Frederick II seized the opportunity of a peace to introduce useful institutions into the conquered territories, and to render his army more formidable. In 1743, on the death of the last count of East Friesland, he took possession of that county, the reversion of which had been granted to his family in 1644 by the emperor. The war of the Austrian Succession continued; the Emperor Charles VII was driven from his hereditary estates of Bavaria, and the Aus trians were everywhere victorious. Frederick, apprehensive that an attempt would be made to recover Silesia, entered into a secret alliance with (April 1744), and with the em peror, the palatinate, and Hesse-Cassel, in Frankfort (22 May 1744). He promised to support the cause of the emperor by the in vasion of Bohemia, on condition that he should receive the circle of Kiiniggratz. He entered Bohemia suddenly, 10 Aug. 1744, and captured Prague him but the Austrians and Saxons com pelled him to evacuate Bohemia before the close of the year. The death of the emperor (18 Jan. 1745), and the defeat of the Bavarians at Pfaffenhofen, obliged Maximilian Joseph, the young elector of Bavaria, to conclude the Peace of Fuessen with Maria Theresa, and occasioned the dissolution of the Alliance of Frankfort. after Hesse-Cassel had already declared itself neutral. The victory of the Prussians over the Saxons at Kesselsdorf, 15 Dec. 1745, led to the Peace of Dresden (25 December). Fred erick retained Silesia, acknowledged the hus band of Maria Theresa, Francis I, as emperor, and Saxony promised to pay 1,000,000 Saxon dollars to Prussia.
During the 11 following years of peace Frederick devoted himself with the greatest activity to the domestic administration, to the improvement of the army, and at the same time to the Muses. It was at this time that he wrote his ‘Mernoires pour servir 3 l'Histoire de Brandenbourg,) his poem,
Secret information of an alliance between Austria, Russia and Saxony gave him reason to fear an attack and the loss of Silesia. He hastened to anticipate his enemies by the in vasion of Saxony, with which the Seven Years' War, or third Silesian War, commenced. The Peace of Hubertsuburg (15 Feb. 1763), termi nated this war without foreign interference, on the principle that the contracting parties should remain in state quo. Frederick came out of the Seven Years' War with a reputation which promised him in the future a decisive Influence in the affairs of Germany and Europe. His next care was the relief of his kingdom, drained and exhausted by the contests. He opened his magazines to furnish his subjects corn for food and for sowing. To the peasants he distributed horses for plowing, rebuilt at his own expense the houses destroyed by fire, established new settlements, built manufac tories, and laid out canals. In 1764 Frederick founded the Bank of Berlin, with a capital of 8,000,000 Prussian dollars.
A treaty was concluded with Russia (31 March 1764), in consequence of which Fred erick supported the election of the new king of Poland, Stanislaus Poniatowski, and the cause of the oppressed Dissidents in Poland. For the purpose of connecting Prussia with Pomerania and the Mark, and of enlarging and consolidat ing his territories, Frederick consented to the first partition of Poland proposed at Saint Petersburg and concluded 5 Aug. 1772. Fred
erick received the whole of Polish Prussia (which had been ceded to Poland by the Teu tonic Order in 1466), with the part of Great Poland to the river Net; excepting Dantzic and Thorn. From this time the kingdom of Prussia was divided into East and West Prus sia. He declared against the possession of a large part of Bavaria by Austria in 1778, after the death of Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria, without issue, but Austria was not to be diverted from her designs by negotiations. Saxony, therefore, formed an alliance with Prussia, and Frederick invaded Bohemia with two armies (July 1778). The Emperor Joseph, in a strongly fortified camp behind the Elbe, could not be induced to give battle. The aged Empress Maria Theresa wished for peace. But Catherine •II having declared her intention of assisting Prussia with 60,000 men, this war of the Bavarian Succession was terminated with out a battle by the Peace of Teschen (13 May 1779). Austria consented to the union of the principalities of Franconia with Prussia, and renounced the feudal claims of Bohemia to those countries. In the evening of his active life Frederick concluded, in connection with Saxony and Hanover, the confederation of the German princes, 23 July 1785.
Frederick left to his nephew, Frederick Wil liam II, a kingdom increased by 29,000 square miles, more than 70,000,000 Prussian dollars in the treasury, an army of 200,000 men, great credit with all the European powers, and a state distinguished for population, industry, wealth and science. Tested and strengthened by sever e experience before he ascended the throne, and possessed of rare talents, Frederick shook the prevailing political system of Europe when he conceived and established, in accordance with the wants of his time, the confederation of princes, the master-work of his policy. One of his great merits is that in the most difficult cir cumstances he contracted no public debts, but on the contrary, though he distributed a con siderable part of his revenues in different ways among his subjects, he had a richer treasury than any monarch in Europe ever possessed. His contempt for ecclesiastical establishments, which was considered by his contemporaries as a contempt of religion, has been censured, and his writings show that his heart was a stranger to the highest sentiments of piety. Entirely unacquainted with the literature and mental cul tivation of Germany, which began in his later years, he underrated it and contributed nothing to its improvement, and was even prejudiced against the use of the language.
Some of Frederick's writings were published during his lifetime, but most of them appeared first in the
Posthumes' (1788-89). In 1846-57 the Berlin Academy published a critical edition of the whole, together with his literary and private correspondence, under the title
Bibliography.— Loryman, (Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War) (1::1) ; Car lyle, (History of Frederick II) (1858-65) ; Tut tle,
of Prussia under Frederick the Great> (1898) ; Lavisse, (La jeunesse du grand Frederic) (1891) ; Lavisse,