stoutness, lean in old age, but of vigorous and active habits. An expression of keen intelligence lighted up his features, and his large, sparkling grey eyes darted penetrating glances at every one who approached him. In his later years an old blue uniform with red facings was his usual dress, and on his breast was generally some Spanish snuff, of which he consumed large quantities. He shared many of the chief intellectual tendencies of his age, having no feeling for the highest aspirations of human nature, but submitting all things to a searching critical analysis. Of Christianity he always spoke in the mocking tone of the “enlightened” philosophers, regarding it as the invention of priests; but it is noteworthy that after the Seven Years’ War, the trials of which steadied his character, he sought to strengthen the church for the sake of its elevating moral influence. In his judgments of mankind he often talked as a misanthrope. He was once conversing with Sulzer, who was a school inspector, about education. Sulzer expressed the opinion that education had of late years greatly improved. “In former times, your Majesty,” he said, “the notion being that mankind were naturally inclined to evil, a system of severity prevailed in schools; but now, when we recognize that the inborn inclination of men is rather to good than to evil, schoolmasters have adopted a more generous procedure.” “Ah, my dear Sulzer,” replied the king, “you don’t know this damned race” (“Ach, mein lieber Sulzer, er kennt nicht diese verdammte Race”). This fearful saying unquestionably expressed a frequent mood of Frederick’s; and he sometimes acted with great harshness, and seemed to take a malicious pleasure in tormenting his acquaintances. Yet he was capable of genuine attachments. He was beautifully loyal to his mother and his sister Wilhelmina; his letters to the duchess of Gotha are full of a certain tender reverence; the two Keiths found him a devoted friend. But the true evidence that beneath his misanthropical moods there was an enduring sentiment of humanity is afforded by the spirit in which he exercised his kingly functions. Taking his reign as a whole, it must be said that he looked upon his power rather as a trust than as a source of personal advantage; and the trust was faithfully discharged according to the best lights of his day. He has often been condemned for doing nothing to encourage German literature; and it is true that he was supremely indifferent to it. Before he died a tide of intellectual life was rising all about him; yet he failed to recognize it, declined to give Lessing even the small post of royal librarian, and thought Götz von Berlichingen a vulgar imitation of vulgar English models. But when his taste was formed, German literature did not exist; the choice was between Racine and Voltaire on the one hand and Gottsched and Gellert on the other. He survived into the era of Kant, Goethe and Schiller, but he was not of it, and it would have been unreasonable to expect that he should in old age pass beyond the limits of his own epoch. As Germans now generally admit, it was better that he let their literature alone, since, left to itself, it became a thoroughly independent product. Indirectly he powerfully promoted it by deepening the national life from which it sprang. At a time when there was no real bond of cohesion between the different states, he stirred among them a common enthusiasm; and in making Prussia great he laid the foundation of a genuinely united empire.
Bibliographical Note.—The main sources for the biography of Frederick the Great are his own works, which, in the words of Leopold von Ranke, “deal with the politics and wars of the period with the greatest possible objectivity, i.e. truthfulness, and form an imperishable monument of his life and opinions.” A magnificent edition of Frederick’s complete works was issued (1846–1857), at the instance of Frederick William IV., under the supervision of the historian Johann D. E. Preuss (1785–1868). It is in thirty volumes, of which six contain verse, seven are historical, two philosophical, and three military, twelve being made up of correspondence. So long as the various state archives remained largely inaccessible historians relied upon this as their chief authority. Among works belonging to this period may be mentioned Thomas Carlyle, History of Frederick II. of Prussia (6 vols., London, 1858–1865); J. G. Droysen, Friedrich der Grosse (2 vols., Leipzig, 1874–1876, forming part V. of his Geschichte der preussischen Politik); Ranke, Friedrich II., König von Preussen (Werke, vols. li. and lii.). A great stimulus to the study of Frederick’s history has since been given by the publication of collections of documents