WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 Imagine for a second that you survive a grueling, 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:07.120 I mean just a completely brutal, month -long 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:09.400 military siege. Right, the kind where you are 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:11.599 literally starving. Exactly. You are completely 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.300 surrounded, cut off from the entire world. The 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:16.719 stone walls of your fortress are literally crumbling 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.379 around you under relentless heavy bombardment. 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:22.350 Sounds terrifying. Oh, it gets worse. Because 00:00:22.350 --> 00:00:24.730 you survive all that crossfire. You survive the 00:00:24.730 --> 00:00:28.929 starvation. And then you survive years languishing 00:00:28.929 --> 00:00:31.809 in an enemy prisoner of war camp just, you know, 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:34.009 waiting for the geopolitical winds to shift so 00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:36.789 you can finally go home. Which takes years, usually. 00:00:37.009 --> 00:00:39.530 Right. But when the war finally ends and you 00:00:39.530 --> 00:00:42.070 make that long agonizing journey back to your 00:00:42.070 --> 00:00:44.789 own country, your ultimate doom doesn't come 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:46.929 from the enemy. It comes from your own boss. 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:50.509 It is the ultimate betrayal, really. It completely 00:00:50.509 --> 00:00:52.829 breaks the social contract between a commander 00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:55.890 and their sovereign. You survive the absolute 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:57.909 worst the enemy military machine has to offer, 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:00.369 only to be executed by the very leader you spent 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:03.070 all those years fighting for. Welcome to today's 00:01:03.070 --> 00:01:06.390 Deep Dive. Our mission today is to unpack a single, 00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:09.430 incredibly dense Wikipedia article detailing 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:12.859 a military clash from 1760. We're talking about 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:15.900 the Siege of Glatz. It's such a fascinating case 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:17.700 study. It really is. We are going to look at 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:19.760 the actual mechanics of how this siege operated, 00:01:20.219 --> 00:01:24.379 some frankly shocking casualty numbers, and the 00:01:24.379 --> 00:01:27.000 really dark psychology of military leadership 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.700 during this era. Yeah. To really get why this 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:32.120 happened, we have to set the stage for you. Right. 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.420 So we are stepping into the Third Silesian War. 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:37.519 Which, for context, was a major theater of the 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:39.819 much broader global conflict that we know as 00:01:39.819 --> 00:01:42.439 the Seven Years War. The big one. And the two 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:44.140 belligerents locked in this specific struggle 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.620 are the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:48.680 And the focal point for all of this is Glatz. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:51.819 It's a massive fortress city in Prussian Silesia, 00:01:52.019 --> 00:01:54.379 which the source notes is modern -day Kowiczko 00:01:54.379 --> 00:01:56.980 in Poland. Okay, let's unpack this. We are starting 00:01:56.980 --> 00:02:00.530 in the early summer of 1760. June 6th, to be 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:02.930 specific. The timeline is super critical here, 00:02:03.430 --> 00:02:05.730 because on June 6th the Austrian forces arrive 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:07.890 at Glatz. They are under the command of General 00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:10.210 von Lauten. General von Lauten, right? Yeah, 00:02:10.349 --> 00:02:13.250 and they successfully execute this massive encirclement. 00:02:13.270 --> 00:02:15.370 I mean, they completely surround the fortress. 00:02:15.509 --> 00:02:18.069 Locking it down. Exactly. Cutting off all the 00:02:18.069 --> 00:02:20.349 supply lines, cutting off communication. Nobody 00:02:20.349 --> 00:02:22.409 gets in, nobody gets out. And trapped inside 00:02:22.409 --> 00:02:26.550 that fortress are 3 ,200 Prussian troops. A sizable 00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:29.129 garrison. Yeah. And they are commanded by Colonel 00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:31.050 Bartholomew Elsie Doe. He's the guy we mentioned 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:32.870 at the very beginning of the deep dive. The one 00:02:32.870 --> 00:02:36.610 who really bears the brunt of this incredibly 00:02:36.610 --> 00:02:40.669 tragic historical arc. Right. So General Auden 00:02:40.669 --> 00:02:43.569 has trapped his enemy. The board is set. The 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:47.569 siege is on. Except, and this is wild, he doesn't 00:02:47.569 --> 00:02:49.930 actually fire a single shot. No, he just sits 00:02:49.930 --> 00:02:52.150 there. He just sits there. because he has to 00:02:52.150 --> 00:02:54.409 wait for his heavy artillery to be hauled all 00:02:54.409 --> 00:02:56.370 the way from Olomouc, which is miles and miles 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:58.949 away in neighboring Moravia. Which takes forever. 