At this point, news of the disaster had started to spread out, including to Bayreuth, where Wilhelmine writes to both brothers, trying her best to mediate. But nothing less than accepting complete blame on AW's part would do, and he insists on his innocence. Meanwhile, the French army has reached Thuringia and Fritz has to do something to stop them from uniting with the Austrian army, so he leaves part of the army to cover Silesia and marches with the other part to Leipzig. Despite his bad state, AW goes to Leipzig as well in the hope to finally getting a chance to speak with Fritz. Fritz still won't see him. Heinrich does see him and is shocked by Wilhelm's physical state as well as the mental one. He urges Fritz - who thinks that AW is faking - to send his chief physician Cothenius. At first, Fritz refuses. Whereupon Heinrich writes to Bayreuth and describes AW's illness to Wilhelmine. She writes to Fritz, Heinrich pleads again, and Fritz does agree to let Cothenius see AW. But despite all his siblings begging him to visit his brother, he still refuses to do so.
By now, it's November, and Fritz wins, triumphantly and against all odds, the battle of Roßbach. (See earlier post.) When AW writes to him again because of this, he replies: My dear brother. I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of congratulations which you have kindly paid me on the occasion of the success of the last battle, and am convinced of the sincerity of your feelings. Do not complain about me, and remember that it is only your extraordinary and, so to speak, reckless behavior that has spoiled everything. I would have liked for your own reputation that, even if you had no command in the army, you would have been at least present at the above battle to share the glory instead of sitting around uselessly.
Heinrich, who had participated in the battle - and was wounded, resulting in fever, so has to recover -, returns to Leipzig and spends the next three week with AW. This will be the last time he sees his brother alive. At the end of the three weeks and Heinrich's return to the army, Fritz permits Wilhelm to go to Berlin, while Heinrich gets entrusted with the supreme command of the Prussian army in Saxony.
From Berlin, he writes to Fritz on January 5th 1758: „My dear Brother. You have assured me that my military lack of competence would be the obstacle that will forever prevent you from entrusting me with the least thing, so I believe, my dear brother, that you will not disapprove that I put the care of everything which concerns my regiments, in the hands of those who command them. Be convinced that I regret my uselessness in the only profession that remains for princes to distinguish themselves! In the unfortunate case that I find myself, I [have] no other choice but to avoid being dependent on you and being in the army. The misfortune which made me lose your esteem, will never erase the attachment that I have devoted to you, and the respectful feelings with which I have the honor to be, my very dear brother, the very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother Guillaume. “
What he hears as a reply is: My dear brother. I received the letter you sent me from the 5th of this month. You must not be very astonished that you do not have my esteem, because the conduct which you held for some time must deprive you of it by necessity, as it deprives you of the esteem of all reasonable people. The role which you play at present in the public can only be very detrimental to you and your reputation. I am all the more angry because I fear that you will make everything worse for yourself in the world around there. I am your good brother Federic.
AW, who's recovered (or so it seems) from his illness, now has the desperate plan of rejoining to army as a simple soldier to prove he's not deserting the fatherland in the hour of need. Brother Ferdinand is horrified and protests a crown prince of Prussia can't do that:
The whole army knows you and knows about your bravery, which you have proved wherever you were commanded to. Everyone knows you were forced to leave the army. Every officer has understood that you want to return to the army if only it could be done honorably. Everyone misses you.
"Doing so honorably" after the public disgrace would of course mean an equally public restitution. No dice. By the end of February, his sickness returns, fever, aches, shortness of breath. And this time, it doesn't leave again. When he goes to Oranienburg on April 29th, he knows he won't come back. He tries to distract himself via the continued restoration of Oranienburg, but by the end of May, he can't get out of bed again. Amalie has visited intermittently; on May 27th, she doesn't return to Berlin again as earlier, but orders every doctor she knows to come from Berlin. On June 12th, AW dies, at 35th years of age.
And now, as an encore, the full length letter from Fritz to Heinrich about this, to complete why I see all of this - not just the public disgrace, but the year long aftermath, up to said letter - as the radioactive core of his feelings for his oldest brother. I received very sad and unfortunate news from Berlin: the death of my brother, which I had never expected. I am all the more afflicted by it, since I have always loved him dearly, and since I had to deal with all the sorrows he caused me as a result of his weakness to follow bad advice, and as an effect of his temper, of which he was not always the master. Reflecting on his good heart and his other good qualities, I endured with gentleness many things in his conduct, which were very irregular, and by which he failed in what he owed me. I know the tenderness you had for him; I hope that, after having given friendship and nature the first ventings of your pain, you will make all the efforts of which a strong soul is capable, not to erase from your memory a brother whose imprint must without cease live in your heart and mine, but to moderate the excess of an affliction which could be fatal to you. Think, please, that in less than a year I have lost a mother whom I adored and a brother whom I have always dearly loved; in the critical situation in which I find myself, do not cause me new afflictions by the harm that grief could do you, and use your reason and philosophy as the only remedies to make the evils bearable to us. Think of the state and our homeland, which would perhaps be exposed to the greatest misfortunes, if, in the course of this terrible war, our nephews fell under guardianship; finally think that all men are mortal, and that our most tender bonds, our strongest attachments, do not guarantee us of the common law which is imposed on our species, and that, after all, our life is so short, that it does not even leave us time to grieve, and that, while weeping for others, we can believe without being mistaken that in a little time we will wept for, too. Finally, my dear brother, I neither want nor can elaborate on the sad subject of this letter; I fear for you, I wish you long life and good health, and I wish at the same time that the multitude of your occupations and the glory which you will acquire serve you to distract you from objects which can only pierce your heart, grieve you and bring you down, being with perfect tenderness and esteem, etc.
