Books, arts and culture
Frederick the Great
Popular, controversial, with some daddy issues
Feb 3rd 2012, 15:36 by C.G. | BERLIN
Growing up in communist East Germany, I didn’t learn much about Frederick II, King of Prussia—whose tricentenary is being celebrated this year—except his despotism and ruthless warmongering to expand his kingdom. But his contemporaries, especially curious foreigners, had a different view of him. In 1748, the Earl of Chesterfield wrote this to his son, Philip Stanhope, before the young man set out for Berlin and Potsdam:
During your stay I expect you would inform yourself thoroughly about the present state of the civil, military and ecclesiastical government of the King of Prussia’s dominion, particularly of the military which is upon a better footing than any other country in Europe.
Like many other British aristocrats between 1745 and 1750, Stanhope wanted to meet the young Prussian king in person. Frederick II had been in power for just a few years but already had a reputation as a modern and enlightened king. He had banned torture immediately on succeeding his father in 1740. He had enlarged and strengthened the army built up by Frederick Wilhelm I, the so-called “Soldier King”. He had also cunningly—and perfidiously—attacked Austria by occupying Silesia, in open breach of a non-aggression pact.
The story goes that so many British travellers visited Palace Sanssouci, Frederick II’s summer residence in Potsdam (built in 1745-47 by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff to floor plans specified by the king himself), and knocked on its windowpanes to get the king’s attention, that the aggravated monarch ordered his guards to surround the building to keep them away.
This year Palace Sanssouci, its beautiful park, the entire land of Brandenburg and Berlin are expecting visitors from all over the world to celebrate Frederick the Great’s tricentenary (he was born on January 24th 1712). The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in cooperation with many other bodies, has organised some significant cultural events and exhibitions in honour of this most controversial and legendary monarch.
The young Frederick had a difficult upbringing in permanent conflict with his father—tragically culminating in the execution of Hans Hermann von Katte, his closest friend and accomplice, after a failed attempt to flee to England in 1730. It was a turning point in Frederick’s life and a strong motive for him to do things differently when he became king. Historians, biographers, documentarians and special newspaper supplements seem to agree that the humiliations at the hands of his father made Frederick II hard, bitter, extremely ambitious and lonely during his 46-year reign. A special exhibition about his time in power, “Frederick the Great—Respected, Revered, Reviled”, opens in March at the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
The Prussian king had some surprising talents. Only a few days ago I discovered a CD, “The King of the Flute” by Emmanuel Pahud, solo flautist at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which includes compositions by Frederick the Great. It seems he found time to compose 120 flute sonatas and even four short symphonies. He played the flute every day between 6pm and 8pm, except when he was at war, and he often performed before family members and close friends—just such a scene is recorded in Adolph Menzel’s famous painting, “Flute Concert of Frederick the Great in Sanssouci” (pictured), on display at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
After the Seven Years’ War Frederick built the Neues Palais, the last big baroque palace in Potsdam, to underline Prussia’s new role in Europe. It is currently closed for major refurbishment and restoration of the paintings that were once in the king’s art collection, but it will open again at the end of April for “Friederisiko” an exhibition spanning 70 chambers and halls, many of which will be accessible for the first time. Curator Alfred Hagemann promises to enlighten visitors about the king’s daily life in Potsdam and to banish some popular misconceptions about him. Some of Frederick’s bank statements will even be put online as evidence of his relatively modest lifestyle. There is still much to learn about Prussia’s most popular but controversial monarch.
Named after the hero of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", an expert on the power of books and the arts, this blog features literary insight and cultural commentary from our correspondents, and includes our coverage of the art market.
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Would not "lover" be a better description of Hans Hermann von Katte?
I don't know in what spirit you made that comment, but to find someone in this world, or any world, for that matter, who would risk death, and then die for you, is a testament to that person's capacity for love; both to inspire and reciprocate. Please, note that, my comment is NOT gender specific, because that kind of intimacy is very rare between any two people, irrespective of their genders; or gender preferences...
You beat me to it.
Which leader today would refer to himself as "the first servant of the state"?
He was as intellectual as he was a good strategist and excelled not only at music, literature and philosophy but was also, among other talents, an adept falconer.
Today's career politicians should study his life and views and strive to take him as an example.
One wishes.
Thomas Carlyle wrote an immense 20-volume biography of Friedrich der Grosse, with an eye throughout to defending his aggression as a tactical reaction to Kaiser Leopold's death. If the Catholic House of Austria was going to war anyways, why not make a prize of Protestant Schlesien. Prussia wasn't the first nation to renounce the Pragmatic Sanction, and Maria Theresa's Hapsburg husband was unanimously rejected as Kaiser, at least at first. The British got what they wanted from Jenkin's Ear and the Seven Years' War too, no less perfidiously.
It's just tragic that the victors of WWII didn't understand Prussia and believed their own propaganda.
