FORSTER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH German historian and poet, was the second son of Karl Christoph Forster (1751-1811), and a brother of the painter, Ernest Joachim Forster (1800-85). Born at Miinchengosserstadt on the Saale on Sept. 24, 1791, he studied theology at Jena, afterwards devoting some time to archaeology and the history of art. At the outbreak of the War of Liberation in 1813, he joined the army, and by his war-songs added to the national enthusiasm. He then became professor at the school of engineering and artillery in Berlin, but was dismissed from this office in 1817 on account of his demo cratic leaning. About 2829 he received an appointment at the royal museum in Berlin. He was the founder and secretary of the W issenscha f tlicher Kunstverein in Berlin, and died there on Nov. 8, 1868.
Forster's principal works are: Der Feldmarschall Blucher and seine Umgebungen (182o) ; Friedrich der Grosse, Jugendjahre, Bildung and Geist (1822) ; Friedrich Wilhelm 1., Konig von Preussen (Potsdam. ; Die Hofe and Kabinette Europas im 18. Jahrhundert (Potsdam, 1836-39) ; Leben and Taten Friedrichs des Grossen (Meissen, 184o-41) ; Wallensteins Prozess (1844) ; and Preussens Heiden in Krieg and Frieden, neuere and neueste preussische Geschichte, 7 volumes (Berlin, 1849-60), the three concluding volumes of which contain the history of the war of liberation of 1813-14-15. Forster also wrote an historical drama, Gustav Adolf (1832) ; and a frag mentary autobiography, Kunst and Leben, ed. H. Kletke (1873).