Frederick the Great

By Erin “Hildegaard” Hanson

A Royal is Born• Frederick was born on

January 24, 1712 in Potsdam.

• His parents were King Frederick William I and

• Queen Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.

• He would grow up to be the third “King in Prussia,” his grandfather Frederick I and father Frederick William I of the Hohenzollern dynasty being the first two.

Paternal Terror•As a boy, Frederick was rather effeminate and sensitive. •He was interested in philosophy, music, particularly the flute, and languages.

•This drove his father, who despised anything intellectual or artistic, crazy.

Paternal Terror•His father would often terrorize and humiliate him.•At the Tabaks-Kollegium(Tobacco Parliament), a group of military friends that Frederick William spent free time with, young Frederick was often publicly humiliated.•Frederick was publicly caned by his father at an army review in Muhlberg in 1730.

• The public caning was a breaking point for young Frederick.

• With his close friend, Hans Herman von Katte, he plotted to

run away to England, but they were captured.

• This enraged his father, who had them both were imprisoned at the fortress at Kustrin.

• Frederick William considered having his son executed, but decided against it.

• He originally planned to have von Katte’s limbs torn with hot irons and then hang him.

• Instead, he decided to force his son to watch his good friend’s beheading.

A Friend’s Death• While Frederick’s face

was held to the bars by guards, Hans Herman von Katte was beheaded at 7:00 am.

• His body, head included, where it lay until 2:00 that afternoon.

• For three days afterward, Frederick would not speak and suffered from hallucinations

• This was a turning point for Frederick and his father.

• Frederick William had finally broken his son.

A Broken Prince• This episode

changed Frederick forever and defined the rest of his life.

• He remained at the Kustrin fortress for a few months, then he was allowed to live in the town of Kustrin.

• He submitted to his father’s will and focused on performing the administrative duties of the Crown Prince.

Becoming King• Frederick William

died on May 31, 1740, leaving Frederick the King in Prussia.

• Five months after taking the throne, he declared war on Austria and took the Hapsburg holding Silesia.

• This caused a rivalry between Maria Theresa of Austria, and later between him and her son Joseph II.

Prussian Expansion• The annexation of

Silesia was only the beginning of Prussian expansion.

• Before Frederick’s reign, Prussia consisted of scattered territories. By the end of his reign, East and West Pomerania, Brandenburg, the former Duchy of Prussia, and Cleves, Mark, and Ravensburg of the Holy Roman Empire all were joined under Prussian rule.

King of Prussia• In 1772, Poland was

partitioned between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. This is when the majority of Prussia’s territory gains occurred.

• With this annexation, Frederick crowned himself King of Prussia.

• His previous title, King in Prussia, was due to the fact that much of their territories lay outside of Imperial Territory.

Modernization• Frederick improved

Prussia’s economy by imposing tariffs on imported goods and keeping few restrictions on internal trade.

• He drained swamps for agriculture and introduced new crops, such as the potato and the turnip.

• Government storehouses for grain were built to control grain prices and provide for the survival of the civilian population in times of need.

• 750 schools were built.

Intellectual Endeavors• Frederick played the flute. He was extremely gifted and composed

many of his own pieces.• Frederick wrote the Hohenfiredberger Marsch, a military march.

He wrote it after his victory in the Battle of Hohenfriedburg in the Second Silesian War. http://youtu.be/Ntqdy0Gm2zg

• He was an intellectual who enjoyed philosophy. He became good friends with Voltaire, who eventually came to live with him for a while. Their friendship came to an end over something Voltaire wrote critically of the President of Frederick’s Prussian Academy of Sciences, Maupertuis. Years later they became friends once again.

• He spoke many languages in addition to his native German, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and he was able to read and write Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.

• He disliked the German language even though it was his native tongue. About German writers he wrote,“they take pleasure in a diffuse style, they pile parenthesis upon parenthesis, and often you don’t find until you reach the end of the page the verb on which the meaning of the entire sentence depends.”

Personal Life• His terrifying

childhood and the trauma of watching his friend’s death caused him to focus on his work as King. His personal life was hampered by his past experiences. He was married, but he didn’t live with his wife.

• His sexuality is uncertain, but it is rumored that he was gay.

Homosexual or Not?• Despite being married,

rumors spread that he was gay. He didn’t like his wife, and he didn’t spend much time with her. They lived separtely.

• It’s unclear whether or not he and Hans Herman von Katte were more than friends.

• A writer of the time described their relationship as being “carried on like a lover with his mistress”.

• He also had a close relationship with Voltaire, who lived with him for a time at his home in Sans-Soucci.

Final Years • Frederick became solitary

in his old age. As his circle of friends died off, they weren’t replaced. He preferred the companionship of his pet greyhounds to the companionship of humans.

• He died on August 17, 1786 in an armchair of his study.

• His nephew and successor, Frederick William II, had him buried next to his father in the Potsdam Garrison Church.

Legacy• Frederick united Prussia

and inspired a love and devotion to the fatherland that long outlived him. He was revered by subsequent German leaders, such as Otto von Bismark and Adolf Hitler.

• Adolf Hiltler had his and his father’s bodies exhumed and hidden in a salt mine to protect them during the war.

Works Cited• Showalter, Dennis. "Frederick The Great: The First Modern Military

Celebrity." History Net: Where History Comes Alive. Weider History Group. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.historynet.com/frederick-the-great-the-first-modern-military-celebrity.htm>.

• Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947.      London: Penguin Books, 2007.

• Print. Bakshian Jnr, Aram. "Father And Son Fredrick William And Fredrick The Great." History Today 26.5 (1976): 293. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.

• Images• Weidemann, F. W. Frederick the Great as a Child. Bildarchiv

Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Web.

• Pesne, Antoine. Frederick William I, King of Prussia. Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. Web

• "Growth of Brandenburg-Prussia(1600-1775)." Map. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II_of_Prussia>.