preserved in various archives. Of these the most important is the great official edition of Frederick’s political correspondence (Berlin, 1879), of which the thirty-first vol. appeared in 1906. Of later works, based on modern research, may be mentioned R. Koser, König Friedrich der Grosse, Bd. 2 (Stuttgart, 1893 and 1903; 3rd ed., 1905); Bourdeau, Le Grand Frédéric (2 vols., Paris, 1900–1902); L. Paul-Dubois, Frédéric le Grand, d’après sa correspondance politique (Paris, 1903); W. F. Reddaway, Frederick the Great and the Rise of Prussia (London, 1904). Of the numerous special studies may be noticed E. Zeller, Friedrich der Grosse als Philosoph (Berlin, 1886); H. Pigge, Die Staatstheorie Friedrichs des Grossen (Münster, 1904); T. von Bernhardi, Friedrich der Grosse als Feldherr (2 vols., Berlin, 1881); Ernest Lavisse, La Jeunesse du Grand Frédéric (Paris, 1891, 3rd ed., 1899; Eng. transl., London, 1891); R. Brode, Friedrich der Grosse und der Konflikt mit seinem Vater (Leipzig, 1904); W. von Bremen, Friedrich der Grosse (Bd. ii. of Erzieher des preussischen Heeres, Berlin, 1905); G. Winter, Friedrich der Grosse (3 vols. in Geisteshelden series, Berlin, 1906); Dreissig Jahre am Hofe Friedrichs des Grossen. Aus den Tagebüchern des Reichsgrafen Ahasuerus Heinrich von Lehndorff, Kammerherrn der Königin Elisabett Christine von Preussen (Gotha, 1907). The great work on the wars of Frederick is that issued by the Prussian General Staff: Die Kriege Friedrichs des Grossen (12 vols. in three parts, Berlin, 1890–1904). For a full list of other works see Dahlmann-Waitz, Quellenkunde (Leipzig, 1906). (J. Si.; W. A. P.)
FREDERICK III. (1831–1888), king of Prussia and German
emperor, was born at Potsdam on the 18th of October 1831,
being the eldest son of Prince William of Prussia, afterwards
first German emperor, and the princess Augusta. He was carefully
educated, and in 1849–1850 studied at the university of
Bonn. The next years were spent in military duties and in
travels, in which he was accompanied by Moltke. In 1851 he
visited England on the occasion of the Great Exhibition, and in
1855 became engaged to Victoria, princess royal of Great Britain,
to whom he was married in London on the 25th of January 1858.
On the death of his uncle in 1861 and the accession of his father,
Prince Frederick William, as he was then always called, became
crown prince of Prussia. His education, the influence of his
mother, and perhaps still more that of his wife’s father, the Prince
Consort, had made him a strong Liberal, and he was much distressed
at the course of events in Prussia after the appointment
of Bismarck as minister. He was urged by the Liberals to put
himself into open opposition to the government; this he refused
to do, but he remonstrated privately with the king. In June 1863,
however, he publicly dissociated himself from the press ordinances
which had just been published. He ceased to attend meetings
of the council of state, and was much away from Berlin. The
opposition of the crown prince to the ministers was increased
during the following year, for he was a warm friend of the prince
of Augustenburg, whose claims to Schleswig-Holstein Bismarck
refused to support. During the war with Denmark he had his
first military experience, being attached to the staff of Marshal
von Wrangel; he performed valuable service in arranging the
difficulties caused by the disputes between the field marshal and
the other officers, and was eventually given a control over him.
After the war he continued to support the prince of Augustenburg
and was strongly opposed to the war with Austria. During the
campaign of 1866 he received the command of an army consisting
of four army corps; he was assisted by General von
Blumenthal, as chief of the staff, but took a very active part
in directing the difficult operations by which his army fought its
way through the mountains from Silesia to Bohemia, fighting
four engagements in three days, and showed that he possessed
genuine military capacity. In the decisive battle of Königgrätz
the arrival of his army on the field of battle, after a march of
nearly 20 m., secured the victory. During the negotiations
which ended the war he gave valuable assistance by persuading
the king to accept Bismarck’s policy as regards peace with Austria.
From this time he was very anxious to see the king of Prussia
unite the whole of Germany, with the title of emperor, and was
impatient of the caution with which Bismarck proceeded. In 1869
he paid a visit to Italy, and in the same year was present at the
opening of the Suez Canal; on his way he visited the Holy Land.
He played a conspicuous part in the year 1870–1871, being appointed to command the armies of the Southern States,
