Louise's Reviews > Frederick the Great: King of Prussia

The format is loosely chronological. It starts conventionally, with Frederick’s childhood, young adult years, his marriage and ascendance to the throne. Next are Frederick’s military campaigns, which is essentially his foreign policy. This is followed by chapters with topical descriptions of his domestic reign and his personal life and family relations.

I’d be interested in an FBI or CIA profiler’s take on this man. Bullied, punished and horribly humiliated by his hyper-militaristic, religious, authoritarian father he became an enlightened (for his time) ruler but treated his family (exception: mother and sister) in the same cruel way his father treated him. Well before Napoleon he had a common touch with his troops. He provided more religious freedom and more access to legal redress than other monarchs, shunned court life, fostered capitalism and considered the well-being of his citizens. While presenting a professional image to the public, he had an openly gay (with administration and family, not sure that this was known by the citizens) personal life. While a macho-military man, his wardrobe (sought by collectors after his death) sounds like Liberace’s. While an optimist he had negative and cynical view of people as individuals and in groups, and a particular aversion to women (mother and sister excepted).

There was more detail than I could digest on European politics of the time and Frederick’s military campaigns. The maps and index were helpful. While the pictures are good, it’s hard to envision Frederick from these images (once King, he would not sit for a portrait). I would have liked more on his wife and a summary of Prussia after Napoleon.

I’m not sure how to give this stars. It is clearly 5 stars for the well documented scholarship, but the non-chronological format and the amount of detail on German history and on Frederick’s military campaigns made this a difficult read for me.