The First Silesian War was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia from Austria. The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia.
Prussian and Austrian cavalry fighting at the Battle of Mollwitz, by August Heinrich Ferdinand Tegetmeyer
Maria Theresa of Austria c. 1744, by Martin van Meytens
Frederick the Great receiving the homage of the Silesian estates in 1741, depicted in an 1882 painting by Wilhelm Camphausen
Maria Theresa being crowned Queen of Hungary, St Martin's Cathedral, Pressburg
Frederick II was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia, declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Silesian wars, his reorganisation of the Prussian Army, the First Partition of Poland, and his patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great and was nicknamed "Old Fritz".
Portrait by Johann Georg Ziesenis (1763)
Portrait of 24-year-old Frederick as the crown prince of Prussia by Antoine Pesne (1736, Huis Doorn, Netherlands)
Frederick's marriage to Elisabeth Christine at Schloss Salzdahlum by J. G. Schmidt [de] (1733)
Rheinsberg Palace, Frederick's residence from 1736 to 1740