00:02:59.189 --> 00:03:01.270 I mean, I have to call this out as a massive 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:04.030 Austrian blunder. You don't show up to a major 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:06.509 siege operation without your cannons. It seems 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:09.930 crazy, right? It's an inexcusable failure of 00:03:09.930 --> 00:03:13.500 planning. It's like, um... It's like hiring a 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:15.400 state -of -the -art demolition crew to take down 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.860 a high -rise building. They show up, they put 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:19.979 up the fencing, they block off the streets. And 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:21.939 then they realize they forgot something. Right. 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:24.900 The foreman looks around and realizes they left 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:28.080 the actual wrecking ball in another state. I 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.919 mean, does this suggest a massive blunder in 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:33.979 Austrian planning? Or was this just the sluggish 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:37.050 reality of 18th century warfare? What's fascinating 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:39.789 here is how this delay perfectly illustrates 00:03:39.789 --> 00:03:42.449 the constraints of historical military logistics. 00:03:43.090 --> 00:03:45.389 It absolutely looks like a massive blunder to 00:03:45.389 --> 00:03:48.129 modern eyes. Oh, totally. But to really understand 00:03:48.129 --> 00:03:50.490 this, we have to strip away our modern expectations 00:03:50.490 --> 00:03:53.050 of warfare. We have to look at the sheer physical 00:03:53.050 --> 00:03:55.689 constraints of logistics in the 1700s. Right. 00:03:55.789 --> 00:03:57.949 No Giesel trust. Exactly. It wasn't a failure 00:03:57.949 --> 00:04:00.289 of planning. It was a literal battle against 00:04:00.289 --> 00:04:03.189 physics. You essentially have two entirely different 00:04:03.189 --> 00:04:05.349 elements of an army, and they are moving at two 00:04:05.349 --> 00:04:07.120 completely completely different speeds. OK, break 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.259 that down for me. So your infantry and your cavalry, 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.080 the men on foot and the men on horseback, they 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:16.019 could move remarkably fast. They could march, 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:19.720 say, 20 miles in a day. Wow, that is fast. Yeah. 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:22.540 So they can secure perimeters and establish that 00:04:22.540 --> 00:04:25.240 massive encirclement before the Prussian garrison 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:27.620 had any chance to react or, you know, retreat. 00:04:27.860 --> 00:04:30.279 So they are the net. You throw the net quickly 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:32.259 to trap the fish. That is a great way to put 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:34.879 it. You throw the net. But the technology required 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:38.759 to actually break a fortified stone in earth... 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.920 Star Fortress. The heavy stuff. Right? The heavy 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.800 siege guns, the massive mortars, the thousands 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:48.160 of iron cannonballs, the literal tons of black 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.540 powder. That machinery moved at an absolutely 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:53.240 glacial pace. Because they're super heavy. Incredibly 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:55.879 heavy. And the 18th century was not exactly an 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.939 era of paved asphalt highways. Yeah, no interstates 00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:01.079 back then. You are talking about dragging thousands 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:03.899 of pounds of cast iron and bronze over unpaved, 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:07.120 deeply redded dirt roads, roads that turned into 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.079 impassable the second it rained. Ugh, just mud 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.920 everywhere. Exactly. You had to use these massive 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.519 teams of oxen or draft horses. And if one axle 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:19.220 broke on one wagon, the entire column stopped. 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:21.480 So it's physically impossible for the wrecking 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:23.680 ball to arrive at the same time as the demolition 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.319 crew. Unless, I guess, you want the demolition 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.920 crew to walk it a mile a day and give the enemy 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:30.519 a month's warning that you're coming. Right, 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:32.860 and you definitely don't want to do that. The 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:34.980 synchronization simply didn't exist back then. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.959 General Laundon had to secure the location with 00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:40.879 his fast -moving troops first, and then, well, 00:05:41.139 --> 00:05:43.420 simply endure the wait for the slow -moving heavy 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:45.620 hitters to catch up. And that wait stretched 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:48.139 for weeks. I mean, the source says they arrived 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:51.040 on June 6th, and the heavy guns wouldn't arrive 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.680 for over a month. It is a massive test of patience. 