Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (12 January 1721, Wolfenbüttel – 3 July 1792, Vechelde), was a German-Prussian field marshal (1758–1766) known for his participation in the Seven Years' War. From 1757 to 1762 he led an Anglo-German army in Western Germany which successfully repelled French attempts to occupy Hanover. Early life The fourth son of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Ferdinand joined the Prussian army as a colonel in 1740. He was present in the battles of Mollwitz and Chotusitz. After Margrave Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Schwedt was killed at Prague in 1744, Ferdinand received command of Frederick the Great's Leibgarde battalion, and at the Battle of Soor (1745) he distinguished himself greatly, especially in the assault of a steep hill, that incidentally was defended by his older brother duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He took part in the Second Silesian War before leading part of the invasion of Saxony and Bohemia in 1756 during the Seven Years' War. He participated in the Battle of Rossbach, and then became commander of the allied Hanoverian army. He also was a freemason, initiated in 1740 into the Lodge of The Three Globes in Berlin, and received the degree of Master Mason in 1743 at Breslau. During ten years of peace, he was in the closest touch with the military work of Frederick the Great, who supervised the instruction of the guard battalion, and sought to make it a model of the whole Prussian army. Ferdinand was, moreover, one of the most intimate friends of the king, and thus he was peculiarly fitted for the tasks which afterwards fell to his lot. In this time, he was promoted to major-general and then lieutenant-general. Seven Years' War In the first campaign of the Seven Years' War, Ferdinand commanded one of the Prussian columns which converged upon Dresden, and in the operations which led up to the surrender of the Saxon army at Pirna (1756). At the Battle of Lobositz, he led the right wing of the Prussian infantry. In 1757, he distinguished himself at Prague, and served also in the Rossbach campaign. Hanover Shortly after this, he was appointed to command the Hanoverian Army of Observation which had been raised and funded by Britain to protect western Germany, but had recently failed to prevent the French Invasion of Hanover under the previous commander the Duke of Cumberland. Ferdinand accepted this appointment on the condition that he