Meanwhile in Prussia (see Paussut) the first king, Frederick I, had been succeeded by the great organizer, Frederick William I, who remodeled the administration, brought the army to the highest pitch of efficiency, and placed the finances on a good basis. It was these reforms that enabled Frederick the Great to play a com manding role in European history. Scarcely had Frederick come to the throne (1740) when he made a descent on the Austrian province of Silesia, advancing old claims of his house, not altogether unwarranted, to a portion of the ter ritory. Received with open arms by the in habitants of Breslau, who had chafed under the Austrian rule, he won the battles of Mollwitz and Chotusitz, and compelled the Archduchess Maria Theresa to conclude the Peace of Breslau (1742) which left Silesia in his hands. Austria and England continued the war with France. Austria's growing strength and pres tige, and especially the fact that, in 1744, she concluded a treaty with Saxony, determined Frederick to re-enter the arena. He did so os tensibly in support of the new emperor, Charles VII of Bavaria, the only man not a Hapsburg chosen to that position in 300 years. In the Bohemian campaign of 1745 Frederick suffered severe reverses, but at Hohenfriedberg, at Sohr, and at Kesselsdorf he gained important victories and was able to obtain at Dresden the same terms as in the Peace of Breslau, compelling Saxony, besides, to pay an indemnity. Charles VII having died, Maria Theresa's husband was now elected emperor, and took the name of Francis I.
Eleven years later Frederick, learning through secret channels that Maria Theresa, the Czarina Elizabeth, and Augustus of Saxony Poland were plotting the dismemberment of Prussia, concluded the Convention of Westmin ster with England and prepared for a new war (1756). France, where Madame de Pompadour was now all powerful, joined the two empresses. Madame de Pompadour boasted that the Treaty of Versailles (May 1750) was her work. It was followed by a second, offensive, treaty signed at the same place..(See PEACE TREATIES). The odds against Frederick in this Seven Years' VI a r were very great, for though England sent him money and though she maintained an army of Hanoverians, she sent him no direct rein forcements. The allied forces often outnum bered his own by two and three to one, yet in the teeth of such superiority he gained some of his most splendid victories: Rossbach, Leuthen, Zomdorf, Liegnitz and Torgau. There came a time, indeed, when even victories were of small avail, for there was no way of filling the ranks. The death of the Tsarina Elizabeth (1762) did more for Frederick than many battles and even neutralized the effect of the desertion of Eng land, which country, under the new Bute minis try, suddenly left him in the lurch and tried to compel him to make peace. The new Tsar, Peter the Third, became Frederick's ally but was deposed before his troops could be of much assistance. France, however, had also with
drawn from the struggle and concluded the pre liminary Peace of Fontainebleau with England. Maria Theresa saw the helplessness of continu ing alone the task she had been unable to ac complish when aided by powerful allies, and sent an envoy to treat for peace. After seven weeks of negotiation an agreement was signed at the castle of Hubertsburg (1763) which in every respect was a return to the condition of things before the war.
Later Maria Theresa and her son, the Em peror Joseph, joined with Frederick and with Catherine of Russia in dismembering Poland — a step which the demoralization of the Poles in vited if it did not excuse. Though Frederick the Great's share was but one-third the size of that of either of his allies, it was doubtless of greater proportionate value, as it comprised West Prussia, the land that had once belonged to the Teutonic Order, and rounded out his domains. Austria and Prussia once more went to war (1778-79), this time with regard to the Bavarian succession, claimed by Joseph. The acquisition of a German electorate would have assured the preponderance of Austria in all the affairs of the empire and would have been a fatal blow to Prussia. Frederick and his brother Henry took the field in person, but no battle of importance took place and the war was stopped by the intervention of France and Russia. Frederick devoted his last years to or ganizing a league of German princes for mutual protection against Austria. It was a powerful weapon, for three of the members were electors and might readily be in a position to frustrate the choice of a Hapsburg as emperor.
Frederick's policy of opposing Austria with the aid of other German states was not carried further by his successor, Frederick William IL Indeed the latter sided with Austria in an at tempt to intimidate the French revolutionists, and joined with the Emperor Leopold II in the declaration of Pillnitz (1792). Frederick Wil liam himself took the field. The blatant mani festo of his chief commander, the Duke of Brunswick, roused the French to fury and en couraged them to win the battles of Valmy and Jemmappes (1792).
Frederick William's attention was diverted from France by further partitions of Poland (1793 and 1795) which gave him a vast terri tory; but the new provinces were badly admin istered and proved a source of weakness rather than of strength. Prussia had greatly lost her prestige even before Frederick William con sented to the disgraceful Peace of Basel (1795), which secretly bound Prussia to non-interfer ence even though France should annex the left bank of the Rhine. Austria was left to con tinue alone the struggle that had been begun in common, but in 1797 concluded the Treaty of Campo Formio, which contained secret clauses about the left bank of the Rhine similar to those signed by Prussia.