With Prussia they abolished the most modern, most enlightened, and most tolerant german state. A state which government was a thorn into the Nazi's side till they had to overthrow it during a Putsch.
What they couldn't abolish was the attitude of Prussia. Much of what made Germany big and strong again after the war was prussian thinking and prussian ideals.
Because...you didn't became Prussian by birth but of adhering to it's ideals. Prussia was the first multicultural german state, open for people from everywhere. And as long as they understood and served the prussian way of life, they were Prussians.
Prussia lives on, in today's Germany!
The attitude of the Americans and Soviets toward the Prussians differed greatly. I think that the Prussians were more honored in the US than other German states.
As a US liaison officer (1976-1980) to the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, I had documents issued by the Soviets allowing me to travel over much of the country. I often visited Sanssouci, Neues Palais and Cecilienhof.
The East Germans seemed proud of the fact that the Soviets had employed the services of a Lithuanian architect in assuring the preservation and restoration of Sanssouci.
At our headquarters in Neufahrland, just north of Potsdam, we had a portrait of "Der Alte Fritz" in the reception room which provoked discussions with the Soviet officers about the negative effects of his policies on Peter III, who probably misinterpreted them. They considered this to be a major reason for his assassination by the friends of his wife, who was a princess from Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.
The American military in the Revolutionary war benefited from the assistance of Prussian, Von Steuben, as they fought against the British and the Hessians.
Frederick hastened to expand and employ the army nurtured by his father, just as Alexander did with the army of Philip of Macedon. Both had stormy relationships with their fathers and both crafted notably aggressive military legacies. Human dynamics are remarkably consistent through time, as Fernand Braudel has demonstrated.
History can teach us an awful lot of things -most of them as amazing & innovative as what the modern world throws up every day!
Garaboncias,
Perhaps warmonger only at his father's beckoning from the grave. The poor son was forbidden to study Latin or go after any type of "impractical" intellectual pursuits, so much so he became a teenage runaway at the ripe age of 18. (What else is new?) Well, neither head nor heart are easy things to kill, so he waited after the old man died to follow his bliss, in addition to doing the old man's bliss. Not bad for an achiever. A prolific writer, he wrote plenty in French. Erudition was what he sought (founded Academy of Science), in addition to military might for Prussia. He practiced his flute 2 hours a day, except when he was out fighting battles, and held concerts every evening when at Sanssouci from 7 to 8:30. The story goes one time when Voltaire was late for a state dinner, the king wrote a note and put it under Voltaire's plate. It read:
Voltaire ist ein Esel. - Frederick II
Voltaire came to the table, apologizing for being late. As he started to eat Frederick stopped him and told him to read the note under the plate. Voltaire read the note and apologized again. Frederick insisted that he stand up before the whole party and read the note aloud, which he did, in German, but emphasizing the words as follows:
Voltaire is one ass. Frederick the second . - from John Train, 1991
Compare that wit with today's political exchanges...
Agree. Sometimes one really wonders how things got to be so bad.
It should be mentioned that Voltaire was in Prussia for three years (1750-53) at Frederick's invitation at 20 000 francs a year - although they did have a falling-out. Also, he, Frederick, had J.S.Bach over for some music making. Good Ol' Fritz was a very sophisticated and cultured warmonger...
Wasn’t that a nice way for the Oedipal conflict to resolve? :)
I should clarify the meaning of my question and whose Oedipal conflict it referred to. Peter, son of Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, admired Frederick, object of his mom's vehement hatred. Peter managed to negotiate his role and influence as son of both mom and dad - never an easy thing to do - to the benefit of his admired hero and spared Prussia an otherwise assured defeat by Russia in 1757.
Peter III was not the son of Elizabeth, but her nephew.
You are right. Stand corrected. Thanks for pointing out the mistake.
Mother died 2 weeks after his birth. Father died when he was eleven. Emperor for 6 months when aunt Elizabeth died. (Hope I got those right.)
Apolgies for my error re the blood relations. Many thanks again for bringing my attention to it.
I suppose you could say, she was her adoptive mother, having taken him as her heir.
Yes. 2 weeks is a very early time to lose a mother. I have no data on adoptive mother's relationship with biologic father. In any case, father too died when child was eleven. What child would not imagine a hero/role model in a life like that. What child could risk the loss of that hero?
Der Alte Fritz was an enlightened and highly civilized commander of a Prussia that was his army. Hell of a general, too, though he survived the Seven Years War by sheer luck. "In 1757 the Russians advance into Prussia and seem in a position to crush it. But mysteriously the Russian general withdraws. The probable reason is disagreement within the Russian royal family. The empress, Elizabeth, hates Prussia, but her heir, Peter, is a passionate admirer of Frederick the Great. Elizabeth's health is frail. A Russian general who destroys Prussia at the wrong moment may blight his career."
Needless to say, Elizabeth died in 1761, Peter succeeded, and the war ended.