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. [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. They agreed to the First Partition of Poland in 1772, which took place without war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden, signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia. [132] On 6 January 1762, Frederick wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies". [188] As a result, Prussian coins, which had been leaving the country nearly as fast as they were minted,[189] remained in circulation in Prussia. [72] Subsequently, he was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor CharlesVII on 24 January 1742. [288], Frederick's most notable military victories on the battlefield were the Battle of Hohenfriedberg, a tactical victory, fought during the War of Austrian Succession in June 1745;[289] the Battle of Rossbach, where Frederick defeated a combined Franco-Austrian army of 41,000 with only 21,000 soldiers (10,000 dead for the Franco-Austrian side with only 550 casualties for Prussia);[290] and the Battle of Leuthen, a follow-up victory to Rossbach[291] in which Frederick's 39,000 troops inflicted 22,000 casualties, including 12,000 prisoners, on Charles of Lorraine's Austrian force of 65,000. Moreover, the elector Augustus III (king of Poland and the elector of Saxony) now joined Maria Theresa in attacking him in Silesia. [174] Frederick's longtime rival Maria Theresa, who was Joseph's mother and his co-ruler, did not want a new war with Prussia, and secretly sent messengers to Frederick to discuss peace negotiations. Partition of Poland Partitions of Poland, 1772-95 The most important foreign policy development in the second half of Frederick's reign was the first partition of Poland, in 1772. January 28, 814 Aachen Germany Title / Office: emperor (800-814) Holy Roman Empire House / Dynasty: Carolingian dynasty Notable Family Members: father Pippin III Louis I Why is Charlemagne famous? Frederick saw this project as the "taming" and "conquering" of nature,[224] considering uncultivated land "useless",[225] an attitude that reflected his enlightenment era, rationalist sensibilities. [137], Frederick's ultimate success in the Seven Years' War came at a heavy financial cost to Prussia. Frederick, again alarmed by this, invaded Bohemia in August 1744 and rapidly overran it. [52], Prince Frederick was twenty-eight years old when his father Frederick WilliamI died and he ascended to the throne of Prussia. ", 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. [26] Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Kstrin. [170] Frederick ended up as a beneficiary of the American Revolutionary War, as Austria was left more or less isolated. Frederick the Great - Wikipedia [64] It also prevented AugustusIII, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. [110] Frederick hoped these two victories would force Austria to negotiate, but Maria Theresa was determined not to make peace until she had recovered Silesia, and the war continued. [214] Frederick was also less tolerant of Catholicism in his occupied territories. 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. Frederick William I of Prussia - Wikipedia Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. ", 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. He modernised the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and pursued religious policies throughout his realm that ranged from tolerance to segregation. [182] He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. Its territories were greatly increased and its military strength displayed to striking effect. ; 25 September 1744 - 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. However, his relations with his father, though somewhat improved, remained strained. [129] In this battle, Frederick became a casualty when he was hit in the chest by a spent bullet. [45], Reading and studying the works of Niccol Machiavelli, such as The Prince, was considered necessary for any king in Europe to rule effectively. Under his rule, Prussia doubled in size, and the nation became both a military power and a center of learning. [194], Around 1751 Frederick founded the Emden Company to promote trade with China. [218] His membership legitimised the group's presence in Prussia and protected it against charges of subversion. [317], Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazis glorified Frederick as a precursor to Adolf Hitler and presented Frederick as holding out hope that another miracle would again save Germany at the last moment. They were tutored by a French woman, Madame de Montbail, who had also educated Frederick William. Accession to the throne and foreign policy, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-II-king-of-Prussia, GlobalSecurity.org - Prussia and Frederick the Great, HistoryNet - Frederick The Great: The First Modern Military Celebrity, JewishEncyclopedia.com - Biography of Frederick II, Frederick the Great - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Frederick the Great - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [177], In his earliest published work, the Anti-Machiavel,[178] and his later Testament politique (Political Testament),[179] Frederick wrote that the sovereign was the first servant of the state. However the academy was in a crisis for two decades at mid-century,[268] due in part to scandals and internal rivalries such as the debates between Newtonianism and Leibnizian views, and the personality conflict between Voltaire and Maupertuis. [70], Encouraged by Frederick's victory at Mollwitz, the French and their ally, the Electorate of Bavaria, entered the war against Austria in early September 1741 and marched on Prague. [243] He also attempted to broaden access to opera by making admission to it free. [5], Frederick WilliamI, popularly dubbed the "Soldier King", had created a large and powerful army that included a regiment of his famous "Potsdam Giants"; he carefully managed the kingdom's wealth and developed a strong centralised government. Seven Years War (1756-1763) | Encyclopedia.com [29] Rather than being permitted to return to Berlin, he was forced to remain in Kstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration for the War and Estates Departments. The eldest son of Frederick William I of Prussia and of Princess Sophie Dorothea of Hanover, Frederick II was born in Berlin on Jan. 24, 1712. [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. The effects of this terrible early life are impossible to measure with accuracy, but there is little doubt that the violent and capricious bullying of his father influenced him deeply. 