Early Career
In 1740 Seydlitz received a commission as a cornet in the margrave's regiment of Prussian cuirassiers. Serving as a subaltern in the First Silesian War, he was taken prisoner in May 1742 after so gallant a defence that King Frederick II of Prussia offered to exchange an Austrian captain for him. In 1743 the king made him a captain in the 4th Hussars, and he brought his squadron to a state of conspicuous efficiency. He served through the Second Silesian War, and after Hohenfriedberg won promotion to major at the age of twenty-four.
At the close of the war Seydlitz had an opportunity of successfully handling 15 squadrons in front of the enemy, and this, with other displays of his capacity of leading cavalry in the searching tests of Frederick's reviews, secured his promotion in 1752 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and in 1753 to the command of the 8th cuirassiers. In his hands this regiment soon became a pattern to the rest of the Prussian Army. In 1755 he was made colonel.
Read more about this topic: Friedrich Wilhelm Von Seydlitz
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