r" he would never have had the opportunity of doing
so. Thus Leopold, heartily supported by Frederick William, who was
himself called the great drill-master of Europe, turned to good
account the twenty years following the peace with Sweden. During this
time two incidents in his career call for special mention: first,
his intervention in the case of the crown prince Frederick, who
was condemned to death for desertion, and his continued and finally
successful efforts to secure Frederick's reinstatement in the Prussian
army; and secondly, his part in the War of the Polish Succession on
the Rhine, where he served under his old chief Eugene and held the
office of field marshal of the Empire.

[v.02 p.0047]

With the death of Frederick William in 1740, Frederick succeeded to
the Prussian throne, and a few months later took place the invasion
and conquest of Silesia, the first act in the long Silesian wars and
the test of the work of the "Old Dessauer's" lifetime. The prince
himself was not often employed in the king's own army, though his sons
held high commands under Frederick. The king, indeed, found Leopold,
who was reputed, since the death of Eugene, the greatest of living
soldiers, somewhat difficult to manage, and the prince spent most of
the campaigning years up to 1745 in command of an army of observation
on the Saxon frontier. Early in that year his wife died. He was
now over seventy, but his last campaign was destined to be the most
brilliant of his long career. A combined effort of the Austrians and
Saxons to retrieve the disasters of the summer by a winter campaign
towards Berlin itself led to a hurried concentration of the Prussians.
Frederick from Silesia checked the Austrian main army and hastened
towards Dresden. But before he had arrived, Leopold, no longer in
observation, had decided the war by his overwhelming victory of
Kesselsdorf (December 14, 1745). It was his habit to pray before
battle, for he was a devout Lutheran. On this last field his words
were, "O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days. Or if Thou
wilt not help me, do not help these scoundrels, but leave us to try it
ourselves." With this great victory Leopold's career ended. He retired
from active service, and the short remainder of his life was spent at
Dessau, where he died on the 7th of April 1747.

He was succeeded by his son, LEOPOLD II., MAXIMILIAN, PRINCE OF
ANHALT-DESSAU (1700-1751), who was one of the best of Frederick's