| Show THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE ri Q by dodd doda mod A company frederick erick the great A AN X UNHAPPY hoy boy imprisoned and in el of 0 death was one lay day forced by ills his father to sta stand nd at tile he grated window of his big cell and watch his dearest friend executed th the b boy oy was prince frederick elerick Fr of prussia later known as frederick 11 II or frederick I 1 the great lie ile hail had a sadder madder moie male unfortunate boyhood than did any beggar in bla king kingdom dom ills father frederick william AVill fam was wai a stern harsh king fled and a lair sher parent lie ile was military mad and would allow hla big kounz son frederick to study nothing but the art of war the boy loved poetry music and science it was in a measure the old story of peter the great and alexis over ngann and ami it almost had the same terrible climax for at last wearied by his fathers abuse and cruelty and resentful of the In injustice Justlee to which ho he was subjected frederick made up his hii ranol to run ren away from tile li ufa life he hated find and to take refuge with his mothers brother king george I 1 of england nis his most intimate friend lieutenant kett kalt helped him escape from berlin but their flight was discovered and they were caught and brought back then came such punishment no as few fathers could liale devised frederick was sent fent to pris prison on and K katt sit was put to death directly outside the princes cell king frederick william am then demanded that frederick renounce all rights to the tl irone this the prisoner pluckily pluck lly refused to do the king in rage declared lie he would put frederick to death and wits was with dissuaded from the plan ile he contented himself with exiling his big son from court and in 1733 when frederick was but twenty one forced him to marry a princess for whom the young bridegroom had not the slightest liking illing for seventeen years after that frederick lived in semi seclusion on one of hla his estates only returning to public life when on the death of his father in 1740 he came to the throne of prussia during the forty six years of his reign frederick well earned ills his title of the great ile he found prussia a secondary german state with a population pt barely ile he left it rich in new posse possessions s slona territory and and with mith a population of the fair principalities of silesia according to fredericks ideas ought to belong to prussia so the same year lie he became king he set out to acquire them thein A two years war followed in which fredericks hardly acquired military education stood him in good stead for lie was victorious and silesia was annexed to prussia frederick ruled his new possessions welland well and with mildness and although a protestant allowed religious freedom to Sile catholics knowing tile the unsettled condition of europe find and having baring fresh COD conquests quests in view the th victor now devoted himself to building up the strength of his armies and in 1743 he annexed east friesland to his kingdom austria so frederick believed had designs on silesia so lie he formed an alliance with france and other countries and to keep Aus mind oo on matters of defense rather than aggression gres sion invaded bobella lu in 1744 rut hut the austrians Aust rians and saxons combined find and repelled the invasion tile the campaign dragged on with varying fortunes until a peace treaty was signed by whose terms frederick still held silesia Siles ln and received flU WOW war indemnity eleven years of pence peace followed which were spent by frederick in strengthening prussia at home and abroad in promoting notIng arts and industries and in raising his big army to also men tills this pence peace period was broken by a rumor that russia austi austria IR anti and saxony were combining against prussia fearing test lest he might lose loe his cherished provinces of silesia frederick forestalled the allies se ac tion by invading saxony this start ed a seven years war in which fred erick won little except a military reputation that rendered him a strong and decisive power in european polities politics when pence peace was declared he used his own onn private fortune in repairing the ravages made by war in the same year lie concluded a 1 treaty with russia and was active in the first partition of poland ky by thi terms of this division he acquired all of polish prussia and part of grent poland to I 1 the north henceforth fredericks kingdom was divided into west and eist prussia the crowning aci act of nf Freder leka statecraft and one that stirred the political system of the whole continent ns as well as marking first open attempt to lend lead all the germun stat States esl 1 was the forming in 1785 of tile the Ten leagui gud I 1 of princes of the get getman german man kingdoms kingdom I 1 and principalities into a solid federa tion thus beginning what la in 1870 IS 0 mit descendant descend nill completed in itsu frederick the great alel le leaving vang hi bin nephew who him a kingdom tits gendus had find la in creased in area by MOW square miles fillies I 1 a population increased liy by 3 III treasury over the richest in europe an army oi 01 I 1 1 find and boundless hound lesa credit witt very every other nation dation thus in ills big seventy four fourth th yent year perished the greatest of german get ajan nini man rubt archs a man eliose father had him a tool fool and unlit to rela reign |
