The Battle of Hohenfriedberg was a major battle of the War of the Austrian Succession that was fought between the army of Prussian king Frederick the Great and an Austro-Saxon army under Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
Austria had lost Silesia to Prussia at the Battle of Mollwitz in 1741, and, in 1745, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine was sent to lead 62,500 Austrian and Saxon troops to invade Silesia and reclaim the province. Hans Joachim von Zieten's Prussian hussars shadowed the Austrians and kept Frederick informed of their movements, enabling him to attack them near Striegau (Strzegom) and Hohenfriedberg (Dobromierz).
While Frederick's planned surprise attack on the Austro-Saxon army failed due to the Saxons detecting his army's approach, the Prussian cavalry charged into the Saxon camp, accompanied by a windstorm that blew dust in the faces of the Saxon soldiers. The Saxons were overwhelmed and routed, and the Austro-Saxon left was destroyed before dawn. The Austrian cavalry attempted to join the action, only to be routed by the Prussian cavalry, and a gust of wind blew away the fog of war and revealed a gap in the Austrian line. The Prussian Bayreuth dragoons exploited this gap for their charge, destroying two lines of Austrian infantry, who had been forsaken by both their Saxon allies and their own cavalry. The Austro-Saxon army was destroyed, and Frederick earned the moniker "the Great" for his decisive victory. Prussia was able to make peace with Austria that December, acquiring Silesia; however, the wider war continued until 1748.