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Schematic plan · War of the Austrian Succession

Battle of Chotusitz

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreCentreHorseHorseLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

Habsburg Empire (Aus Army, 29,000 men under Lorraine) attacked Prussia (Pr Army, 24,500 men under Frederick II) in Bohemia. The CAA Database of Battles records 4 hours of fighting on a front of 3.4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Prussia held. Losses: Habsburg Empire 6,332 (22%), Prussia 4,819 (20%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Habsburg Empire

Lorraine

UnitArmMen
Habsburg Empire left wingInfantry4,416
Habsburg Empire centreInfantry5,888
Habsburg Empire right wingInfantry4,416
Habsburg Empire reserveInfantry3,680
Habsburg Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry5,000
Habsburg Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry5,000
Habsburg Empire artillery (40 guns)Artillery600
LorraineCommander—
In this plan29,000

Prussia

Frederick II

UnitArmMen
Prussia left wingInfantry3,905
Prussia centreInfantry5,206
Prussia right wingInfantry3,905
Prussia reserveInfantry3,254
Prussia cavalry of the leftCavalry3,500
Prussia cavalry of the rightCavalry3,500
Prussia artillery (82 guns)Artillery1,230
Frederick IICommander—
In this plan24,500

What the sources report

Habsburg EmpirePrussia
Strength, this plan29,00024,500
Losses, this plan6,3324,819

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 56, “Chotusitz”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
3.4 km (attacker), 3.7 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Habsburg Empireattacker29,0006,33210,00040Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Prussiadefender24,5004,8197,00082Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1 · surprise +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.