The
Battle of Hastenbeck (26 July 1757) was fought during the Seven Year's War between the allied forces of
HanoverThe Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
,
Hesse-KasselThe Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a reichsfreie principality of the Holy Roman Empire that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel) and Brunswick and the French. The allies were defeated by the French army near
HamelinHamelin is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 58,696 ....
in the
Electorate of HanoverThe Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
.
The French, who were allied with
AustriaThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
,
RussiaThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
,
SwedenSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
and
SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
during the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
, invaded Germany in April 1757 with two armies, altogether about 100,000 soldiers.
The
Battle of Hastenbeck (26 July 1757) was fought during the Seven Year's War between the allied forces of
HanoverThe Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
,
Hesse-KasselThe Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a reichsfreie principality of the Holy Roman Empire that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel) and Brunswick and the French. The allies were defeated by the French army near
HamelinHamelin is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 58,696 ....
in the
Electorate of HanoverThe Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
.
Prelude
The French, who were allied with
AustriaThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
,
RussiaThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
,
SwedenSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
and
SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
during the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
, invaded Germany in April 1757 with two armies, altogether about 100,000 soldiers. The French hoped to draw the attention of the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
, which was allied with England and Hanover, away from the Bohemian theatre where Prussia and Austria fought several battles (
LobositzThe Battle of Lobositz or Lovosice on 1 October 1756 was the opening land battle of the Seven Years' War. Frederick the Great's 29,000 Prussians prevented Field Marshal Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne 34,500 Austrians from relieving their besieged Saxon allies, who surrendered two weeks...
,
PragueIn the Battle of Prague or Battle of Štěrboholy on May 6, 1757 Frederick the Great's 67,000 Prussians forced 60,000 Austrians to retreat, but having lost 14,300 men Frederick decided he was not strong enough to attack Prague.-Prelude:...
,
KolinThe Battle of Kolín on June 18, 1757 saw 44,000 Austrians under Count von Daun defeat 32,000 Prussians under Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War...
).
One of the two French armies under command of Prince de Soubise marched through central Germany. They joined the Imperial Army, or "Reichsarmee", commanded by Prinz von Hildburghausen. This coalition army later met a Prussian army at the
Battle of RossbachThe Battle of Rossbach took place during the Seven Years' War near the village of Roßbach, in the Electorate of Saxony. Frederick the Great defeated the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman/Austrian Empire...
on 5 November 1757 with disaster.
The other French army commanded by Marshal Louis Charles d'Estrées consisted of about 50,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry and 68 cannons. The army advanced towards the Electorate of
HanoverHanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
. Prussia was heavily involved with its enemies Austria, Russia and Sweden and therefore was not able to help on the western front. This task was given to the Hanoverian Army of Observation which only had little support from Prussia, namely six Prussian battalions. The main part of the "Hanoverian Army of Observation" came from Hanover (about 60%) and Hesse (about 25%), smaller additional forces from Brunswick and Prussia. The total strength of the Hanoverian Army of Observation consisted of about 30,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and 28 guns. The army was commanded by William Augustus the Duke of Cumberland who was a son of King
George II of Great BritainGeorge II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death....
.
Hanover refused to defend the river
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
which is farther to the west than the river Weser. This left the Prussians no choice than to abandon their fortress in Wesel and to give up the line of the
LippeLippe is a Kreis in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Schaumburg, Hameln-Pyrmont, Holzminden, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld....
river in April. Cumberland's main objective was preventing the occupation of Hanover. He first concentrated his army at
BielefeldBielefeld is a county borough in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at on both the western and eastern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest. With its population of 326,000, it is the biggest city of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region...
, and then after a brief stand in Brackwede, Cumberland decided to cross the Weser south of
MindenMinden is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Minden-Lübbecke.-Geography:Minden is located on the Weser river below the Porta Westfalica gap.-Neighbouring places:-Division of the town:...
