Frederick the Great, as a man, was a contradiction. On the one-hand he was a talented musician, a lover of philosophy and poetry, an admirer of the French and a friend of Voltaire. On the other-hand, he was arguable one of the greatest Generals that ever lived. As a King he managed to combine these two ideals. For his people he established a regime of enlightened despotism. But in foreign affairs he ruthlessly pursued a policy of expansion, spurred on by stunning battlefield victories, acquiring territories that joined together his two detached states of Brandenburg and East Prussia at the expense of Poland’s partition.
Frederick II, King of Prussia
“Frederick the Great”
