Frederick the Great - King of Prussia Documentary

It is the morning of the 17th of August 1786, at the summer palace of Sanssouci, near Berlin, an aging man is found dead in an armchair. In his last will and testament, the man states that he wishes to be buried with his beloved Italian greyhounds, in the grounds of his stately home, but on the orders of the new Prussian king, he is instead interred next to his father, at Garrison Church in Potsdam. 205 years later, on the anniversary of his death, the old man's coffin, covered in a Prussian flag, is finally laid to rest in the vineyard at Sanssouci, under a simple stone slab, which bears the inscription, Friedrich de Grosse, Frederick the Great. The man known to history as Frederick the Great, was born in the Prussian capital of Berlin, on the 24th of January, 1712. His father was the Crown Prince of Prussia, Frederick William I, and his mother was Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, parents who would bestow only a single name, Friedrich or Frederick, on their newborn son, a prince belonging to the House of Hohenzollern, an ancient dynasty that stretched back to the 11th century, and although he had only one given name, the Prussian people would later give him the nickname of Der alte Fritz, or the Old Fritz. His grandfather, Frederick I, had made himself king in Prussia in 1701, and had previously been both the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia, before the two were later unified into the Kingdom of Prussia, which was done with the agreement of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, who was the Archduke of Austria, and was also, in many ways, the overlord of Prussia during this time. Frederick's birth was warmly welcomed by his grandfather, especially as two previous grandsons had died as infants, and when the old king, Frederick I died in 1713, his special grandson became Crown Prince and Frederick's father, Frederick William, became king in Prussia. He was a highly capable ruler and started the process of reorganizing his country and its military, but the new king did not want his children educated, as was typical for royalty, but as the normal population would be educated instead, and so, he employed his own tutor as a child, a Frenchwoman named Madame de Rocoule, to educate Frederick and his fourteen siblings, four of whom died before reaching adulthood, but those who lived included Prince Ferdinand, Prince Augustus William, as well as Prince Henry. Frederick's mother Sophia was a mild woman, learned, polite, as well as charismatic, however his father, Frederick William, known as the Soldier King, was an authoritative military man with a violent temper, perhaps due to the porphyria that plagued him, he was a Calvinist, however he feared that the Protestant Calvinist tenet of God's chosen people or elect, would not include him, and so he ordered that his son Frederick not be taught about predestination, or the idea that events are determined by God alone, and although Frederick was largely irreligious, he did adopt the Calvinist idea of the elect, perhaps to spite his father. It was evident that the Crown Prince Frederick and his father did not get on, in fact they often clashed fiercely, the King wanted his son to adopt, and carry on, his military ethos, but young Prince Frederick was far more interested in learning the arts of peace, such as literature, philosophy, and music, and much to his father's disappointment, Frederick also started to read Latin and French, which his father duly forbade him to do, so the young Prince was forced to read foreign books at night in his chambers, which included Greek and Roman classics, and French philosophy supplied by his Huguenot tutors. Frederick's love of literature is evidenced by the fact that he wrote a book, which was written in French, and published anonymously in 1740, it was a refutation of the works of Niccolo Machiavelli, and at the time, the works of Machiavelli, such as the Prince, were seen as a model for kingly behavior. Over time, Frederick began a double life, on the one hand, he had to be seen to conform to his father's gruelling military demands, but behind closed doors, he would indulge in his real passions for learning, indeed he was an enthusiastic student, learning to speak both French and German, due to his tutors being French, and his double life would, years later, result in Frederick being able not only to understand and command his father's highly professional armed forces, but also to oversee a transformation of Prussian culture and governance, to such a high degree, that no other monarch in Europe at this time could match it. King Frederick William began to become increasingly impatient and abusive towards his son, often cuffing or slapping him in public, much to the Crown Prince's humiliation, but this only served to increase the gap between father and son, and also make the young prince less likely to listen to his father, or adopt his ideas, and during his early years, Frederick once said that he felt like a mirror that dared not be what nature made, instead reflecting the world around it, showing how Frederick felt that his father did not appreciate him for the man he really was. At the age of 16, Frederick became close to one of the King's pages, a 17-year-old boy called Peter Carr Christophe von Kieth, and Frederick's sister Wilhelmine, with whom he had a very close relationship, said of the two, quote, they soon became inseparable, Kieth was intelligent but without education, he served my brother from feelings of real devotion, and kept him informed of all the King's actions. The relationship, which was, by all accounts, of a homosexual nature, was frowned upon, and resulted