|
See also:FREDERICK See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
WILLIAM III . (1770-1840), See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of See also:Prussia, eldest son of King Frederick William II., was See also:born at See also:Potsdam on the 3rd of See also:August 1770. His See also:father, then See also:prince of Prussia, was out of favour with Frederick the See also:Great and entirely under the See also:influence of his See also:mistress; and the boy, handed over to tutors appointed by the king, lived a solitary and repressed See also:life which tended to increase the innate weakness of his See also:character. But though his natural defects of See also:intellect and will-See also:power were not improved by the pedantic tutoring to which he was submitted, he See also:grew up pious, honest and well-meaning; and had See also:fate See also:cast him in any but the most stormy times of his See also:country's See also:history he might well have See also:left the reputation of a See also:model king. As a soldier he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his lieutenancy in 1784, became a See also:colonel commanding in 1790, and took See also:part in the See also:campaigns of 1792-94. In 1793 he married See also:Louise, daughter of Prince See also:Charles of See also:Mecklenburg-See also:Strelitz, whom he had met and fallen in love with at See also:Frankfort (see LouisE, See also:queen of Prussia). He succeeded to the See also:throne on the 16th of See also:November 1797 and at once gave See also:earnest of his See also:good intentions by cutting down the expenses of the royal See also:establishment, dismissing his father's ministers, and reforming the most oppressive abuses of the See also:late reign. Unfortunately, however, he had all the See also:Hohenzollern tenacity of See also:personal power without the Hohenzollern See also:genius for using it. Too distrustful to delegate his responsibility to his ministers, he was too infirm of will to strike out and follow a consistent course for himself.
The results of this infirmity of purpose are written large on the history of Prussia from the treaty of See also:Luneville in 18or to the downfall that followed the See also:campaign of See also:Jena in 1806. By the treaty of See also:Tilsit (See also:July 9th, 1807) Frederick William had to surrender See also:half his dominions, and what remained to him was exhausted by See also:French exactions and liable at any moment to be crushed out of existence by some new whim of See also:Napoleon. in the dark years that followed it was the indomitable courage of Queen Louise that helped the weak king not to despair of the See also:state. She seconded the reforming efforts of See also:Stein and the See also:work of See also:Scharnhorst and See also:Gneisenau in reorganizing the See also:army, by which the resurrection of Prussia became a possibility. When Stein was dismissed at the instance of Napoleon, See also:Hardenberg succeeded him as See also:chancellor (See also:June 1810). In the following See also:month Queen Louise died, and the king was left alone to See also:deal with circumstances of ever-increasing difficulty. He was forced to join Napoleon in the See also:war against See also:Russia; and even when the disastrous campaign of 1812 had for the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time broken the French power, it was not his own See also:resolution, but the loyal disloyalty of See also:General See also:York in concluding with Russia the.See also:convention of Tauroggen that forced him into See also:line with the patriotic fervour of his See also:people.
Once committed to the See also:Russian See also:alliance, however, he became the faithful henchman of the See also:emperor See also:Alexander, whose fascinating See also:personality exercised over him to the last a singular power, and began that influence of Russia at the See also:court of See also:Berlin which was to last till Frederick William IV.'s supposed Liberalism was to shatter the cordiality of the entente. That during and after the See also:settlement of 1815 Frederick William played a very secondary part in See also:European affairs is explicable as well by his character as
11
by the absorbing character of the See also:internal problems of Prussia. He was one of the See also:original co-signatories of the See also:Holy Alliance, though, in See also:common with most, he signed it with reluctance; and in the counsels of the See also:Grand Alliance he allowed himself to be practically subordinated to Alexander and later to Metternich. In a ruler of his character it is not surprising that the Revolution and its developments had produced an unconquerable suspicion of constitutional principles and methods, which the Liberal agitations in See also:Germany tended to increase. At the various congresses, from See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) to See also:Verona (1822), there-fore, he showed himself heartily in sympathy with the repressive policy formulated in the See also:Troppau See also:Protocol. The promise of a constitution, which in the excitement of the War of Liberation he had made to his people, remained unfulfilled partly owing to this See also:mental attitude, partly, however, to the all but insuperable difficulties in the way of its See also:execution. But though reluctant to See also:play the part of a constitutional king, Frederick William maintained to the full the traditional character of " first servant of the state." Though he chastised Liberal professors and turbulent students, it was in the spirit of a benevolent See also:Landes-:rater; and he laboured assiduously at the enormous task of administrative reconstruction necessitated by the problem of See also:welding the heterogeneous elements of the new Prussian See also:kingdom into a See also:united whole. He was sincerely religious; but his well-meant efforts to unite the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, in celebration of the tercentenary of the See also:Reformation (1817), revealed the limits of his paternal power; eleven years passed in vain attempts to devise common formulae; a stubborn Lutheran minority had to be coerced by military force, the See also:confiscation of their churches and the imprisonment or See also:- EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap, consul, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)
exile of their pastors; not till 1834 was outward See also:union secured on the basis of common See also:worship but See also:separate symbols, the opponents of the measure being forbidden to See also:form communities of their own. With the See also:Roman See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
Church, too, the king came into conflict on the vexed question of " mixed marriages," a conflict in which the Vatican gained an easy victory (see See also:BUNSEN, C.C.J., See also:BARON VON).
The revolutions of 183o strengthened Frederick William in his reactionary tendencies; the question of the constitution was indefinitely shelved; and in 1831 Prussian troops concentrated on the frontier helped the task of the Russians in reducing the military rising in See also:Poland. Yet, in spite of all, Frederick William was beloved by his subjects, who valued him for the simplicity of his See also:manners, the goodness of his See also:heart and the memories of the dark days after 18o6. He died on the 7th of June 184o. In 1824 he had contracted a morganatic See also:marriage with the countess Auguste von Harrach, whom he created Princess von See also:Liegnitz. He wrote See also:Luther in Bezug auf See also:die Kirchenagenda von 1822 and 1823 (Berlin, 1827), Reminiszenzen aus der Kampagne 1792 in Frankreich, and See also:Journal meiner See also:Brigade in der Kampagne am Rhein 1793.
The See also:correspondence (Briefwechsel) of King Frederick William III. and Queen Louise with the emperor Alexander I. has been published (See also:Leipzig, 1900) and also that between the king and queen (lb. 1903), both edited by P. Bailleu. See W. See also:Hahn, See also:Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Luise (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1877) ; M. W. Dunker, Aus der Zeit Friedrichs See also:des Grossen and Friedrich Wilhelms III. (Leipzig, 1876) ; See also:Bishop R. F. •Eylert, Charakterziige aus dem Leben des Konigs von Preussen Friedrich Wilhelm III. (3 vols., See also:Magdeburg, 1843-1846).
End of Article: FREDERICK WILLIAM III
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!