Atlas of Battles

battle, major, early modern

Battle of Rossbach

Battle of Rossbach was a battle fought on 5 November 1757 at Roßbach, in what is now Germany. It was part of the Seven Years' War, which ran from 1756 to 1763. The recorded result: Prussian victory. Recorded strength: 22,000; 79 guns against 41,110; ~30,200; ~10,900; 114 guns.

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Battle of Rossbach
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought5 November 1757
WhereRoßbach, Germany51.269N, 11.894E
OutcomePrussian victory
BelligerentsKingdom of PrussiaagainstKingdom of France; Holy Roman Empire
Part ofSeven Years' War1756 to 1763

Where it sits in the Seven Years' War

Battle of Fort Beauséjour, 1755Battle of the Monongahela, 1755Battle of Petitcodiac, 1755Battle of Lake George, 1755Battle of Fort Bull, 1756Siege of Fort St Philip, 1756Battle of Minorca, 1756Battle of Fort Oswego, 1756Siege of Pirna, 1756Battle of Lobositz, 1756Siege of Schweidnitz, 1757Battle of Chandannagar, 1757Battle of Reichenberg, 1757Battle of Prague, 1757Battle of Kolín, 1757Battle of Studencem, 1757Battle of Hastenbeck, 1757Siege of Fort William Henry, 1757Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, 1757Raid on Rochefort, 1757Battle of Moys, 1757Battle of Cap-Français, 1757Battle of Rossbach, 1757Battle of Breslau, 1757Battle of Leuthen, 1757Siege of Olomouc, 1758Capture of Senegal, 1758Siege of Küstrin, 1758Siege of Neisse, 1758Siege of Schweidnitz, 1758Battle of Cartagena, 1758Siege of Minden, 1758Battle of Cuddalore, 1758Action of 29 April 1758, 1758Raid on St Malo, 1758Battle of Rheinberg, 1758Battle of Krefeld, 1758Battle of Domstadtl, 1758Battle of Carillon, 1758Battle of Ostřetína, 1758Battle of Přepych, 1758Battle of Negapatam, 1758Battle of Mehr, 1758Raid on Cherbourg, 1758Battle of Zorndorf, 1758Battle of Fort Frontenac, 1758Battle of Saint Cast, 1758Battle of Fort Duquesne, 1758Battle of Tornow, 1758Siege of Kolberg, 1758Battle of Lutterberg, 1758Battle of Fort Ligonier, 1758Battle of Hochkirch, 1758Siege of Madras, 1758Capture of Gorée, 1758Battle of Condore, 1758Sieges of Kolberg, 1759Planned French Invasion of Britain, 1759Battle of Fulda, 1759Invasion of Martinique, 1759Invasion of Guadeloupe, 1759Siege of Masulipatam, 1759Battle of Bergen, 1759Battle of Peterswalde, 1759Battle of Himmelreich, 1759Siege of Quebec, 1759Raid on Le Havre, 1759Battle of Kay, 1759Battle of Ticonderoga, 1759Battle of Beauport, 1759Battle of Minden, 1759Battle of Kunersdorf, 1759Battle of Lagos, 1759Battle of Pondicherry, 1759Battle of Frisches Haff, 1759Battle of the Plains of Abraham, 1759Battle of Hoyerswerda, 1759Siege of Münster, 1759Battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759Battle of Maxen, 1759Battle of Chinsurah, 1759Battle of Meissen, 1759Battle of Wandiwash, 1760Battle of Udgir, 1760Battle of Carrickfergus, 1760Battle of Sainte-Foy, 1760Battle of Neuville, 1760Siege of Glatz, 1760Battle of Landeshut, 1760Battle of Restigouche, 1760Battle of Corbach, 1760Siege of Dresden, 1760Battle of Emsdorf, 1760Battle of Warburg, 1760Battle of Liegnitz, 1760Battle of Oschatz, 1760Battle of the Thousand Islands, 1760Siege of Kolberg, 1760Siege of Pondicherry, 1760Battle of Rhadern, 1760Raid on Berlin, 1760Battle of Kloster Kampen, 1760Battle of the Windward Passage, 1760Battle of Langensalza, 1761Siege of Cassel, 1761Battle of Grünberg, 1761Capture of Belle Île, 1761Invasion of Dominica, 1761Battle of Villinghausen, 1761Action of 17 July 1761, 1761Battle of Cape Finisterre, 1761Siege of Kolberg, 1761Battle of Ölper, 1761Invasion of Martinique, 1762Bombardment of Arnsberg, 1762Battle of Wilhelmsthal, 1762Battle of Burkersdorf, 1762Battle of Lutterberg, 1762Siege of Almeida, 1762Battle of Grüningen, 1762Battle of Valencia de Alcántara, 1762Battle of Nauheim, 1762Battle of Signal Hill, 1762Battle of Brücker Mill, 1762Siege of Cassel, 1762Battle of Vila Velha, 1762Battle of Freiberg, 1762Siege of Fort Detroit, 1763Battle of Devil's Hole, 176317551763Battle of Rossbach, 1757
129 placed engagements of the Seven Years' War in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date5 November 1757
PlaceRoßbach, Germany
51.269N, 11.894E
KindBattle, early modern
Strength22,000; 79 guns41,110; ~30,200; ~10,900; 114 guns
Casualties and losses169 killed; 379 wounded8,000–10,000 killed, wounded and captured; ~6,600; ~3,552; 72 guns; 21 standards
Commanders
  • Charles, Prince of Soubise
  • Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Battle of RossbachBattle of RossbachBattle of LützenBattle of LützenBattle on the ElsterBattle of HalleBattle of HalleBattle on the ElsterBattle of HalleBattle of HalleDresdenHanoverMagdeburgPotsdamGöttingenCottbusGeraHof100 km51.269N, 11.894E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Rossbach
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Rossbach today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2023-09-08. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

The recorded site stands at about 135 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 96 to 232 m, 136 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 57% cropland, 16% tree cover, 15% grassland.

cropland: 57%tree cover: 16%grassland: 15%built-up: 8%water: 3%cropland 57%tree cover 16%grassland 15%built-up 8%water 3%
west to east, 10.0 km96 to 183 mnorth to south, 10.0 km98 to 187 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1757

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: FR & GER ARMYDefender: PR ARMY
Strength42,00022,000
Casualties10,150 (24.2%)548 (2.5%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1039
Outcomedefender won
Duration1 day
Front width2.7 km4 km
Attacker advanced-2 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 69), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Battle of Rossbach is one of 2,126 engagements of the 18th century in the atlas and one of 668 in present-day Germany.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q573972, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Rossbach, revision 1381069746, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.