Prince Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau

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Prince Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau (1712-1760) was a Prussian soldier.

He entered the Prussian army in 1725, saw his first service as a volunteer in the War of the Polish Succession (1734-35), and in the latter years of the reign of Frederick William held important commands. In the Silesian wars of Frederick II, Moritz, the ablest of the old Leopold's sons, greatly distinguished himself, especially at the battle of Hohenfriedberg (Striegau), 1745.

At Kesselsdorf it was the wing led by the young Prince Moritz that carried the Austrian lines and won the "Old Dessauer's" last fight. In the years of peace preceding the Seven Years' War, Moritz was employed by Frederick the Great in the colonizing of the wastelands of Pomerania and the Oder Valley. When the king took the field again in 1756, Moritz was in command of one of the columns which hemmed in the Saxon army in the lines of Pirna, and he received the surrender of Rutowski's force after the failure of the Austrian attempts at relief.

Next year Moritz underwent changes of fortune. At the battle of Kolin he led the left wing, which, through a misunderstanding with the king, was prematurely drawn into action and failed hopelessly. In the disastrous days which followed, Moritz was under the cloud of Frederick's displeasure. But the glorious victory of Leuthen (December 5, 1757) put an end to this. At the close of that day, Frederick rode down the lines and called out to General Prince Moritz, "I congratulate you, Herr Feldmarschall!" At Zorndorf he again distinguished himself, but at the surprise of Hochkirch fell wounded into the hands of the Austrians. One year later, soon after his release, his wound proved mortal.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.