00:05:53.939 --> 00:05:56.100 Over a month of just staring at a stone wall. 00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:58.319 But General Laundon doesn't just sit in his tent 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.540 reading poetry while he waits. Right. Absolutely 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:03.079 not. While he is stuck in this holding pattern, 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:05.980 His scouts bring him some pretty critical intelligence. 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:08.839 A smaller pressure force, commanded by someone 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:11.319 named Fouquet, is actually marching into the 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:14.579 broader region. And this creates a really fascinating 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:18.399 tactical dilemma for Laden. How so? Well, he 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.139 is committed to a static siege. He's stuck there 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:23.939 waiting. But suddenly, there is a highly mobile 00:06:23.939 --> 00:06:26.259 threat approaching his theater of operations. 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:29.339 And Laden's response to this borders on tactical 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:32.079 suicide. at least from my perspective. It's definitely 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:34.279 a bold move. Because he takes the bulk of his 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.959 army, turns his back on the 3 ,200 armed Prussians 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:41.000 trapped inside the fortress, and marches out 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.939 to intercept this new approaching force. He does. 00:06:44.060 --> 00:06:46.939 This feels like an insane gamble. Isn't it incredibly 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:49.100 dangerous to abandon a siege you've already set 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:52.779 up just to chase down, like, a side quest? What 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:55.180 stops Colonel Dio from opening the gates of Glatz, 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:58.259 marching his 3 ,200 troops out, and devastating 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:01.339 the Austrian camps while Laudon is miles away? 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.980 You are identifying the exact vulnerability that 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:06.600 makes siege warfare so incredibly perilous. It 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.720 just seems so exposed. It is. But Laudon isn't 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.519 just gambling blindly here. The historical record 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:15.339 emphasizes a really crucial detail. Laudon possessed 00:07:15.339 --> 00:07:18.000 a much larger force, a vastly superior force 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:20.160 in terms of sheer numbers. Okay, so he had guys 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.639 to spare. Exactly. He had enough manpower to 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:27.040 effectively bifurcate his army. He doesn't abandon 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.540 the siege entirely. He leaves behind a screening 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:33.220 force at Glatz. Okay, let's break down that term, 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.980 because to me, a screening force sounds like, 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:38.420 you know, a few guys left behind with binoculars 00:07:38.420 --> 00:07:40.939 just to keep watch. It is far more sophisticated 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:43.800 than that, I promise. A screening force is a 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.579 highly calculated tactical deployment. Really? 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:49.540 Oh, yeah. It is not just about observing the 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:52.439 enemy. It is about psychological manipulation. 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:55.740 It's area denial. The troops left behind are 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.079 tasked with maintaining the illusion of a full 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.250 encirclement. So they're putting on a show. A 00:08:00.250 --> 00:08:02.550 very elaborate show. They keep the campfires 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:04.949 burning. They run constant patrols back and forth. 00:08:05.050 --> 00:08:06.550 They take occasional pot shots at the walls. 00:08:06.550 --> 00:08:09.370 Oh, wow. Their entire job is to keep those 3 00:08:09.370 --> 00:08:13.149 ,200 Prussians inside the fortress utterly paranoid, 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:15.410 convinced that if they step outside the gates, 00:08:15.449 --> 00:08:17.910 they will be annihilated by a massive army that 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:20.750 actually is no longer even there. A lethal illusion. 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:22.810 They are projecting strength to cover the fact 00:08:22.810 --> 00:08:26.009 that the main muscle has left the building. Exactly. 