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. Frederick I | King of Prussia, Territorial Aggrandizement [161], After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities in 176970, Frederick's representative in Saint Petersburg, his brother Prince Henry, convinced Frederick and Maria Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. Frederick strongly suspected Maria Theresa would resume war in an attempt to recover Silesia. [11] Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. pp. [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. ", "Picture Gallery at Sanssouci Park in Potsdam celebrates 250th anniversary with exhibition", "La Prusse n'est pas un pays qui a une arme, c'est une arme qui a un pays", "Ask MHQ: Robert Citino's Top 10 German Military Commanders", "The Double Headed Eagle and Scottish Rite Masonry", "Does Hogarth Depict Old Fritz Truthfully with a Crooked Beak?The Pictures Familiar to Us from Pesne to Menzel Don't Show This", "Frederick the Great at peacenot Germany", "Friedrich II. 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. Frederick II was ill for some months before his death. [235] Additionally, the Hohenfriedberger Marsch was allegedly written by Frederick to commemorate his victory in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg during the Second Silesian War. "[296] As far as Frederick was concerned, there were two major battlefield considerations speed of march and speed of fire. Frederick II of Prussia | Bartleby Unusually for the time and his aristocratic background, he criticised hunting as cruel, rough and uneducated. [192] However, the fixed ratio between gold and silver led to the gold coins being perceived as more valuable, which caused them to leave circulation in Prussia. [191] In addition, Frederick estimated that he earned about one million thalers in profits on the seignorage. 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. [206], He tolerated all faiths in his realm, but Protestantism remained the favoured religion, and Catholics were not chosen for higher state positions. 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. However, by the end of the year lack of French support and threats to his lines of communication had forced him to retreat. [271] This style became known as Frederician Rococo and is epitomised by Frederick's summer palace, Sanssouci (French for "carefree" or "without worry"),[272] which served as his primary residence and private refuge. Essay on the Forms of Government A sovereign must possess an exact and detailed knowledge of the strong and of the weak points of his country. In this battle, Frederick's retrained cavalry proved more effective than at Mollwitz,[74] but once more it was the discipline of the Prussian infantry that won the field[75] and allowed Frederick to claim a major victory. [71] Meanwhile, Frederick, as well as other members of the League of Nymphenburg, sponsored the candidacy of his ally Charles of Bavaria to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. [228], Frederick founded the first veterinary school in Prussia. In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than in the art of war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia. Sculptures were arranged symmetrically or in rows in relation to the architecture. [130], By 1761, both the Austrian and Prussian military forces were so exhausted that no major battles were fought between them. In the course of the fighting, Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. [118] They joined and once more advanced on Berlin. [6] In contrast, Frederick's mother Sophia, whose father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lneburg, had succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714, was polite, charismatic and learned. Frederick's position became even more desperate in 1761 when Britain, having achieved victory in the American and Indian theatres of the war, ended its financial support for Prussia after the death of King George II, Frederick's uncle. [231] A meeting with Johann Sebastian Bach in 1747 in Potsdam led to Bach's writing The Musical Offering. Heritage History - Products With the death of FrederickI in 1713, his son Frederick William I became King in Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince. Jackson Shoobert, Exploring Frederick (II) the Great's Sexuality in the wake of the Sexual Revolution. 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. Nearly all 19th-century German historians made Frederick into a romantic model of a glorified warrior, praising his leadership, administrative efficiency, devotion to duty and success in building Prussia into a great power in Europe. He was surprised by the arrival of an Austrian army, which he fought at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741. ", 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. Frederick II ( German: Friedrich II; 24 January 1712 - 17 August 1786) was a King in Prussia (1740-1786) from the Hohenzollern dynasty. The most important threat to his plans was Russian support for Maria Theresa, which he hoped to avert by judicious bribery in St. Petersburg and by exploiting the confusion that was likely to follow the imminent death of the empress Anna. Fredericks upbringing and education were strictly controlled by his father, who was a martinet as well as a paranoiac. [226] He presided over the construction of canals for bringing crops to market, and introduced new crops, especially the potato and the turnip, to the country. This policy allowed Prussia's population to recover very quickly from its considerable losses during Frederick's three wars.[212]. [28], Frederick was granted a royal pardon and released from his cell on 18 November 1730, although he remained stripped of his military rank. Germany's ex-royals want their riches back, but past ties to - CNN [127] He won a marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November,[128] which secured Berlin from further raids. [220], Frederick's religious views were sometimes criticised. [55], When Frederick became king, he was faced with the challenge of overcoming Prussia's weaknesses, vulnerably disconnected holdings with a weak economic base. [43] Frederick formed the Bayard Order to discuss warfare with his friends; Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqu was made the grand master of the gatherings. [333] He has been seen as an exemplar of enlightened absolutism,[334] though this label has been questioned in the 21st century as many enlightenment principles directly contrast with his military reputation.