How Did Prussia Become a Great Power? | Frederick the Great & Enlightened Despotism
From humble beginnings, the Kingdom of Prussia came to be synonymous with military might. Voltaire called it "the army with a state." Prussia's rise began with the union of Brandenburg and Ducal Prussia in 1618, but it didn't become a Great Power until over a century later. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia ballooned in size, but far from being a common warlord, 'Der alte Fritz' was a man of the Enlightenment who brought Prussia into the modern age.
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Sources Consulted:
Miller, Stuart T. Mastering Modern European History. London: Macmillan Education LTD, 1990.
Lentin, Tony & Frederick II. Units 15-16 Frederick the Great, Letters and Documents. Milton Keynes: The Open University Press, 1979.
Пікірлер: 90
the rise of prussia really was a miracle. from a vassal to poland and a desolate swamp, to the unifier of germany. very well made video.
@myhonorwasloyalty
Жыл бұрын
Poland never existed
@jojospice3353
Жыл бұрын
Prussia wasn't even german in the beginning. It was originally a Baltic country
@sebe2255
Жыл бұрын
@@jojospice3353 The lands of Prussia were, but the kingdom of Prussia in the video was obviously always Germanic (with Significant polish population)
@pedanticradiator1491
11 ай бұрын
@@myhonorwasloyalty never heard of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
@granockss9548
10 ай бұрын
@@jojospice3353 Prussia roots lies in Brandenburg, not the native pruß.
Frederick's balance between "enlightened" and "despot" is best illustrated by his attitude to freedom of speech: "My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please."
@absboodoo
21 күн бұрын
I love his "carefree" attitude regarding most contemporary value of the time.
You should make a video about how the Dutch survived the Holland war
@thommyneter168
Жыл бұрын
What is the Holland war? I'm from the Netherlands but I'm not aware of a war with that name
@TerrierMartello
Жыл бұрын
@Thom Hendriks: The Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678). The Dutch language Wikipedia page lists it as "De Hollandse Oorlog," which translates to "The Holland War." Franco-Dutch War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War Hollandse Oorlog: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollandse_Oorlog
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
The French invasion under Louis XIV? Maybe!
@SchmulKrieger
Жыл бұрын
@@TerrierMartello right after the Netherlanders left the Holy Roman Empire to form an own imperial Empire.
@sebe2255
10 ай бұрын
@@SchmulKrieger Not an Imperial one
The Prussian kings truly managed to build breathtaking cities. Potsdam is an expression of local styles, with French and Italian palaces and villas, Romanesque city planing, as well as Russian- and Dutch architecture. One cannot help but be overwhelmed by the awe-inspiring beauty of this city.
Yt Historian about Bismarck:"A disciple of Fredicks school of cold pragmatism" Meanwhile Bismarck:"I'M THROWING MYSELF OUT OF THE WINDOW IF I DON'T GET MY WAY"
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
Lol, I was thinking more in regards to foriegn affairs.
This is amazing. I'm still suprised you have less subs than you should. You clearly take time when it comes to these videos and focus on knowledge to teach others what you know. Keep up these videos. They are amazing.
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
Thanks, that's the goal!
Great video, I hope you rise and collaborate with other youtubers!
"He ran the kingdom well enough, though." Possibly the greatest understatement of the century. Friedrich Wilhelm I. pretty much built Prussia and laid all the foundations of it. As well as building upon those. Friedrich II. mostly just used what his father provided, even though he used it well.
@sebe2255
Жыл бұрын
I wouldn’t say he used it well. He was in a completely hopeless situation and was even willing to cede east prussia to Russia just to make peace with them. He got incredibly lucky with the Tsarina dying and her Prussiaboo son taking over. If that hadn’t happened he would have been a complete failure
3:53 - his conquest of Silesia during the war was probably his most impactful military victory. 4:25 - concluding the treaty with Maria Theresa that saw Silesia ceded to him in 1742. 4:39 - 1741, the 1745 battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor proved the power of Frederick’s cold analytical style of leadership. 5:08 - Acquiring Silesia was a game changer. It was the largest expansion made by the Hohenzollern dynasty to that point, increasing Frederick’s subjects by 50% and his state revenue by a third.
i love your work keep doing this great job !!!!! btw video idea :what was the opinion of britain to monarchies becoming republics (or the monarchs of britain)
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
Good question! Definitely an interesting topic.
finallly someone explains this, i have been tryna find a video like this
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
Happy to help!
You should definitely do a video on the Belgian Revolution.
Look back history’s always so great! Hahah
U should do a video on Tuetons and livnonians and Kazkhstan
One further correction: Friedrich II didn't see himself as "personification of the state", that would be other absolute monarchs, he saw himself as the first servant of his state, appointed to this position by God (yes, you still can see his deep religiousness). The difference wasn't the "God" part but the "who is here to serve whom" part.
Napoleon was Corsican Hitler was Austrian Stalin was Georgian See a pattern?
@thelvadam2884
Жыл бұрын
Hitler very much was german , many German speaking people viewed themself as germans not austrians , and also really just were germans. Prussia , Austria , Bavaria etc all are german , just not always have been part of germany.
@tahamuhammad1814
Жыл бұрын
@@thelvadam2884 when did I say Hitler wasn't german, I just said that he was originally Austrian.
@vetarlittorf1807
8 күн бұрын
Austrians ARE Germans. For the same reason Bavarians are Germans.
thank you for making this Video ! Frederick the great / Friedrich Der Große , is often very much underrated, with Prussia rose to great power status , and that is what made it even possible to at the end unify Germany in the long run.
