In September 1759 various armies under Prussia's Frederick the Great and Prince Henry, Austria's Count Leopold Joseph von Daun, and Russia's Pyotr Saltykov were shadowing each other across Silesia.

Through successive, rapid crossings of the Oder Frederick succeeded in denying the cities of Glogau (now Głogów) and Breslau (now Wrocław) to the Russian forces but he failed to gain the decisive terrain advantage he sought before offering battle.

Meanwhile, Daun was looking to press home the great victory won at Kunersdorf when news reached him of the embarrassing defeat of the Austrian forces in Saxony, by a Prussian army but one third their size.

Now more determined than ever to strike a decisive blow he marched his forces to Görlitz and climbed to high ground in order to observe the camp of Prince Henry of Prussia, his nearest, convenient opponent.

Thomas Carlyle in History Of Friedrich II Of Prussia (1858) called the Prussian night march probably Prince Henri's cleverest feat…By this last consummate little operation he has astonished Daun as much as anybody ever did; shorn his elaborate tissue of cunctations into ruin and collapse at one stroke; and in effect, as turns out, wrecked his campaign for this Year.