[335]. Frederick the Great Quotes (Author of Instructions for His Generals) Voltaire, who was 83 when he died in 1778, was a man of his time, say his apologists. [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. Frederick was deeply alarmed by this: a hostile Austro-Russian alliance backed by British money seemed to threaten the destruction of Prussia. Being unable to meet Frederick's expectations for profit, Graumann was removed in 1754. [210] He also accepted countless Protestant weavers from Bohemia, who were fleeing from the devoutly Catholic rule of Maria Theresa, granting them freedom from taxes and military service. [263] Frederick's love of French culture was not without limits either. [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. Frederick II combined the qualities of a warrior king with those of an enlightened despot. Peter III was so enamoured of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war against Austria, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia. Follow Author Frederick the Great > Quotes (?) Ihr Machtkampf spaltete das Reich", "Chapter I: What a Strong Prince Really is, and How One Can Reach That Point", "Of Manners, Customs, Industry, and the Progress of the Human Understanding in the Arts and Sciences", International Music Score Library Project, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick_the_Great&oldid=1171448715, German military personnel of the Seven Years' War, German military personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession, People of the War of the Bavarian Succession, Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland), Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Articles with German-language sources (de), Articles with French-language sources (fr), Articles with International Music Score Library Project links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 21 August 2023, at 04:10. The result was the signature in May of a Franco-Austrian defensive alliance. [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. In 1739, Frederick finished his Anti-Machiavel, an idealistic rebuttal of Machiavelli. [284] Even more important were his operational successes, especially the use of interior lines to prevent the unification of numerically superior opposing armies and defend the Prussian core territory. With the exception of his first battlefield experience at the Battle of Mollwitz, Frederick proved himself courageous in battle. Famous Political Figures Frederick II Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great, was Prussia's king from 1740 to 1786. Frederick retained Jesuits as teachers in Silesia, Warmia, and the Netze District, recognising their educational activities as an asset for the nation. [103] This action, along with his initial invasion of neutral Saxony brought him widespread international criticism;[104] but the conquest of Saxony also provided him with significant financial, military, and strategic assets that helped him sustain the war. Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, & the Arts They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Frederick also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities and faiths to come to Prussia, although he enacted oppressive measures against Catholics in Silesia and Polish Prussia. The best of Frederick's officer corps were also killed in the conflict. [126] At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war. [145] While Prussia lost no territory, the population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. Perhaps even more significant, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church, the Archbishop of Mainz, who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick and Prussia's standing amid the German states. [293], Frederick was an influential military theorist whose analysis emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. He attracted the great thinkers of. [158] Soon Protestants were barred from public offices and the Sejm (Polish Parliament). The gilded stucco decorations of the ceilings were created by Johann Michael Merck (17141784) and Carl Joseph Sartori (17091770). 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. This created an interest in cultivation and development that the boy retained when he became ruler. [267] Moreover, it was under his reign that Berlin became an important centre of German enlightenment. [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. [27] The king condemned Katte to death and forced Frederick to watch his beheading at Kstrin on 6 November, leading the crown prince to faint just before the fatal blow. Frederick's army, which consisted of a substantial number of quickly recruited, half-trained soldiers,[119] attempted to check them at the Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August, where he was defeated and his troops were routed. [216], Like many leading figures in the Age of Enlightenment, Frederick was a Freemason,[217] having joined during a trip to Brunswick in 1738. "[16] Wilhelmine would further record that "Though I had noticed that he was on more familiar terms with this page than was proper in his position, I did not know how intimate the friendship was." With the help of French experts, he organised a system of indirect taxation, which provided the state with more revenue than direct taxation; though French officials administering it may have pocketed some of the profit. Joseph II - Quotes, Emperor & Family - Biography He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inheritance of his grandfather) sovereign prince of the Canton of Neuchtel. Early Life. [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. Frederick, however, thanks to his father, had a fine army and ample funds at his disposal. [84] Now able to focus solely on Frederick's army, the Austrians, who were reinforced by the Saxons, crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. He was interested in attracting a diversity of skills to his country, whether from Jesuit teachers, Huguenot citizens, or Jewish merchants and bankers. 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. 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. [62] The occupation of Silesia added one of the most densely industrialised German regions to Frederick's kingdom and gave it control over the navigable Oder River. Unfortunately for the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, the French court was unwilling to support him because they were already supporting the American revolutionaries on the North American continent and the idea of an alliance with Austria had been unpopular in France since the end of the Seven Years' War. Frederick Ii (prussia) | Encyclopedia.com
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