in Kieth being sent to serve in a regiment near the Dutch frontier, whilst Frederick was sent to his father's hunting lodge, at Königs Wusterhausen, to, quote, repent of his sin, indeed, Frederick later made the following comment, after a particular defeat in battle, that, fortune has it in for me, she is a woman, and I am not that way inclined. Then, in 1730, the King blocked the Crown Prince's marriage to an English princess, fearing a rift with Prussia's overlords Austria, who had advised him not to allow the union, and for the 18-year-old Frederick, this was the final straw, and he then came up with a plan to flee the country to England, which was seen as an act of treason, and Frederick's attempt to escape ended in failure, as he was captured and taken back to Prussia. The King had the Crown Prince thrown in jail for two months in the Prussian fortress of Kossin, and Frederick honestly believed that his father was going to have him executed, but after the King discovered that Frederick had been aided in his escape by a friend of his, Hans Helmann von Katter, the King directed his fury at him instead, and von Katter was subsequently sentenced to death. Frederick was then pinned to the window of his cell by two servants, and was forced to watch his best friend being beheaded, this undoubtedly hurt Frederick massively, but in the following years, he largely accepted his father's demands for him to fulfil his royal obligations, and agreed to marry an Austrian-approved princess, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevan, a relative of the Protestant Habsburgs, but Austria's influence over Frederick's life, and the pain it caused him during this time, would come back to bite them in the future, as when he became King Frederick, he made securing political independence from Austria and the Holy Roman Empire his number one objective. Frederick married Elisabeth Christine on the 12th of June 1733, but he and his new bride did not have a close or intimate marriage, and Frederick was a distant and sometimes insulting husband to Elisabeth, possibly as the marriage was arranged by his father and his Austrian overlords, or maybe because he was primarily homosexual, as some of his biographers have suggested, however he did stay with Elisabeth all of his life, taking no mistresses, and he also looked after her, at least financially, during his reign, although the two lived apart, as Elisabeth lived at the Schoenhausen Palace and Apartments at the Berliner Stadtschloss, and Frederick forbade her from visiting his court at Potsdam. During his reign, Frederick rarely saw Elisabeth Christine, only visiting her formally once a year on her birthday, one of the few times he would be seen not wearing military uniform, and he never displayed any affection for her, and the couple remained childless. In May 1740, King Frederick William I died, and without a doubt, he had been an effective and efficient monarch, and had done much to strengthen Prussia's military, but the kingdom was still divided into separate island states, such as East Prussia, Cleves, Mark and Ravensburg in the west, and Brandenburg, Hither Pomerania and Farther Pomerania in the east, and it was also still under the heel of Austrians to the south. It was upon these strong yet still vulnerable foundations that young King Frederick, who was twenty-eight when he came to the throne, would build a new German regional superpower that would, over the coming decades and centuries, change the history of Europe and the world as a whole. The centre of Europe had been, for nearly a thousand years, made up of a collection of smaller kingdoms, states and city-states, that together formed the Holy Roman Empire, for which a ruler would be elected, who would rule over the empire and, more often than not, especially in the 17th and 18th century, the Holy Roman Emperor came from the strongest German-speaking kingdom, which, at the time, was Austria. Prussia was a relatively unremarkable state, with no natural resources, and was considered unimportant, and it was into this north German backwater that young Prince Frederick was born, which geographically, was in a vulnerable position, lying in the middle of larger powers such as France, Russia, Sweden and Austria, and the militaristic-minded Frederick William recognised this vulnerability, and also realised the necessity of building up the country's economy and its armed forces, so that at the very least it could defend itself in future wars, and because Prussia was a relatively small state, it couldn't compete with its neighbours in terms of raw numbers, and William Frederick addressed this, by ensuring that his armies were as well-trained and disciplined as possible. Frederick William bought in the Canton system from 1733 onwards, under which the country was divided into districts, all of which had to provide a regiment to the army, and all males that could serve in the army had to do so, meaning that before long, Prussia had the fourth largest military machine in Europe, with one soldier for every twenty-eight people in the population, producing an 80,000-strong army, however, persons who had a certain level of wealth, or members of the nobility, were exempt from service, as were civil servants and students. This ensured that those who were essential to the everyday running of the country, and the economy, did not have to join the armed forces, but instead carried on the essential tasks required, for the efficient running of the country, strict training and drills, were also bought in, meaning that by the end of Frederick William's reign, he had created the most efficient and well-trained army on the continent, an inheritance his son would benefit greatly