The invasion of Saxony, in 1756, by Frederick II, King of Prussia, handed Austria, under Maria Theresa, a huge political advantage, by ceding to her the moral high ground which enabled Austria to gather together almost all of the states in Europe to punish Frederick.While each of the major powers had its own aims and tended, from national pride, to operate independently, if they ever effectively united, Frederick was doomed.Because of the huge disparity in numbers, Frederick’s only hope lay in defeating his enemies piecemeal, by utilising his much shorter interior lines of communication and relying on the historically standard delay and muddle in the deployment of the massive Russian military machine.

After Rossbach, in 1757, Frederick could largely discount the French and leave them to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and his Allied army, with a watching brief being kept by Prince Henry of Prussia.

This book gives details of the Coalition armies to the west of Prussia. These consisted of France – including Saxony – and the Reichsarmee.

The forthcoming 3rd Volume will detail the other members of the Coalition - Austria, Sweden and Russia.