Frederick Invades Saxony

August 1756

Rather than wait to be encircled, Frederick of Prussia struck first - marching into neutral Saxony, seizing its army, and opening the continental phase of the Seven Years' War. 'I have crossed the Rubicon,' he wrote. For seven years his small kingdom would hold off half of Europe. He survived through tactical genius, British subsidies, and the death of the Russian empress who hated him most.