from. After Frederick William died in 1740, the new King Frederick ascended to the throne on the 13th of May at the age of 28, and sought to unify his scattered kingdom into a unified state, and also gain total independence from Holy Roman Austrian influence, and so, when in October 1740, the Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, Charles VI died, handing his lands to his daughter, Maria Theresa, King Frederick refused to recognize the Grand Duchess's territorial inheritance, and set his sights on Silesia, which at the time, was the breadbasket of Central Europe, and Austria's most valuable province, he then assembled 27,000 troops on the banks of the river Oder, and marched them southeast, in a bold move to claim Silesia for Prussia. In less than just six weeks, the province was under Prussian control, and Frederick and his army settled down for the winter, but the Archduchess of Austria, Maria Theresa, had no intention of surrendering Silesia, without a fight, and in the spring of 1741, she sent an Austrian army to retake the province, with the two forces meeting on the 10th of April, 1741, and the following battle, named the Battle of Molwitz, would prove to be pivotal in teaching the young Prussian king, valuable lessons in warfare. During the battle, the 20,000 strong Austrian army attacked the Prussian right wing, with a 4,500 strong cavalry force, routing the Prussian cavalry in turn, and then Frederick's second-in-command, Kurt Christoph Gaf von Schwerin, advised the king to flee the field, in case of a Prussian rout, but the Prussians were saved, largely thanks to their infantry's training, and rate of fire which was four, sometimes five shots a minute, in comparison with their enemy, who could only fire two or three shots in a minute, and after a prolonged exchange of fire, the Austrians buckled under the pressure, and fled to the field. After the battle, Frederick swore he would never leave his armies again, and stayed true to his word until his death, he also stated that the Battle of Molwitz was his school, and his armies, being near defeat in the battle, had taught him valuable lessons, in how to command his troops, and also how warfare should be undertaken in general. In August 1741, France and Bavaria also declared war on Austria, and marched on Prague in an attempt to claim the Kingdom of Bohemia, this forced Austria to withdraw valuable troops and send them west to meet the new threat, ensuring that Silesia remained in Prussian hands, for the time being at least. Frederick had gambled by invading the province, and thanks to the expert help of his generals, along with his highly trained officers and troops, he had claimed victory, and knew that he had been lucky, resolving to master the art of warfare as much as he could, to try and restrict the element of luck in his future battles. His armies then marched into Bohemia, in a combined offensive with the French and their allies, in order to further carry the fight to the Austrians, and hopefully secure more territory, this resulted in the Austrians sending a 30,000 strong army, commanded by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Empress Theresa's brother-in-law, to relieve the occupied Bohemian capital of Prague, and kick Austria's enemies out of the province, following this, they met at the Battle of Chattoosets on the 17th of May, 1742. Once again, the Prussian cavalry proved to be inferior to their Austrian counterparts, and the Prussian infantry were the determining factor in the battle, which resulted in another victory for Frederick, and as his father had neglected the training of the Prussian cavalry during his reign, Frederick started to rectify this, and before long, his cavalry would be as effective, or even more effective, than the Prussian infantry. The successive defeat to Prussia then forced the Austrians to sign the Treaty of Breslau in 1742, which effectively meant that Silesia was now in Prussian hands, and that Frederick had, in turn, almost doubled his territory in the War of the Austrian Succession or the First Silesian War. In 1743, the Austrians were at war with the French and Bavarians, over control of Bohemia, and hoping to capitalize on Austria's perceived weakness, Frederick renewed his alliance with the French and Bavarians and invaded Bohemia himself, in support of them in August 1744, advancing in three separate armies across Silesia and Saxony, with the agreement of the Elector of Saxony, Augustus III, who was also King of Poland and Lithuania. The Allies would attack the Austrians on two fronts, the French and Bavarians from the west and Prussia from the north, but in retaliation, Austria agreed to an alliance with Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Saxony, with Augustus III of Saxony changing sides, after allowing the Prussians to pass through his territory, and with Saxony now lying between himself and Prussia, Frederick was in a precarious position, as Saxony was now his enemy and the Kingdom of Saxony lay between him and meaning his supply lines were threatened, as was his conquest in Silesia and Prussia itself. He decided to withdraw from Bohemia altogether, meaning that the Austrians were now free to take on the French and Bavarians without Prussian support, and so this resulted in the Austrians defeating the Franco-Bavarian armies in the Battle of Pfaffenhofen in April 1745, which in essence, knocked Prussia's allies out of the war, and now meant that, the Austrians and Saxony could unite in force to take on Frederick's Prussia. The two allies formed a single large army and marched into Silesia, in the hope of defeating Frederick's army for good, and dividing Prussia up between them, however Frederick had time to