Frederick II, king of Prussia (174086), was a brilliant military campaigner who, in a series of diplomatic stratagems and wars against Austria and other powers, greatly enlarged Prussias territories and made Prussia the foremost military power in Europe. [134] This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition; Peter immediately promised to end the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania, returning them to Frederick. [45], Reading and studying the works of Niccol Machiavelli, such as The Prince, was considered necessary for any king in Europe to rule effectively. After allowing them across,[a] Frederick pinned them down and decisively defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June 1745. It was first published in six volumes from 1858 to 1865. He also ridiculed German princes, especially the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Augustus III, who imitated French sumptuousness. [118] They joined and once more advanced on Berlin. 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. When someone once asked Frederick why he did not wear spurs when riding his horse, he replied, "Try sticking a fork into your naked stomach, and you will soon see why. [46] Frederick's years dedicated to the arts instead of politics ended upon the 1740 death of Frederick William and his inheritance of the Kingdom of Prussia. He was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchtel. [141] Frederick also financed the war by devaluing the Prussian coin five times; debased coins were produced with the help of Leipzig mintmasters, Veitel Heine Ephraim, Daniel Itzig and Moses Isaacs. Source for information on Seven Years War (1756-1763): Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War dictionary. [143] This debasement of the currency helped Frederick cover over 20 per cent of the cost of the war, but at the price of causing massive inflation and economic upheaval throughout the region. Frederick II was born on January 24, 1712, in Berlin, Prussia (now in Germany). This, however, deeply antagonized Louis XV and the French government, who saw the agreement as an insulting desertion of France, Fredericks ostensible ally. Jackson Shoobert, Exploring Frederick (II) the Great's Sexuality in the wake of the Sexual Revolution. This policy allowed Prussia's population to recover very quickly from its considerable losses during Frederick's three wars.[212]. Frederick II ascended the throne, becoming the king of Prussia, in 1740, following the death of his father, Frederick William I. Frederick II, byname Frederick the Great, German Friedrich der Grosse, (born January 24, 1712, Berlin, Prussia [Germany]died August 17, 1786, Potsdam, near Berlin), king of Prussia (174086), a brilliant military campaigner who, in a series of diplomatic stratagems and wars against Austria and other powers, greatly enlarged Prussias territories and made Prussia the foremost military power in Europe. The United States Army relocated the remains to Marburg in 1946; in 1953, the coffins of Frederick and his father were moved to Burg Hohenzollern. ", In his 1769 will, Frederick wrote "I have lived as a philosopher and wish to be buried as such, without pomp or paradeLet me be deposited in the vault which I had constructed for myself, on the upper terrace of San Souci. It was written in Frenchas were all of Frederick's worksand published anonymously in 1740, but Voltaire distributed it in Amsterdam to great popularity. In January 1750, Johann Philipp Graumann was appointed as Frederick's confidential adviser on finance, military affairs, and royal possessions, as well as the Director-General of all mint facilities. Personal rule alone could produce the unity and consistency essential to any successful policy. Eventually, Frederick was forced to withdraw to Silesia as winter approached. 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 II - Prussia, Enlightenment, Reforms | Britannica [242] Frederick saw opera as playing an important role in imparting enlightenment philosophy, using it to critique superstition and the Pietism that still held sway in Prussia. 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. [b] Acting in this role, Frederick helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state. One of Peter III's first diplomatic endeavours was to seek a Prussian title; Frederick obliged. Frederick II - Prussian Army, State Reforms, Militarism Frederick William II ( German: Friedrich Wilhelm II. In the following year he saw active military service for the first time under the great Austrian commander Eugene of Savoy against the French army in the Rhineland. His tutor, Duhan de Jandun, instilled in him a deep love of French culture. He was titled King in Prussia because his kingdom included only part of historic Prussia; he was to declare himself King of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. [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. His rather incomplete victory at Chotusitz in May nonetheless forced Maria Theresa to cede almost all of Silesia by the Treaty of Berlin of 1742 in July. ", Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel-Bevern, Wilhelmine, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friederike Luise, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Philippine Charlotte, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, Sophia Dorothea, Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Anna Amalie, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, [Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles], Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, https://archive.org/details/onplayingflute00quan/page/n23, Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, "Frederick II (The Great) of Prussia (17121786)", "The First Partition of Poland and the War of the Bavarian Succession", "The Berlin Academy under Frederick the Great", "Kingship, sexuality and courtly masculinity: Frederick the Great and Prussia on the cusp of modernity", "The religion of Frederick the Great. Voltaire traveled from Paris to join the monarch's court at Potsdam in . [203][c] Frederick was pragmatic about religious faith. Frederick was deeply alarmed by this: a hostile Austro-Russian alliance backed by British money seemed to threaten the destruction of Prussia. [187], Frederick strove to put Prussia's fiscal system in order. [192], Although Frederick's debasement of the coinage to fund the Seven Years' War left the Prussian monetary system in disarray,[191] the Mint Edict of May 1763 brought it back to stability by fixing rates at which depreciated coins would be accepted and requiring tax payments in currency of prewar value. [64] It also prevented AugustusIII, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. [185] Working with his Grand Chancellor Samuel von Cocceji, he reformed the judicial system and made it more efficient, and he moved the courts toward greater legal equality of all citizens by removing special courts for special social classes. Despite his father's intention, Frederick appeared to have adopted a sense of predestination for himself. Moreover, the elector Augustus III (king of Poland and the elector of Saxony) now joined Maria Theresa in attacking him in Silesia. [248] His openness to philosophy had its limits. Frederick the Great Quotes (Author of Instructions for His Generals) He increased the freedom of speech in press and literature,[183] abolished most uses of judicial torture,[184] and reduced the number of crimes that could be punished by the death sentence. 