der Große Friedrich II

Friedrich II, der Große, König von Preußen (Berlin, 1712-86, Potsdam), succeeded his father Friedrich Wilhelm I in June 1740. Friedrich Wilhelm had vainly tried to shape his heir in his own image. Failing that, he had, equally vainly, tried to force Friedrich to resign his rights of succession. The humiliations to which his father subjected him reached a crisis when Friedrich, at the age of 18, attempted to flee to Paris. The plot was discovered, and Friedrich was kept in solitary confinement at Küstrin for treason, and his friend, Lieutenant H. H. von Katte, was executed in the courtyard below his window. But by the end of 1731 Friedrich was restored to his rank of colonel. He had learnt that life was bearable if he made his father believe that he was an obedient son, evidence of which he gave by inspecting troops, and by marrying, in 1733, Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, a niece of Maria Theresia. There were no children of this marriage, and in later years Friedrich paid her a formal visit once a year on her birthday at her court. From 1736 to 1740 he resided at Rheinsberg, devoting his leisure to reading, writing, and music. He was an accomplished flautist, and more successful as a composer of music than as a writer of French verse. After his accession he maintained a private orchestra (Kapelle) which included the composers Quantz and C. P. E. Bach. In 1747 he suggested a theme for variations to J. S. Bach from which grew the Musical Offering (Das musikalische Opfer).

Within a few months of his accession he seized Silesia (see Schlesische Kriege), exploiting a constitutional crisis over the accession, in October 1740, of Maria Theresia (see Pragmatische Sanktion and Österreichischer Erbfolgekrieg). Friedrich thus realized longstanding Hohenzollern ambitions to extend Prussian territory and consolidate the prestige of the former Electorate, which had achieved the status of kingdom only in 1701. The whole of Friedrich's reign was determined by his early successful campaign which he owed to the efficient military and administrative system inherited from his father. He had provoked not only Austria, but the principal states of Germany and Europe as well. By 1745 he had successfully defended his new acquisition in the second of the Silesian wars, but in 1756 he entered the field again to foil the preparations of an Austrian coalition against him. His offensive developed into seven years of war (see Siebenjähriger Krieg), and earned Friedrich both hatred and admiration and, after an early victory at Roßbach (1757), the appellation ‘the Great’. Although the war devastated the country and brought Friedrich to the verge of suicide, he emerged with increased prestige. The Seven Years War made history, not least by Prussia's endurance which was inspired by Friedrich himself, who was in the unique position of being his own commander-in-chief and head of government. It won him many sympathizers, among them Lessing and Goethe. After 1763 the prevention of further war and the recuperation of his country and army were his prime concern. He suggested the division of Poland (see Poland, Partitions of) from which Russia, Austria, and Prussia were to benefit, and over which he hoped Russia and Austria would forget their differences. Friedrich's acquisition, in 1772, of the part of Poland renamed West Prussia (without Danzig and Thorn) was particularly valuable to him, as it linked East Prussia with Brandenburg. In 1778 he mobilized for the last time against Austria when Joseph II tried to acquire Bavaria upon the death of the Elector Maximilian (see Bayrischer Erbfolgekrieg). Largely owing to Maria Theresia's own intervention, the crisis passed; but when the Prusso-Russian alliance was, in 1780, reversed into an Austro-Russian alliance, Friedrich found himself in isolation. To frustrate Joseph's plans to create a kingdom of Burgundy out of part of the Austrian Netherlands, Friedrich rallied the German princes, and in 1785 created the Fürstenbund, which was joined by enough princes and bishops to act as an effective deterrent against Austria. Friedrich's sole concern was the consolidation of Prussian interests. Unlike his forebears he had no sense of loyalty to the authority of the Empire; he was contemptuous of the term ‘Holy Roman Emperor’ and, as a political realist, never aspired to this ‘vain title’.

Friedrich's administration of the state followed the pattern established by his forebears. He was hard-working, efficient, and ruthless. He adhered to a strict caste-system by conviction. It was the weakness of his government that it depended on an experienced and knowledgeable ruler. Friedrich's heir, his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm II, was ill equipped for this formidable task; nor did Friedrich provide responsible and independent ministers who could carry on his work. In his last years he regarded the future of Prussia with cynical resignation. Yet he left an army of some 200, 000 men and a well-provided treasury, the result of his stringent mercantile policy and heavy taxation, especially of the middle class.

