How Did Prussia Become a Great Power? | Frederick the Great & Enlightened Despotism

Рет қаралды 73,815

Жыл бұрын

From humble beginnings, the Kingdom of Prussia came to be synonymous with military might. Voltaire called it "the army with a state." Prussia's rise began with the union of Brandenburg and Ducal Prussia in 1618, but it didn't become a Great Power until over a century later. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia ballooned in size, but far from being a common warlord, 'Der alte Fritz' was a man of the Enlightenment who brought Prussia into the modern age.
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Sources Consulted:
Miller, Stuart T. Mastering Modern European History. London: Macmillan Education LTD, 1990.
Lentin, Tony & Frederick II. Units 15-16 Frederick the Great, Letters and Documents. Milton Keynes: The Open University Press, 1979.

Пікірлер: 92

@Veriox22 Жыл бұрын

the rise of prussia really was a miracle. from a vassal to poland and a desolate swamp, to the unifier of germany. very well made video.

@myhonorwasloyalty Жыл бұрын

Poland never existed

@jojospice3353 Жыл бұрын

Prussia wasn't even german in the beginning. It was originally a Baltic country

@sebe2255 Жыл бұрын

@@jojospice3353 The lands of Prussia were, but the kingdom of Prussia in the video was obviously always Germanic (with Significant polish population)

@pedanticradiator1491 Жыл бұрын

@@myhonorwasloyalty never heard of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

@granockss9548 11 ай бұрын

@@jojospice3353 Prussia roots lies in Brandenburg, not the native pruß.

@Gorboduc Жыл бұрын

Frederick's balance between "enlightened" and "despot" is best illustrated by his attitude to freedom of speech: "My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please."

@absboodoo Ай бұрын

I love his "carefree" attitude regarding most contemporary value of the time.

@ThorstenStaerk 23 күн бұрын

@@absboodoo if there had been more "carefree" monarchs, how good the world would look like now :)

@AntoineELismysalvation 18 күн бұрын

How prussia got so big? By leeching of Holy Roman Empire and Poland Lithiania Rzeczpospolita.

@Judah132 Жыл бұрын

The Prussian kings truly managed to build breathtaking cities. Potsdam is an expression of local styles, with French and Italian palaces and villas, Romanesque city planing, as well as Russian- and Dutch architecture. One cannot help but be overwhelmed by the awe-inspiring beauty of this city.

@luckyluciano1584 Жыл бұрын

You should make a video about how the Dutch survived the Holland war

@thommyneter168 Жыл бұрын

What is the Holland war? I'm from the Netherlands but I'm not aware of a war with that name

@TerrierMartello Жыл бұрын

@Thom Hendriks: The Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678). The Dutch language Wikipedia page lists it as "De Hollandse Oorlog," which translates to "The Holland War." Franco-Dutch War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War Hollandse Oorlog: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollandse_Oorlog

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

The French invasion under Louis XIV? Maybe!

@SchmulKrieger Жыл бұрын

@@TerrierMartello right after the Netherlanders left the Holy Roman Empire to form an own imperial Empire.

@sebe2255 11 ай бұрын

@@SchmulKrieger Not an Imperial one

@zoomerboomer1396 Жыл бұрын

Yt Historian about Bismarck:"A disciple of Fredicks school of cold pragmatism" Meanwhile Bismarck:"I'M THROWING MYSELF OUT OF THE WINDOW IF I DON'T GET MY WAY"

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

Lol, I was thinking more in regards to foriegn affairs.

@samdaman2939 Жыл бұрын

This is amazing. I'm still suprised you have less subs than you should. You clearly take time when it comes to these videos and focus on knowledge to teach others what you know. Keep up these videos. They are amazing.

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

Thanks, that's the goal!

@garvjuice2 Жыл бұрын

finallly someone explains this, i have been tryna find a video like this

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

Happy to help!

@ConstantineTheFirst Жыл бұрын

i love your work keep doing this great job !!!!! btw video idea :what was the opinion of britain to monarchies becoming republics (or the monarchs of britain)

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

Good question! Definitely an interesting topic.

@anti-spiral159 Жыл бұрын

Great video, I hope you rise and collaborate with other youtubers!

@JaydenNunez-oz7ll 10 ай бұрын

3:53 - his conquest of Silesia during the war was probably his most impactful military victory. 4:25 - concluding the treaty with Maria Theresa that saw Silesia ceded to him in 1742. 4:39 - 1741, the 1745 battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor proved the power of Frederick’s cold analytical style of leadership. 5:08 - Acquiring Silesia was a game changer. It was the largest expansion made by the Hohenzollern dynasty to that point, increasing Frederick’s subjects by 50% and his state revenue by a third.

