Frederick the Great, the transformation from "weak" to "great"

Yang Qingjun picked up historical events

When Napoleon's iron hooves swept through Europe, he once said to a man's tombstone that if he were still alive, we would not be here.

The war maniac Hitler admired him to the ground, and the propaganda of the Third Reich almost deified him.

He was no more than the monarch of a small european kingdom at that time, but he was later revered as "the Great".

At first, he was just a little prince in Prussia, the small kingdom of the Eighteenth Line of Germany at that time, born a gentle literary teenager, whose greatest desire was to immerse himself in the world of music. He has never loved a woman in his life, and the perfunctory marital feelings are not dull. However, it was he, after being tormented in the whirlpool of fate, who finally entered the center of the war and finally created an incomparably powerful Prussia with talent and luck. The ups and downs of his life have also left countless mysteries for future generations. Frederick the Great. Remember the red-bearded and linguistic genius emperor we talked about earlier, also called Frederick? There are many kings in Germany named Frederick, and the one we are going to meet next is undoubtedly the most famous and legendary of all Fredericks. The militarism, belligerence, and militarism of the Spirit of German Characteristics as we know it all originated from him.

The boring Protestant old man Martin Luther in the last few issues has long been bored, so we will enter the exciting 18th century and experience the glory and sorrow of iron and blood in the smoke of The rise of Germany.

Remember the rise of Prussia, the teutonic knights forcibly occupied the land and broke it into German territory, but in the fifteenth century, the Poles who had long resented the forced hegemony of the Teutonic Knights finally accumulated strength and defeated the Knights, and from then on the Teutonic Knights were in a state of collapse and no longer had the ability to cause a big storm. Until the 16th century, the thirty-seventh head of the Teutonic Knights was inaugurated, this leader came from the Hohenzollern family - this family is to be the main point, its first appearance was a warrior of the Holy Roman Empire, named, well, or Frederick, we can call him the old ancestor Frederick, he was given the fiefdom of Brandenburg, passed down from generation to generation to the head of the Teutonic Knights, the leader of the regiment, who combined Prussia and his territory, disbanded the Teutonic Knights, and abandoned the previous Catholic faith. The entire territory was converted to Protestantism. Thus the place of Prussia finally ended its theocracy and became a small principality under the hohenzollern family. At the beginning of the 18th century, by helping Emperor Shenluo fight the war of the Spanish succession, Prussia won an opportunity to upgrade, from a duchy to a kingdom, and the head from a duke to a king. Although this country started late, it came to the top and finally unified Germany that had been divided for a thousand years, similar to the status of the Qin State at the end of the Warring States period when the Qin State destroyed the unification of the Six Kingdoms, which can be said to be very inspiring.

Well, the upgrade is complete, and then it is time to open and hang up and go away. However, Frederick the Great's great outburst still requires the predecessors to cultivate the obscurity, and we will briefly introduce the advance troops that laid the foundation for his glory. First of all, Frederick I, well he is still called Frederick... During his reign, he issued an edict welcoming Protestants to settle in Prussia, this edict was mainly aimed at the French Louis XIV in the country to consolidate Catholicism and oppress Protestants, it is well known that in that era, most of the Protestants were engaged in handicrafts, commerce, these progressive professions, their growth is bound to promote the development of a region, so the oppressed Protestants in France actively immigrated to Prussia, making this small country population. The economy has improved dramatically. However, this Frederick I had a problem that existed in the European monarchs at that time, that is, it was too extravagant, and the pursuit of extravagant and wasteful life caused great dissatisfaction among others. This dissatisfied "bystander" was his son, the next king.

Cleverly, you must have guessed the name of the new king. Oh well, that's right he's still called Frederick. To differentiate him we call him the historically common name, Frederick William. He was not accustomed to his father's life style was too luxurious, the new king did the opposite as soon as he took office, slamming the door was more important than anything, he would not invite people to dinner until he had to, he loved to smoke but was reluctant to smoke well, every day was a roll of inferior tobacco leaves, choking the palace to a miasma. In order to show that he attached great importance to culture, he reluctantly donated a little money to the library, which was equivalent to a little more than 100 yuan... It's amazing, this thing is actually more cut than me. Frederick William's spirit of this iron rooster was well known and famous in Europe, and people gave him the nickname Beggar King.