prepare his defences and was laying in wait for the Austro-Bavarian assault. The two forces then met near the town of Hohenfriedburg, now Dobromietz in modern-day Poland, and the Prussians and Frederick's battle plan was to attack the Saxons first and defeat them, and then take on the Austrians as they started their offensive, on the morning of the 4th of June 1745, whilst the Saxons were still in camp. Taken by surprise, the Saxon forces were soon overwhelmed, and they then surrendered, and so Frederick's army then turned its attention to the Austrians, who were now outnumbered, the newly retrained Prussian cavalry and dragoons, unlike in Frederick's early battles, now played a pivotal role, attacking the left wing of the Austrian army and rolling up their line in the process, until the bulk of the Austrian forces were in a headlong retreat, and the elite Prussian infantry then pushed forward, forcing the Austrians to give way until by evening, the battlefield belonged to Prussia. Frederick had hoped that, him continually defeating the Austrians, would bring them to the negotiating table, but they were determined to destroy Prussia as a state, as it posed the greatest threat to Austria control over Germany and Central Europe as a whole, and the Austrians and their Saxon allies then regrouped and decided to attack Frederick and Prussia on their own soil, by marching north into Brandenburg in the hope of seizing Berlin and ending the war in their favour, Frederick had however, received intelligence of his enemy's movements, and left Silesia in order to ready his defences. This culminated in the Prussians once again engaging and defeating the Austro-Saxon armies in the battles of Hellesdorf and Kesselsdorf, in winter of 1745, ending Austria's hope of destroying the Prussian power and again, ending their hopes of regaining control of Silesia, following this, Austria and its allies then signed the Treaty of Dresden on Christmas Day 1745, ending the Second Silesian War and Frederick II's Prussia was now the pre-eminent state within Germany and a new formidable power on the map of Europe. The Silesian War and Frederick's victory can be put down to various factors, firstly, he had inherited from his father, arguably the best organised and most efficient army in Europe at the time, as well as a highly trained and intelligent officer corps who he felt comfortable in delegating decision-making to, however, there is no doubt that Frederick possessed great strategic intelligence and was able to look at a campaign or war and foresee enemy movements and risks, as well as this, he was bold, cunning and supremely intelligent in his strategic choices and always looked to take the initiative against his enemy, meaning he had great control over events. Although it can be said he did make some mistakes early in his military campaigns and was lucky in some ways to emerge victorious from them, he was a quick learner who also had the ability to listen to his advisors and subordinates and allow them the freedom to make decisions for themselves during campaigns and battles and if he had lost any of the battles during the Silesian Wars, there can be little doubt that he would have lost everything he had gained up till then, this demonstrates how intelligent he was and how well organised the Prussian war machine had become through necessity because of Prussia being weaker in manpower and resources than its rivals and neighbours. In little more than five years since succeeding his father, Frederick had nearly doubled the size of his kingdom and placed Prussia on the power map of Europe and now he and his country were awarded with over a decade of peace and prosperity in which he undertook a further transformation and reorganisation of the Prussian states, both in terms of its governance and its culture. He then built the Rococo-style Palace of Sanssouci in Potsdam near Berlin from 1745 to 1747, a palace which was not inspired by the plain, almost minimalist Prussian style of earlier palaces, but instead took its inspiration from the more ornate palaces of Western Europe and in particular France and it was a favourite place for Frederick, its name meaning without worry. Frederick was a lover of all things French, speaking the language fluently, much to his late father's annoyance, and being heavily influenced by French philosophers such as Voltaire, who even came to live with Frederick in his new palace for three years, as well as this, Frederick had also become an extremely competent and gifted composer, in particular being an excellent flute player, as he composed 100 sonatas and four symphonies, and his compositions are still regarded today as being of a very high quality, which only an extremely skilled flute player could perform. The style of the palace at Sanssouci, in many ways, was Frederick's way of expressing his artistic dreams and making them reality, as he had already proven himself to be a great military commander, fulfilling and exceeding his ambitions for him, and now it was his time to make Prussia into a reflection of his own imagination, as an advanced forward-thinking state, at the forefront of science, culture, and military power in Europe. Among Frederick's reforms was the abolition of judicial torture, except for the flogging of soldiers who deserted, he reformed the death penalty, so that executions could only be undertaken with a warrant, signed by the king himself, and then only for the act of murder, and he also brought in judicial reforms allowing freedom of speech, as well as freedom of the press and literature, and made it possible for non-nobles to rise to the positions of judge and senior bureaucrats, in addition, industry was protected with high tariffs