Brandenburg-Prussia -Frederick Wm the Great Elector 1640-1688 - Frederick III 1688-1701 became -Frederick I, king of Prussia in 1701 - Frederick Wm I (1713-1740) - Fredrick II “the Great” (1740-1786) -Brandenburg-Prussia: A Fragmented Country See Political Consolidation in Europe: see Maps of Europe in 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900	Maps Central Europe 1648 Central Europe during the wars of Frederick II of Prussia Central Europe 1786 Central Europe 1789 Partitions of Poland Prussian Expansion 1648-1795 Austrian lossess and acquisitions 1648-1795
Frederick Wm the Great Elector	Geo Political situation: scattered lands, lack of monarchical tradition, etc. The Army would become the unifying institution and force. Background of weakness during 30 years war Established standing army in 1650s; served as domestic bureaucracy in part, police, as well as army for foreign warfare Financed by indirect taxes granted by Estates of Brandenburg and Prussia in exchange for avoiding a land tax and in Prussia for giving full control over the inhabitants of Junker lordships Co-opted Nobility into Service of the State as army officers and bureaucrats Raison d’etat: to raise funds, got foreign subsidies for putting his army at the service of the highest bidder, the Dutch, Louis XIV, or Emperor Leopold.
Elector Frederick III (became Frederick I King in Prussia in 1703)	The reign of Bacchus at court
Frederick Wm. I : The Sergeant King	Growth of Army: 40,000 to 80,000  Rigorous discipline and drill transforms the army into a modern fighting force Up to 80+ percent of the state budget used to support the army The place of the army in Prussian and French society around 1740 France : 7-8 soldiers for every 1000 population (population ~ 22 million) Prussia : 18 /1000 (population ~ 2.2 million)
Frederick II "The Great"	Seizure of Silesia in 1740 from the Austrian Habsburgs.

Perspectives on International Relations in the 18th Century. What was a "just" war? What were the motives for war in the European competitive state system?

 

  Contemporaries of the 18^th century: International Relations equivalent to the state of nature in Hobbes.

• “Each nation in its natural state must be considered as the enemy of all others; or as disposed to be such.” European writer in 1740s
  
• “We cannot rely on virtue; it is weak or equivocal, or hidden and unknown; . . . we must thus take as our starting point only the possible and even probable abuse of power.” European writer of 1770s.
  
• It is the kingdom of heaven which is won by gentleness; those of this world belong to force.” Frederick II 1742
• “The natural function of the state is to expand its territories.” Frederick II ca. 1740s.
• “A state should always be at the ready, like a gentleman living a among swashbucklers and quarrelers. Such are the nations of Europe , today more than ever; negotiations are only a continual struggle between men without principles, impudently aggressive and ever greedy.” Marquis d’Argenson, 1739

 

Historians on the Invasion and Seizure of Silesia by Frederick the Great in 1740

• G.P. Gooch, writing in 1947, immediately after World War II: Frederick the Great’s seizure of Silesia in 1740 was “a great historical crime.” “The rape of Silesia ranks with the partition of Poland as among the sensational crimes of modern history.”

• Gerhard Ritter, writing in 1955 about Frederick the Great, arguing that he was not a militarist, but a follower of ‘raison d’etat.’ “Whenever one fights to exalt and aggrandize the state and not simply because of the personal caprices of the ruler,” then the war is “just.”