Frederick the Great discussion post 9

[cahn]

...I leave you guys alone for one weekend and it's time for a new Fritz post, lol!

I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)

Frederick the Great links

Comments

Re: Toppings of all types, continued

[selenak]

Good point about inoculation. You know, that crack fic where everyone, including Lady Mary, ends up participating in the Lappland Expedition is something else we should keep in mind. At least she and Fritz would have something to talk about other than Algarotti.

"wet behind the ears"

This reminds me: it won't surprise you that one of the 27 honored on the Obelisk is Kurt Christoph von Schwerin.

"One, that situation got out of hand through no fault of my own, two, Voltaire is a GOD among men and not subject to the same standards as mere mortals. He is the literal worst, of course. Nothing that happened to him in Frankfurt was either by my orders nor nearly as bad as he said. OMG WHAT'S THIS? A letter!! Should I send him my latest incriminating poem? I should! *sparkly hearts*"

LOL forever, but so true. All kidding aside, though, while contemporaries - and Voltaire himself - were most scandalized/upset by the Frankfurt arrest, something that strikes my 21st century self as worse is what happened earlier and triggered Voltaire's departure, i.e. the book burning. Granted, I'm a German who associates book burnings with the worst, but even leaving anything after the 18th century aside, it's something, as a gesture, that's worse than just forbidding the pamphlet. It has that autodafé association - and precisely because theirs was a falling in love with each other's minds, burning the product of Voltaire's mind, even if it's just a satiric pamphlet motivated by pure pettiness, is an incredible betrayal on that level.

Re: Toppings of all types, continued

[mildred_of_midgard]

You know, that crack fic where everyone, including Lady Mary, ends up participating in the Lappland Expedition is something else we should keep in mind.

I agree!

This reminds me: it won't surprise you that one of the 27 honored on the Obelisk is Kurt Christoph von Schwerin.

Nope. For those of you just joining/in need of a refresher, this is the experienced general (field marshal) who talked Fritz into leaving his first battlefield (Mollwitz), on the grounds that the Prussians were losing and it would be even worse if Fritz were captured. And then in addition to the humiliation of abandoning his troops to save his own skin, Fritz had to deal with the embarrassment of Schwerin turning things around and winning the battle without him.

"NEVER AGAIN," Fritz swore, and he never quite forgave Schwerin for either part, the talking him into leaving or the winning without him.

So Schwerin is definitely going to be high on Heinrich's list of "underappreciated/screwed over by a dramatically overestimated Fritz who hogs all the glory for himself."

Book burning: agree, and I feel like I've read somewhere, I don't remember where or if it was reliable, that Fritz later regretted his impulsive action. (Fritz often regretted the tone but not the content of what he'd said.)

Re: Toppings of all types, continued

[mildred_of_midgard]

Book burning: agree, and I feel like I've read somewhere, I don't remember where or if it was reliable, that Fritz later regretted his impulsive action

Found it: Catt, memoirs, v.1, p. 29. I don't see it in the account of this episode in the diary, although it may be elsewhere, or Catt may be writing down something he remembered in the memoirs, or Catt may be making things up, either because he believed Fritz was sorry or thought that he should be.

Only slightly less of a betrayal than book-burning: book falsification. Curse you, Catt!