The Battle of Prague was fought between the armies of Austria and a Franco-Bavarian-Saxon army in 1741 during the War of the Austrian Succession.
After the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740, Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria - a son-in-law of Emperor Joseph I - rejected the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and claimed the German territories of the Habsburg Monarchy for himself. In July 1741, Charles allied himself with France and Spain against Austria and invaded Upper Austria, planning to conquer Vienna. However, Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Duke of Belle-Isle instead led his French army into Bohemia. Maurice de Saxe and Colonel Francois de Chevert planned to assault the Bohemian capital of Prague at night, with grenadiers using bayonets to dispatch the soldiers on guard duty before stealthily taking the city. On the night of 25-26 November, Franco-Bavarian-Saxon troops climbed a poorly defended section of the city walls and opened the gates before the garrison could respond, forcing the garrison to surrender. Charles Albert was crowned King of Bohemia the following day, but Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller's winter counteroffensive reversed most of the Allied gains, and Prague was liberated by the Austrians in December 1742.