The Reign of Frederick William I & Frederick the Great

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The Kingdom of Prussia was formally established in 1701 by Elector Frederick III of the Hohenzollern dynasty. He dubbed himself Frederick I calling himself the “King in Prussia” rather than the ‘King of Prussia’ because as subjects of the Holy Roman Empire, only the emperor and his heir could have royal titles.

Disjointedly stretching over 750 miles across the European continent from the Duchy of Prussia that was bordered by the Baltic Sea across to the Hohenzollern dynasties stronghold in Brandenburg. The kingdom of Prussia also included three smaller areas in the Rhineland. These enclaves were known as Ravensberg, Cleves, and Mark.

In 1713, Frederick I died, and his son Frederick William I of Prussia came to reign. Known to many as ‘The Soldier King’, Frederick William is perhaps best remembered for doing much to centralize the Prussian State by introducing taxes on the middle classes and establishing Primary Schools. Frederick also focussed greatly on the rebuilding of Eastern Prussia, who to its detriment had lost almost one third of its population in 1708 due to the bubonic plague.

Although he had inherited a large amount of land from his father, Frederick William I found himself living in a kingdom that was geopolitically vulnerable. With The Russian Empire to the East, The Swedish to the North, The French to the West, and the mighty Hapsburg Austrian Empire to the South He knew that for Prussia to survive, he would need to create a strong and organised military.

He brought together the tallest men from all over Europe to fight in the Potsdam Giants. One of Prussia’s most famed infantries known to the locals as "Lange Kerls.” Made up of over 40,000 mercenaries from all over Europe, they were left them under the tutelage...

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...ederick William I and his son Frederick the Great have drastically changed how the rest of the world views Prussia. In 1701, Prussia was all but a nation state, but by the time Old Fritz died resting in his armchair in 1785, Italian Greyhounds by his side. Prussia was well on its way in becoming a major world power. And everything from the Potsdam Giants, to Voltaire and the flute, may have had a role in the development of a great Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Prussia.

Bibliography
Caiside, Tomás Ó. An Caisideach Bán:The Songs and Adventures of Tomás Ó Caiside. 1993.
Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947. n.d.
Fontane, Theador. Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. n.d.
Robert B. Asprey. Frederick the Great, The enigma. n.d.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. n.d.
The Irish Times. "The Irish Giant." 08 August 2009.

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