00:08:26.470 --> 00:08:29.110 And that main muscle marches directly toward 00:08:29.110 --> 00:08:31.949 the approaching Prussian relief force. This all 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:34.529 culminates in the Battle of Landeshut on June 00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:36.769 23rd. So about two and a half weeks after they 00:08:36.769 --> 00:08:39.750 first got to Glatz. Right. And General Loudon 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:42.870 uses his superior numbers and his momentum to 00:08:42.870 --> 00:08:46.669 absolutely crush this new threat. He forces the 00:08:46.669 --> 00:08:49.230 Prussian commander Fouquet to surrender his entire 00:08:49.230 --> 00:08:52.179 force. Wow. It's an incredible display of dynamic 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:55.159 command. You have this completely static, frustrating 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:57.940 reality of the siege where he is literally just 00:08:57.940 --> 00:09:00.960 waiting for iron tubes to arrive on carts. Yeah, 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.379 twiddling their thumbs. Right. But the moment 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:06.759 of fluid opportunity presents itself. Laden capitalizes 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:09.200 on it. He cleans up the perimeter, eliminates 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.320 a mobile threat and secures the broader region. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:13.399 He essentially ensures that when his artillery 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.840 finally does arrive, he can conduct the bombardment 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.799 in peace. He doesn't have to constantly look 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:19.960 over his shoulder for oppression rescue. Army. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.080 And that main event finally kicks into gear in 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.919 July. Following his decisive victory at Landeshut, 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:27.720 Laudan marches his army back to Glatz. And by 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:30.919 July 20th, the agonizing wait is finally over. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.740 The guns arrive. The heavy artillery from Moravia 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:36.340 rolls into camp. The wrecking ball is finally 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:39.059 on site. And at this point, the nature of the 00:09:39.059 --> 00:09:41.980 engagement shifts entirely. The siege, as they 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:45.509 say, properly begins. And the mechanics of this 00:09:45.509 --> 00:09:48.009 are just brutal because you can't just park a 00:09:48.009 --> 00:09:50.730 cannon in an open field and start shooting at 00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:53.029 a fortress. No, because the fortress has its 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:55.330 own cannons firing back at you from an elevated 00:09:55.330 --> 00:09:57.429 position. Right. They have the high ground. So 00:09:57.429 --> 00:09:59.289 the Austrians have to dig. They start carving 00:09:59.289 --> 00:10:01.750 these extensive trench networks into the earth, 00:10:02.250 --> 00:10:04.590 literally using the dirt itself as cover. It's 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:07.350 incredibly labor intensive. And they systematically 00:10:07.350 --> 00:10:09.250 zigzag comes closer and closer to the fortress 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:11.809 walls just to bring their heavy guns into effective 00:10:11.809 --> 00:10:14.639 range. The physical and psychological reality 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:16.919 for the Prussians trapped inside must have been 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.600 suffocating. Try to conceptualize that transition 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.139 for those 3 ,200 trapped men. I mean, for nearly 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:26.539 six weeks they experienced this terrifying, quiet 00:10:26.539 --> 00:10:28.480 tension. Just waiting. Right. They knew they 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:30.539 were surrounded. They knew the enemy was out 00:10:30.539 --> 00:10:33.120 there. But there was no major combat. And then 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.080 suddenly the horizon just erupts. The heavy siege 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:39.200 guns are unlimbered and the systematic deafening 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.700 bombardment begins. Massive iron projectiles 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:45.080 start shattering the masonry, destroying the 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.960 defensive parapets and literally collapsing the 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.340 very walls these guys are standing on. It's the 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.490 beginning of the end. And once the walls are 00:10:52.490 --> 00:10:54.870 sufficiently pulverized by this continuous artillery 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:58.549 fire, Loudon prepares for the final blow. But, 00:10:58.789 --> 00:11:01.129 and this is interesting, he avoids throwing his 00:11:01.129 --> 00:11:04.049 entire army into a massive chaotic charge against 00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:06.090 the breeches. Which is usually a meat grinder. 00:11:06.649 --> 00:11:09.330 Exactly. Instead, he organizes a specialized 00:11:09.330 --> 00:11:11.690 group of volunteers to storm the city first. 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.840 These volunteers actually managed to slip through 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:17.639 the newly created gaps in the rubble, navigate 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:19.940 whatever defensive obstacles remain, and they 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:21.820 actually managed to open the main fortress gates 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:24.320 from the inside. It's pretty amazing. It allows 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.419 the overwhelming bulk of the Austrian army to 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:29.379 just flood right in. It is a textbook execution 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:32.100 of an 18th century assault. It reminds me of 00:11:32.100 --> 00:11:34.139 how modern special operations work, honestly. 