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Battle of Warburg
Part of the Seven Years' War
Date 31 July 1760 Location Warburg, Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn, present-day Germany Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Hanover Great Britain Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Hesse-Kassel	France
Commanders and leaders
Prince Ferdinand	Louis de Muy
Strength
62,000 (16,000 engaged)	130,000 (20,000 engaged)
Casualties and losses
1,200 dead or wounded	1,500 dead or wounded 1,500 prisoners 12 guns lost

The Battle of Warburg was a battle fought on 31 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War. The battle was a victory for the Hanoverians and the British against a slightly larger French army. The victory meant the Anglo-German allies had successfully defended Westphalia from the French by preventing a crossing of the Diemel River, but were forced to abandon the allied state of Hesse-Kassel to the south. The fortress of Kassel ultimately fell, and would remain in French hands until the final months of the war, when it was finally recaptured by the Anglo-German allies in late 1762.

The British general, John Manners, Marquess of Granby, became famous in the battle for charging at the head of the British cavalry and losing his hat and wig during the charge. The French lost 1500 men, killed and wounded, around 1,500 prisoners and ten pieces of artillery.

Historical background

Political context

In 1748, the Treaty of Aachen had ended the War of Austrian Succession. The disputed former Austrian provice of Silesia was awarded to Prussia, and a few Italian provinces changed hands, but otherwise the pre-war status quo remained unchanged. The same tensions that had led England and France to fight on different sides, primarily over colonial possessions in India and North America, came to a head again just a few years later. In 1754, French and English forces were fighting skirmishes in the Ohio River Valley, while in Europe, Prussia and Britain agreed to the Convention of Westminster, causing Austria, Russia, and France ally themselves in what became known as the Diplomatic Revolution.

In May 1756, England declared war on France, followed by the outbreak of fighting in Central Europe when Prussia invaded the Electorate of Saxony in August. The Anglo-Prussian strategy was for England to provide Prussia with subsidies to engage France on the Continent and protect the Electorate of Hanover, where British King George II had been born and where he remained Duke in a personal union with Great Britain. French strategy in the war was to occupy Hanover and use it as a bargaining chip against colonial possessions it knew it was unlikely to be able to defend in the face of British naval superiority.

Prussia and it's allies, including Hanover and a number of other German principalities, sent an army under the command of the Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, King George II's third son, to keep the French out of Hanover and Prussia's western holdings.

Battle

Aftermath and significance