for imports and few restrictions on domestic trade, and agricultural land was reclaimed, at his bequest, producing 1,000 new villages during his reign, which attracted 300,000 immigrants into Prussia, he also promoted the growth of the population, in order to yield greater tax revenues and to supply more soldiers for the Prussian army, Frederick introduced the control of grain prices and the provision of grain stores, which would enable a hungry population to be fed in times of need, such as when the harvest failed, and he oversaw the building of canals for food transportation and introduced both the potato and turnip to Prussia, Frederick also brought about a royal monopoly on coffee production, using disabled soldiers to spy on illegal coffee makers, and also introduced a system of indirect taxation to increase tax revenue, Frederick was in favour of religious tolerance to attract more settlers into East Prussia, and he also reformed the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which brought many more scientists to Berlin, and in fact the Emden company he set up promoted trade with China, and he also introduced innovations such as a a credit bank, as well as fire insurance, founding the first veterinary school in the country and issuing decrees to protect plants. The relative peace however, was not to last, as in 1746, Frederick's arch-enemy, Maria Theresa of Austria, had signed a defensive alliance with the Tsaritsa of Russia, Elizabeth, and Maria Theresa could not let go of, or forget Frederick's victories over her, and so immediately after the Second Silesian War, she set about rebuilding her armies and forming alliances against Frederick's newly established upstart state. The British had been drawn into the alliance with Austria and Russia, pledging financial support, and so Frederick then sought to ally himself with Britain to avoid encirclement, and succeeded when the countries formed the Convention of Westminster in 1756, forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance, however, his strategy then backfired when the French, who were incensed by Frederick allying with Britain, allied themselves with Austria against him, and Britain in turn, was soon at war with France over the territories in North America, sparking the Seven Years' War and so, Frederick was now confronted with having to fight the French, Austrians, Saxons, and the Russians all at the same time, a daunting, if not impossible prospect. The conflict would be the greatest test of King Frederick's abilities, both as a monarch and as a military commander, as failure, which seemed highly likely, would spell doom for both Prussia as an independent nation, and for Frederick himself and the Hohenzollern dynasty. The nearest and most pressing threat to Prussia was Saxony, which was also the weakest of the enemies which now faced Frederick, and he resolved, once again, to seize the initiative and assemble a massive force of over 60,000 troops, and cross the border into Saxony, this resulted, in the spring of 1757, in the Prussian army defeating another Austrian army at the Battle of Reichenberg, and afterwards Frederick's forces continued south, towards the Bohemian capital of Prague, where he then fought the Battle of Prague against the Austrians, but suffered heavy losses, which meant he had to besiege the city instead of assaulting it directly. However, after hearing news of the approach of another Austrian army, Frederick divided his forces, continuing the siege, and marched east to reinforce another of his smaller armies east of He then met and engaged the Austrian army at the Battle of Cologne, where he suffered one of his few defeats, as failing to outmaneuver the enemy, he was forced into a head-on battle, in which the Austrians slowly ground down the Prussians, until they were forced to retreat. With his army now diminished, Frederick was forced to withdraw from Bohemia altogether, being pursued by the reinforced Austrians northwards, but Prussia's misfortunes were then further compounded by the entrance of a new adversary into the conflict, and in the summer of 1757, the Russians invaded eastern Prussia with a 75,000-strong army, but after some success, they overextended their supply lines, and were forced to withdraw shortly afterwards. Then, in September of the same year, Sweden attacked Prussian Pomerania with a 17,000-strong force, meaning yet more men were needed to defend Prussia's northern borders, and it was these incursions which forced Frederick onto the back foot, and being surrounded by his enemies, he was now fighting a war on three fronts, against four rival powers, therefore, from this point on, every army he could muster was weakened in numbers, due to the growing pressure on other fronts, and so, unsurprisingly, this was perhaps the most crucial point in Frederick's reign. He had to start winning, despite being outnumbered, in order to halt the advancing armies rallied against him, and he would need to be at his very best to emerge from the war with the kingdom, let alone the territory he had conquered thus far. Meanwhile, the French and Austrians had by this time, combined forces, and were marching on Brandenburg itself, a low point for the Prussians coming, when 5,000 Austrian Hussars occupied part of Berlin in October 1757, but withdrew after receiving a payoff not to occupy or sack the city as a whole. Frederick moved more troops to defend Berlin, and then sought to engage the main Franco-Austrian army in Saxony, near the village of Rosbach, and on the morning of the 5th of November 1757, the two armies came into conflict, as Frederick was encamped in a river valley, with the French and Austrians on high ground, overlooking the Prussian