Frederick the Great

Biography

Frederick was born in Berlin in 1712, the son of King Frederick William I of Prussia. He preferred music, literature and French culture to the military life his father demanded. In 1730 he tried to flee abroad with his friend Hans Hermann von Katte; both were arrested, and Frederick was made to watch Katte's execution. After a reconciliation with his father he spent his later years as crown prince at Rheinsberg, where he wrote the Anti-Machiavel.

On becoming king in 1740 he invaded the Austrian province of Silesia and kept it through the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years' War, which ended with the Treaty of Hubertusburg in 1763. In 1772 he joined Russia and Austria in the First Partition of Poland, gaining Royal Prussia and taking the title King of Prussia.

Calling himself the first servant of the state, he reformed the bureaucracy and the courts, opened senior posts to men of lower birth, encouraged immigration and tolerated Catholics and Jews. He corresponded with Voltaire and other figures of the Enlightenment and wrote widely on politics and war. Under him Prussia became a leading European military power. He died at Sanssouci in 1786.