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| Siege of Prague | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theWar of the Austrian Succession | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Austria |  France Bavaria Saxony | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Maurice de Saxe | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Entire garrison surrenders | Light | ||||||
Thebattle of Prague (1741) was a successful French capture of the Austrian cityPrague.
In continuance of the policy of his father,Charles of Bavaria aspired to an even higher rank. As son-in-law ofJoseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles rejected thePragmatic Sanction of 1713 and claimed the German territories of the Habsburg dynasty after the death of emperorCharles VI in 1740. By theTreaty of Nymphenburg, which was concluded in July 1741, Charles became allied with France and Spain against Austria.[1]
During theWar of the Austrian Succession, Charles invadedUpper Austria in 1741 and planned to conquerVienna, but his allied French troops under theDuc de Belle-Isle were instead redirected toBohemia.
Maurice de Saxe, an experienced commander renowned for his intellectual grasp of the principles of war, discreetly went forward to reconnoiter the walled city's defenses in person and launched a surprise operation. With help of ColonelFrançois de Chevert, he outlined a plan for a body of grenadiers to assault the walls by night. In order to avoid alerting the small Prague garrison, the assault would be made without firing muskets; only bayonets were used to dispatch the soldiers on guard duty. On the night of 25 to 26 November, the Franco-Bavarian-Saxon troops climbed onto the parapet of a poorly defended section of the walls and had taken possession before the garrison realized what was afoot. The city gate was opened, and Saxe's cavalry rode in, leaving Prague's defenders no choice but to surrender.
Charles Albert was crownedKing of Bohemia the following day and later also briefly held the title ofHoly Roman Emperor. However, Prague's capture did not significantly alter the course of the war, since the following month Austrian generalLudwig Andreas von Khevenhüller launched a winter counter-offensive, reversing most of the enemy's gains. Prague would beliberated by the Austrians again in December 1742.[2]