army, the Franco-Russian army outnumbered the Prussians two to one, their forces consisting of over 40,000 troops to Frederick's 20,000, and the Allied plan was to manoeuvre around Frederick's left flank and cut off his lines of supply and retreat. Frederick then realised what the Allies intended to do, and fell back towards two hills in the east, obscuring his movements from view, and the Allied commanders then assumed that the Prussians were retreating, due to them being outmanoeuvred and outgunned, and so they formed into long columns, which were the standard formation for marching, and pivoted around the Prussian left flank to the south, in order to cut off their retreat and pursue them, however, as the densely packed Allied columns approached the crest of Janus Hill, they were attacked by the Prussian cavalry, and panic ensued, then, the Prussian infantry appeared and fired into the Allied columns, resulting in utter carnage and panic, following this, the cavalry attacked the Allies at their flank, routing their forces, which were pursued and cut down until darkness made further pursuit impossible. Despite only a fraction of his army actually engaging the Austrians, Frederick had managed to inflict a catastrophic defeat on them, in which a quarter of their army, nearly 10,000 troops were killed, captured or wounded, whilst the Prussians suffered less than 1,000 casualties, and it was then that Frederick learned about another Allied army, around 80,000 strong, had defeated a Prussian army a quarter of its size, at the Battle of Breslau, and so he then met up with the remnants of the defeated Prussian army and marched to the town of Leuten, near Breslau, where the Austrians were waiting. Once again, Frederick was outnumbered two to one, 33,000 to 66,000, the two armies faced each other across a plain, which had a number of small hillocks or rises, and so, when Frederick and his generals saw these features, they decided to use them as cover, Frederick kept his left flank cavalry visibly in place, so the Austrians assumed an attack would come from that direction, thus keeping their right flank stationary, opposing what they thought was Frederick's left, he then used small hillocks and morning mist as cover, when the Prussians maneuvered around the Austrian left flank, so they were at 90 degrees to them, and by the time the Austrians noticed the maneuver, it was too late, as Frederick then brought his full force to bear on the Austrian left flank, which could not take the pressure, and then as the Austrians right-wheeled around to get into a battle line, Frederick flanked his enemy, using his cavalry, the result was a full-scale retreat and thousands of dead, wounded and captured Austrians on the field, whilst the remainder once again, fled under the cover of darkness, so with the battles of Rossbach and Leuten, Frederick had used the terrain to hide his troops' movements from his enemies, and then hit them, where and when they were at their weakest, and it is generally agreed that the battles were masterpieces of deception and maneuver, and compare with Napoleon's great victory at Austerlitz, in terms of their tactical creativity and implementation. Frederick had destroyed two armies, double his own size, using his intelligence and guile, as well as the superb leadership and training of his officers, and troops respectively, and so Frederick had successfully defended Silesia, and prevented the Austrians and French from taking his territory, but he now had to deal with another Russian invasion of eastern Prussia, and would have to do so, with dwindling manpower and resources, and somehow carry on to fight, to maintain his kingdom. He then consolidated his forces, and marched south to Saxony, and taken by surprise at the sheer scale of the invasion, the Saxons gave way, and Frederick occupied the capital of Saxony, Dresden, furthermore, he also defeated an Austrian army sent to relieve Saxony, and after the Siege of Pirna, the remnants of the Saxon-armed forces surrendered, and were then forcibly assimilated into the Prussian army, swelling its numbers, and so Saxony was now eliminated as a threat, for the time being at least. Then, after overwintering in Saxony, Frederick marched south, seeking to nullify his arch-enemy Austria next, however, the Russian army was, by this time, fully mobilized, and it then invaded eastern Prussia in January 1758, this forced Frederick to withdraw from the south and head north, to counter the invasion, he then confronted the Russians in the Battle of Zorndorf in August 1758, which proved to be an inconclusive and costly confrontation for both sides, but as the Russians were on foreign soil, they were forced to withdraw, and Prussia was spared for the time being. A good analogy for Frederick, during the Third Silesian War, would be a man in a sinking boat filled with hulls, trying to plug each one in turn, and as soon as one hull was filled, another leak would start, and all the time the water was rising, making the situation more and more desperate, and as the Austrians advanced through Saxony in late 1758, Frederick was then forced to confront them as well, to stop them advancing further into Brandenburg, however, the following Battle of Hochkirch proved to be a costly defeat for Frederick, as he was outnumbered by nearly 2 to 1, 80,000 to 35,000, and he lost nearly 10,000 men and over 100 cannons in the process. During the battle, the Prussians were taken by surprise whilst in camp, and they were partially surrounded and attacked, early in the morning of the battle, whilst most of the army was still asleep, and because Frederick had been complacent on the run-up to the battle, and had failed to react to the possibility of the