Editing War of the Austrian Succession (section)

==Campaign of 1740==
[[File:Crown of Bohemia 1648.png|thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]]; in 1742, most of [[Silesia]] was [[Treaty of Berlin (1742)|ceded]] to Prussia]]

[[Frederick the Great|Frederick II]] succeeded his father [[Frederick William I of Prussia|Frederick William]] as king of Prussia on 31 May 1740 at the age of 28. Although Prussia had increased in importance over the prior few decades, its disparate and scattered territories prevented it wielding significant power, a reality Frederick intended to change.{{sfn|Luvaas|1966|p=3}} The death of Emperor Charles VI on 20 October 1740 provided him with an ideal opportunity to acquire Silesia,{{Sfn|Robinson|2016 |pp=291–332}} but he needed to do so before [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus of Saxony and Poland]] could pre-empt him.{{sfn|Davies|2005|p=507}}

With a population of 16&nbsp;million, Austria had an authorised [[Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor|standing army]] of 157,000, although financial restraints meant its true size was considerably less than that in 1740.{{sfn|Black|1994|p=62}} Since they had a much greater area to defend, their army was more of "a sieve" than a shield against foreign invasion.{{sfn|Browning|1993|p=20}} In contrast, the [[Prussian Army]] was better trained and led than its opponents, while its standing army of 80,000 was disproportionately large, at around 4% of its 2.2&nbsp;million population.{{sfn|Browning|1993|p=24}} To add to these advantages, in April 1739 Frederick ensured Austria faced war on two fronts when [[Louis XV]] of France agreed to attack from the west, while Prussia did so from the north.{{sfn|Asprey|2007|p=129}}

In early December 1740, the Prussian army assembled along the river [[Oder]] and on 16 December invaded Silesia without a formal declaration of war.{{sfn|Asprey|2007|p=164}} Since Austrian military resources were concentrated in Hungary and [[Italy]], they had fewer than 3,000 troops in Silesia, although this increased to 7,000 shortly before the invasion. They held on to the fortresses of [[Glogau]], [[Breslau]], and [[Brzeg|Brieg]], but abandoned the rest of the province and withdrew into [[Margraviate of Moravia|Moravia]], with both sides taking up winter quarters.{{sfn|Anderson|1995|p= 68}} In under two weeks Prussia had occupied most of the richest province in the Holy Roman Empire, containing a population of over one million, and the commercial centre of [[Wrocław|Breslau]] along with mining, weaving and dyeing industries.{{sfn|Armour|2012|pp=99–101}} However, Frederick underestimated Maria Theresa's determination to reverse her loss, while the retention of Austrian fortresses in Southern Silesia meant a quick victory could not be achieved.{{sfn|Anderson|1995|pp=69–72}}

{{Anchor|Campaign of 1741}}