26 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5On 31 December Frederick and his grenadiers arrived outside the
massive ramparts of Breslau. The main gates were shut against them,
but the wickets were open, and a stream of tradesmen's lads made for
the lines of brass-capped Prussians, bearing wine, bread, fish and
meat, and dragging casks of beer behind them on little sledges.
Through his emissaries Frederick guaranteed the city fathers that
he would uphold all the municipal privileges and that he had no
intention whatsoever of establishing a garrison there. In return he
desired only that Breslau should keep out the Austrians as well. The
magistracy agreed to these terms, and the appropriate document was
signed on the morning of 3 January. Frederick preceded his assent
with the formula 'in the present circumstances and as long as they
hold good'. This was dismissed as an unimportant detail at the time.
Meanwhile Frederick and a symbolic suite were allowed to make
a ceremonial entry. Just before noon on the same 3 January the royal
train entered by wayoftheSchweidnitzerTor. Frederick's table silver
was first through the gate. It was borne on pack-horses, which were
draped with hangings of blue silk, all a-dangle with gold tassels and
little bells. Frederick himself was mounted on a mettlesome steed. His
blue silken cloak was bedaubed with the falling snowflakes, but he
repeatedly uncovered his head to acknowledge the greetings of the
crowd. He descended at the house of Count Schlangenberg in the
Albrechtstrasse, and twice appeared on the balcony in response to the
continuing applause.
In retrospect the beginning of the Prussian presence in Breslau
may be seen as inaugurating the first of the sequence of modern wars.
It is strange that it was invested with all the ceremonial of the joyeuse
entree, which was so much a part of the medieval era that was
slipping away. »
In military terms, Frederick had won the freedom to cut off the
Austrian garrisons, and to sweep the remaining enemy field forces out
of Silesia. For this purpose the 'I Corps' was divided into two wings.
Frederick and the left continued the march up the Oder, and on the
night of 8 January they received the capitulation of the little fortress
of Ohlau. Schwerin meanwhile took the right wing on a roughly
parallel course out to the west, scouring the fringes of the hills
bordering the Austrian provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. Five
depleted companies of Austrian grenadiers were slow to make their
escape, and they were bottled up by Schwerin at Ottmachau on the
left bank of the river Neisse. Frederick arrived at the scene of the
miniature siege on 12 January, and found that the Austrians were
ensconced in a castle perched at the top of a steep mound. The king
was able to persuade them that they must surrender as prisoners of
war, and he watched as they marched down with shouldered muskets