FREDERICK 



FREDERICK THE GREAT 



the death of his father in March, 

 1888, he succeeded to the throne, 

 which he had only occupied for 

 ninety-nine days when he died at 

 Potsdam, June 15, 1888. He was 

 succeeded by his son William II. 

 His family consisted of two sons 

 and four daughters. The former 

 were William II and Prince Henry 

 of Prussia ; the latter were 

 Charlotte, the wife of Albert, duke 

 of Saxe-Meiningen ; Victoria, the 

 wife of Adolf, prince of Schaum- 

 burg-Lippe ; Sophia, wife of Con- 

 stantine, king of Greece ; and Mar- 

 garet, wife of Prince Frederick 

 Charles of Hesse. He is sometimes 

 known as Frederick III because he 

 is the third Frederick among the 

 Prussian kings. See Frederick, 

 Crown Prince and Emperor, R. 

 Rodd, 1888, and Life of Emperor 

 Frederick, S. Whitman, 1901. 



Frederick. Name of eight kings 

 of Denmark. Several of them were 

 comparatively unimportant per- 

 sonages, but the more important 

 are noticed separately below. 



Frederick III ( 1 609-70 ). King 

 of Denmark and Norway. Second 

 son of Christian IV, he succeeded 

 his father in 1648, having pre- 

 viously been bishop of Bremen and 

 Verden. In war with Sweden, 1657 

 -60, Denmark lost many islands 

 and her territory on the Swedish 

 part of the peninsula. In 1660 the 

 people granted him absolute powers 

 and made the monarchy hereditary 

 instead of elective. He died in 

 Copenhagen, Feb. 6, 1670. 



Frederick IV( 1671-1730 ). King 

 of Denmark. Son of Christian V, 

 he succeeded his father in 1699. 

 His reign was marked by successive 

 wars against Sweden, but he was 

 forced to sign peace when Charles 

 XII besieged Copenhagen, 1700. 

 In 1709 he again went to war, cap- 

 turing Stralsund and Tonningen. 

 By the Peace of Copenhagen, 1720, 

 he had to surrender his gains for 

 a money payment, and his last 

 years were spent in the work of 

 carrying out many much needed 

 internal reforms. 



Frederick VI (1768-1 839). King 

 of Denmark and Norway. Son 

 of the insane Christian VII, he 

 acted as regent from 1784, and be- 

 came king in 1808. His part in the 

 maritime confederation of Den- 

 mark, Russia, and Sweden led to 

 the destruction of his fleet by Nel- 

 son at the battle of the Baltic, 1801. 

 His unsatisfactory attitude to- 

 wards Napoleon caused the bom- 

 bardment of Copenhagen and cap- 

 ture of the Danish fleet in 1807. 

 His alliance with Napoleon brought 

 about the loss of Norway in 1814.V, 

 Denmark became bankrupt and 

 did not recover for some years. 

 Himself not free from the taint 



of insanity, Frederick had capable 

 ministers, and his reign was marked 

 by political and legal reforms. 



Frederick VII (1808-63). King 

 of Denmark. Son of Christian VIII, 

 he succeeded his father in 1848. 

 , , He promul- 



gated the con- 

 stitution de- 

 signed by his 

 father, and re- 

 stored parlia- 

 mentary gov 

 ernment, but 

 his tyrannical 

 treatment o f 

 Frederick VII, 

 King oi Denmark 



Frederick I, 

 King of Prussia 



revolt of that duchy in 1848. 

 Frederick was the last king of the 

 Oldenburg dynasty. He died Nov. 

 15, 1863. 



Frederick VIII (1843-1912). 

 King of Denmark. Son of Christian 

 IX, he was educated at a Danish 

 grammar B^^^MWI^^^^ 

 school, and at 

 Oxford. He 

 took part in 

 the war against 

 Prussia and 

 Austria over 

 Slesvig-Hol- 

 stein, 1864. In 

 1869 he married 

 Louisa, daugh- 

 ter of Charles 



Frederick VIII, 

 King of Denmark 



XV of Sweden. He succeeded his 

 father in 1906 and died suddenly 

 at Hamburg, May 14, 1912. In 

 1905 his second son became king of 

 Norway as Haakon VTI. 



Frederick I (1657-1713). King 

 of Prussia. The son of Frederick 

 William, elector of Brandenburg 

 and through ,^__.^ 

 his mother re- p 

 lated to the jm 

 Orange family, |^H 

 he was born at 

 Konigsberg, 

 July 11, 1657. 

 His father 

 married again, 

 and there was 

 some jealousy 

 between Fred- 

 erick and his 

 stepmother and tier offspring ; the 

 affair led to the voluntary exile of 

 the young prince, while his father 

 bequeathed parts of his lands to his 

 younger sons. In 1688 Frederick 

 became elector, and by a judicious 

 use of money he persuaded his half- 

 brothers to give up their shares, 

 thus securing the whole of the 

 electorate. 



The central incident of the reign 

 was the elector's elevation to the 

 rank of king. Taking advantage of 

 the emperor's military needs, he 

 won from him this grant, and on 

 Jan. 18, 1701, he crowned himself 

 king of Prussia at Konigsberg. 

 His troops fought for several years 

 against France, and this and other 

 reasons threw the finances of the 

 country into disorder. He died 

 Feb. 25, 1713, leaving an only son, 

 Frederick William I, who was the 

 father of Frederick the Great. The 

 second of his three wives was So- 

 phia Charlotte, sister of George I. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT OF PRUSSIA 



Major G. W. Redway, Author of The War of Secession 



With this article may be read those on Prussia; France; Germany; 



those on Frederick's battles, e.g. Leuthen, Prague, Rossbach, and 



those on his contemporaries, e.g. Catherine of Russia, the Emperor 



Joseph II, and Voltaire. See also Europe ; Seven Years' War 



Born at Berlin, Jan. 24, 1712, 

 Frederick II of Prussia, known as 

 Frederick the Great, was the son of 

 Frederick William I. 

 did not share his father's military 

 proclivities, and broke away from 

 the parades of a cadet company of 

 young noblemen which had been 

 established for him to drill, in order 

 to study music and philosophy. 



He was to have married in 

 his teens the Princess Amelia of 

 England, but the influence of 

 Austria prevailed with his father, 

 who mated him in 1733 with the 

 princess of Brunswick-Bevern. 

 Meanwhile, Frederick, harassed 

 at home by his royal father, who 



at table would spit in the dish to daughter Maria Theresa, who de- 

 prevent his children eating their clined to recognize Frederick's 

 fill, and once attempted to strangle claim to Silesia, arising out of 

 Frederick for refusing to resign his political bargains made by his 

 rights to the succession, ran away great-grandfather, Frederick Wil- 

 from court. He hoped to escape Ham, called the " Great Elector. 



to Paris, but was caught, tried by 

 court-martial, and sentenced to 

 death. His companion Katte was 

 As a boy he actually beheaded, Frederick faint- 

 ing at the sight. 



The year after his marriage 

 Frederick joined Prince Eugene in 

 his last campaign on the Rhine. 

 Then he entered into correspond- 

 ence with Voltaire, and wrote the 

 Anti-Machiavel, in which he set 

 forth the duties of a sovereign as 

 " the first servant of his people." 

 He had become reconciled to his 

 father, after whose death May 31, 

 1740 he ascended the throne. 

 In the same year the emperor 

 Charles VI was succeeded by his 



