CHAPTER XXXV – Old Fritz

Everyone knows him as the man Prussia seems to love talking about. He calls him Old Fritz, and is the number one boss that Prussia likes above all the other ones. Unfortunately, like France, he gets depressed when he's talked about, something like a friend lost forever, and hopes that he would watch over him in heaven. In fact, according to canon, he was the one who would pet Prussia when he was proud, making the petting motion the method of telling people that Prussia was proud of them.

So…who's Old Fritz?

Well, "Old Fritz" is Prussia's nickname for Frederich II, king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. He was known as Frederich the Great and was a great military campaigner for his time, ruling at least two dynasties.

First off, before we even start, some nice trivia about Prussia. The name "Prussia" actually derives itself from Old Prussia, a land that was filled with Baltic States. Yes, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia could technically be older than Prussia himself. The only reason why it's called Prussia is because when the Tectonic Knights rolled around and settled in, they named the land after the former name. OK, now to Fritz.

~ The Back Story ~

He was born to King Frederick William I of Prussia and his Queen Consort Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, in the city of Berlin, Prussia (YES, BERLIN, PRUSSIA). You don't have to know much about the parents, other than they were total opposites. The father was, for lack of a better terms, a reasonable jerkwad. He had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. On the other hand, his mother was very polite. It was weird, even when you learn that her father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover, for short) and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire was the heir to Queen Anne of Great Britain.

OK, forget it. Messed up family out of the way.

Since his birth was preceding two other boys that were dead at an early age, you can bet that everyone was happy about it. For some reason, the king wished for his children to be educated as simple folk and not as royalty. He was educated by a Frenchwoman named Madame de Montbail (you'll find her online as Madame de Rocoulle), a wish of his father, and later brought up by Huguenot governesses and tutors (members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France). As a result, he was learning French and German simultaneously.

From what I've been reading, this boy was quite the rebellious kind. In spite of his father's desire to raise him religious, he got his tutor Jacques Duhan to give him a three-thousand volume secret library of poetry, Greek and Roman classics, hidden under French philosophy. Best part about it, he adopted the predestination tenant of Calvinism, despite the will of the king, just to "spite his father". In English, he did it just to annoy the heck out of him.

There were talks about him and his sister being in a dual marriage with the children of the queen's brother, King George II of Great Britain, in 1732. But yeah, that didn't really work out. Why? Austrian ambassador in Berlin. Field Marshal von Seckendorff(?) bribed the Prussian Minister of War and Prussian ambassador in London, which in turn discreetly slandered the two courts in the eyes of the two kings. Being told that Prussia was too much of a "goody-goody" in honorable Britain, the king presented impossible demands, and the whole thing fell apart. Way to go, Austria. But it did help with him bonding with his sister Wilhelmina, whom he remained close to for life.

But he had grown to be a philosopher, and not a warrior. At the age of 18, he attempted to flee to England with his childhood friend Hans Hermann von Katte and other junior officers. Unfortunately, that didn't work out too well: one of the conspirators had a panic attack and gave himself in to the king on August 5, 1730, begging for forgiveness. The two were arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin, and were tried for treason.

To his son, he threatened him with the death penalty, and then considered forcing him to renounce the succession (which he probably would've done anyway) to his brother, Augustus William. The only problem was that whatever option he chose would not be justifiable to the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire. So he decided to be a jerk and forced him to watch the decapitation of his confidant Katte on the 6th of November, leaving the poor prince to suffer for the following two days.

Instead of joining him, he was granted a royal pardon and released in the 18th of November, although he was no longer a military officer. Also, he remained in Küstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration on the 20th of November. Though the tension was easing slightly when the king visited him a year later, and he was allowed to go to Berlin on the occasion of his sister's marrage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth (a small section of the Holy Roman Empire) on Novermber 20th, 1731. And then, on February 26th, 1732, he returned to Berlin.

Once he was back, a lot of women were considered to marry Frederick (political marriages and all of that good stuff). One choice was Elizabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, niece of Empress Anna of Russia, but that had been opposed of Eugene of Savoy. Instead, Prince Eugene suggested the crown prince to marry Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern, a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs. Frederick himself suggested marrying Maria Theresa of Austria, even talking about renouncing his succession. However, Eugene was able to persuade him to his choice. There was never any love between the two of them (he even considered suicide. Girl must've been that horrible), complaining that this was an example of Austrian influence that plagued Prussia (despite the fact that he wanted to marry Maria, but let's move that aside). When they were married, he tried his best to stay away from her, even going so far as giving the title of "Prince of Prussia" to the son of his brother. Never the less, she remained faithful to him.

~ Military Start! ~

He was restored to the Prussian Army as Colonel of the Regiment von der Goltz, station near Nauen and Neuruppin, though his physical form brought on by gout forced him to give the latter to Frederick Schloss Rheinsberg. While his army was allying Austria during the War of the Polish Succession, he studied under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the campaign against France of the Rhine. During that time, he touched back on his philosopher's side: reading, watching plays, listening music, even making some of his own. Stuff like that. During that time, he formed the "Bayard Order" to discuss warfare with his friends. Heinrich August de la Motte Fouque was made grand master.