Austrians attacking him, despite them being on favourable high ground, the Austrian commander, Leopold Joseph von Dorn, then hatched the plan to take the Prussians by surprise, and he attacked them before they could organise themselves. A Scottish field marshal of Frederick's called James Keith was killed in the defeat, as were four other generals, and Keith had long been a close companion of Frederick's during his campaigns, and was one of a number of generals and field marshals, who were instrumental in many of his successes, and so Hotchkirk was, in many ways, one of the greatest disasters of Frederick's life and career, and he feared that after the battle, both he and his kingdom were doomed, but the Austrians under Dorn failed to pursue Frederick's retreating forces after the battle, resulting in a large number of the Prussian army escaping to fight another day. The next spring, Frederick decided to try and prevent the advancing Russian armies from uniting with their Austrian allies, and gathered together the majority of his forces and advanced into southern Silesia, his massive 50,000-strong army then attacked a combined Russian-Austrian army near the village of Kunisdorf, which, today, lies on the border of Germany and Poland. The Russians had occupied the area and were entrenched in strong defensive positions, but Frederick was confident of victory having a low opinion of the Russian army, and attacked despite having little or poor intelligence of the enemy's disposition and numbers, as well as the ground he was advancing into. The result was a catastrophic defeat for the Prussians, in which they lost over 20,000 troops, either killed, wounded or captured, making the Battle of Kunisdorf, Frederick's largest and most damaging defeat. With the Russian and Austrian armies now united, and his enemies approaching the borders of Brandenburg, the situation seemed ever more desperate and hopeless, and Frederick's combined armies, over the next two years, dwindled from 100,000 troops down to 60,000 in total, many of which were raw recruits, and so, a Prussian defeat seemed certain, and their British allies then threatened to end their financial support, but then, miraculously for Frederick and Prussia, the Russian Tsaritsa, Elizabeth I, died in January 1762, and her successor was her nephew, Peter III, who thankfully, was a great admirer of Frederick, and he immediately ordered a cessation of hostilities. Peter III then oversaw a peace treaty with Sweden, which totally secured Frederick's northern and eastern borders, and the new Tsar even gave Prussia 18,000 of his troops, in order to carry on the fight against Austria, and so, there can be no doubt, that without the death of Elizabeth I of Russia, Frederick's forces would have been crushed in 1762, very possibly meaning the end of Prussia as a state, and Frederick's dynasty with it, but it should also be remembered that his skill in fighting his combined enemies, over the previous year had brought him and Prussia more time, without which, the death of the Tsaritsa would have had little effect on the war's outcome. Frederick then led his newly reinforced armies back into Austrian-occupied Silesia, and defeated them in the Battle of Berkessdorf, effectively meaning that Austria was again alone in the fight against Prussia, however, both sides were virtually exhausted from the fighting, both being once again unable to decisively knock the other out of the conflict completely, and negotiations were then started, resulting in both sides agreeing to respect each other's pre-war borders, meaning that in return for Prussian withdrawal from Saxony, the Austrians would recognise Frederick's rule over Silesia. This meant that the Seven Years War in Central Europe effectively ended, with all sides finishing exactly where they started, which was as far as Frederick was concerned, a great victory, as now all his immediate neighbours recognised both his and Prussia's independence and sovereignty, and so, the country was now a fixture on the power map of Europe, and Frederick's place in history as a legendary commander and monarch was assured. Frederick had long hated the Slavs, and in particular the Polish, whom he had great disdain for, once stating that, all these people with surnames ending with ski, deserve only contempt, and he and the other regional powers bordering Poland, had for a long time been vying with each other, to gain greater influence over the country, and in particular, Russia's new Tsaritsa, Catherine II, later Catherine the Great of Russia, had an exceptionally strong influence over Poland. Frederick had long wanted to join the Kingdom of Prussia with East Prussia, and had steadily been undermining Poland through various means, such as printing Polish banknotes in order to devalue its currency, and denying the Polish government, at any opportunity he could, to reform or modernise. By that time, a constitutional monarchy, Poland and Lithuania had been a united kingdom for hundreds of years, but given that its rulers did not have absolute power over the kingdom, its government was often paralysed by indecision, and its nobles in the countries were often bribed by surrounding powers to stop reform and new legislation, and furthermore, tensions had been growing between Austria and Russia at the time, as Russia was advancing into Moldavia against the Ottomans, a region Austria coveted, and there was great concern in Vienna over the rising influence of Russia in Eastern Europe. Frederick then saw an opportunity to gain great territory and wealth for Prussia, unite his kingdom, and also improve relations between himself and his neighbours, and so, with the help of his brother Prince Henry Frederick, he agreed