Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz

Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz was a Prussian officer, lieutenant general, and among the most renowned of the Prussian cavalry generals. He commanded one of the first hussar squadrons of Frederick the Great's army and is credited with the development of the Prussian cavalry to its efficient level of performance in the Seven Years' War. His cavalryman father retired and then died while Seydlitz was still young. Subsequently, he was mentored by Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Seydlitz's acclaimed horsemanship and recklessness combined to make him a stand-out subaltern, and he emerged as a remarkable Rittmeister in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) during the First and Second Silesian Wars.