[131] The Russian forces also continued their advance, occupying Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. Frederick the Great Quotes (Author of Instructions for His Generals) Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1712-1786), king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. He attracted the great thinkers of. Frederick, again alarmed by this, invaded Bohemia in August 1744 and rapidly overran it. The terms of the Treaty of Breslau between Austria and Prussia, negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County, with the Austrians retaining only the portion called Austrian or Czech Silesia. Frederick was born on January 24, 1712, in the city of Berlin. To avoid the possibility of his son Frederick being motivated by the same concerns, the king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination. (ed.). Frederick II (1712-1786) ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death, leading his nation through multiple wars with Austria and its allies. This personal and family feud culminated spectacularly in 1730, when Frederick was imprisoned in the fortress of Kstrin after planning unsuccessfully to flee initially to France or Holland. Notably, his insistence on the primacy of state over personal or dynastic interests and his religious toleration widely affected the dominant intellectual currents of the age. Victorious in war, he became known as Frederick the Great and was nicknamed der alte Fritz . [175] Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to enter the war on Frederick's side if peace was not negotiated, and Joseph reluctantly dropped his claim to Bavaria. [115] In the meantime, the Russian army had advanced within 100 miles (160km) east of Berlin. Maria Theresa had only reluctantly agreed to the partition, to which Frederick sarcastically commented, "she cries, but she takes". [24] After the English marriages became impossible, Frederick plotted to flee to England with Katte and other junior army officers. He became known as Frederick the Great (German: Friedrich der Groe) and was nicknamed "Old Fritz" (German: "Der Alte Fritz"). There, he was defeated at the Battle of Hochkirch on 14 October, although the Austrian forces were not able to exploit their victory. [324] During the second half of the 20th century, political attitudes towards Frederick's image were ambivalent, particularly in communist East Germany. Historians in the 21st century tend to view Frederick as an outstanding military leader and capable monarch, whose commitment to enlightenment culture and administrative reform built the foundation that allowed the Kingdom of Prussia to contest the Austrian Habsburgs for leadership among the German states. This treaty triggered the Diplomatic Revolution in which Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, who had been traditional enemies, allied together with Russia to defeat the Anglo-Prussian coalition. He left instructions that he should be buried next to his greyhounds on the vineyard terrace, on the side of the corps de logis of Sanssouci. [168], Late in his life Frederick involved Prussia in the low-scale War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. Frederick II - Prussian Army, State Reforms, Militarism "[54] Such devotion, consequently, had to be tempered by political realities. [299] According to Citino, "When later generations of Prussian-German staff officers looked back to the age of Frederick, they saw a commander who repeatedly, even joyfully, risked everything on a single day's battle his army, his kingdom, often his very life. Frederick William I deeply despised the artistic and intellectual tastes of his son and was infuriated by Fredericks lack of sympathy with his own rigidly puritanical and militaristic outlook. But he was just, intelligent, and skilled in the management of affairs it was through his efforts, through his tireless labour, that I have been able to accomplish everything that I have done since. In his 1797 book, Mmoires pour servir l'histoire du Jacobinisme (Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism), Barruel described an influential conspiracy theory that accused King Frederick of taking part in a plot which led to the outbreak of the French Revolution and having been the secret "protector and adviser" of fellow-conspirators Voltaire, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and Denis Diderot, who all sought "to destroy Christianity" and foment "rebellion against Kings and Monarchs". [121] Nevertheless, the Austro-Russian forces hesitated and stopped their advance for the year, an event Frederick later called the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg". "[47], In one defining respect Frederick would come to the throne with an exceptional inheritance. Believing his forces had been defeated, Frederick galloped away to avoid capture,[67] leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin in command to lead the disciplined Prussian infantry to victory. Frederick II was ill for some months before his death. Though Frederick took the offensive and thus unleashed a great military struggle, there is no doubt that he was by 1756 