Frederick William
generally called as Elector of Brandenburg. He is conmuch of that military spirit which besidered as the founder of Prussian came the national characteristic. He greatness; and from him was derived made Prussia free from feudal subjecand defeated the Swedes who invaded joined the League against Louis XIV., tion to Poland, conquered Pomerania, Prussia in 1647. He applied himself joined the League with much wisdom and earnestness to ue against Louis XIV., the promotion of the well-being of his French Protestant refugees, he gained, etc. By affording protection to the subjects, favoring trade, making roads, trious manufacturers, an acquisition of as citizens of the State, 20,000 indusmany; and he also gave great encourageno slight importance to the N. of Gerfounded the library at Berlin, and a uniment to agricultural improvements. He and a well-supplied treasury. He died left to his son a country much enlarged versity at Duisburg; and at his death he in Potsdam, April 29, 1688. left to his son a country much enlarged 20 FREDERICK I., first King of Prussia burg), son of the above; born in Königs- FREDERICK I., first King of Prussia berg, July 22, 1657. He succeeded his father in 1688, entered into the alliance against France, and seized Bonn and pute of some years, sold to the emperor father in 1688, entered into the alliance the circle Schwiebus, which the Great peror against the Turks, and, after a dis- Elector had acquired in exchange for the the circle Schwiebus, which the Great the war of the Spanish Succession, and Elector had acquired in exchange for the in 1701 obtained from him the title of the war of the Spanish Succession, and in 1701 obtained from him the title of berg, the cost of which exhausted his treasury for a time. He placed the ceremony of his coronation at Königs- In 1694 he founded the University of Halle; two years later, the Berlin Acadcrown on his head with his own hands. emy of Painting; and, in 1707, he established the Academy of Sciences, Berlin, and made Leibnitz first president. He was thrice married; his third wife befrom him. One day she escaped, rushed into the king's apartment, smashing the came insane, but her state was concealed immediately fell into a fever, and after six weeks' illness died, Feb. 25, 1713. glass door, and so terrified him that he above, and father of Frederick the FREDERICK WILLIAM I., son of the Great; born in 1688, and commenced his FREDERICK II. 208 FREDERICK WILLIAM III. reign in 1713, after having married the daughter of the Elector of Hanover, afterward George I. of England. In 1715 he declared war against Charles XII. of Sweden, and in conjunction with Denmark took Stralsund; but on the death of Charles, in 1718, he made peace.
The habits of this sovereign were entirely military, and he labored unweariedly to promote the discipline of his troops. One of his strongest peculiarities was an extraordinary love for tall soldiers; and in order to procure these sons of Anak he had agents employed in all parts of Europe. He held science and literature in profound contempt; but money he worshiped, and men of a military character after his own ideal he respected and encouraged. The consequence was that he left an abundant treasury and a wellappointed army of 66,000 men. He died May 31, 1740.
FREDERICK II., commonly called Frederick the Great; born in Berlin, Jan. 24, 1712, and began to reign in 1740, found himself in possession of a full treasury que FREDERICK THE GREAT and a powerful army, which he soon employed in attacking Austria, and conquering from her the province of Silesia (1740-1742). In 1744 he engaged in a second war with Austria, which was terminated in 1745, and left him possession of Silesia. The great struggle of the Seven Years' War bagan in 1756. Prussia was now attacked by the Austrians, the Russians, the French, the Saxons , and the Swedes, and her destruction and dismemberment seemed inevitable. England was her only ally. Prussia went through the struggle and came out triumphant. When the peace of Hubertusburg was concluded in 1763 , Prussia did not cede an inch of land, or pay a dollar of money; and from that time forth she was recognized as one of the great powers of Europe. For this glorious result she was indebted to her king. Though victorious at Prague, at Rossbach, and Lissa (1757), at Zorndorf (1758), at Liegnitz and Torgau (1760), he suffered heavy defeats at Collin (1757), at Hochkirchen (1758), at Kunersdorf (1759); and his lieutenants, with the exception of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were generally unsuccess-
But Frederick's firmness never ful. failed him, even when all hope seemed lost. During his struggles against Austria and France, Frederick was regarded in England and America as the champion of Protestantism and he was called a second Gustavus Adolphus. He ill deserved the title. The disciple of Voltaire, he is supposed to have had no religious faith whatever. He died in the château of Sans Souci, near Potsdam, Aug. 17, 1786.
FREDERICK WILLIAM II., King of Prussia, nephew to Frederick the Great; born Sept. 25, 1744. He succeeded his uncle in 1786, and gave himself up, as he had long done, to low pleasures, wasting his resources on his mistresses and favorites. He entered into the Triple Alliance in 1788; made an alliance with the Porte; sent an army under the Duke of Brunswick to invade France in 1792; took part in the second partition of Poland; and made peace with France in 1795. He died Nov. 16, 1797.
