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FREDERICK WILLIAM I

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 64 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FREDERICK See also:WILLIAM I . (1688-1740), See also:king of See also:Prussia, son of Frederick I. by his second See also:marriage was See also:born on the 15th of See also:August 1688. He spent a considerable See also:time in See also:early youth at the See also:court of his grandfather, the elector Ernest See also:Augustus of See also:Hanover. On his return to See also:Berlin he was placed under See also:General von Dohna and See also:Count Finkenstein, who trained him to the energetic and See also:regular habits which ever afterwards characterized him. He was soon imbued with a See also:passion for military See also:life, and this was deepened by acquaintance with the See also:duke of See also:Marlborough (1709), See also:Prince See also:Eugene, whom he visited during the See also:siege of See also:Tournai, and Prince See also:Leopold of See also:Anhalt (the " Old Dessauer "). In nearly every respect he was the opposite of his See also:father, having frugal, See also:simple tastes, a passionate See also:temper and a determined will. Throughout his life he was always the protectorof the See also:church and of See also:religion. But he detested religious quarrels and was very tolerant towards his See also:Catholic subjects, except the See also:Jesuits. His life was simple and puritanical, beingfoundedonthe teaching of the See also:Bible. He was, however, fond of See also:hunting and somewhat given to drinking. He intensely disliked the See also:French, and highly disapproved of the See also:imitation of their See also:manners by his father and his court. When he came to the See also:throne (See also:February 25, 1713) his first See also:act was to dismiss from the See also:palace every unnecessary See also:official and to regulate the royal See also:household on principles of the strictest See also:parsimony.

The greater See also:

part of the beautiful See also:furniture was sold. His importance for Prussia is twofold: in See also:internal politics he laid down principles which continued to be followed See also:long after his See also:death. This was a See also:province peculiarly suited to his See also:genius; he was one of the greatest administrators who have everwornthe Prussian See also:crown. His See also:foreign policy was less successful, though under his See also:rule the See also:kingdom acquired some See also:extension of territory. Thus at the See also:peace of See also:Utrecht (See also:April 1I, 1713), after the See also:War of the See also:Spanish See also:Succession, he acquired the greater part of the duchy of See also:Gelderland. By the treaty of See also:Schwedt,concluded with See also:Russia on the 6th of See also:October, he was assured of an important See also:influence in the See also:solution of the Baltic question, which during the long See also:absence of See also:Charles XII. had become burning; and See also:Swedish See also:Pomerania, as far as the Peene, was occupied by Prussia. But Charles XII. on his return turned against the king, though without success, for the Pomeranian See also:campaign of 1715 ended in favour of Prussia (fall of See also:Stralsund, See also:December 22). This enabled Frederick William I. to maintain a more See also:independent attitude towards the See also:tsar; he refused, for example, to provide him with troops for a campaign (in Schonen) against the Swedes. When on the 28th of May 1718, in view of the disturbances in See also:Mecklenburg, he signed at See also:Havelberg the See also:alliance with Russia, he confined himself to taking up a defensive attitude, and, on the other See also:hand, on the 14th of August 1719 he also entered into relations with his former enemies, See also:England and Hanover. And so, by the treaty of See also:Stockholm (February i, 1720), Frederick Williamsucceeded in obtaining the consent of See also:Sweden to the cession of that part of Pomerania which he had occupied (See also:Usedom, See also:Wollin, See also:Stettin, Hither Pomerania, See also:east of the Peene) in return for a See also:payment of 2,000,000 thalers. While Frederick William I. succeeded in carrying his wishes into effect in this direction, he was unable to realize another project which he had much at See also:heart, namely, the Prussian succession to the See also:Lower See also:Rhine duchies of See also:Julich and See also:Berg. The treaty concluded in 1725 at See also:Vienna between the See also:emperor and See also:Spain brought the whole of this question up again, for both sides had pledged themselves to support the See also:Palatinate-Sulzbach succession (in the event of the Palatinate-Neuberg See also:line becoming See also:extinct).