00:11:34.419 --> 00:11:36.379 It's less like a brute force door kick and more 00:11:36.379 --> 00:11:39.639 like a heist movie or a surgical bypass. Right, 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:43.149 the sneaky way in. Yeah. The artillery acts as 00:11:43.149 --> 00:11:45.950 the anesthesia, completely numbing and suppressing 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:48.769 the fortress's central nervous system. It's cannons 00:11:48.769 --> 00:11:50.990 and defenders. Oh, that's a good analogy. And 00:11:50.990 --> 00:11:53.889 that suppression allows this small scalpel of 00:11:53.889 --> 00:11:57.269 volunteers to slip in quietly, the few slipping 00:11:57.269 --> 00:11:59.889 through the cracks, and sever the main lock from 00:11:59.889 --> 00:12:02.409 the inside, opening the vault for the rest of 00:12:02.409 --> 00:12:04.570 the crew to follow. The surgical metaphor is 00:12:04.570 --> 00:12:06.490 highly appropriate here because the results of 00:12:06.490 --> 00:12:09.169 this operation were remarkably clean for the 00:12:09.169 --> 00:12:11.230 attacking force. Here's where it gets really 00:12:11.230 --> 00:12:13.870 interesting because the casualty statistics are 00:12:13.870 --> 00:12:16.090 what really stop you in your tracks. They are 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.750 unbelievable. When the smoke clears and the fortress 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:22.610 officially falls on July 26th, the math is just 00:12:22.610 --> 00:12:25.549 staggering. The defending Prussians, the forces 00:12:25.549 --> 00:12:28.129 who had the walls on the high ground, they suffered 00:12:28.129 --> 00:12:31.389 700 dead or wounded, which is a huge hit. And 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:34.649 furthermore, An incredible 2 ,500 Prussian soldiers 00:12:34.649 --> 00:12:36.909 were taken as prisoners of war. If you do the 00:12:36.909 --> 00:12:40.370 math on that, 700 casualties plus 2 ,500 prisoners 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:43.190 accounts for the entire 3 ,200 -man garrison. 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:45.710 Completely wiped out. Colonel Dio's command was 00:12:45.710 --> 00:12:48.470 entirely wiped off the board. A total eradication. 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.759 But the attacking Austrians, the army that had 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.379 to actually run toward the guns and storm a fortified 00:12:54.379 --> 00:12:58.259 position, they suffered only 214 casualties. 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:00.500 It's an incredibly low number. I really need 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:03.460 to emphasize to you how rare that is. In siege 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:06.399 warfare, the attacker almost always bleeds more 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.240 than the defender. How does an attacking force 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:12.679 lose only 214 men while entirely capturing a 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:16.740 fortress of 3 ,200? The answer lies in the timeline 00:13:16.740 --> 00:13:19.750 we established earlier. The delay. Yes, that 00:13:19.750 --> 00:13:21.669 grueling month and a half wait for the heavy 00:13:21.669 --> 00:13:24.149 artillery from Moravia is the direct cause of 00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:26.269 the minimal Austrian casualties. Because they 00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:28.129 refused to rush the timeline. They didn't just 00:13:28.129 --> 00:13:31.559 rush in. Exactly. Patience in warfare translates 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:34.759 directly to preserved manpower. If General Laden 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:36.460 had allowed his commanders to grow impatient 00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:39.159 back in June -like, if he had ordered his infantry 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.519 to try and scale the walls with ladders before 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:43.740 the artillery arrived, it would have been an 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:45.820 unmitigated bloodbath. The infantry would have 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:47.919 been marching right into a meat grinder. Absolutely. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.159 The Prussians would have maintained clear fields 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.379 of fire, secure cover, the high ground. They 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.539 would have picked them off. But... By waiting, 00:13:56.019 --> 00:13:58.860 Laden let the guns do the bloody work. The heavy 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:01.379 artillery systematically dismantled the physical 00:14:01.379 --> 00:14:04.470 defenses of Glatz, but Maybe more importantly, 00:14:04.690 --> 00:14:07.269 it broke the psychological will and the defensive 00:14:07.269 --> 00:14:09.230 cohesion of the Prussian garrison. They were 00:14:09.230 --> 00:14:12.309 just worn down. Right. By the time those volunteers 00:14:12.309 --> 00:14:15.409 moved in to secure the gates, the combat effectiveness 00:14:15.409 --> 00:14:18.049 of the fortress had been fundamentally shattered 00:14:18.049 --> 00:14:21.610 by iron and gunpowder. The incredibly low casualty 00:14:21.610 --> 00:14:24.230 rate for the Austrians is a testament to the 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:27.649 brutal mathematical efficiency of properly applied 00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:31.129 siege warfare. When you see that level of tactical 00:14:31.129 --> 00:14:35.490 precision losing only 214 men to completely capture 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:38.409 a heavily fortified city and eliminate an entire 00:14:38.409 --> 00:14:41.269 enemy garrison, you'd assume this victory cracked 00:14:41.269 --> 00:14:43.370 the whole war wide open. We really would. But 00:14:43.370 --> 00:14:45.370 when you zoom out to look at the macro picture 00:14:45.370 --> 00:14:47.970 of the conflict, the story takes a turn that 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:50.769 is genuinely mind blowing on a geopolitical level. 