25 Frederick the Great
21.2.2: Frederick the Great
In his youth, Frederick the Great was a sensitive man with great appreciation for intellectual development, arts, and education. Despite his father’s fears, this did not prevent him from becoming a brilliant military strategist during his later reign as King of Prussia.
Learning Objective
Describe elements of Frederick II’s upbringing and his transformation into a Prussian leader
Key Points
- Frederick, the son of Frederick William I and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, was born in Berlin in 1712. He was brought up by Huguenot governesses and tutors and learned French and German simultaneously. In spite of his father’s desire that his education be entirely religious and pragmatic, the young Frederick preferred music, literature, and French culture, which clashed with his father’s militarism.
- Frederick found an ally in his sister, Wilhelmine, with whom he remained close for life. At age 16, he formed an attachment to the king’s 13-year-old page, Peter Karl Christoph Keith. Margaret Goldsmith, a biographer of Frederick’s, suggests the attachment was of a sexual nature and as a result Keith was sent away and Frederick temporarily relocated.
- When he was 18, Frederick plotted to flee to England with his close friend Hans Hermann von Katte and other junior army officers. Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin. Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Great Britain, Frederick William leveled an accusation of treason against the pair. The king forced Frederick to watch the decapitation of Katte.
- Frederick married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern, a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs, in 1733. He had little in common with his bride and resented the political marriage. Once Frederick secured the throne in 1740 after his father’s death, he immediately separated from his wife.
- Prince Frederick was 28 years old when he acceded to the throne of Prussia. His goal was to modernize and unite his vulnerably disconnected lands, which he largely succeeded at through aggressive military and foreign policies. Contrary to his father’s fears, Frederick proved himself a courageous soldier and an extremely skillful strategist.
Key Terms
- The Prince
- A 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli’s ideas on how to accrue honor and power as a leader had a profound impact on political leaders throughout the modern West. Although the work advises princes how to tyrannize, Machiavelli is generally thought to have preferred some form of free republic.
- Anti-Machiavel
- A 1740 essay by Frederick the Great consisting of a chapter-by-chapter rebuttal of The Prince, the 16th-century book by Niccolò Machiavelli, and Machiavellianism in general. Frederick’s argument is essentially moral in nature. His own views reflect a largely Enlightenment ideal of rational and benevolent st