a partition of Poland in 1772, in which Prussia, Austria, and Russia, occupied various areas of Poland and claimed it as their own, this made all three countries more powerful and wealthier, whilst weakening their neighbour of Poland at the same time, and so all sides agreed, subsequently, Poland and Lithuania were then, steadily further divided and occupied over the coming decades, until it largely ceased to be an independent nation, this continued, until after the First World War, and it was also in 1772, that Frederick changed his title from King in Prussia to King of Prussia, in recognition of the territories he had gained during his reign, making Prussia a more unified kingdom. By the late 1770s and early 1780s, Frederick's health was in decline, suffering as he did with asthma and gout, as he appeared less and less regularly in public, becoming more and more reclusive, and whilst he still rose before dawn to attend to matters of state, with the help of six to eight cups of coffee a day, most of his old companions and friends had died by this time, leaving him increasingly alone with his pet Italian greyhounds, which he adored, as he loved animals, especially his horses and dogs, and indeed, in 1752, he wrote to his sister Wilhelmine, saying that he felt that, people who were indifferent to loyal animals, would also be indifferent to their human comrades, and it was better to be too sensitive, than too harsh. Then, on the morning of the 17th of August, 1786, Frederick was found dead in his armchair, in his study at Sanssouci, he was 74 years old, and during his reign, he had made his brother Augustus William, Prince of Prussia, and heir to the throne, but as Augustus had already died on Frederick's wedding anniversary, in 1758, his son and Frederick's nephew, Frederick William II, was now set to inherit the title King of Prussia, and Frederick had left instructions that he should be buried with his Italian greyhounds at Sanssouci, but Frederick William ordered him to be buried next to his father, William Frederick I, at Garrison Church in Potsdam. Towards the end of World War II, Hitler ordered that the coffins of both Frederick and his father Frederick William I, should be moved along with that of World War I Field Marshal, Paul von Hindenburg and his wife Gertrude, to a salt mine, so that they would be safe from destruction during the war, and subsequently, after the war, the US Army moved the remains to Marburg in 1946, and in 1953, the coffins of Frederick and his father were moved again to Burg Hohenzollern. On the 17th of August 1991, the remains of Frederick the Great were finally laid to rest in the terrace of the vineyard of Sanssouci, as stated in his will, his coffin was covered by a Prussian flag and he was attended by a Bundeswehr guard of honour, his last wishes being honoured 205 years to the day after his death. There are very few examples in history of people being named Great, Frederick II being one of them, and over the course of his reign, his country was at a state of almost constant war, largely down to Frederick wanting to secure independence from his neighbours and secure Prussia's future as an independent nation, and in order to make Prussia a contender on the European stage, Frederick had to, through necessity, make the country in every aspect as efficient and effective as possible, both in terms of its governance and its military, and this is what ensured the country would punch above its weight and defeat its neighbours, and it cannot be underestimated what a difficult and daunting task this was. Frederick proved to be a great military strategist, as well as being courageous in battle, he reputedly had six horses shot out from beneath him during his military career, and would often personally lead his troops into battle, and given that Frederick's aim was not massive imperial expansion like Napoleon's was, but rather the carving out of a self-determining country, one has to say that he succeeded in his goals, despite the fact that his enemies were hell-bent on destroying both him and his kingdom, and because he was outnumbered, he had to out-think and out-manoeuvre his enemies to win. Frederick also modernised Prussia, and made it a cultural centre within Europe, which didn't exist before his reign, and he was truly a philosopher and warrior king, and is without comparison in Europe at least in the 18th century, and it is also fair to say that given Prussia's size and lack of resources, Frederick the Great's achievements, as a general alone, place him on par with Napoleon, Caesar as well as Alexander perhaps, not in territory, but in the sheer repetitiveness and brilliance of his victories, indeed, he was much admired by Napoleon himself, who had a statuette of Frederick in his cabinet, and even visited his tomb in Potsdam, citing him as the greatest military strategist ever to have lived. Sadly, the general public, even in modern-day Germany, know little about Frederick, despite him in many ways being the father of the modern German nation, and instead, he is largely known only to history buffs and historians, but nevertheless, there are very few people in history who could match Frederick, both as a king and a military commander, and if there was ever such a thing as a benevolent dictator, then he is surely, history's best example. What do you think of Frederick the Great? Was he a tyrant who used his kingdom, people and resources for his own glory, or was he a benevolent dictator, an enlightened monarch, who forged the Kingdom of Prussia into a nation by fire and blood, and who set the German peoples on a path to greatness? Please let us know in the comment section, and in the meantime, thank you very much for watching.