Frederick-William, whom as elector he
succeeded in 1688; he extended his territory by purchase; supported
William of Orange in his English expedition, and lent assistance to the
Grand Alliance against France, for which he received the title of king of
Prussia, being crowned such in Koenigsberg in 1701; he was "an expensive
Herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and
solemnities" (1657-1713).

FREDERICK II., king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, surnamed "The
Great," grandson of the preceding, and nephew of George I. of England,
born at Berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education
induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to England, an
episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the
scaffold; after his marriage in 1733 he resided at Rheinsburg, indulging
his taste for music and French literature, and corresponding with
Voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and
consolidating his power; from Austria, after two wars (1740-1744), he
wrested Silesia, and again in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and in
1778 by force of arms acquired the duchy of Franconia; as administrator
he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if
severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national
industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not
so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote
was in French, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted
the creator of the Prussian monarchy "the first," says Carlyle, "who, in
a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that
it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would
go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others" (1712-1786).

FREDERICK CHARLES, PRINCE, nephew of William I. of Germany; bred for
the army; distinguished himself in the wars against Denmark and Austria,
and in the Franco-German War (1828-1885).

FREDERICK-WILLIAM I., king of Prussia, born at Berlin, ascended the
throne in 1713; in 1720, at the peace of Stockholm, he received part of
Pomerania with Stettin for espousing the cause of Denmark in her war with
Russia and Poland against Sweden; the rest of his reign was passed in
improving the internal conditions of his country and her military
resources; in praise of him as a sternly genuine man and king, Carlyle
has much to say in the e