. The main idea was to use the Weser as a natural defense line and to make it impossible for the French troops to cross the river. The Duke of Cumberland deployed his main forces at Hamelin which is a couple of kilometers to the northwest from Hastenbeck and left the Prussian battalions as garrison forces to Minden. He also deployed small patrols all along the Weser. Meanwhile the French sent a detachment to the North to capture
EmdenEmden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
on 3 July, which was an important access point for Britain to Europe. Later they sent another detachment to the south which took
KasselKassel Kassel Kassel and of the district (Kreis) of the same name...
on 15 July.
During the night of 7 July a strong French advance guard crossed the river Weser close to the town Beverungen. While the river Weser normally cannot be easily forded, during the summer the water level drops down to a low of 80 cm (~3 feet) between Münden and Hameln, making it possible for infantry and cavalry to cross. The French advance troops then marched to the north and established a bridgehead at
HöxterHöxter is the seat of the Höxter district, and a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia on the left bank of the river Weser, 52 km north of Kassel in the centre of the Weser Uplands...
. The main army crossed the river Weser on 16 July leaving the Duke of Cumberland no choice than to deploy his troops south of Hamelin and to engage d'Estrées. The Prussian battalions were then recalled by
Frederick the GreatFrederick II was a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was Frederick IV of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
, after losing the Battle of Kolin against Austria.
The battle
The armies finally met on the morning of 25 July at the village of Hastenbeck. The commander of the French right flank, general
François de ChevertFrançois de Chevert was a French general.Chevert entered service in 1706, became major in Beauce's regiment in Toul in 1728, later in 1739 lieutenant-colonel. He distinguished himself in Flanders, Piemont and Germany and herefore rewarded by a more important command...
, was ordered to engage Hanoverian troops at the village of Voremberg, but failed to drive them out. As the French left under general
Duc de BroglieVictor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie was a French aristocrat and soldier and a marshal of France. He served with his father, François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, at Parma and Guastalla, and in 1734 obtained a colonelcy....
was still crossing the Weser near Hameln, d'Estrées decided to postpone the battle until all his troops were up.
The next day saw the Hanoverian army holding on a line from Hamelin to Voremberg. Their right flank was anchored on the Hamel river and the Hastenbach creek. The center of the Hanoverian front was deployed north of the town of Hastenbeck and an artillery battery was situated on high ground behind the town. The Hanoverian left consisted of two entrenched batteries with grenadier battalions protecting the guns. The left flank was anchored on the Obensburg. Cumberland made the mistake in assuming the hill to be impassable to formed troops and deployed a meagre three Jäger companies on its summit, effectively leaving the Hanoverian left flank in the air.
General Chevert was ordered to flank the Hanoverian position with four brigades containing troops from
PicardyThis article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France. The historical capital and largest city is Amiens....
, la Marine, Navarre and
EuEu is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.Eu is located near the coast in the eastern part of the department, near the border with Picardie.Its inhabitants are known as the Eudois.-Geography:...
. At 09.00 hours this force advanced toward the Obensburg in three battalion columns and quickly overwhelmed the Jägers. The Duke of Cumberland, seeing his position threatened from the rear, ordered his reserves and the grenadier battalions protecting the guns to recapture the Obensburg. The use of these grenadier battalions in the counterattack on the Obensburg meant they were no longer available in the center when the main French attacks went in against the Hanoverian center.
The French main attack consisted out of general d'Armentieres' attack against Voremberg with five brigades of infantry plus four regiments of dismounted dragoons. At the same time, the French center assaulted the battery immediately north of it. The Hanoverian grand battery was able to repulse several of the French attacks but eventually the guns were overrun. When the Hanoverian reserve infantry arrived on the Obensburg, they were able to turn the tide momentarily, but as the Duke of Cumberland had begun to withdraw his army, they were unable to maintain the now isolated position for long.
Outcome
The Battle of Hastenbeck is one of the most curious battles in history, since both commanders-in-chief thought that they lost the battle and were already starting to withdraw from the battlefield. The battle eventually resulted in the
Convention of KlosterzevenThe Convention of Klosterzeven was a 1757 convention signed at Klosterzeven between France and the Electorate of Hanover during the Seven Years' War that led to Hanover's withdrawal from the war and partial occupation by French forces...
and the occupation of
HanoverHanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
. During the battle Hastenbeck was almost completely destroyed, only the
church, the manse and the farm house were not destroyed.