page_title: Frederick II of Prussia
section_title: Warfare and Conquest
hierarchical_section_title: Frederick II of Prussia / Reign (1740–1786) / Warfare and Conquest
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Angriff der preussischen Infanterie, Hohenfriedeberg 4. Juni 1748 - abgebildet: Grenadiergardebataillon (1806: No. 6). English: Hohenfriedeberg, Battle of Hohenfriedeberg, Attack of Prussian Infantry, June 4th, 1745 - shown "Potsdam Giants" Grenadier Guards Batallion (1806: No. 6)
context_page_description: Frederick II was a King in Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. As a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was Frederick IV Margrave of Brandenburg. He was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. Victorious in war, he became known as Frederick the Great and was nicknamed der alte Fritz.
  When he was young, Frederick was mostly interested in music and philosophy and not military affairs. Frederick tried to escape from his strict father, Frederick William I, with childhood friend, Hans Hermann von Katte. When they were captured Frederick was forced to watch von Kattel's execution. Many historians consider him to be bisexual and perhaps possibly celibate in his later life. After the death of Frederick William I in 1740, Frederick the Great only attended his wife with formal visits once a year.
  Shortly after becoming King in Prussia, he attacked Austria and claimed Silesia during the Silesian Wars. Near the end of his life, Frederick united most of his separated parts of his kingdom through the First Partition of Poland.
  For years Frederick exchanged letters with Voltaire.
context_section_description: Frederick's goal was to modernize and unite his vulnerably disconnected lands; toward this end, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, almost continuously from the 15th century until 1806. Frederick established Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power by using the resources his frugal father had cultivated.
  The First Silesian War (1740–1742), part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), resulted in Frederick conquering the Polish part of Silesia. Austria attempted to recover Silesia in the Second Silesian War (1744–1745), but Frederick was victorious again and forced Austria to stick to the previous peace terms. Prussian possession of Silesia gave the kingdom control over the Oder River.
  Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, traditional enemies, allied together in the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 following the collapse of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. Frederick swiftly made an alliance with Great Britain at the Convention of Westminster. As neighboring countries began conspiring against him, Frederick was determined to strike first. On 29 August 1756 his well-prepared army crossed the frontier and invaded Saxony, thus beginning the Seven Years' War which lasted until 1763. He faced widespread criticism for his attack on neutral Saxony and for his forcible incorporation of the Saxon forces into the Prussian army following the Siege of Pirna in October 1756.
  Facing a coalition which included Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden, and having only Great Britain and Hanover as his allies, Frederick narrowly kept Prussia in the war despite having his territories frequently invaded.
  The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia put her pro-Prussian nephew Peter III in power.  This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition. Although Frederick did not gain any territory in the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg, he was able to keep Silesia.  Prussia became popular in many German-speaking territories.
  Late in his life Frederick also involved Prussia in the smaller War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stopped Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. When Emperor Joseph II| tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund, making Germans see him as a defender of German liberties, in contrast to his earlier role of attacking the imperial Habsburgs.
  Frederick frequently led his military forces personally and had six horses shot from under him during battle. Frederick is often admired as one of the greatest tactical geniuses of all time, especially for his usage of the oblique order of battle. Even more important were his operational successes, especially preventing the unification of numerically superior opposing armies and being at the right place at the right time to keep enemy armies out of Prussian core territory. In a letter to his mother Maria Theresa, the Austrian co-ruler Emperor Joseph II wrote,
  When the King of Prussia speaks on problems connected with the art of war, which he has studied intensively and on which he has read every conceivable book, then everything is taut, solid and uncommonly instructive. There are no circumlocutions, he gives factual and historical proof of the assertions he makes, for he is well versed in history… A genius and a man who talks admirably. But everything he says betrays the knave.
caption: Battle of Hohenfriedberg, Attack of the Prussian Infantry, by Carl Röchling. Oil on canvas.
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