Is the beggar king living a tight life, and the money he has saved is ready to be brought into the coffin? Of course not, he saved money for a purpose, that is, to train troops. Germany is located in the hinterland of Europe, strong neighbors, of course, Germany at that time can not be called a country, just a geographical concept, this concept includes more than 1,000 small states of all sizes, they are in constant conflict, so for Prussia, security is the first priority of survival, this point has been affecting Germany today. In order to ensure security, it is necessary to improve the construction of national defense, frederick William not only realized the importance of the army, but even threw himself into it and turned himself into a full-fledged military maniac. He went against the norm in the affairs of military training, threw a lot of money into it, the whole people engaged in military training, and beat people when they were not satisfied with the training, and he himself also practiced this concept of loving the army and learning martial arts, he often ate and lived with soldiers, and the military uniform was not separated from him all year round, in addition to "beggars", he also had a nickname called the soldier king (to digress, Germany's military uniforms are indeed very beautiful, especially Hitler's time, when it comes to the Third Reich, I will prepare Easter eggs for German military uniforms. This obsession created a very hard army for Prussia, and also formally won the country a characteristic definition of "militarism", to put it bluntly, militarism means that the army is greater than the state, as early as the ancient Greek Sparta had this characteristic, but Prussian militarism began here frederick William.

Frederick William basically did not use much of it, what he did was to cultivate obscurity and accumulate strength, as for what amazing strength to exert in the future, he estimated that he could not see it, he smoked a rotten cigarette all his life, and he painstakingly created a good army, and he earnestly hoped to exert great power in the hands of his children and grandchildren. however...... Contrary to his fantasies, the only son he raised didn't seem so satisfying.

When this son was born, he was working on a new type of weapon. It was so happy that this little guy was born Frederick William that he was named — well, let's say it out loud together — Frederick!! Orz Is it interesting for the Germans to give names like this... This man is the protagonist we are going to elaborate on, the future legendary monarch Frederick the Great.

Frederick was very gentle and indecisive when he was young, which annoyed his military father. Frederick usually needs to learn the most important course is military strategy, but he has no interest in leading soldiers to fight, this melancholy teenager's heart is all music, art, literature, and the current young man is different, Frederick is from the bones of literature and art to no, he especially likes to play the flute, the palace often echoes the melodious flute of the little prince. However, his father was not proud of his son's musical talent, his father felt that men should wear armor and love the battlefield, as for the flute, this kind of thing is the only thing for girls, so Frederick's music teacher was driven away by his father, the instrument was destroyed, forced to learn tactics and mathematics that he did not like, Frederick was very bitter in his heart, he was forced to compromise, while secretly preparing to resist.

When Frederick was 18 years old, his father prepared a family affair for him, elizabeth, the duchess of Austria, and the marriage with Austria was very beneficial to Prussia, but the rebellious teenager Frederick bravely said, I don't like her, I like the princess of England Amélia. His father was shocked, and as a member of the royal family, he was also up to you who liked who didn't like whom? Prussia wants to marry England Austria and France must not jump up and beat us! The princess of England didn't even think about it. So taking advantage of this tearing war, Frederick united with his friend, a noble young man named Carter, and prepared to flee to England together.

As for whether Frederick really liked the English Ameria? These two people have met several times when they were young, and there is no particularly deep emotional basis, saying that they are going to The United Kingdom to confess their female tickets is just a pretext. Most foreign studies tend to favor Frederick as gay, (such as the BBC documentary) he has no interest in women all his life, and has not even left children after his death, and according to his gentle personality is more likely to be affected by ... Uh, the Emperor of the Ages is weak, which is indeed a bit... According to people's speculation, Friedrich Friedrich's little friend Carter, who fled to England together, was his real sweetheart, not so much to find an object, but to elope. Whether it is or not, I don't know, if it is, what happens next will be broken...

Ginger is still old and spicy, how can little Frederick escape the palm of old Frederick's hand? The artistic young man, who was bent on flying away, was unsurprisingly caught by his angry father, and Carter, a friend who fled with him, was pulled in front of Frederick and beheaded on the spot. If Carter is really Frederick's sweetheart, it is too cruel for the father to punish his son and let his lover be beheaded in front of him... Frederick was immediately locked up in a castle after the incident, was suspended as crown prince, sentenced to a year and a half in prison, I don't know whether Carter was killed or imprisoned for too long, Frederick's temperament changed dramatically, he was greatly shocked, a year and a half later, he expressed his willingness to give up his previous stubbornness to listen to his father's words, and put his energy into governing the country and training troops, the elder Frederick was very excited that his son had finally changed from evil, so he compromised and agreed to study music in his spare time.

After the confinement ended, Frederick married Elizabeth as promised, but he never made love to her in his life, nor did he find any real lover. His heart was like an island, buried with something that only he knew.

He did fulfill his promise to his father, and devoted all his energy to strengthening the military and expanding the outside world. After the age of 28, the nightmares of childhood turned into blue blood, and after the smoke of war and smoke dissipated, the signature of Prussia was forcefully engraved on the land of Europe, Frederick the Great was like the light of the rising sun, the time flowed hurriedly, and the eyes did not fade the color of the world. In the next issue, let us look forward to the story of Frederick's big gambles and thrilling ups and downs on the battlefield of Jingo Iron Horse!

References "Ten Men's Germany", "German", German Documentary "German" b station can be searched

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