| Frederick William | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byFrans Luycx,c. 1650 | |
| Elector of Brandenburg Duke of Prussia | |
| Reign | 1 December 1640 – 9 May 1688 |
| Predecessor | George William |
| Successor | Frederick III |
| Born | (1620-02-16)16 February 1620 Stadtschloss, Berlin,Brandenburg-Prussia,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 29 April 1688(1688-04-29) (aged 68) Stadtschloss,Potsdam, Brandenburg-Prussia, Holy Roman Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue Detail | |
| House | Hohenzollern |
| Father | George William, Elector of Brandenburg |
| Mother | Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate |
| Religion | Calvinist |
| Signature |  |
Frederick William (German:Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) wasElector ofBrandenburg andDuke ofPrussia, thus ruler ofBrandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of theHouse of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector"[1] (der Große Kurfürst) because of his military and political achievements. Frederick William was a staunch pillar of theCalvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in thepost-Westphalian political order of Northern-Central Europe, setting up Prussia for elevation from duchy tokingdom, achieved under hisson and successor.
Elector Frederick William was born in Berlin toGeorge William, Elector of Brandenburg, andElisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. His inheritance consisted of theMargraviate of Brandenburg, theDuchy of Cleves, theCounty of Mark, and theDuchy of Prussia.
Owing to the disorder in Brandenburg during theThirty Years' War, he spent part of his youth in theNetherlands, studying atLeiden University and learning something of war and statecraft underFrederick Henry, Prince of Orange. During his boyhood, a marriage had been suggested between him andChristina, heir to the throne of Sweden, but although the idea was revived during the peace negotiations between Sweden and Brandenburg, it came to nothing.[2]
When his father died in 1640, the 20-year-old's reign as elector began.
Following the Thirty Years' War, which devastated much of theHoly Roman Empire, Frederick William focused on rebuilding his war-ravaged territories. Brandenburg-Prussia benefited from his policy ofreligious tolerance, and he used Frenchsubsidies to build up an army that took part in the 1655 to 1660Second Northern War. This ended with the treaties ofLabiau,Wehlau,Bromberg andOliva; these changed the status ofDucal Prussia from that of a Polishfief to fully sovereign (after a brief period of control by Sweden).[3]
In 1672, Frederick William joined theFranco-Dutch War as an ally of theDutch Republic, led by his nephewWilliam of Orange but made peace with France in the June 1673Treaty of Vossem. Although he rejoined the anti-French alliance in 1674, this left him diplomatically isolated; despite conquering much ofSwedish Pomerania during theScanian War, he was obliged to return most of it to Sweden in the1679 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[4] In 1666 his title toCleves,Jülich andRavensberg was definitely recognized.[2]
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Frederick William was a military commander of wide renown, and his standing army would later become the model for thePrussian Army. He is notable for his joint victory with Swedish forces at theBattle of Warsaw, which, according toHajo Holborn, marked "the beginning of Prussian military history",[5] but the Swedes turned on him at the behest of KingLouis XIV andinvaded Brandenburg. After marching 250 kilometres in 15 days back to Brandenburg, he caught the Swedes by surprise and managed to defeat them on the field at theBattle of Fehrbellin, destroying the myth of Swedish military invincibility. He later destroyed another Swedish army that invaded the Duchy of Prussia during theGreat Sleigh Drive in 1678. In the previous year, he led asuccessful siege of Stettin against the Swedish garrison.[6] He is noted for his use of broad directives and delegation of decision-making to his commanders, which would later become the basis for the German doctrine ofAuftragstaktik, and for using rapid mobility to defeat his foes.[7]
Since his capital Berlin had suffered greatly from the Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years' War, Friedrich Wilhelm commissioned the master engineerJohann Gregor Memhardt to plan a city fortification. Construction of theBerlin Fortress began in 1650 following the contemporary fortification model ofbastion forts in northern Italy. Large parts were finished between 1658 and 1662, but the last ramparts only in 1683.
Frederick William raised an army of 45,000 soldiers by 1678, through theGeneral War Commissariat presided over byJoachim Friedrich von Blumenthal. He succeeded in his goal of centralizing the administration and increasing the revenue,[2] and was an advocate ofmercantilism, monopolies, subsidies, tariffs, andinternal improvements. Following Louis XIV's revocation of theEdict of Nantes, Frederick William encouraged skilled French andWalloonHuguenots to emigrate toBrandenburg-Prussia with theEdict of Potsdam, bolstering the country's technical and industrial base. On Blumenthal's advice he agreed to exempt the nobility from taxes and in return they agreed to dissolve theEstates-General. He also simplified travel in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia by connecting riverways with canals, a system that was expanded by laterPrussian architects, such asGeorg Steenke; the system is still in use today.