seriously threatened, indeed, even more seriously than he himself realized, and that his enemies, most of all the empress Elizabeth, meant to destroy Prussias newly won international status. In Dynes, Wayne R. [118] They joined and once more advanced on Berlin. [186] The reform was completed after Frederick's death, resulting in the Prussian Law Code of 1794, which balanced absolutism with human rights and corporate privilege with equality before the law. He did not admire the encyclopdistes or the French intellectual avant-garde of his time,[249] though he did shelter Rousseau from persecution for a number of years. Frederick also promoted the use of German instead of Latin in the field of law, as in the legal document Project des Corporis Juris Fridericiani (Project of the Frederician Body of Laws), which was written in German with the aim of being clear and easily understandable. [136] With the threat to his eastern borders over, and France also seeking peace after its defeats by Britain, Frederick was able to fight the Austrians to a stalemate and finally brought them to the peace table. [163] His long-term goal was to remove the Poles through Germanisation, which included appropriating Polish Crown lands and monasteries,[167] introducing a military draft, encouraging German settlement in the region, and implementing a tax policy that disproportionately impoverished Polish nobles. [308], On the morning of 17 August 1786, Frederick died in an armchair in his study at Sanssouci, aged 74. Frederick I | King of Prussia, Territorial Aggrandizement Moreover, Great Britain, under George II, seeking an effective continental ally against France, seemed to be moving closer to Maria Theresa and Elizabeth. In 1733, after a partial reconciliation with his father, Frederick was married to a member of a minor German princely family, Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern, for whom he never cared and whom he systematically neglected. [325] For example, immediately after World War II images of Prussia were removed from public spaces,[326] including Frederick's equestrian statue on the Unter den Linden, but in 1980 his statue was once more re-erected on its original location. Source for information on Seven Years War (1756-1763): Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War dictionary. [66] Though Frederick had served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this was his first major battle in command of an army. Frederick II was born on January 24, 1712, in Berlin, Prussia (now in Germany). [30] The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Kstrin on 26 February 1732 on condition that he marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern. The Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, of the Austrian house of Habsburg, died on October 20, leaving as his heir a daughter, the archduchess Maria Theresa, whose claims to several of the heterogeneous Habsburg territories were certain to be disputed. "[296] As far as Frederick was concerned, there were two major battlefield considerations speed of march and speed of fire. [80] Although the combined Austrian and Saxon armies outnumbered Frederick's forces, they refused to directly engage with Frederick's army, harassing his supply lines instead. Part of the burden was covered by the Anglo-Prussian Convention, which gave Frederick an annual 670,000 in British subsidies from 1758 till 1762. [172] Although Frederick was weary of war in his old age, he was determined not to allow Austrian dominance in German affairs. [263] Frederick's love of French culture was not without limits either. Frederick II ruled Prussia , a kingdom in what is now Germany, from 1740 to 1786. Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. By 1770, after two decades of punishing war alternating with intervals of peace, Frederick had doubled the size of the huge army he had inherited. [112], In the remaining years of the war, Frederick faced a coalition of enemies including Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and the Holy Roman Empire,[113] supported only by Great Britain and its allies Hesse, Brunswick, and Hanover. [157] Poland was predominantly Roman Catholic, but approximately ten per cent of Poland's population, 600,000 Eastern Orthodox and 250,000 Protestants, were non-Catholic dissenters. Nevertheless, Elisabeth Christine remained devoted to him. [279] By 1789, the academy had gained an international repute while making major contributions to German culture and thought. [123] His effort cost him further losses when his general Friedrich August von Finck capitulated at Maxen on 20 November. [235] Additionally, the Hohenfriedberger Marsch was allegedly written by Frederick to commemorate his victory in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg during the Second Silesian War. Undeterred by his father's desire that his education be entirely religious and pragmatic, the young Frederick developed a preference for music, literature, and French culture. [269] A number of the buildings, including the Berlin State Opera House, a wing of Schloss Charlottenburg,[270] and the renovation of Rheinsburg during Frederick's