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FREDERICK II.

Although he was instructed only in the details of military exercises and service, his taste for poetry and music was early developed. He was brutally treated by his father, and in 1733 he was obliged to marry the Princess Elizabeth Christina, daughter of Ferdinand Albert, duke of Brunswick-Bevern. Frederick William gave the castle of Schonhausen to her, and to the prince the county of Ruppin, and in 1734 the town of Rheinsberg, where he lived, devoting himself chiefly to literary pursuits, composing several works, and corresponding with foreign scholars, particularly with Voltaire, whom he greatly admired. The death of his father raised him to the throne in 1740, and it was not long before he asserted the claims of the house of Brandenburg to a part of Silesia then held by Maria Theresa. But his proposals being rejected, he occupied Lower Silesia in December 1740, defeated the Austrians near Mollwitz, and at Czaslau (Chotusitz), and the first Silesian war was terminated by the peace signed at Berlin July 28, 1742, leaving Frederick in possession of Silesia.

Frederick II., King of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, born 1712, died 1786. He was the son of Frederick William I., and the Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, sister of George II. of England. Soon the second Silesian war broke out, the result of which was equally favourable for Frederick. By the Peace of Dresden (December 15, 1745) he retained Silesia and acknowledged the husband of Maria Theresa, Francis I., as emperor.

During the eleven following years of peace Frederick devoted himself to the domestic administration, to the improvement of the army, and at the same time to the muses. He encouraged agriculture, the arts, manufactures, and commerce, reformed the laws, increased the revenues of the state, and perfected the organization of his army, which was increased to 160,000 men.

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 invasion of Saxony (1756), with which the Seven Years war, or third Silesian war, commenced. This was a far more severe struggle than either of the former.

In it Frederick had against him Austria, Russia, France, Sweden, and greater part of Germany, though Britain and some of the German states were on his aide. He gained victories at Prague, Rossbach, Leuthen, Zorndorf, Torgau, Freiberg, but suffered severe defeats in the battles of Kollin, Hochkirch and Kuneradorf.. The Peace of Hubertsburg (1763) terminated this war, Frederick keeping Silesia and ceding nothing. 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 contest. This he prosecuted with great diligence and liberality. On the partition of Poland in 1772 Frederick received a large accession to his dominions. In 1778-79 he frustrated the designs of the Emperor Joseph II. on Bavaria, and the war of the Bavarian Succession was terminated without a battle by the Peace of Teschen (May 13, 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, July 23, 1785.

An incurable dropsy hastened the death of Frederick, who left to his nephew, Frederick William II., a kingdom increased by 29,000 square miles, a well-filled treasury, an army of 200,000 men, great credit with all the European powers, and a state distinguished for population, industry, wealth, and science.

Frederick's works, relating chiefly to history, politics, military science, philosophy, and the belles-lettres, were all written in French, the language which he regularly used, as he despised German. He was a man of the highest abilities, but in some respects narrow and repellant. Among his closest friends was the Scottish exile Marshal Keith. Carlyle's History of Frederick is well known.

		Although he was instructed only in the details of military exercises and service, his taste for poetry and music was early developed. He was brutally treated by his father, and in 1733 he was obliged to marry the Princess Elizabeth Christina, daughter of Ferdinand Albert, duke of Brunswick-Bevern. Frederick William gave the castle of Schonhausen to her, and to the prince the county of Ruppin, and in 1734 the town of Rheinsberg, where he lived, devoting himself chiefly to literary pursuits, composing several works, and corresponding with foreign scholars, particularly with Voltaire, whom he greatly admired. The death of his father raised him to the throne in 1740, and it was not long before he asserted the claims of the house of Brandenburg to a part of Silesia then held by Maria Theresa. But his proposals being rejected, he occupied Lower Silesia in December 1740, defeated the Austrians near Mollwitz, and at Czaslau (Chotusitz), and the first Silesian war was terminated by the peace signed at Berlin July 28, 1742, leaving Frederick in possession of Silesia.
Frederick II., King of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, born 1712, died 1786. He was the son of Frederick William I., and the Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, sister of George II. of England.		Soon the second Silesian war broke out, the result of which was equally favourable for Frederick. By the Peace of Dresden (December 15, 1745) he retained Silesia and acknowledged the husband of Maria Theresa, Francis I., as emperor.