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: Dueling

[mildred_of_midgard]

at this point has passed the WTF stage and reached the pop corn munching stage

Sounds about right. Along with most of Europe!

Re: Dueling

[selenak]

Except for Algarotti, who hightailed it out of Prussia.

(BTw, having now finished the dissertation: master of the diplomatic breakup or not, he does sound pretty disenchanted with Fritz. I mean, telling his brother he's now on "the worst road, the one leading back to Prussia" at the end of his last trip to Italy while still returning to Fritz' court sounds not exactly like having mixed feelings.)

Most of Europe, though, sounds pretty gleeful. The not feeling sorry for Fritz or Voltaire helps, though I have to wonder, weren't there any sizable number of Maupertuis partisans?

Re: Dueling

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yeah, Algarotti got disillusioned fast. :( That, not the invasion of Saxony, is why I think dying in 1740 might have been good for the Fritz/Suhm relationship.

Also, Algarotti in Prussia was in a different position than most of Europe, called: "I could be next."

See also, this excerpt from my Algarotti write-up:

Algarotti still in Italy: P.S. Still love you! (Plz don't have your agents arrest me outside your country like you did Voltaire.)
Fritz: Not sure why you won't come back, but love you too!

Even with Algarotti's diplomatic personality in general, I read the last years of his correspondence with Fritz as "Don't gratuitously piss off the powerful and short-tempered king. Just remember the good times and keep him remembering the good times."

Maupertuis partisans: maybe, I don't know the situation in enough detail? But what I suspect is that it started out Voltaire partisans vs. Maupertuis partisans, but then the biggest Maupertuis partisan was Fritz, and then it stopped being about Maupertuis to most people. Much like Franz Ferdinand partisans were pretty thin on the ground in the trenches of WWI.

Re: Dueling

[selenak]

Also, Algarotti in Prussia was in a different position than most of Europe, called: "I could be next."

So true, and I admit I'm still giggling. And am even more impressed by ladies Mara Schmeling & Barbarina for daring to piss off the short tempered king anyway (after getting a lot of money out of him, as Voltaire sniffily notes) and getting their way. Some months in prison for their respective boyfriends nothwithstanding.