FREDERICK IL, OF PRUSSIA, surnamed GREAT," was the son of Frederick William I. and the princess Sophia-Dorothea, daughter of George I. of Great Britain, and was b. in 1712. His early years were spent under the restraints of an irksome null: tary training, and a rigid system of education. His impatience under this discipline, his taste for music and French literature, and his devotion to his mother, gave rise to disensions between father and son, and resulted in an attempt on the part of F. to escape to the court of his uncle, George II. of England. Being seized in the act, his conduct was visited with still greater severity, and he himself was kept in close confine ment, while his friend and confidant, lieut. Katt., was executed in his sight. after having been barbarously ill-treated by the king. According to some reports, the prince's life would have been sacrificed to the fury of his father, had not the kings of Sweden and Poland interceded in his favor. Having humbly sued for pardon, he was liberated, and allowed to retire to Ruppin, which, with the town of Rheinsberg, was bestowed upon him in 17134. Here he contined to reside till the king's death, surrounded by men of learning, and in correspondence•with Voltaire, whom' he especially admired, and other philosophers; hut on his accession to the throne in 1740, he laid aside these peaceful pursuits, and at once gave evidence of his talents as a legislator, and his determination to take an active share in the political and warlike movements of the age. His first military exploit was to gain a victory at Mollwitz over the Austrians, in 1741, which nearly decided the fate of Silesia, and secured to Prussia the alliance of France and Bohemia. Another victory over the empress Maria Theresa's troops made him master of upper and lower Silesia, and closed the first Silesian war. The second Silesian war, which ended in 1745, from which F. retired with augmented territories and the reputa tion of being one of the first commanders of the age, was followed by a peaco of 11 years, whicChe devoted to the improvement of the various departments of government, and of the nation generally, to the organization of his army, and the indulgence of his literary tastes. The third Silesian war, or " the seven years' war," was begun in .1756 by the invasion of Saxony—a step..to which F. was driven by the'lear_that he was to be deprived of Silesia by time allied confederation of France, Austria, Saxony, and Russia.
This contest, which was one of the most remarkable of modern times, secured to F. a decided influence in the affairs of Europe generally, as the natural result of the pre eminent genius which he had shown both under defeat and victory; but although this war crippled the powers of all engaged in it, it left the balance of European politics unchanged. It required all the skill and inventive genius of F. to repair the evils which his country had suffered by the war. In 1772, he shared in the partition of Poland, and obtained as his portion all Polish Prussia and a part of great Poland; and by the treaty of Teschen, in 1779, Austria was obliged to consent to the union of the Franco nian provinces with Prussia, and he was thus enabled to leave to his nephew and suc cessor a powerful and well-organized kingdom, one half larger in area than it had been at his own accession, with a full treasury, and an army of 200,000 men. He died at the
chateau, of Sans Souci, Aug. 17, 1786. Frederick the great is said to have "inherited all his father's excellences and none of his defects." His courage, fertility of resource, and indomitable resolution, cannot be too highly praised. Not the least wonderful of his achievements was his contriving to carry on his bloody campaigns without incurring a penny of debt. A true spirit of self-sacrifice—though not, perhaps, for the highest ends—was in him. Never was king more liberal towards his subjects. In Silesia, where war had nearly 'alined the inhabitants, he once remitted the taxes for six months, and in Pomerania and New Brandenburg for two years, while his government was carried on with rigid economy, such as Europe had never before witnessed. But not only was his government economical, it was essentially just. Religious persecution was unknown, civil order everywhere prevailed; property was secure, and the press was free. On the other hand, F.'s faults were far from being few. Education had made him French in all his ideas and prejudices; and in those (lays, to lig French was to be sceptical. He was utterly unconscious of the grand intellectual and spiritual life that was about to spring up in Germany, and to make it again the guiding-star of Europe, as it had been in the days of Luther. He was, in fact, almost ignorant of his native language, which, moreover, he despised as semi-barbaric; though before his death Goethe had published his Gotz von Berlieltingen; Sorrows of 11Terther; Neigenia ire Tauris, and many of his finest lyrics; while Kant, besides a variety of lesser works, had also given to the world his masterpiece, the Critique of Pure Reason. The new literature was essentially one of belief and aspiration, and therefore alien So the tendencies of the royal disciple of Vol taire, who had learned from his master to cherish at once contempt and suspicion of his fellow-creatures. This disagreeable feature of his character increased with years. He declared the citizen class to be destitute alike of ability and honor, and relied not on the love of the nation, but on his army and purse. F. was a very voluminous writer. Of his numerous works, all of which are written in French, his Yemoires pour servir a C Histoire de Bran.denbourg, and Histoire de la Guerre de Sept Ans, exhibit perhaps the greatest pow ers of description, but all evince talent of no common order. The academy of Berlin, by the direction of Frederick-William IV., brought out a fine edition of his collected works in octavo and quarto. 1846-51. Frederick left. no children, and was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick-William IL See Carlyle, History of _Frederick H.; Macaulay's Essay; and the lives by Dohm, Preuss, F5rster, Kugler, Droysen, Klopp, Pelletan (1878). . • FREDERICK I., 1369-1428; Elector and Duke of Saxony, called the "pugna cious." With his two brothers he succeeded, on the death of the father in 1381, to the inheritance, but they were compelled to divide with their two uncles. Frederick had previously distinguished himself as a soldier, and in 1423, in recognition of his success against the the emperor Sigismund made him elector and duke of Saxony. He was defeated by the Hussites at Aussig in 1426, and died within two years. He founded the university of Leipsic in 1409.