@balabanasireti
Жыл бұрын
Underrated 🤓
@sebe2255
Жыл бұрын
I think he is very overrated. He got his country involved in a war they couldn’t win, and only managed to succeed because of pure luck (Tsarina’s death and Peter III being a prussiaboo
@thelvadam2884
Жыл бұрын
@Sean Baggen he didn't even start that war tho.....
@sebe2255
Жыл бұрын
@@thelvadam2884 Didn’t say he did
nice video
Video idea/Video suggestion: Rise of the ottomans
0:17 bro really deleted the ottomans out of the map
@jtgd
Жыл бұрын
I mean he also didn’t highlight Poland
@TheAustrianAnimations87
Жыл бұрын
Other great powers weren't shown on the map either, but that's because they weren't so important.
@achourfreepalestine
Жыл бұрын
@@TheAustrianAnimations87 oh I'am sorry I didn't mean the map but when he was counting them
@someonethatlikesyou7713
Жыл бұрын
the great powers of europe were austria,russia,france and great Britain the ottomans in the other hand they have been declined like polish-lithuania
Make more videos about Romania
Can you make a video on why Prussia, rather than Bavaria ?
@ellidominusser1138
Жыл бұрын
Prussia was militaristic and expansionist as a result of reforms in the 17th and 18th century which were caused by the 30 years war in 1618-48 that destroyed germany and half it's population. Basically, some guy made Prussia a Military with a state, and no other german state was as eager or had as strong of an army as the prussians. Bavaria just wasn't militaristic
@sebe2255
Жыл бұрын
Bavaria was an underdeveloped agricultural region
2:19 based
When a Prussia Fanboy suddenly becomes the Russian Czar just when your army is about to collapse on 3 fronts
As I recall, the partitions of Poland were suggested by Russia as a way to appease Austria and Prussia. See, Austria and Prussia were growing nervous/concerned about Russia's increasing influence in the Ottoman Empire, nevermind all the territory they were taking from it.
Frederick the great is the real life Gustavo Fring
Prussia was just pure Gigachad state.
Pussia👀
2:40 “possible lover” tbh probably lover is more accurate. You can joke about how gay Fred G was but a lot of the things we’d call gay today were aristocratic standard then. The only thing we can say was out of the norm was he liked hot dogs more than hamburgers, at least judging by stories of how he interacted w/ his wife.
@historian252
Жыл бұрын
Nah it really wasn't.
@Argacyan
26 күн бұрын
There's some things people today call gay which were standard then, but most of what they did together was gay back then. It's wasn't aristocratic standard, that's why they executed his love & Friedrich's life too was up in the air, in terms of punishment in that moment.
Fredrick the second was a G
So, what's your citation for Frederick's view of being a philosopher king? Or is that your opinion on what a philosopher king is? Cuz either way that is an extremely skewed and, basically, utterly false interpretation of Plato's philosopher king.
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
You're of course entitled to your opinion. My primary source for this video was a book containing a collection of quotes from Frederick, listed in the description.
Gog and Magog.
Simple terms: A shit ton of Frederick The Greats.
Not perfect, but I have seen much worse, e.g. from Extra History. Keep it up!
I wanna bring back the old glory of prussia even if that takes a 1000 years
It got saved by the russian empire by destroying napoleon's army
Even the average French peasant can dominate France, and Austria fell over in a stiff breeze so I wouldn’t really call Prussia great. sure briefly influential in Europe but little else.
@CMitchell808
8 ай бұрын
Not even attempting accuracy.
@commiecat5879
8 ай бұрын
@@CMitchell808 Finland is the true successor state to the Roman Empire
By making France not great
based gay man
@jml732
Жыл бұрын
Ja, this is how we Berlin-Brandenburgers see our local hero v:
Prussia was a German colony like Australia is to Britain
@LookBackHistory
Жыл бұрын
Uhh, you're gonna have to explain that one to me.
@Ciech_mate
Жыл бұрын
@@LookBackHistory they moved to Prussia from modern west Germany. Killed the inhabitants and took the resourses. They don't belong there as much as whites don't belong in for example SA. By don't belong, I mean aren't native to that region. They conquered the native people.
@JohnSmith-zs9vr
Жыл бұрын
Nah, I would rather compare Prussia to British India. The British East Indian Company was so strong that it managed to colonise a faraway indian region all by itself, acting there independently from the United Kingdom. And so it created a faraway base which eventually became a pivotal part for the entirety of Britain. Just like Prussia (the actual one, excluding Brandenburg): a region once colonised by the german Teutonic Knights who acted there all on their own, independently from the Holy Roman Empire. Although it's more accurate to say that this colony was only East Prussia. West Prussia was a polish region briefly conquered by the Teutonic Knights striking at Poland from East Prussia.
@sebe2255
10 ай бұрын
@@LookBackHistoryProbably because it was actually settled by various Germanic people from the Holy Roman as it was initially Slavic and Baltic
@Argacyan
26 күн бұрын
@@sebe2255 The population of the region changed over the ages, and "initially" very much included first East Germanic tribes and later north germaic Scandianvians as well as west germanic people. The idea of selling the region as "slavic and baltic" was a Cold War era addage to sell ethnic cleansing easier - and it succeeded in doing so. That is with it being the case that yes, later during the early modern period settlers were invited from western europe, mostly the HRE but going as far west as Scottish immigrants settling in the area. Most slavs in this place, especially today, have less of a history with any relationship whatsoever than the Germanic people who used to live in the area - the slavic settlers were resettled from Polish areas taken by the Soviet administration & annexed into Ukraine & Belarus.
AND THEN THE BASTARDS PUT HIM IN THE GROUND NEXT TO HIS FATHER