[Personally, I would figure that Prussia himself would meet him personally at this time, don't you think?]

During that time, he became greatly affected by the works of Niccolo Machiavelli, considered a guideline for the soon-to-be-king. However, in 1739, Fredierck finished his Anti-Machiavel, an idealistic refutation of Machiavelli, published anonymously in Amsterdam in 1740 to great success. However, this side of him stopped upon the 1740 death of his father and the inheritance of the Kingdom.

~ His Reign ~

When he became the king, the kingdom consisted of scattered territories, consisting of Cleaves, Mark, and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg, Hither Pomerania, and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire, and the former Duchy of Prussia, outside of the Empire bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, he was ascended as King in Prussia. It was only until 1772 where he would declare himself as King of Prussia.

His goal when he ascended was to modernize and unite his vulnerably disconnected lands (hence, King in Prussia). Because of this, he would wage many wars against Austria, who reigned as Holy Roman Emperors until 1806 (yes, meaning that he destroyed the Holy Roman Empire). Using his father's resources, he established Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power.

His first target was the Austrian province of Silesia, due to the many raw materials that he could use to strengthen his country. First, he declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, the legal way to ensure the inheritance of the domains by Maria Theresa. He feared that if he did that, Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, would try to connect his land to Silesia and attack when he inherited it. Hence, he invaded Silesia the same year he took power, using a really old treaty from 1537 as justification (between the Hohenzollern and the Piast dynasty of Brieg [Brzeg?]). This was basically the First Silesian War and part of the War of the Austrian Succession.

In the end, Prussia won the Silesian War in 1742. Austria attempted to take it back in the Second Silesian War, but Frederick was victorious yet again in 1745, forcing Austria to adhere to the previous peace terms. Because of his victories, the kingdom gained control over the Oder River.

Around this time, the Ango-Austrian Alliance collapsed. Instead, Habsburg Austria was forced to ally with Bourbon France (remember this comic strip, my friends?) in the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756. Without missing a beat, Frederick made an alliance with Great Britain at the Convention of Westminster (remember this episode?). Knowing that he was surrounded by enemies, Frederick knew that he would have to attack first or else the whole thing would fall apart. On August 29, 1756, he crossed the frontier and invaded Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War. However, Saxony was neutral in the entire conflict, and Frederick faced massive criticism upon forcing Saxony's cooperation.

Due to that, the massive army of Austria, France, Russia, Saxony and Sweden continued to invade his territories, which would suck since he only had Great Britain and Hanover as his allies. Despite that, he narrowly kept Prussia in the war. In fact, he said that he was resolved to seek a soldier's death on the first opportunity.

And then, a miracle. Empress Elizabeth of Russia had suddenly died, leading to the succession of Peter III, who was pro-Prussian. This led to the collapse of the anit-Prussian coalition, known as the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg", leading to the Treaty of Hubertusburg. Although he didn't gain any territory from it, the fact that he didn't lose any land during the war made him and Prussia very popular among the German territories.

For the heck of it, he involved Prussia in the low-scale War of the Bavarian Succesion in 1778, stifling Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. When Emperor Joseph II tried again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund, hence making him the "defender of German liberties". At this rate, you might as well call him the European America at this point.

All in all, many considered him to be one of the greatest tactical geniuses of all time, leading his men personally and losing at least six horses. His favorite tactic is the oblique order, in which an enemy's attack is focused on one flank of the opposing line, allowing a local advantage to a weaker army. Not only that, his tactics and words were able to prevent the unification of superior opposing armies, keeping them from overwhelming his army. See kids, this is what you learn when you read literature :D

His best victories can been seen in the Battles of Hohenfriedberg, Rossbach and Leuthen.

~ Aaaaand…Here Comes Poland ~

He was preparing ground for dismemberment of Poland-Lithuania in 1752, having already been one of the most vociferous critics of Polish society (geez, now I see where Hitler got his rage…) and hoping to gain territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg and East Prussian provinces. Many of his advisors suggested that the country would be well-served by annexing Polish Prussia in order to unite all the territories. Allying with Russia, their propaganda machines tried to further the resistance of the dissidents against the Catholic majority of Poland.

Frederick was eager to exploit Poland economically, seeing as how he had invaded Poland in 1759 and 1761 before. His plan was to destroy Poland's economy, so he started to circulate fake Polish coins into the country, blocked political reform, and bombarded custom ports in Vistula in order to thwart efforts to create a modern fiscal system.

However, Peter III was murdered in 1762, allowing Empress Catherine II to take over Imperial Russia. She was very much opposed to Prussia, while Frederick was opposed to how Russian troops could freely cross the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite their anger issues, they signed a defensive alliance of April 11 1764, which guaranteed Prussian control of Silesia in return for Prussian support for Russia against Austria or the Ottoman Empire. Then, Catherine's candidate for the Polish throne, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, was then elected King of Poland in September of that year.