residence were built in a unique Rococo style that Frederick developed in collaboration with Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. He was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchtel. Early in December 1250 a fierce attack of dysentery confined him to his hunting lodge of Castel Fiorentino in the south of Italy, which was part of his kingdom of Sicily. [120] Almost half his army was destroyed, and Frederick almost became a casualty when a bullet smashed a snuffbox he was carrying. The best of Frederick's officer corps were also killed in the conflict. For example, the mathematicians he recruited for the Berlin Academy including Leonhard Euler, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Johann Heinrich Lambert, and Johann Castillon made it a world-class centre for mathematical research. Compared to the pre-1945 period, Frederick's reputation was downgraded in both East[322] and West Germany,[323] partly due to the Nazis' fascination with him and his supposed connection with Prussian militarism. Jackson Shoobert, Exploring Frederick (II) the Great's Sexuality in the wake of the Sexual Revolution. [21] Eventually Frederick William became angered by the idea of the effete Frederick being married to an English wife and under the influence of the British court. He was rescued from this threatening situation by the prowess of his army; victories at Hohenfriedberg in June 1745 and at Soor in September were followed by a Prussian invasion of Saxony. [1] As a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was Frederick IV Margrave of Brandenburg. [25] While the royal retinue was near Mannheim in the Electorate of the Palatinate, Robert Keith, who was Peter Keith's brother and also one of Frederick's companions, had an attack of conscience when the conspirators were preparing to escape and begged Frederick William for forgiveness on 5 August 1730. [194], Around 1751 Frederick founded the Emden Company to promote trade with China. He was a great military leader who made Prussia a major power in Europe. This resulted in a shortage of ready money, but Frederick controlled prices by releasing the grain stocks he held in reserve for military campaigns. "The story of Frederick's youth is a known chronicle of suffering." Frederick the Great's father laid the foundation for Frederick's legendary military exploits by assembling a well-drilled professional army for Prussia. Frederick William II ( German: Friedrich Wilhelm II. Frederick William I died on May 31, 1740, and Frederick, on his accession, immediately made it clear to his ministers that he alone would decide policy. [159] Frederick took advantage of this situation by becoming the protector of Protestant interests in Poland in the name of religious freedom. [91], Though Frederick had withdrawn from the War of the Austrian Succession once Austria guaranteed his possession of Silesia,[92] Austria remained embroiled in the war until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. These years were perhaps the happiest that Frederick ever experienced. [196] He commissioned Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky to promote the trade and to take on the competition with France put a silk factory where soon 1,500 people found employment. [79] Frederick's troops immediately continued marching into the heart of central Bohemia,[68] but Saxony had now joined the war against Prussia. [243] He also attempted to broaden access to opera by making admission to it free. Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, & the Arts ", Translation: "Now we have to think of leading the war in a way that we spoil the desire of the enemies to break the peace once again. Its territories were greatly increased and its military strength displayed to striking effect. [116] He then headed south to face the Austrian army in Saxony. Though Frederick was known to be more tolerant of Jews and Roman Catholics than many neighbouring German states, his practical-minded tolerance was not fully unprejudiced. Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the German kaiser (emperor) and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918, was one of the most recognizable public figures of World War I (1914-18). I. Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis. [274], When Frederick ascended the throne in 1740, he reinstituted the Prussian Academy of Sciences (Berlin Academy), which his father had closed down as an economy measure. From Frederick II. He introduced the lottery, fire insurance, and a giro discount and credit bank to stabilise the economy. Frederick was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia, declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His tutor, Duhan de Jandun, instilled in him a deep love of French culture. [20] Fearing an alliance between Prussia and Great Britain, Field Marshal von Seckendorff, the Austrian ambassador in Berlin, bribed the Prussian Minister of War, Field Marshal von Grumbkow, and the Prussian ambassador in London, Benjamin Reichenbach. [278], Contrary to his father's fears, Frederick became a capable military commander. Preview History Of The Beginnings Of A Successful Ruler: Maria Theresa Indian war technically already beginning in 1754, what more or less sent the war into action was another issue between Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa. Listen to article Army and the state of Frederick II The overriding objective of Frederick's rule was to increase the power of the state. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. What's So Great About Frederick? The Warrior King of Prussia [10] Frederick and his older sister formed a close relationship,[9] which lasted until her death in 1758. [312], Frederick's legacy has been subject to a wide variety of interpretations. [126] At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war. Moreover, once he ascended the Prussian throne, he found it increasingly difficult to apply the philosophical ideas of his youth to his role as king. [221], Frederick was keenly interested in land use, especially draining swamps and opening new farmland for colonisers who would increase the kingdom's food supply. Because of his military genius, he earned the title Frederick the Great. Maria Theresa was determined to recover Silesia, and the peace she signed with France and Spain at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 allowed her to accelerate significant improvements in the administration of her territories and the organization of her army. [223] Using improved technology enabled him to create new farmland through a massive drainage programme in the country's Oderbruch marshland. [182] He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. Robert Citino describes Frederick's strategic approach: In war he usually saw one path to victory, and that was fixing the enemy army in place, maneuvering near or even around it to give himself a favorable position for the attack, and then smashing it with an overwhelming blow from an unexpected direction. [127] He won a marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November,[128] which secured Berlin from further raids. I have never persecuted anyone from this or any other sect; I think, however, it would be prudent to pay attention, so that their numbers do not increase. Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became inseparable. The pair undermined the relationship between the British and Prussian courts using bribery and slander. Omissions? [40] When Prussia provided a contingent of troops to aid the Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the War of the Polish Succession, Frederick studied under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the campaign against France on the Rhine;[41] he noted the weakness of the Imperial Army under Eugene's command, something that he would capitalise on at Austria's expense when he later took the throne. [4] The new king wished for his children to be educated not as royalty, but as simple folk. In the early eighteenth century, Prussia was one of dozens of minor German states, and it was far from the most . [135] More significantly, Russia's about-face from an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who hastily made peace with Frederick as well. Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Great Britain, Frederick William levelled an accusation of treason against the pair. Frederick II, (born December 26, 1194, Jesi, Ancona, Papal States [Italy]died December 13, 1250, Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Kingdom of Sicily), king of Sicily (1197-1250), duke of Swabia (as Frederick VI, 1228-35), German king (1212-50), and Holy Roman emperor (1220-50). [300] So confident in the performance of men he selected for command when compared to those of his enemy, Frederick once quipped that a general considered audacious in another country would be ordinary in Prussia because Prussian generals will dare and undertake anything that is possible for men to execute. ; 24 January 1712 17 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. [236] His flute sonatas were often composed in collaboration with Johann Joachim Quantz,[237] who was Frederick's occasional music tutor in his youth[238] and joined his court as composer and flute maker in 1741. [319] Throughout World War II, Hitler often compared himself to Frederick the Great,[320] and he kept a copy of Anton Graff's portrait of Frederick with him to the end in the Fhrerbunker in Berlin. How Frederick II (Frederick the Great, 1712-86) wanted to be seen after his first two wars, namely the First and Second Silesian War (1740-42 and 1744-45), is revealed in the 1746 painting by. [11] Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. An enlightened absolute monarch, he favoured French language and art and built a French Rococo palace, Sanssouci, near Berlin. [208] He continued to support them after their suppression by Pope Clement XIV. This, however, deeply antagonized Louis XV and the French government, who saw the agreement as an insulting desertion of France, Fredericks ostensible ally. [42] Frederick William, weakened by gout and seeking to reconcile with his heir, granted Frederick Schloss Rheinsberg in Rheinsberg, north of Neuruppin.

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