@Kackpuh Жыл бұрын

"He ran the kingdom well enough, though." Possibly the greatest understatement of the century. Friedrich Wilhelm I. pretty much built Prussia and laid all the foundations of it. As well as building upon those. Friedrich II. mostly just used what his father provided, even though he used it well.

@sebe2255 Жыл бұрын

I wouldn’t say he used it well. He was in a completely hopeless situation and was even willing to cede east prussia to Russia just to make peace with them. He got incredibly lucky with the Tsarina dying and her Prussiaboo son taking over. If that hadn’t happened he would have been a complete failure

@emilianohermosilla3996 Жыл бұрын

Look back history’s always so great! Hahah

@axelven8080 Жыл бұрын

U should do a video on Tuetons and livnonians and Kazkhstan

@tahamuhammad1814 Жыл бұрын

Napoleon was Corsican Hitler was Austrian Stalin was Georgian See a pattern?

@thelvadam2884 Жыл бұрын

Hitler very much was german , many German speaking people viewed themself as germans not austrians , and also really just were germans. Prussia , Austria , Bavaria etc all are german , just not always have been part of germany.

@tahamuhammad1814 Жыл бұрын

@@thelvadam2884 when did I say Hitler wasn't german, I just said that he was originally Austrian.

@vetarlittorf1807 Ай бұрын

Austrians ARE Germans. For the same reason Bavarians are Germans.

@juliusvillalon6816 4 ай бұрын

Frederick the great is the real life Gustavo Fring

@thorpeaaron1110 Жыл бұрын

You should definitely do a video on the Belgian Revolution.

@Kackpuh Жыл бұрын

One further correction: Friedrich II didn't see himself as "personification of the state", that would be other absolute monarchs, he saw himself as the first servant of his state, appointed to this position by God (yes, you still can see his deep religiousness). The difference wasn't the "God" part but the "who is here to serve whom" part.

@micahistory Жыл бұрын

nice video

@thelvadam2884 Жыл бұрын

thank you for making this Video ! Frederick the great / Friedrich Der Große , is often very much underrated, with Prussia rose to great power status , and that is what made it even possible to at the end unify Germany in the long run.

@balabanasireti Жыл бұрын

Underrated 🤓

@sebe2255 Жыл бұрын

I think he is very overrated. He got his country involved in a war they couldn’t win, and only managed to succeed because of pure luck (Tsarina’s death and Peter III being a prussiaboo

@thelvadam2884 Жыл бұрын

@Sean Baggen he didn't even start that war tho.....

@sebe2255 Жыл бұрын

@@thelvadam2884 Didn’t say he did

@achourfreepalestine Жыл бұрын

0:17 bro really deleted the ottomans out of the map

@jtgd Жыл бұрын

I mean he also didn’t highlight Poland

@TheAustrianAnimations87 Жыл бұрын

Other great powers weren't shown on the map either, but that's because they weren't so important.

@achourfreepalestine Жыл бұрын

@@TheAustrianAnimations87 oh I'am sorry I didn't mean the map but when he was counting them

@someonethatlikesyou7713 Жыл бұрын

the great powers of europe were austria,russia,france and great Britain the ottomans in the other hand they have been declined like polish-lithuania

@CliffCardi Жыл бұрын

When a Prussia Fanboy suddenly becomes the Russian Czar just when your army is about to collapse on 3 fronts

@mrkalaspuff_3866 Жыл бұрын

Video idea/Video suggestion: Rise of the ottomans

@Megalodon_Megumer Жыл бұрын

Make more videos about Romania

@jtgd Жыл бұрын

Can you make a video on why Prussia, rather than Bavaria ?

@ellidominusser1138 Жыл бұрын

Prussia was militaristic and expansionist as a result of reforms in the 17th and 18th century which were caused by the 30 years war in 1618-48 that destroyed germany and half it's population. Basically, some guy made Prussia a Military with a state, and no other german state was as eager or had as strong of an army as the prussians. Bavaria just wasn't militaristic

@sebe2255 Жыл бұрын

Bavaria was an underdeveloped agricultural region

@colindaniels945 Ай бұрын

As I recall, the partitions of Poland were suggested by Russia as a way to appease Austria and Prussia. See, Austria and Prussia were growing nervous/concerned about Russia's increasing influence in the Ottoman Empire, nevermind all the territory they were taking from it.

