Welcome to the complete History of Prussia. Aside from the political and military history
that stands central to this series, I also want to expand a bit on the personal lives
of the reigning Electors and Monarchs. Make the documentary a little bit more personal
and provide a small peak in the lives of the Kings, beyond their political actions, if
you will. The small mini-series “Fathers and Sons” will do just that: give you an
idea of the bond between fathers and sons of the Hohenzollern dynasty. From the Great
Elector onwards every Hohenzollern ruler left a political testament for his son, a testament
that propagated the expansion of power and territory. And, well, it worked. From the
Great Elector onwards every generation of Hohenzollerns managed to expand the Prussian
territory. But yet, the relationship between fathers and sons of the ruling Hohenzollerns
was often a troubled one, filled with strife and resentment. This series is less about
the art of government and development of Prussia, but actually, a very tragic tale of many successive
Hohenzollern generations, with each son rejected by their father, only to eventually turn into
a father just as horrid as those they had. This episode we will cover the relationship
between Frederick Wilhelm “the Great Elector”, his son, Frederick I “the First King in
Prussia” and his son Frederick Wilhelm “the Soldier King”, spanning a reigning period
from 1640 to 1740, 100 years exactly. So, let’s see how these 3 generations of Hohenzollern’s
got along with each other.
-intro-
The Great Elector and First King
In 1640 Frederick Wilhelm, (the future Great Elector) ascended to the throne after the
death of his father, Georg Wilhelm. The decade previous conflict had arisen between them.
The Thirty Years’ War was in full swing and Brandenburg was suffering greatly, upon
which Georg Wilhelm decided to send his son, the crown prince, off to the Dutch Republic.
Once there, the crown prince at first refused to return to Brandenburg. There were multiple
reasons, one of them was his fear that his father was going to marry him off to an Austrian
princess and the second reason was that he believed Adam, Count of Schwarzberg, the first
minister of his father, was planning to assassinate him. It wasn’t until he was 18 that he returned,
but his father was cold and distant to him, blocking him from any decisions of government.
The Great Elector himself said about this that his own government “would not have
been so difficult at the beginning”, had it not been for his father alienating him
from state affairs. Now you’d think the Great Elector learned
from his experiences with his father and would do it completely differently. But his relationship
with his son, Crown Prince Frederick III, who eventually would become the first King
in Prussia, was soured nonetheless. One of the main reasons was the fact that the crown
prince wasn’t his first son. The great elector’s first son died before he turned two. His second
son was Charles Emil, born in 1655. The boy looked just like his father, enjoyed fighting,
battle and hunting and seemed like the ideal heir to the throne. During the Franco-Dutch
War in the 1670s, he commanded a regiment, fell ill with dysentery and died in 1674 at
the age of 19. Now the heir apparent became the 17-year-old Frederick III. And this Frederick
stood in stark contrast to his brother: instead of affinity with the military like his father
and brother he was “highly sensitive and partially disabled” due to an injury sustained
in childhood. When Frederick was 11 years old his father remarried to Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein,
who came to despise the young man. His stepmother favoured the seven (!) children she bore with
his father over Frederick and his brothers. Dorothea influenced the Great Elector to the
degree that when he wrote his testament, her off-spring gained more territory and lands
were partitioned, without Frederick being made aware that his rightful inheritance was
being stolen from under his nose. In 1681 the Great Elector told an envoy “my son
is good for nothing”. Considering Frederick was 24, married and had a child, it seemed
that the relationship would not get any better during the last few years of the Great Elector’s
life, who passed away in 1688. And, well, it wouldn’t. A year before the
Great Elector’s death Ludwig von Brandenburg, the younger brother of Frederick passed away
at the age of 20. His death led to Frederick becoming convinced that his brother was poisoned
and there was a plot to poison him as well, with the aim to get Philip Wilhelm, eldest
son of his father’s second marriage, on the throne. Because of his fears he bought
into charlatans that sold him powders and liquids that made him ill, only increasing
his paranoia. Not being able to deal with his constant state of stress he fled to his
wife’s family in Hanover. His father was livid. When summoned to Berlin Frederick refused,
only increasing his father’s anger. In response, the Great Elector stated he would remove Frederick
from the succession. Only after the intervention of the Holy Roman Emperor and King of England
did the men reconcile, only a short while before the Great Elector passed away. That
same year Frederick’s son was born, the crown prince Frederick Wilhelm the first,
who would become known as the soldier king during his lifetime. As the platitude for
this series will be “considering his relationship with his father, he would certainly want to
do it better”, you will hardly be surprised by the quality of the relationship between
Frederick and his son.
