Zorndorf 1758: Frederick faces Holy Mother Russia

Osprey Campaign #125

by Simon Millar, Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Osprey's study of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). In January 1758 Count Wilhelm Fermor marched into East Prussia at the head of 45,000 Russians. Frederick the Great was dismissive of the Russian army and failed to take the threat seriously. With the Russians laying siege to the fortress of Cüstrin, Frederick crossed the River Oder and cut their supply lines. On 25 August the two armies met at Zorndorf. This book details the bitter day-long battle in which the Russian infantry refused to buckle. Casualties were horrific, the Russians losing almost half their army. Frederick had managed to stave off the Russian threat but his opinion of their army had changed dramatically.

Genres: Military History, History, European History

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2003

Reviews

[Glyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear description of one of the less well understood periods of the 7 Years War.

There is a sense of after the Lord Mayor's show to the campaigns of 1758. The previous year had been a remarkable ride. Frederick the Great had suffered his first defeat at Kolin, before crushing both the main French and Austrian armies in a truly remarkable winter campaign, Elsewhere the war in North America had seen the fall of Fort Wiliam Henry and a bloody massacre, whilst in India Robert Clive had won a remarkable victory at Plassey to make Britain the most powerful force in that part of the world. All of these have been recorded by Osprey's Campaign series.

1758 however is a far less well understood beast and that is what Simon Millar tries to defeat with this volume. Holy Mother Russia intervened against Prussia and they proved a foe that even Frederick would struggle to defeat. Millar lists the campaign throughout the year with Zorndorf being it's bloody centrepiece.

This is a difficult battle to describe because, as the author admits, it is far from clear what was going on both for the generals on the ground and modern historians attempting to make sense of it all. Given that, Millar does a good job. His writing is clear and you know who is supposed to be where. He follows the standard Campaigns series format and this is a good work for students of the period. One minor critiicism is that he expects you to know how both armies fought from other works but that does not affect one's ability to understand it too greatly.

[Steven]

Another great issue in the Osprey series.

[Sean Chick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is less tight than expected and their are some holes in the book, such as little discussion of the Prussian army at the time of the battle.