Second Miracle At The House of Brandenburg
By December 1761, after five years of war, the strategic situation for Prussia was bleak, as Frederick wrote on 10 December:
The Austrians are masters of Schweidnitz and the mountains, the Russians are behind the length of the Warthe from Kolberg to Posen...my every bale of hay, sack of money or batch of recruits only arriving by courtesy of the enemy or from his negligence. Austrians controlling the hills in Saxony, the Imperials the same in Thuringia, all our fortresses vulnerable in Silesia, in Pomerania, Stettin, Kustrin, even Berlin, at the mercy of the Russians.
During the war the Prussians had lost 120 generals, 1,500 officers (out of 5,500) and over 100,000 men. Most Prussians now supported peace and Frederick was trying to bring the Ottoman Empire into the war but his efforts met no success. Then, in January 1762, Frederick received the news that the Empress Elizabeth of Russia had died on 5 January: "The Messalina of the North is dead. Morta la Bestia", wrote Frederick on 22 January. Her nephew Peter succeeded her and was a strong admirer of Frederick the Great. He therefore reversed Elizabeth's anti-Prussian policy and negotiated peace with Prussia, with an armistice in March and a treaty of peace and friendship signed on 15 May.
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