First King and the Soldier King
When Frederick ascended to the throne upon his father’s death in 1688, he was known
as Frederick the Third. During his lifetime in 1701, he managed to acquire a royal title,
rendering him Frederick the First, King in Prussia. If you want to know more about his
reign, I recommend you watch the video about him after this one. Now, we can actually confirm
that Frederick was certain he did not want to repeat the errors of his father and did
everything he could to include his son when it came to education, government affairs and
military matters. He also allowed his son to be somewhat independent in these matters
- at the age of 9, the crown prince was already managing his own personal estate, familiarizing
him with governmental affairs. At the age of 13, the boy attended meetings of the Privy
Council, joining other departments soon after. At 19, his son began reforming the military
by standardizing the guns, bayonets, daggers and even cartridge pouches. He improved drilling
techniques and increased the efficiency of consistent firepower.
All these, at first sight, nearly prodigious characteristics of the young crown prince
also have a flipside. His mother, Queen Sophie Charlotte, early on in his life already uttered
her worries about his tantrums, violence and rage. Frederick Wilhelm was impossible to
control and teach. His tutors were driven to near madness, with some accounts saying
his personal tutor would have been better off as a galley slave than as his tutor. In
his episodes, he would often scream that “the devil take me if I don’t have all of you
hanged or your heads cut off when I grow up”, banging his head against the wall if the former
did not make an impression. While tormenting all his servants and mother, the boy was always
respectful towards his father. The King, a ceremony-loving patron of the arts, did stand
in sharp contrast with his… hot-tempered and military-loving son. Now, what’s interesting
is that in other aspects of his life the crown prince also differed from many. We already
touched upon his administrative talent, but for example, during this era, it was common
to prefer perfume over washing, yet the crown prince ordered his linen to be changed daily
and often scrubbed his hands clean. He was a devout Calvinist, completely in line with
his future sober court-life. He used the bible to justify many of his actions, even odd things
such as the kidnapping of tall men for his personal regiment of tall soldiers. After
all, a passage from the First Book of Samuel stated: “When Saul saw any strong and valiant
man, he took him unto him.” The crown prince enjoyed his best times during
military campaigns, distinguishing himself and the regiment he served in for bravery
at, for example, the battle of Malplaquet in 1709, 4 years before he ascended to the
throne. Coincidentally, that same year something changed at home in Berlin. Because although
the by now 21-year-old respected his father, a conflict between them erupted. Some of the
King’s ministers were mismanaging Prussia, and admittedly, even just the King’s court
life incurred costs that could not be compensated. The crown prince now openly opposed his father
and his closest ministers… And eventually, they backed down. The King allowed his son
to, in practice, become the co-regent of Prussia in order to avoid conflict. The last years
of the King’s life, he passed away in 1713, Prussian affairs were overseen by them both,
with the dominant crown prince influencing them considerably. And when the King passed
away his son immediately made it known things such as court-life would be completely different
with him in full control. Within weeks he cut the budget of court and tore down any
remnants of the high-cultured palace life his father enjoyed. The new Elector would
become known as Frederick Wilhelm, the Soldier King, known for his sober, militaristic and,
I’d say Spartan lifestyle. Quite literally the opposite of that of his father. We’ll
have a closer look at his reign of Prussia next week.
Now, the Soldier king had a troubled relationship with his son as well. Big surprise there.
But as a matter of fact, anything we have seen so far is mild in comparison to the structural
conflict they had. In the next episode, we will look at the relationship between Frederick
Wilhelm, the Soldier King, and his son, Frederick II, who would become known as Frederick the
Great.
Thank you for watching this video. Make sure you check out the playlist with the Complete
History of Prussia on the screen. I would also like to thank all my Patrons for their
generous support. If you enjoy House of History and want to support my work consider checking
me on Patreon. For just 1$ a month you will gain access to the exclusive Patreon series.
Don’t forget to subscribe. See you next time!