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After the victory at Battle of Fehrbellin he was an established name. His great grandson,Frederick II, later said of him with regard to the battle: ”He was praised by his enemies, blessed by his people; and posterity dates from that famous day the subsequent elevation of the house of Brandenburg”.[8]
In his half-century reign, 1640–1688, the Great Elector transformed the small remote state of Prussia into a great power by augmenting and integrating the Hohenzollern family possessions in northern Germany and Prussia. When he became elector (ruler) of Brandenburg in 1640, the country was in ruins from the Thirty Years' War; it had lost half its population from war, disease and emigration. The capital Berlin had only 6,000 people left when the wars ended in 1648. He united the multiple separate domains that his family had acquired primarily by marriage over the decades, and built the powerful unified state of Prussia out of them. His success in rebuilding the lands and his astute military and diplomatic leadership propelled him into the ranks of the prominent rulers in an era of "absolutism". Historians compare him to his contemporaries such as Louis XIV of France (1643–1715),Peter the Great (1682–1725) of Russia, andCharles XI of Sweden (1660–1697).[9]
Although a strict Calvinist who stood ready to form alliances against the Catholic states led by France's Louis XIV, he was tolerant of Catholics and Jews. He settled some 20,000Huguenot refugees from France in his domains, which helped establish industry and trade, as did the foreign craftsmen he brought in. He established local governments in each province, headed by a governor and a chancellor, but they reported to his central government in Berlin. The Great Elector is most famous for building a strong standing army, with an elite officer corps. In 1668 he introduced the Prussian General Staff; it became the model in controlling an army for other European powers. Funding the military through heavy taxes required building up new industry, such as wool, cotton, linen,lace, soap, paper, and iron. He paid attention to infrastructure, especially building the Frederick William Canal through Berlin, linking his capital city to ocean traffic. He was frustrated in building up naval power, lacking ports and sailors. A learned man, he founded a university and established the Berlin library.[10]
In 1682, at the suggestion of the Dutch merchant and privateerBenjamin Raule, he granted a charter to theBrandenburg Africa Company (BAC), marking the first organised and sustained attempt by a German state to take part in theAtlantic slave trade. As Brandenburg-Prussia remained economically impoverished after the Thirty Years War, he hoped to replicate the mercantile successes of theDutch East India Company. The charter he granted to the BAC stipulated that they could establish a colony inWest Africa, which was subsequently named theBrandenburger Gold Coast. Between 17,000 and 30,000 enslaved Africans were transported by the BAC to theAmericas before the colony was sold to the Dutch in 1721.[11]
Significant ships named after Frederick William include twoImperial Navy ships of Germany namedGrosser Kurfürst:one built in 1875 andthe other built in 1913. Shipping companyNorddeutscher Lloyd (aka North German Lloyd) also built a cargo and passenger liner for North Atlantic servicewith the same name that was later taken into a US navy warship
On 7 December 1646 inThe Hague, Frederick William entered into a marriage, proposed by Blumenthal as a partial solution to theJülich-Berg question, withLuise Henriette of Nassau (1627–1667),[12] daughter ofFrederick Henry of Orange-Nassau andAmalia of Solms-Braunfels and his 1st cousin once removed throughWilliam the Silent. Their children were as follows:
On 13 June 1668 inGröningen, Frederick William marriedSophie Dorothea ofHolstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg,[12] daughter ofPhilip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Sophie Hedwig ofSaxe-Lauenburg, widow ofChristian Louis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.Their children were the following:
In both self-confident women he found political advisers who thought and acted pragmatically. Both accompanied him on his campaigns. Luise Henriette also distinguished herself through charity, Sophie Dorothea through extraordinary business acumen, which allowed her to increase both her own fortune (and thus the inheritance of her children) and to strengthen the state economy. Both also left behind impressive palace buildings that they had built on their fiefs from their own income.
The suspicion that Dorothea worked towards a division of Brandenburg-Prussia in order to secure an income for her sons[2] is regarded as refuted by historical scholarship. This negative perception is based on the fact that some publicists do not base their critical judgments on Dorothea on the primary sources, but on the centuries-old legends that are mainly based on publications after her death, especially byKarl Ludwig von Pöllnitz. There is no question, however, that the Elector's eldest surviving son and successor harbored at least corresponding fears about his stepmother.[13]
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Frederick William of Brandenburg".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–68.
Media related toFriedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg at Wikimedia CommonsFrederick William, the Great Elector Born: 16 February 1620 Died: 29 April 1688 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Elector of Brandenburg Duke of Prussia 1640–1688 | Succeeded by |
| Duchy of Prussia (1525–1701) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918) | ||
1alsoElector of Brandenburg;2alsoGerman Emperor | ||