FREDERICK WILLIAM III., King of Prussia, son of the above; born Aug. 3, 1770, commenced his reign in 1797 by maintaining a strict neutrality in the various alliances with and against France, which resulted from the ambitious designs of Napoleon I. In 1805, however, he yielded to the solicitations of Russia, allying himself with the czar against the French emperor. The rapid campaign of 1806, and the defeat of the Prussians at Jena, opened the gates of Berlin to the enemy, in whose hands it remained till 1809. In 1807 the battle of Friedland led to the humiliating peace of Tilsit, by which Frederick lost half his dominions. Restored to his capital, the king diligently endeavored to repair the evils of war; but new disasters overtook him, and his kingdom suffered greatly during the struggle from 1812 to 1814. Forced, in the former year, to contribute a force of 30,000 men to Napoleon's army, he subsequently joined his troops with those of Russia . The allies having triumphed over the French at Leipsic, Frederick William, in , entered Paris with Czar Alexander. He FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. 209 FREDERICKSBURG also accompanied the latter to England king on his death, near Potsdam, Jan. 2, in the same year. On the return of 1861.
Napoleon from Elba, he once more joined the allies. After the victory of Waterloo, in which the Prussians, under BLÜCHER (q. v.), played an important part, Prussia, once more at peace, gradually recovered the losses she had sustained, under the wise and paternal sway of Frederick, whose constant efforts and moderation contributed greatly to the maintenance of peace. He died June 7, 1840.
FREDERICK WILLIAM IV., King of Prussia, son of the preceding; born Oct. 15, 1795; on the death of his father, succeeded to the throne in 1840. He served as a simple officer, in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814, and evinced, at an early period of his life, a very great love for the arts. During the first years of his reign his subjects anxiously demanded the reform of the government, requiring the liberal constitution which had been promised them in 1815, in return for the great sacrifices they had made during the continental war. In 1847, at a general diet of the Prussian states, many of these reforms were granted.
In March, 1848, the people and the troops came into collision, the king was obliged to change the ministry, to issue a general amnesty, and commence a war in favor of Schleswig against Denmark, and to salute from his balcony the corpses of the insurgents. These humiliations were somewhat softened by his hopes of becoming emperor of a united Germany, and by the success of his army in putting down an insurrection of the Poles in Posen. The mingled irresolution and absolutism of Frederick, however, led him subsequently to other conflicts in June and August of the same year; and it was not till two coups d'état that Frederick, assisted by his army, succeeded in retaining his authority almost unimpaired by the powers he had yielded. In the war between the W. powers and Russia, the king preserved a strict neutrality.
In 1856, in consequence of an attack on Neufchâtel by some Prussian partisans, war was in danger of breaking out between Switzer land and Prussia; but this was avoided, and a treaty concluded, in May, 1857, in reference to the king's claims on that place. In the complication relative to the Danubian principalities, Prussia followed the lead of France and Russia as opposed to England and Austria. Toward the end of 1857, a severe illness, resulting in the loss of some of his faculties, caused his brother William to be nominated regent, who succeeded him as FREDERICK III., 2d Emperor of Germany, and 8th King of Prussia; born in Potsdam, Prussia, Oct. 18, 1831; was educated at Bonn University; entered the army; became Crown Prince of Prussia in 1861; served with distinction in the Danish War; conducted a brief but brilliant campaign in the war between Prussia and Austria; and at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War was placed in command of one of the three divisions of the German army.
After the war he received the Iron Cross and numerous other orders in recognition of his services against the French. In 1871 he became Crown Prince of the German Empire. The death of Emperor William I. on March 9, 1888, made him Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia. He assumed the title of Frederick III. He was suffering with cancer in the throat at the time of his accession, and died in Potsdam, June 15, 1888.
POLAND.
FREDERICK AUGUSTUS II., III. See Au- GUSTUS.
SAXONY.
FREDERICK III., the Wise; born in Torgau, Jan. 17, 1463; succeeded his father, Ernest, 1436, as Elector of Saxony. He is known chiefly as founder of the University of Wittenberg, and as the friend and very cautious protector of Luther, who was one of the first professors of the new university. It was by his arrangement that Luther, after the Diet of Worms, was seized and carried off to the Wartburg. He did not, however, establish the reformed faith in his dominions. He became administrator of the empire in 1519, and was offered the imperial crown, but declined it. He died May 5, 1525.
SWEDEN.
FREDERICK, King of Sweden, the eldest son of Charles, landgrave of Hesse- Cassel. He married the sister of Charles XII., on whose death, in 1718, the States of Sweden elected her queen, and in the year following consented to her resigning the crown to her husband. He had a long and unsuccessful war with Russia, which ended in a disadvantageous peace to Sweden. He then gave his energies to the pursuits of peace, re. stored the finances, and founded an academy at Stockholm. He died in 1751.