He disliked the German language and was contemptuous of German men of letters. In 1780 he published a treatise on the shortcomings of German literature: De la littérature allemande, des défaults qu'on peut lui reprocher, quelles en sont les causes, et par quels moyens on peut les corriger. A German translation, Über die deutsche Litteratur, appeared simultaneously and anonymously. The King's authorship was, however, an open secret. He blames the German language (‘à demi barbare’), but believes that it is not beyond hope, if cultivated after the Ancient and French models. Canitz, C. F. Gellert, and S. Geßner had made a beginning. Friedrich had no more than a random acquaintance with contemporary German literature (1740-80), which is also evident in his treatment of Lessing. His mother Sophie Dorothea of Hanover and his favourite sister Wilhelmine spoke French fluently, and French was from an early age Friedrich's favourite language. All his writings are in French. And while he practised religious tolerance out of a disbelief in all creeds, he was an admirer of French enlightenment, and while still at Rheinsberg had a profuse correspondence with Voltaire. Briefwechsel Friedrich des Großen mit Voltaire was edited by Koser and G. Droysen (3 vols., 1908-11) and followed by Nachträge zu dem Briefwechsel Friedrich des Großen mit Maupertuis und Voltaire (1917). Mirabeau was one of his last visitors at Sanssouci before he died.

In Rheinsberg Friedrich pursued also historical studies and wrote his first political treatises on the principles of government and the critical analysis of European politics: Considérations sur l'état présent du corps politique de l'Europe was published anonymously at The Hague in 1738; in 1739 he wrote L'Antimachiavel, a treatise on Machiavelli's Il principe, which Voltaire revised before it was published anonymously in 1740. His other writings include Histoire de mon temps (1746), and Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la maison de Brandebourg (1751); his Histoire de la guerre de sept ans was written after the Peace of Hubertusburg. The Œuvres de Frédéric le Grand (31 vols.) were edited by J. D. E. Preuß (1846-57). They did not include his two political testaments of 1752 and 1768. In 1771 he privately printed a short essay for Voltaire: Essai sur les formes de gouvernement et sur les devoirs. His works were published in German translation in 1912-14 (10 vols., with illustrations by A. Menzel) and in 1916 (select edn., 2 vols.).

In L'Antimachiavel Friedrich first formulated the function of the ruler as ‘le premier domestique de l'état’ and his conviction of ‘la raison d'état’, a principle which he bore out in his service to Prussia and in his direction of politics. He developed an increasingly inaccessible personality. His affection concentrated on his sister Wilhelmine, who died in 1758, but he benefited from the outstanding ability of his brother Prince Heinrich in battle and in diplomacy. He practised self-criticism without vanity and did not seek popularity.

An abundance of literature has grown out of anecdotes of his life. Carlyle (Frederick the Great, 1858-65) praised him as a hero, and 19th-c. German historians of the Prussian school, Ranke, Treitschke, and Droysen, gave him fresh laurels in the name of nationalism. At the beginning of the 1914-18 War Th. Mann criticized the Prussian school (Friedrich und die Große Koalition, written in 1914). Of the many works on Friedrich the following may be mentioned (excluding those dealing with the Seven Years War): C. F. D. Schubart, Friedrich der Große, a hymnic ode (1786); Willibald Alexis, Canabis, a novel (1832); Karl Gutzkow, Zopf und Schwert, a comedy (1844); Th. Fontane, Der alte Fritz, poems (1851); Heinrich Laube, Prinz Friedrich, a play (1854); Julius Mosen, Der Sohn des Fürsten, a tragedy (1858); Gustav Freytag, Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit (1859-67), a historical survey, Hermann Burte, Katte, a play (1914); Paul Ernst, Preußengeist, a play (1915), Walter von Molo, Fridericus, a novel (1918); J. von der Goltz, Vater und Sohn, a play (1921); Bruno Frank, Tage des Königs, a novel (1924); Paul Alverdes, Die Flucht, a story (1934); E. von Naso, Preußische Legende, a story (1939); H. Mann, Die traurige Geschichte von Friedrich dem Großen (posth., 1960).