sounds like the first highlander

[@zackcantrell9689]

I do love too hear military history involving Prussia.

[@lukaswarkus677]

Thx

[@Back4Fungame]

very good

[@konst80hum]

Thank you for the video as it helps visualise historic moments that would otherwise be unknown to most. I have a question however. The paintings in the video, obviously some date from the period others give me the impression of being AI created. Is this the case? If so well done using it to enhance your video.

[@enalb5085]

killer music

[@GarfieldRex]

Nice video! Would like to see more about the Great Captain Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and the Italian wars

[@HoH]

Great suggestion, I will see what I can find!

[@metarus208]

welcome back

[@blecao]

Maybe do a war of the spanish succesion video as well?

[@rommel2993]

Where is this artwork coming from? In other recent videos I'm seeing painting-like images of Frederick I can't find anywhere on Google. Is this the work of your art team?

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Time to hire mercenary armies with what ducats left…

[@HoH]

And enlist minors. Frederick lamented he longed for the day he wouldn't have to send children into war.

[@theblindlucario5093]

@@HoHslacken recruitment mechanic in real life is actually so tragic

[@stilianjordanov2952]

@House of History when will you release another video about the Third Silesian War? Will the next video be the Battle of Liegnitz(1760) or the Second Battle of Landeshut(1760)?

[@HoH]

Landeshut! I am working on it as we speak.

[@stilianjordanov2952]

@@HoH Thank you!

[@LightxHeaven]

The new narrator will do wonders to your channel I believe.

[@HoH]

I really hope so! It is an investment. 😉

[@stilianjordanov2952]

Hey @House of History I have to inform you General Finck's army actually numbered 14,000 soldiers(11,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry). In the Battle of Maxen the Prussians lost 3,000 men killed, while the rest of the army became prisoners of war.

[@HoH]

The numbers aren't exactly certain and are contested among surviving sources. What is for sure is that he was heavily outnumbered 😉

[@gerardjagroo]

12:46 Is this map 100% accurate with that narrow valley with only 2 entrances?! If so it might have been a good idea to draw up there in that narrow valley where the Austrians could only attack from 2 possible avenues and where the likelihood of being surrounded and destroyed would be minimal. The Prussian could hole up in there and bleed every Austrian attack and all he'd have to worry about would have been the Austrian artillery and starving. At least it might have bought them enough time for a rescue to be mounted and Austrian casualties would have been way higher

[@Velkan1396]

The hands don't lie

[@themsmloveswar3985]

Complete victory by Daun.

[@ReaperCH90]

If I did not know how it will end, I would assume this is the beginning of the end of Prussia

[@cleanmyshortsdavidtrucchio4502]

Poor finck! He should have been considered a hero instead of court marshalled. Him and his soldiers were brave knowing they were out numbered

[@jarogniewtheconqueror2804]

I am glad you liked my previous suggestion, I just feel like giving you another suggestion if it helps with your list. Lopez Santa Anna the infamous Mexican Napoleon. Self-proclaimed of course, let's see how good he really is. He is not covered anywhere except one Biographics video by Simon

[@elmascapo6588]

SPOILER!!! He wasn't

[@jarogniewtheconqueror2804]

@@elmascapo6588 Well that's a shame, I wanted to see how an Austerlitz style campaign would look like in Mexico

[@elmascapo6588]

@@jarogniewtheconqueror2804 the closest you'll have would be Scott campaign to ciudad de México, during the mexican american war

[@elmascapo6588]

@@jarogniewtheconqueror2804 pro tip: if someone compares himself to napoleon, chances are that they are the most incompetent military mind ever

[@jarogniewtheconqueror2804]

@@elmascapo6588 I will have a look if there's anything on that. And thanks for the pro tip 😄

[@paranoidandroid6095]

5:35

[@robertburk5550]

Never understood why he is "Alexander the great" and not "Alexander the lucky". He made so so so many huge mistakes but only came out on top because of the bigger mistakes of his enemies, absolutely nothing made him "great".

[@UndergroundDev]

Fink was just following orders

[@frog6581]

why would Fink not attempt to break out?

[@ricardotrevisanb]

What were the swedes doing around this time? Waiting the winter pass? Or did they not want a complete defeat for prussia?

[@elmascapo6588]

They aleardy suffered significant defeats during the summer and spring, they weren't going to risk their small army on winter

[@Leaffordes]

​@@elmascapo6588 The Swedes had not suffered any significant defeats, nor had they dealt any to the Prussians (except for Frisches Haff perhaps); only minor skirmishes among towns, villages or during retreats had been fought so far, with casualties never reaching above 1,000 (AFAIK). Their problem was that the generals were way too cautious despite often outnumbering the Prussians. So, without winning a lot of ground to feed their army, they often suffered due to insufficient supplies where they stood - early on, the light cavalry of the Prussians also caused the Swedes a lot of problems in terms of gathering supplies. The times the Swedes actually did advance, Frederick often just sent reinforcements which compelled them to withdraw again. The first proper (but small) field battle occurred in 1761(!) at Neuensund, where the Swedes won. Subsequently, they won another small engagement at Neukalen early 1762, before Russia withdrew from the war, which compelled Sweden to do the same. Operationally, the Swedes did quite poorly. Tactically, however, they actually performed quite well - especially later on.

[@papaholke6909]

BUT Finck Place his ALL of his Army in AND around Maxen IF Finck SPLIT and Place his troop NEAR after RheinhardsGrima AND the road to Wittgendorf MAYBE the history WILL be different

[@Odysseus1313]

Why didn’t he maneuver toward Dresden with finck. He sent a general unsupported so close to the enemy position, this seems like a huge error.

[@HoH]

Dresden was fortified and very well garrisoned. A siege would have been a failure as well, probably. I suspect the best move would have been inaction and await winter.

[@blecao]

A siege against a force 1/3 bigger than yours with a lot of your army being raw conscripts and on winter seems quite worse to be honest

[@Odysseus1313]

It would’ve been a failure a siege yes, but maneuvering your army as to get your enemy to react to you is what I think he was trying to achieve. I just don’t understand Frederick would make a mistake like it seems like he half committed to this stratagem.

[@anselmdanker9519]

A tale of Prussian defeat. Interesting.

[@amtmannb.4627]

Strange pictures with a lot of obviously wrong uniforms. What is the reason for the late 18th century/early 19th century uniforms (high collars, epaulettes etc.)? Very interesting battle from a strategic point of view. I prefered the videos with the author looking in the camera - these scenes made your videos special.

[@Thomas_Name]

No way! Prussia doesn't make mistakes! You take that back!

[@ElBandito]

"SHAMEFUR DISPRAY!"

[@month32]

Daun should have ended the war a year before!

[@user-dw3kl5mh8n]

Россия - бастион военной мощи мира. Фридрих Великий подтвердит.

[@istvanszoke381]

Are we talking abt Frederic ''The Great'? Can't be him, right?

[@angelostriandos6659]

Those prussians, always fighting against the whole world, xaxaxaxac

[@TheLocalLt]

Why are you putting on a British accent? Just speak how you normally do, the content speaks for itself.

[@bertoltbrecht7714]

Kinda disturbing that you use AI generated stuff, this war have really good period art coverage, and all this art is in free access. Dislike.

[@HoH]

There is not nearly enough art available about the specific 1759 campaign. Especially for these narratives and campaigns. If anything, that type of generated art adds another dimension and allows me to cover topics and events I wouldn't be able to cover with animation.

[@elivinture6672]

@@HoH I actually loved it especially the pictures of Fredrick all worn out, Please use more of it.

[@HoH]

@@elivinture6672 good to know, thank you!