Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz was a Prussian officer, lieutenant general, and among the most renowned of the Prussian cavalry generals. He commanded one of the first hussar squadrons of Fred
1854 portrait
Seydlitz smoked a pipe, and when he tossed it away, it was the sign for his troopers to proceed. Depicted here at the Battle of Rossbach, in a section of a history painting by Richard Knötel.
Statue of Seydlitz at Wilhelmplatz in Berlin (painting from 1872)
Statue of Seydlitz at Wilhelmplatz in Berlin in 2018
Battle of Rossbach
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The Battle of Rossbach took place on 5 November 1757 during the Third Silesian War near the village of Rossbach, in the Electorate of Saxony. It is sometimes called the Battle of, or at, Reichardtswer
Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz
…battlefield situation and to understand intuitively what needed to be done: he excelled at converting the king's directives into flexible tactics. At the Battle of Rossbach, his cavalry was instrumental in routing the French and Imperial armies. His cavalry subsequently played an important role in crushing the Habsburg and…
Schlacht bei Roßbach
Small copses of trees broke the landscape. (Near Reichardtswerben)
Gentle elevation changes created little natural cover for troop movements. (Near Branderoda)
Thomas Carlyle referred to the hills as negligible.