Frederick William turned for help to the western See also:

powers, England and See also:France, and secured it by the treaty of alliance signed at Herrenhausen on the 3rd of See also:September 1725 (Leagueof Hanover). But since the western powers soon sought to use the military strength of Prussia for their own ends, Frederick again turned towards the east, strengthened above alibis relations with Russia, which had continued to be See also:good, and finally, by the treaty of Wusterhausen (October 12,1726; ratified at Berlin, December 23, 1728), even allied himself with his former adversary, the court of Vienna; though this treaty only imperfectly safeguarded Prussian interests, inasmuch as Frederick William consented to renounce his claims to Julich. But as in the following years the See also:European situation became more and more favourable to the See also:house of See also:Habsburg, the latter began to try to withdraw part of the See also:con-cessions which it had made to Frederick William. As early as 1728 See also:Dusseldorf, the See also:capital, was excluded from the See also:guarantee of Berg. Nevertheless, in the War of the See also:Polish Succession against France (1734–1735), Frederick William remained faithful to the emperor's cause, and sent an See also:auxiliary force of ro,0oo men. The peace of Vienna, which terminated the war, led to a reconciliation between France and See also:Austria, and so to a further estrangement between Frederick William and the emperor. Moreover, in 1738 the western powers,together with the emperor, insisted in identical notes on the recognition of the emperor's right to decide the question of the succession in the Lower Rhine duchies. A See also:breach with the emperor was now inevitable, and this explains why in a last treaty (April 5, 1739) Frederick William obtained from France a guarantee of a part, at least, of Berg (excluding Dusseldorf). But Frederick William's failures in foreign policy were more than compensated for by his splendid services in the internal See also:administration of Prussia. He saw the See also:necessity of rigid See also:economy not only in his private life but in the whole administration of the See also:state. During his reign Prussia obtained for the first time a centralized and See also:uniform See also:financial administration. It was the king himself who composed and wrote in the See also:year 1722 the famous instruction for the general See also:directory (Generaldirektorium) of war, See also:finance and domains.

When he died the income of the state was about seven million thalers (£x,050,000). The consequence was that he paid off the debts incurred by his father, and See also:

left to his successor a well filled See also:treasury. In the administration of the domains he made three innovations: (I) the private estates of the king were turned into domains of the crown (August 13, 1713); (2) the freeing of the See also:serfs on the royal domains (See also:March 22, 1719); (3) the See also:conversion of the hereditary See also:lease into a, See also:short-See also:term lease on the basis of productiveness. His See also:industrial policy was inspired by the See also:mercantile spirit. On this See also:account he forbade the importation of foreign manufactures and the export of raw materials from See also:home, a policy which had a very good effect on the growth of Prussian See also:industries. The See also:work of internal colonization he carried on with especial zeal. Most notable of all was his retablissement of East Prussia,to which he devoted six million thalers (c. £900,000). His policy in respect of the towns was motived largely by fiscal considerations, but at the same time he tried also to improve their municipal administration; for example, in the See also:matter of buildings, of the letting of domain lands and of the collection of the exciseintowns. Frederick William had many opponents among the nobles because he pressed on the abolition of the old feudal rights, introduced in East Prussia and Lithuania a general See also:land tax (the General- hufenschoss), and finally in 1739 attacked in a See also:special See also:edict the Legen, i.e. the See also:expropriation of the See also:peasant proprietors. He did nothing for the higher learning, and even banished the philosopher See also:Christian See also:Wolff at See also:forty-eight See also:hours' See also:notice " on See also:pain of the halter," for teaching, as he believed, fatalist doctrines. Afterwards he modified his See also:judgment in favour of Wolff, and even, in 1739, recommended the study of his See also:works.

He established many See also:

village See also:schools, which he often visited in See also:person; and after the year 1717 (October 23) all Prussian parents were obliged to send their See also:children to school (Schulzwang). He was the especial friend of the Franckisclze Stiftungen at See also:Halle on the See also:Saale. Under him the See also:people flourished; and although it stood in See also:awe of his vehement spirit it respected him for his firmness, his honesty of purpose and his love of See also:justice. He was devoted also to his See also:army, the number of which he raised from 38,000 to 83,5oo, so that under him Prussia became the third military See also:power in the See also:world, coming next after Russia and France. There was not a more thoroughly drilled or better appointed force. The See also:Potsdam guard, made up of giants collected from all parts of See also:Europe, sometimes kidnapped, was a sort of See also:toy with which he amused himself. The reviewing of his troops was his See also:chief See also:pleasure. But he was also fond of See also:meeting his See also:friends in the evening in what he called his See also:Tobacco-See also:College, where amid clouds of tobacco See also:smoke he not only discussed affairs of state but heard the newest " guard-See also:room jokes." He died on the 31st of May 174o, leaving behind him his widow, See also:Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, whom he had married on the 26th of See also:November 1706. His son was Frederick the See also:Great, who was the opposite of Frederick William. This opposition became so strong in 1730 that the crown prince fled from the court, and was later arrested and brought before a court-See also:martial. A reconciliation was brought about, at first gradually. In later years the relations between father and son came to be of the best (see FREDERICK II., king of Prussia).

End of Article: FREDERICK WILLIAM I

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