00:14:50.909 --> 00:14:53.470 The contrast here between the tactical victor 00:14:53.470 --> 00:14:55.929 and the strategic reality is honestly arguably 00:14:55.929 --> 00:14:58.250 the most profound insight we can pull from the 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:00.450 historical record of this campaign. Let's look 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:04.129 at the map of 1760. Throughout that entire year, 00:15:04.529 --> 00:15:07.220 the Seven Years War was raging globally. There 00:15:07.220 --> 00:15:09.879 were massive, extensive army maneuvers across 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:12.100 the continent. Huge troop movements. Yeah. And 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:14.600 several heavy, bloody battles fought between 00:15:14.600 --> 00:15:17.259 the Prussian and Austrian forces, including that 00:15:17.259 --> 00:15:19.960 battle of Landesschit we discussed earlier. Thousands 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.970 of men fighting, bleeding, and dying. But despite 00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:25.289 all of that movement, despite all that expenditure 00:15:25.289 --> 00:15:28.389 of human life and national treasury, the capture 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:31.070 of the Glass Fortress was the only piece of territory 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:33.110 taken by the Austrians and their allies that 00:15:33.110 --> 00:15:35.389 entire year. You really have to let that sink 00:15:35.389 --> 00:15:38.990 in. A full calendar year of global industrialized 00:15:38.990 --> 00:15:41.470 imperial warfare and the geopolitical borders 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:43.889 remained almost completely frozen. It's wild. 00:15:44.309 --> 00:15:46.909 The map of Europe in December of 1760 looked 00:15:46.909 --> 00:15:49.429 virtually identical to the map in December of 00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:52.379 1759, with the singular exception of this one 00:15:52.379 --> 00:15:55.159 fortress in Silesia. It's just an overwhelming 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:57.639 realization. Thousands of men marching through 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.059 mud, the month -long psychological terror of 00:16:00.059 --> 00:16:04.220 the siege, the 700 dead Prussians, the 214 dead 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:07.159 Austrians, the 2 ,500 men marched off to POW 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:11.039 camps. And for what? The grand strategic picture 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:14.139 just ground into a massive feudal stalemate. 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:17.899 It reveals a defining characteristic of mid 18th 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:20.429 century warfare. The defensive technologies, 00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:23.129 like these massive star fortresses in the entrenched 00:16:23.129 --> 00:16:25.730 positions, they were often so robust and the 00:16:25.730 --> 00:16:28.049 logistical chains were so incredibly fragile 00:16:28.049 --> 00:16:31.129 that maneuvering massive armies resulted in these 00:16:31.129 --> 00:16:33.870 grinding wars of attrition. Just a total slog. 00:16:34.090 --> 00:16:36.850 Exactly. You could win a brilliant tactical victory 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:39.490 like Glatz, but entirely lack the logistical 00:16:39.490 --> 00:16:41.950 capability to exploit that victory and push any 00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:44.409 deeper into enemy territory. It was a remarkably 00:16:44.409 --> 00:16:47.129 bloody way to essentially maintain the status 00:16:47.129 --> 00:16:49.519 quo. A devastating expensive stalemate on the 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:52.299 grand stage. But we need to contrast that macro 00:16:52.299 --> 00:16:54.600 futility with the hyper personal fate of the 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.460 Prussian commander we introduced earlier. Oh, 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.200 Colonel Dio. Right. Let's talk about Colonel 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.799 Bartholomew's do, the man tasked with defending 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.039 Glatz. His narrative really serves as the grim 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.019 epilogue to everything we've discussed about 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:09.279 the brutality of this era. So the fortress falls. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.339 Colonel Dio is captured. He becomes a prisoner 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:16.049 of war. And miraculously, He actually survives. 00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:19.089 Against all odds. He survives the weeks of artillery 00:17:19.089 --> 00:17:22.509 bombardment. He survives the physical and psychological 00:17:22.509 --> 00:17:25.670 toll of captivity in an Austrian camp. And he 00:17:25.670 --> 00:17:27.529 manages to wait out the remainder of the Seven 00:17:27.529 --> 00:17:30.170 Years' War. Which is an achievement in itself. 