Brotherly Conduct III: The Aftermath
By now, it's November, and Fritz wins, triumphantly and against all odds, the battle of Roßbach. (See earlier post.) When AW writes to him again because of this, he replies:
My dear brother. I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of congratulations which you have kindly paid me on the occasion of the success of the last battle, and am convinced of the sincerity of your feelings. Do not complain about me, and remember that it is only your extraordinary and, so to speak, reckless behavior that has spoiled everything. I would have liked for your own reputation that, even if you had no command in the army, you would have been at least present at the above battle to share the glory instead of sitting around uselessly.
Heinrich, who had participated in the battle - and was wounded, resulting in fever, so has to recover -, returns to Leipzig and spends the next three week with AW. This will be the last time he sees his brother alive. At the end of the three weeks and Heinrich's return to the army, Fritz permits Wilhelm to go to Berlin, while Heinrich gets entrusted with the supreme command of the Prussian army in Saxony.
From Berlin, he writes to Fritz on January 5th 1758: „My dear Brother. You have assured me that my military lack of competence would be the obstacle that will forever prevent you from entrusting me with the least thing, so I believe, my dear brother, that you will not disapprove that I put the care of everything which concerns my regiments, in the hands of those who command them. Be convinced that I regret my uselessness in the only profession that remains for princes to distinguish themselves! In the unfortunate case that I find myself, I [have] no other choice but to avoid being dependent on you and being in the army. The misfortune which made me lose your esteem, will never erase the attachment that I have devoted to you, and the respectful feelings with which I have the honor to be, my very dear brother, the very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother Guillaume. “
What he hears as a reply is: My dear brother. I received the letter you sent me from the 5th of this month. You must not be very astonished that you do not have my esteem, because the conduct which you held for some time must deprive you of it by necessity, as it deprives you of the esteem of all reasonable people. The role which you play at present in the public can only be very detrimental to you and your reputation. I am all the more angry because I fear that you will make everything worse for yourself in the world around there. I am your good brother
Federic.
AW, who's recovered (or so it seems) from his illness, now has the desperate plan of rejoining to army as a simple soldier to prove he's not deserting the fatherland in the hour of need. Brother Ferdinand is horrified and protests a crown prince of Prussia can't do that:
The whole army knows you and knows about your bravery, which you have proved wherever you were commanded to. Everyone knows you were forced to leave the army. Every officer has understood that you want to return to the army if only it could be done honorably. Everyone misses you.
"Doing so honorably" after the public disgrace would of course mean an equally public restitution. No dice. By the end of February, his sickness returns, fever, aches, shortness of breath. And this time, it doesn't leave again. When he goes to Oranienburg on April 29th, he knows he won't come back. He tries to distract himself via the continued restoration of Oranienburg, but by the end of May, he can't get out of bed again. Amalie has visited intermittently; on May 27th, she doesn't return to Berlin again as earlier, but orders every doctor she knows to come from Berlin. On June 12th, AW dies, at 35th years of age.
And now, as an encore, the full length letter from Fritz to Heinrich about this, to complete why I see all of this - not just the public disgrace, but the year long aftermath, up to said letter - as the radioactive core of his feelings for his oldest brother.
I received very sad and unfortunate news from Berlin: the death of my brother, which I had never expected. I am all the more afflicted by it, since I have always loved him dearly, and since I had to deal with all the sorrows he caused me as a result of his weakness to follow bad advice, and as an effect of his temper, of which he was not always the master. Reflecting on his good heart and his other good qualities, I endured with gentleness many things in his conduct, which were very irregular, and by which he failed in what he owed me. I know the tenderness you had for him; I hope that, after having given friendship and nature the first ventings of your pain, you will make all the efforts of which a strong soul is capable, not to erase from your memory a brother whose imprint must without cease live in your heart and mine, but to moderate the excess of an affliction which could be fatal to you. Think, please, that in less than a year I have lost a mother whom I adored and a brother whom I have always dearly loved; in the critical situation in which I find myself, do not cause me new afflictions by the harm that grief could do you, and use your reason and philosophy as the only remedies to make the evils bearable to us. Think of the state and our homeland, which would perhaps be exposed to the greatest misfortunes, if, in the course of this terrible war, our nephews fell under guardianship; finally think that all men are mortal, and that our most tender bonds, our strongest attachments, do not guarantee us of the common law which is imposed on our species, and that, after all, our life is so short, that it does not even leave us time to grieve, and that, while weeping for others, we can believe without being mistaken that in a little time we will wept for, too. Finally, my dear brother, I neither want nor can elaborate on the sad subject of this letter; I fear for you, I wish you long life and good health, and I wish at the same time that the multitude of your occupations and the glory which you will acquire serve you to distract you from objects which can only pierce your heart, grieve you and bring you down, being with perfect tenderness and esteem, etc.