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Frederick is born
His parents were Frederick I and Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. His uncle was George II of England. He was born in Berlin. -
Rough childhood climax
His father was mad that he was not being militaristic enough because he liked art more than the military. His father got so mad that he started beating him in public, and forced him to join the military. Frederick and a friend tried to run away to England, but was caught. His father made him watch his friend be executed, and for a time his father was thinking of executing him. -
Frederick gets married
Frederick did not want to be married to Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern. His father made him marry her in order to increase the power of Prussia. Fredrick the Great tried to ignore his wife, because he had no love for her. -
Frederick's father dies
When his father died this meant that it was finally Frederick's turn to rule. He was very ready to expand the power of Prussia. His first target was Austria. -
battle of Mollwitz
It was the first battle that Frederick won. Most of this was caused by his opponent fighting several other wars at the same time. He was on his way to attack Austria because Charles VI died which made Austria weaker. -
Period: to
The Seven Years' War
Prussia was fighting Austria, but all the European powers were involved. Not much land changed but Prussia kept Silesia. -
silesia is finally conquered
The end of the Seven Years' War left Silesia in the hand of Prussia. This was big because Frederick had been trying to own all of Silesia since the death of Charles VI. He spent 23 years fighting Austria for Silesia and Bohemia. -
Period: to
Partition of Russia
Frederick was no longer content with the empire he has, but he did not want to have another war if he did not have to. He started indirectly hinting to Catherine the Great that he would like it if she partitioned some of her land. At first she said no, but in 1771 when she was being attacked by other countries she partitioned the land. Prussia got a portion of the partitioned land without fighting for it. -
Partition of Poland
Poland divided its land, and basically gave Prussia new land. This new land connected East and West Prussia. This made Frederick more powerful and influential because he owned one big conjoined territory, instead of having 2 separate territories. -
Frederick the great dies
He lived and ruled a long time for an absolute monarch. He died on the eve of the French revolution. This means that he was the last great European absolute monarch. He ruled for 46 years which was an incredibly long time back then. He died in Potsdam.
