How he Became “The Soldier King”
Fredrick was born in Berlin to Fredrick I of Prussia. The father of Fredrick successfully got the title king from the Holy Roman Emperor and now this newly founded kingdom was succeeded by Fredrick William I. Once he sat on the throne in 1713 he made some interesting changes. Firstly he sold all of the prized possessions because he didn’t want to use the country to gain wealth but instead to make it great and reform it. He owed it to the country to give everything it deserves and this was something rare, mainly the monarch would always look for themselves and their families instead of the country.
After this act he showed that money doesn’t mean anything to him personally, he started to increase the centralized power.The most important thing for him was the military and that is how he got the name. He started to replace the military and make drastic changes, he also resettled East Prussia which was destroyed by a plague. What he did was amazing, he made Prussia to be the country for the People, everyone had it’s duty and was involved in bad times and good. He made some strict laws so there would be no slacking among the people, such as an example would be if an administrator didn’t complete his duties he would lose 6 months of pay and for a second time he would lose his job. This is something serious if you look at it because the wealthier people always had it easier, with this everyone was the same, in a way.
As mentioned he wanted everything to be militarized even though he never started a war. Prussia should have been ready for any war or any kind of outcome. When you compare him to his father you can see the wast difference in the treasury, he didn’t spend money like his father did on luxurious items and events. The royal treasury was always full and ready when times got bad.
New training regimes, program and tactics were introduced to the Prussian military, this was called the canton system. He made a very serious and big army that was one of the most prepared, Fredrick the Great would take this army and make it into the mightiest Europe has ever seen. The king had a very short temper.
He had problems with Fredrick II that would be known as the great. There are pretty interesting stories about this, as a child he would wake little Fredrick with the fire of a cannon, he simply wanted for his son to grow into a military man. To his children he didn’t give much, he sent them away as if they were in the lowest ranks, low education and were enlisted in the army to serve as normal people. But the problem here could be spotted from a mile away, Fredrick wanted to read books, listen to music, paint, etc. Later would be found that Fredrick the Great is a homosexual. They strongly disagreed with their interests and never bonded in that way. The father would sometimes beat the son and a great rivalry would take place. Also when Fredrick wanted to leave this country with his boyfriend the father found out. He got to them and imprisoned them, he got his boyfriend and beheaded him while Fredrick was watching. He made this in order for Fredrick to throw away his title and claim to the throne, which he didn’t.
Even though there was no love between them Fredrick respected his father and the things he did to the country. As he went away the tension was less each day until he died in 1740.
