Frederick military career almost ended before he began. His first battle was a bad defeat and it seemed that his father was right and that Frederick would never be a general. The battle of Mollwitz was the first time that the young king commanded an army and it was a disaster. He was not sure what to do and he had incompetent advisors. He managed to lose the battle even though he had managed to surprise his enemy the Austrians. The enemy were all asleep, but Frederick was not able to take advantage of his great piece of luck. He took too long to deploy his men and this allowed the Austrian to form up a line and in particular, it allowed the Austrian cavalry, to charge Frederick’s own cavalry.
The Prussian cavalry was driven from the field. His infantry was then left exposed and they were worried that they would be surrounded and they began to panic. His general feared for their king and they urged him to flee the battle. He took his generals advice. When he fled he was lucky not to have been captured by some Austrian soldiers. Later, he returned to the battlefield and his generals had been able to retrieve the situation and win the battle. It seemed likely that his generals had wanted to get Frederick away from the battle so that they could take command and he never forgave them.