@jesuschrist2268 Жыл бұрын

2:19 based

@djinnglebells241 Жыл бұрын

2:40 “possible lover” tbh probably lover is more accurate. You can joke about how gay Fred G was but a lot of the things we’d call gay today were aristocratic standard then. The only thing we can say was out of the norm was he liked hot dogs more than hamburgers, at least judging by stories of how he interacted w/ his wife.

@historian252 Жыл бұрын

Nah it really wasn't.

@Argacyan Ай бұрын

There's some things people today call gay which were standard then, but most of what they did together was gay back then. It's wasn't aristocratic standard, that's why they executed his love & Friedrich's life too was up in the air, in terms of punishment in that moment.

@abdullahdaniyal114 Жыл бұрын

Prussia was just pure Gigachad state.

@papazataklaattiranimam Жыл бұрын

Pussia👀

@thedyingpictureproductions2304 Жыл бұрын

So, what's your citation for Frederick's view of being a philosopher king? Or is that your opinion on what a philosopher king is? Cuz either way that is an extremely skewed and, basically, utterly false interpretation of Plato's philosopher king.

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

You're of course entitled to your opinion. My primary source for this video was a book containing a collection of quotes from Frederick, listed in the description.

@ordomachinum4016 Жыл бұрын

Fredrick the second was a G

@user-ry2qs7xf9k 10 ай бұрын

Gog and Magog.

@Shi4Shi Жыл бұрын

Simple terms: A shit ton of Frederick The Greats.

@jpj77263 Жыл бұрын

Not perfect, but I have seen much worse, e.g. from Extra History. Keep it up!

@scibanana3542 Жыл бұрын

By making France not great

@closetglobe.IRGUN.NW0 Жыл бұрын

It got saved by the russian empire by destroying napoleon's army

@GreenPoint_one Жыл бұрын

I wanna bring back the old glory of prussia even if that takes a 1000 years

@haslamabad_ Жыл бұрын

based gay man

@Judah132 Жыл бұрын

Ja, this is how we Berlin-Brandenburgers see our local hero v:

@commiecat5879 10 ай бұрын

Even the average French peasant can dominate France, and Austria fell over in a stiff breeze so I wouldn’t really call Prussia great. sure briefly influential in Europe but little else.

@CMitchell808 9 ай бұрын

Not even attempting accuracy.

@commiecat5879 9 ай бұрын

@@CMitchell808 Finland is the true successor state to the Roman Empire

@dorktriogamer2865 6 ай бұрын

AND THEN THE BASTARDS PUT HIM IN THE GROUND NEXT TO HIS FATHER

@Ciech_mate Жыл бұрын

Prussia was a German colony like Australia is to Britain

@LookBackHistory Жыл бұрын

Uhh, you're gonna have to explain that one to me.

@Ciech_mate Жыл бұрын

@@LookBackHistory they moved to Prussia from modern west Germany. Killed the inhabitants and took the resourses. They don't belong there as much as whites don't belong in for example SA. By don't belong, I mean aren't native to that region. They conquered the native people.

@JohnSmith-zs9vr Жыл бұрын

Nah, I would rather compare Prussia to British India. The British East Indian Company was so strong that it managed to colonise a faraway indian region all by itself, acting there independently from the United Kingdom. And so it created a faraway base which eventually became a pivotal part for the entirety of Britain. Just like Prussia (the actual one, excluding Brandenburg): a region once colonised by the german Teutonic Knights who acted there all on their own, independently from the Holy Roman Empire. Although it's more accurate to say that this colony was only East Prussia. West Prussia was a polish region briefly conquered by the Teutonic Knights striking at Poland from East Prussia.

@sebe2255 11 ай бұрын

@@LookBackHistoryProbably because it was actually settled by various Germanic people from the Holy Roman as it was initially Slavic and Baltic

@Argacyan Ай бұрын

@@sebe2255 The population of the region changed over the ages, and "initially" very much included first East Germanic tribes and later north germaic Scandianvians as well as west germanic people. The idea of selling the region as "slavic and baltic" was a Cold War era addage to sell ethnic cleansing easier - and it succeeded in doing so. That is with it being the case that yes, later during the early modern period settlers were invited from western europe, mostly the HRE but going as far west as Scottish immigrants settling in the area. Most slavs in this place, especially today, have less of a history with any relationship whatsoever than the Germanic people who used to live in the area - the slavic settlers were resettled from Polish areas taken by the Soviet administration & annexed into Ukraine & Belarus.