e last male descendant of the house of
Hapsburg, died in October, 1741, leaving his daughter, Maria Theresa,
to retain, if possible, his extensive dominions against the various
claimants who had not acknowledged the Pragmatic Sanction: an act by
which the emperor had bequeathed to her all the possessions of his
house. Frederick William had not acknowledged this deed, so that
Frederick was not bound by it; and having some well-grounded claims on
the duchies of Silesia, prepared to make them good--by force of arms,
if necessary--the moment the emperor died. The desire "to be spoken
of" was, as he himself confesses, one of his principal motives for
action on this occasion.

The young king resolved to lead the army he had inherited, personally
into the field; and as the Austrians were totally unprepared for the
visit, the principalities were occupied without resistance. It was not
till April 10, 1741, that an Austrian force, under General Neipperg,
came to give him the meeting; and there was but little wanting to have
rendered the battle of Molwitz, the first of Frederick's fields, the
last also. The ground was covered with snow. Both parties were of
about equal strength, and took up their ground, as the king himself
tells us, in a manner alike unskilful; but, on the part of the
tactician, this very want of skill tended to gain the battle; for
three battalions of the first line, not finding room to form up, were
thrown back _en potence_ on the extremity of the right wing, and, as
we shall see, repulsed the Austrian cavalry by their fire at the most
critical moment of the battle. The Austrians had been very merry at
the expense of the Prussian system of tactics, and had promised to
beat the pipe-clay out of their jackets at the first meeting; and now
the words of scorn were to be made good.

After the usual salutation of artillery, the Imperial cavalry,
practised in the Turkish wars, fell at full gallop upon the Prussian
cavalry of the right wing, and overthrew them in an instant; for, like
the infantry, they had been taught only to fire. Following up their
success, the Austrian horsemen dashed at the flank of the Prussian
infantry; but here the three battalions already mentioned as thrown
back _en potence_, presented a steady front, and by their rapid fire
repulsed the assailants, who, having their commander killed, seeing
the despised and pipe-clayed warriors standing immovably in their
ranks, from which a fire of never-