Frederick the Great

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Frederick the Great
Friedrich der Große - Johann Georg Ziesenis - Google Cultural Institute (cropped 2).jpg
1763 portrait
Reign31 May 1740 – 17 August 1786
PredecessorFrederick William I
SuccessorFrederick William II
Born(1712-01-24)24 January 1712
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died17 August 1786(1786-08-17) (aged 74)
Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia
Burial
Sanssouci, Potsdam
Spouse
Regnal name
Frederick II
HouseHohenzollern
FatherFrederick William I of Prussia
MotherSophia Dorothea of Hanover
SignatureFrederick the Great's signature
Military career
Service/branchPrussian army
Battles/wars
List

Frederick II 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He 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 most significant accomplishments include military successes in the Silesian wars, reorganisation of the Prussian Army, the First Partition of Poland, and patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great and was nicknamed "Old Fritz In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia. However, upon ascending to the throne, he attacked and annexed the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics.

Frederick was a supporter of enlightened absolutism, stating that the ruler should be the first servant of the state. He modernised the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and pursued religious policies that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick encouraged immigrants of diverse backgrounds to come to Prussia. While Protestantism remained the favored faith, he allowed religious freedom and tolerated Jews and Catholics in Prussia, however his actions were not entirely without prejudice. He supported the arts and philosophers he favoured, and allowed freedom of the press and literature. Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. Because he died childless, he was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II. He is buried at his favourite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam.

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. Frederick remained an admired historical figure through Germany's defeat in World War I, and the Nazis glorified him as a great German leader prefiguring Adolf Hitler, who personally idolised him. His reputation became less favourable in Germany after World War II, partly due to being symbolically adopted by the Nazis as a historical hero. 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.

Early life[edit]

Frederick was the son of then-Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.[1] He was born between 11 and 12 p.m. on 24 January 1712 in the Berlin Palace and was baptised with the single name Friedrich by Benjamin Ursinus von Bär on 31 January.[2] The birth was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I, as his two previous grandsons had died in infancy. With the death of Frederick I in 1713, his son Frederick William I became King in Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince. Frederick had nine siblings who lived to adulthood. He had six sisters. The eldest was Wilhelmine, who became his closest,[3] Another sister was Louisa Ulrika who married the Swedish king Adolf Fredrik and would become queen of Sweden.[4] Frederick also had three younger brothers, including Augustus William and Henry.[5] The new king wished for his children to be educated not as royalty, but as simple folk. They were tutored by a French woman, Madame de Montbail, who had also educated Frederick William.[6]

Frederick William I, 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. He had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority.[7] In contrast, Frederick's mother Sophia, whose father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714, was polite, charismatic and learned.[8] The political and personal differences between Frederick's parents created tensions,[9] which affected Frederick's attitude toward culture, his role as a ruler, and his relationship with his father.[10]

In his early youth, Frederick lived with his mother and sister Wilhelmine,[10] although they regularly visited their father's hunting lodge at Königs Wusterhausen.[11] Frederick and his older sister formed a close relationship,[10] which lasted until her death in 1758.[12] Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. 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. Frederick Wilhelm thought these interests were effeminate,[13] as they clashed with his militarism, resulting in his frequent beating and humiliation of Frederick.[14] Nevertheless, Frederick, with the help of his tutor in Latin, Jacques Duhan, procured a 3,000-volume secret library of poetry, Greek and Roman classics, and philosophy to supplement his official lessons.[15]

Frederick William I had been raised a Calvinist in spite of the Lutheran state faith in Prussia, but feared he was not one of God's elect. 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. Despite his father's intention, Frederick appeared to have adopted a sense of predestination for himself.[16]

Crown prince[edit]

See also: Sexuality of Frederick the Great
Painting of a young Frederick in robes and armour, with a baton
Portrait of 24-year-old Frederick as the crown prince of Prussia by Antoine Pesne (1736, Huis Doorn, Netherlands)

At age 16, Frederick formed an attachment to the king's 17-year-old page, Peter Karl Christoph von Keith. Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became inseparable.... He served my brother from feelings of real devotion".[17] 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." As Frederick was almost certainly homosexual,[18] his relationship with Keith may have been homoerotic, although the extent of their intimacy remains ambiguous.[19] When Frederick William heard rumours of their relationship, Keith was sent away to an unpopular regiment near the Dutch frontier.[20]

In the mid-1720s, Queen Sophia Dorothea attempted to arrange the marriage of Frederick and his sister Wilhelmine to her brother King George II's children Amelia and Frederick, the heir apparent.[21] 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. The pair undermined the relationship between the British and Prussian courts using bribery and slander.[22] Eventually Frederick William became angered by the idea of Frederick being married to an English wife and under the influence of the British court.[23] Instead, he signed a treaty with Austria, which vaguely promised to acknowledge Prussia's rights to the principalities of Jülich-Berg, which led to the collapse of the marriage proposal.[24]