00:17:30.289 --> 00:17:32.470 Totally. When the treaties are finally signed 00:17:32.470 --> 00:17:35.890 and the war ends, he is released. He makes the 00:17:35.890 --> 00:17:38.609 journey home to Prussia, expecting perhaps a 00:17:38.609 --> 00:17:40.869 quiet retirement after enduring horrors most 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:42.630 of us can't even imagine. You think he earned 00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:45.940 it. Right. Instead, the moment he returns, he 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:48.420 is arrested, put on trial by his own military, 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.400 and Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia, 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:53.299 orders him to be executed. The official crime. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.880 Losing the fortress of Glatz. It is a profoundly 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.539 chilling conclusion to a military career. So 00:17:59.539 --> 00:18:01.259 what does this all mean? This is where I really 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:03.440 need your perspective, because this feels beyond 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.440 brutal. It feels entirely irrational. I can see 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:08.970 why you'd say that. Executing your own commander 00:18:08.970 --> 00:18:11.930 for losing a battle where he was hopelessly outnumbered 00:18:11.930 --> 00:18:15.210 by a mobile army, trapped in a static box, and 00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:17.950 pounded to dust by heavy artillery makes zero 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:21.250 strategic sense. Why would Frederick the Great 00:18:21.250 --> 00:18:24.309 execute a man for failing to win a mathematically 00:18:24.309 --> 00:18:26.900 impossible battle? If we connect this to the 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:29.019 bigger picture to understand that execution, 00:18:29.180 --> 00:18:31.799 you really have to understand the existential 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.279 terror of the Prussian state during the Seven 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.019 Years War. Frederick the Great wasn't punishing 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:40.180 a simple tactical mistake. He was enforcing a 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:42.500 doctrine of absolute institutional survival. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.279 So he's enforcing discipline through terror. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.099 Exactly. Prussia was a relatively small kingdom, 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:49.460 and it was surrounded by massive, incredibly 00:18:49.460 --> 00:18:52.859 wealthy empires. Austria, Russia, France. Frederick 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:54.980 was fighting a war where the math was never in 00:18:54.859 --> 00:18:57.420 his favor. Always the underdog. Always. He was 00:18:57.420 --> 00:18:59.519 constantly outnumbered and out -resourced. The 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.519 only way the Prussian state could avoid being 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.880 entirely wiped off the map was through maintaining 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:06.819 an army with iron, unbreakable discipline. He's 00:19:06.819 --> 00:19:08.500 fighting gravity, so he has to outlaw falling. 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:11.420 That is the perfect way to contextualize it. 00:19:11.660 --> 00:19:14.319 In Frederick's military machine, there was no 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:16.759 room for nuance. There was no room for calculating 00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:19.619 the odds. A fortress commander was expected to 00:19:19.619 --> 00:19:22.019 hold their ground to the last man, regardless 00:19:22.019 --> 00:19:24.400 of how hopeless the situation appeared. even 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:27.039 if it meant total annihilation. Surrendering, 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.140 even to save the lives of 2 ,500 men in the face 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.339 of overwhelming Austrian artillery, was not viewed 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:35.660 as a pragmatic military decision. It was viewed 00:19:35.660 --> 00:19:39.220 as a fundamental moral failure. It was a betrayal 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:42.079 of the kingdom's precarious survival. So the 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.519 reality of the Austrian superior numbers, the 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:46.839 delay of the siege guns, the surgical breach. 00:19:47.420 --> 00:19:49.799 None of the actual mechanics we just spent time 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.299 unpacking mattered to Frederick. The only data 00:19:52.299 --> 00:19:54.099 point he cared about was that the Prussian flag 00:19:54.099 --> 00:19:57.079 was no longer flying over glass. The execution 00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.579 of Colonel Duo was a theatrical display of zero 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:02.720 tolerance policy. It was designed to send a terrifying, 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:05.180 unmistakable message to every other officer serving 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:08.240 in the Prussian army. Surrender is a crime punishable 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.559 by death, and your only option is victory or 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.039 death on the battlefield. It was the grim glue 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.440 required to hold a heavily outmatched military 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:18.619 force together under dream duress. Just think 00:20:18.619 --> 00:20:21.079 about times you faced impossible odds at work, 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:23.799 right? A project that's doomed from the start. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:26.119 Yeah, we've all been there. Now imagine the penalty 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:28.960 for that project failing wasn't just a bad performance 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:32.980 review, but a literal firing squad. The psychological 00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:35.519 burden of that is almost incomprehensible. You 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.170 are placed in command of a fortress. You know 00:20:38.170 --> 00:20:40.069 that if you fight against the Austrian heavy 00:20:40.069 --> 00:20:42.750 guns, you will almost certainly die in the rubble. 00:20:43.130 --> 00:20:45.329 Right. But you also know that if you surrender 00:20:45.329 --> 00:20:48.029 to save your men, you will eventually face a 00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:51.549 firing squad organized by your own king. It is 00:20:51.549 --> 00:20:54.769 a completely unwinnable fatal paradox. He made 00:20:54.769 --> 00:20:56.990 the pragmatic choice to surrender and it cost 00:20:56.990 --> 00:20:58.809 him his life years later when he finally thought 00:20:58.809 --> 00:21:01.890 he was safe. It really forces us to look beyond 00:21:01.890 --> 00:21:05.289 the dry statistics of military history. We see 00:21:05.289 --> 00:21:09.130 the 214 Austrian casualties, the 700 Prussian 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:12.450 casualties, the singular fortress changing hands. 00:21:12.950 --> 00:21:16.150 But hidden beneath those numbers are the absolute 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:19.589 destruction of individual human lives, reputations, 00:21:19.730 --> 00:21:22.049 and the terrifying pressures placed on the people 00:21:22.049 --> 00:21:24.529 forced to navigate those impossible circumstances. 00:21:24.950 --> 00:21:27.470 It is a wild, heavy journey we've taken today 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:29.740 through this single source document. We started 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:32.200 with an Austrian army completely stalled out 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.339 in the mud, unable to move forward without their 00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:36.000 heavy guns. Waiting for the wrecking ball. Waiting 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.259 for the wrecking ball. We explore the psychological 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:40.799 warfare of a screening force and the dynamic 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:43.880 pivot to crush a relief army at Landeshut. We 00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:45.839 broke down the surgical, terrifying mechanics 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.740 of how a fortress is systematically dismantled 00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:50.059 by artillery and then breached by volunteers. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.880 The heist. The 18th century heist. And it all 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.480 culminated in a tragic, brutal execution of a 00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:57.980 surviving commander by a king desperate to keep 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:01.230 his fra - Empire intact. And all of that complex 00:22:01.230 --> 00:22:04.250 human drama, suffering, and tactical brilliance 00:22:04.250 --> 00:22:07.430 was expended for a single fortress in a year 00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:10.349 where absolutely nothing else of consequence 00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:12.829 changed on the geopolitical map. Which brings 00:22:12.829 --> 00:22:15.230 us to a final lingering thought for you to mull 00:22:15.230 --> 00:22:17.690 over as we wrap up. We look back at the campaign 00:22:17.690 --> 00:22:20.859 of 1760. We see that thousands of lives were 00:22:20.859 --> 00:22:23.319 permanently altered or extinguished. Hundreds 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:25.480 of men were killed in the dirt trenches outside 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:29.140 Glatz. A garrison of 2 ,500 men was marched into 00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:31.960 the despair of captivity. And a commanding officer 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.640 survived the entire horrific ordeal, only to 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:36.819 be executed by the very sovereign he was sworn 00:22:36.819 --> 00:22:39.480 to protect. All of this violence, all this suffering, 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:42.140 all this tactical genius over a single fortress 00:22:42.140 --> 00:22:44.279 that was literally only a piece of land to change 00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:47.000 hands between these vast global empires and an 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.359 entire year of non -stop warfare. So when the 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:51.359 smoke finally clears and the dust settles, does 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.519 the colossal machinery of war actually achieve 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.549 tangible progress? Or is it just a devastatingly 00:22:56.549 --> 00:22:58.869 expensive, tragic way to keep the map exactly 00:22:58.869 --> 00:23:00.869 the same? A heavy question. It's a heavy question. 00:23:01.089 --> 00:23:03.250 But examining those questions is the entire point 00:23:03.250 --> 00:23:06.430 of what we do here. Thank you for joining us 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:08.630 on this deep dive. You are now officially well 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:11.430 informed on this obscure but deeply revealing 00:23:11.430 --> 00:23:13.549 slice of history. We will catch you next time.