However, this made Russia gain significant influence over Poland in the Repnin Segm of 1767, concerning Frederick. And of course, the Ottoman Empire stepped in, starting the Russo-Turkish War. He honored the treaty and supported Catherine with 300,000 rubles, though it was rather reluctant because he feared that Russia would become too strong through the acquisitions of Ottoman territory. The Prussian king achieved a rapprochement with Emperor Joseph and the Austrian chancellor Kaunitz.

As a counter against that, his brother Henry convinced Frederick and Marian Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottoman Empire. Hence, the First Partition of Poland in 1772, where Prussia claimed most of the Polish province. This connected East Prussia and Farther Pomerania, granting Prussia the mouth of the Vistula River. Maria Theresa apparently didn't like that.

~ Frederick Himself ~

He was known to be religiously tolerant of many people, with the exception being the Polish, thinking that they have the second worst government in Europe, the only one being worse being Turkey, and thought West Prussia was as uncivilized as Colonial Canada (there's your anti PruCan for this chapter, all right?). As for the Jesuits (which everyone seemed to hate at this point), he recognized the educational skills and said that they were a major asset for the nation.

He was interested in attracting a diversity of skills to his country, whether from Jesuit teachers, Huguenot citizens, or Jewish merchants and bankers (for some reason, he preferred these Jews from Spain?). And when Maria Theresa enforced her Catholic religion on her land, he accepted countless Protestant weaves from Bohemia, seeking refuge at the point, giving them freedom from taxes and military service. Heck, Jews were encourage to trade their hearts out on the Polish border and received all the protection and support from the king. This amount of revenue was then enough for Bismarck, the future king, to reunite Germany.

This dude can speak a lot of languages (German, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian), understanding Latin, ancient and modern Greek, and Hebrew. The odd thing is that he really liked French culture, thinking that the German language and culture was nearly impossible to read, piling everything together before finding a verb. German authors then tried to write simpler books after that, with no run-on words.

Jesus Christ, he really was America on the European continent D:

And here's the fun part: many historians wondered if Frederick the Great was gay or bi (all you Prussia x Fritz fans, listen up), though history says that his romance was toward Hans Hermann von Katte…though he's dead, so…hm. After his death, he did marry that chick and bore no children, separating from her when his father died in 1740. Others just claim that he was too busy invading enemy vital regions to get some of his own (uh…sorry about that), so really his dedication was toward his country. Best part? He knew those rumors were around, and played along. Some rumors said that his genitalia had been harmed by a surgical operation (basically, lost his dick), and when he was in his personal circle, homoerotic banter was around galore.

~ Final Years ~

Not surprisingly, Frederick II signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1785 with the United States, recognizing them as independent from England. The agreement included a novel clause, where the two leaders of the executive branches of each country are guaranteed a special and humane detention for prisoners of war.

Near the end of his life, Frederick grew solitary, equal to that of a bitter old man. His circle of friends died off without replacements, and he became critical and arbitrary to everyone, to the frustration of civil services. He couldn't find happiness in the common folk that looked up to him, preferring the company of his pet Italian greyhounds. He died in an armchair in his study in the palace of Sanssouci on August 17th, 1786.

His body had been moved all over the freaking place. He had personally wished to be buried next to his greyhounds on the vineyard terrace on the side of the corps de logis of Sanssouci. His successor instead ordered his body to be entombed next to his father in the Potsdam Garrison Church. Then, near the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered the two coffins (next to Paul von Hindenburg and his wife) to be transferred to a underground bunker near Berlin, then a salt mine near the town of Bernrode, Germany to protect them. The US Army discovered them and moved them to the basement of Marburg Castle, a collection point of recovered Nazi "treasure". Then, "Operation Bodysnatch" occurred, and they relocated both kings to first the Elizabeth Church of Marburg and then on to Burg Hohenzollern close to the town of Hechingen. After German reunification, the body of Frederick William was entombed in the Kaiser Friedrick Mausoleum in Sanssouci's Church of Peace. On the 205th anniversary of his death, on August 17, 1991, Frederick's casket lay in a state in the court of honor of Sanssouci, covered by a Prussian flag and escorted by a Bunderswehr guard of honor, and was finally laid to rest on the terrace of the vineyard of Sanssouci, without pomp. Finally, he will sleep where he wanted to be.

~ Reincarnation ~

Hey, France did say that those that history played with could be reincarnated so that they can live ordinary lives where they can love and be whatever, right? I wouldn't be surprised to say that he could be reincarnated, right? Though I will admit this: if someone personally wrote down that Frederick the Great had reincarnated into an American (a FEMALE American), I will personally find that person and punch them…even though it would make total sense because of Frederick's tolerance of everyone during his reign. I dunno, maybe it's because everyone seems to like reincarnating historical figures as Americans…

You can do whatever you want with the reincarnation (if you even want to do anything in the first place), but if you want personal preferences, fine. I actually see him as a Frenchman, due to how he loved French culture during his lifetime and preferred that over the German culture that he was born into. He might be bisexual, due to how no one seemed to understand what the heck he was beforehand. Besides, France seems to like hanging out with humans.

/=+=/

And that is the end of the chapter of Old Fritz~