Frederick the great's accomplishments

Answer 1

Frederick is widely recognized as the political figure who modernized Prussia. Invading a neighboring country for access to resources and relaxing restriction on domestic trade, Frederick's nation propelled itself from a post-medieval mire to a legitimate economic presence on the world stage.

Answer 2

Frederick was an 18th century Prussian king most famous for elevating Prussia (or Brandenburg) from a smaller power on equal footing with states such as Saxony and Bohemia into a great power and joined into great power politics with much larger, richer and more populous states such as France, Austria, Russia, Britain and Poland. Prussia would later be the leading faction during the unification of Germany in the 1870s.

He was also notable for being a remarkable general famous for several victories against the much larger combined forces of his enemies during the War of Austrian Succession in the 1740s and the Seven Years War in the 1760s. His armies, discipline and tactics have been widely admired by the likes of Napoleon and Clausewitz.

One other notable event during his reign, was the "Diplomatic Revolution" that occurred during the War of Austrian Succession. This revolution was a switch of traditional allegiances between great powers. For hundreds of years the French had fought many conflicts against British and Austrian led coalitions. But with the rise of Prussian power in the hands of Frederick, the Austrians became allies with the French who were also becoming nervous about Prussia. The British immediately switched allegiances from Austria to Prussia completing the Diplomatic Revolution and the nature of politics afterwards.