Katte affair[edit]

Soon after his relationship with Keith ended, Frederick became close friends with Hans Hermann von Katte, a Prussian officer eight years older than Frederick who became one of his boon companions and may have been his lover.[25] After the English marriages became impossible, Frederick plotted to flee to Britain with Katte and other junior army officers.[26] While the royal retinue was near Mannheim in the Electorate of the Palatinate, Robert Keith (Peter Keith's brother and 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.[27] Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin. Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Britain, Frederick William accused the pair of treason. The king briefly threatened the crown prince with execution, then considered forcing Frederick to renounce the succession in favour of his brother, Augustus William, although either option would have been difficult to justify to the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.[28] The king condemned Katte to death and forced Frederick to watch his beheading at Küstrin on 6 November; the crown prince fainted just before the fatal blow.[29]

Frederick was granted a royal pardon and released on 18 November 1730, although he remained stripped of his military rank.[30] He was forced to remain in Küstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration for the War and Estates Departments. Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Küstrin a year later, and Frederick was allowed to visit Berlin for his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth on 20 November 1731.[31] The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Küstrin on 26 February 1732 on condition that he marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern.[32]

Marriage and War of the Polish Succession[edit]

Engraving of a royal wedding with courtiers
Frederick's marriage to Elisabeth Christine at Schloss Salzdahlum by J. G. Schmidt [de] (1733)

Frederick William considered marrying Frederick to Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the niece of Empress Anna of Russia, but this plan was ardently opposed by Prince Eugene of Savoy. Frederick himself proposed marrying Maria Theresa of Austria in return for renouncing the succession.[33] Instead, Eugene persuaded Frederick William, through Seckendorff, that the crown prince should marry Elisabeth Christine, a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs.[34] Frederick wrote to his sister that, "There can be neither love nor friendship between us",[35] and he threatened suicide,[36] but he went along with the wedding on 12 June 1733. He had little in common with his bride, and the marriage was resented as an example of the Austrian political interfere.

Reference[edit]

  1. ↑ Schieder 1983, p. 1.
  2. ↑ MacDonogh 2000, p. 28.
  3. ↑ Gooch 1947, p. 217.
  4. ↑ Asprey 1986, p. 277.
  5. ↑ Schieder 1983, p. 39.
  6. ↑ Kugler 1840, pp. 21–22.
  7. ↑ Asprey 1986, pp. 14–15; MacDonogh 2000, pp. 16–17.
  8. ↑ Kugler 1840, pp. 20–21.
  9. ↑ Fraser 2001, pp. 12–13; Ritter 1936, pp. 24–25.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lavisse 1892, pp. 128–220.
  11. ↑ Kugler 1840, pp. 54–55; Mitford 1970, pp. 28–29; Schieder 1983, p. 7.
  12. ↑ Christian 1888, pp. 11–12.
  13. ↑ MacDonogh 2000, p. 47; Mitford 1970, p. 19; Showalter 1986, p. xiv.
  14. ↑ Kugler 1840, pp. 39–38; MacDonogh 2000, p. 47; Ritter 1936, pp. 26–27.
  15. ↑ MacDonogh 2000, p. 37.
  16. ↑ Fraser 2001, p. 58; MacDonogh 2000, p. 35; Ritter 1936, p. 54.
  17. ↑ Wilhelmine 1888, p. 83.
  18. ↑ Alings 2022; Blanning 2015, 32:50–34:00; Blanning 2016, p. 193; Johansson 2016, pp. 428–429; Krysmanski 2022, pp. 24–30.
  19. ↑ Ashton 2019, p. 113.
  20. ↑ Asprey 1986, pp. 42–43; MacDonogh 2000, p. 49.
  21. ↑ Berridge 2015, p. 21.
  22. ↑ Reiners 1960, pp. 29–31; Schieder 1983, pp. 20–21.
  23. ↑ Mitford 1970, pp. 21–24; Reiners 1960, p. 31.
  24. ↑ Asprey 1986, p. 28; Fraser 2001, p. 25; Kugler 1840, pp. 41–42.
  25. ↑ Asprey 1986, pp. 51–53; Blanning 2015, 3:55–4:56; Simon 1963, p. 76; Mitford 1970, p. 61.
  26. ↑ de Catt 1884, pp. 60–61.
  27. ↑ MacDonogh 2000, p. 63.
  28. ↑ Reiners 1960, p. 41.
  29. ↑ Mitford 1970, p. 61.
  30. ↑ Reiners 1960, p. 52.
  31. ↑ Kugler 1840, p. 94.
  32. ↑ Asprey 1986, pp. 88–89; MacDonogh 2000, pp. 86–89.
  33. ↑ Reddaway 1904, p. 44.
  34. ↑ Reiners 1960, p. 63.
  35. ↑ Crompton 2003, p. 508.
  36. ↑ MacDonogh 2000, p. 88; Mitford 1970, p. 71.
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