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". [94] During the ten years of peace that followed the signing of the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick also prepared to defend his claim on Silesia by further fortifying the province and expanding his army,[95] as well as reorganising his finances. [149] As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that his country would benefit from annexing Polish territory,[150] and had described Poland as an "artichoke, ready to be consumed leaf by leaf". His nephew and successor Frederick William II instead ordered Frederick's body to be entombed next to his father, Frederick William I, in the Potsdam Garrison Church. [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. Frederick II ( German: Friedrich II; 24 January 1712 - 17 August 1786) was a King in Prussia (1740-1786) from the Hohenzollern dynasty. Moreover, her army was in a poor state, the financial position of the Habsburg government very difficult, and her ministers mediocre and in many cases old. I. Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis. Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History - Fordham University [33] Frederick wrote to his sister that, "There can be neither love nor friendship between us",[34] and he threatened suicide,[35] but he went along with the wedding on 12 June 1733. Berlin, Jan. 24, 1712; d. Potsdam, Aug. 17, 1786. Frederick II | Biography, Accomplishments, Wars - Britannica Early Life. Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Kstrin a year later, and Frederick was allowed to visit Berlin on the occasion of his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth on 20 November 1731. The Treaty of Dresden, signed on December 25, 1745, finally established Prussian rule in Silesia and ended for the time being the complex series of struggles that had begun five years earlier. [231] A meeting with Johann Sebastian Bach in 1747 in Potsdam led to Bach's writing The Musical Offering. I shall create no more field-marshals or conductors until I can find another Schwerin and another Graun. [259] To accomplish this goal, he invited numerous intellectuals from across Europe to join the academy, made French the official language and made speculative philosophy the most important topic of study. In August, he fought the Russian forces to a draw at the Battle of Zorndorf, in which nearly a third of Frederick's soldiers were casualties. He was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchtel. Frederick II, Known as Frederick the Great (1712-1786) [39], In 1732, Frederick was restored to the Prussian Army as Colonel of the Regiment von der Goltz, stationed near Nauen and Neuruppin. Voltaire, who was 83 when he died in 1778, was a man of his time, say his apologists. In Silesia, he disregarded canon law to install clergy who were loyal to him. [232] He was also a talented musician and composer in his own right, playing the transverse flute,[233] as well as composing 121 sonatas for flute and continuo, four concertos for flute and strings, four sinfonias,[234] three military marches and seven arias. Reception to the law code was mixed as it was often viewed as contradictory. [22] Instead, he signed a treaty with Austria, which vaguely promised to acknowledge Prussia's rights to the principalities of Jlich-Berg, which led to the collapse of the marriage proposal. Who Was Maria Theresa? Frederick I ( German: Friedrich I.; 11 July 1657 - 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688-1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union ( Brandenburg-Prussia ). 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. Less than a year after the treaty was signed, Maria Theresa was once more seeking allies, particularly Russia and France, to eventually renew the war with Prussia to regain Silesia. He is often admired for his tactical skills, especially for his use of the oblique order of battle,[283] an attack focused on one flank of the opposing line, allowing a local advantage even if his forces were outnumbered overall. [240], Frederick also wrote sketches, outlines and libretti for opera that were included as part of the repertoire for the Berlin Opera House. In the course of the fighting, Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. As Frederick was almost certainly homosexual,[17] his relationship with Keith may have been homoerotic, although the extent of their intimacy remains ambiguous. [229], Frederick was a patron of music,[230] and the court musicians he supported included C. P. E. Bach, Carl Heinrich Graun and Franz Benda. [321], After the defeat of Germany after 1945, the role of Prussia in German history was minimised. [215] In Polish Prussia, he confiscated the Roman Catholic Church's goods and property,[167] making clergy dependent on the government for their pay and defining how they were to perform their duties. Frederick II of Prussia - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [191] In addition, Frederick estimated that he earned about one million thalers in profits on the seignorage. [69] Disappointed with the performance of his cavalry, whose training his father had neglected in favour of the infantry, Frederick spent much of his time in Silesia establishing a new doctrine for them. Frederick acquired most of Royal Prussia, annexing 38,000 square kilometres (15,000sqmi) and 600,000 inhabitants. Moreover, Great Britain, under George II, seeking an effective continental ally against France, seemed to be moving closer to Maria Theresa and Elizabeth. 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. Although dissenters still had substantial rights, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had increasingly been reducing their civic rights after a period of considerable religious and political freedom. In the early eighteenth century, Prussia was one of dozens of minor German states, and it was far from the most . 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). He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick was the son of then-Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. [324] During the second half of the 20th century, political attitudes towards Frederick's image were ambivalent, particularly in communist East Germany. Even more than his younger contemporaries, Catherine II the Great of Russia and Joseph II in the Habsburg territories, it was Frederick who, during the mid-18th century, established in the minds of educated Europeans a notion of what enlightened despotism should be.
Cypress Creek Country Club,
Best Apartments In Raleigh, Nc,
Articles H