Announcing Rheinsberg: Frederick the Great discussion post 10

[cahn]

So for anyone who is reading this and would like to learn more about Frederick the Great and his contemporaries, but who doesn't want to wade through 500k (600k?) words worth of comments and an increasingly sprawling comment section:

We now have a community, rheinsberg, that has quite a lot of the interesting historical content (and more coming regularly), organized nicely with lots of lovely tags so if there's any subject you are interested in it is easy to find :D

Comments

Re: With Liars among Liars: The Austrian Dossier (Seckendorf II)

[selenak]

By Jove, Holmes, that was brilliant. Also that wiki entry answers my next question - what this Derschau did to make Fritz resent him, and for Seckendorff the Nephew to list him among people Fritz (so he assumes based on Manteuffel intel) still hates for his capture and imprisonment. Wiki says that Derschau was in charge of interrogating Crown Prince Fritz. Who by 1740 wasn‘t retaliating, however, since Derschau distinguishes himself in the First Silesian War and gets the Order Pour Le Mérite. And then he dies of indigestion.

Re: With Liars among Liars: The Austrian Dossier (Seckendorf II)

[mildred_of_midgard]

Honestly, Fritz not retaliating is kind of impressive. A lot of people would have.

Fritz was really kind of a mixed bag, good and bad. (That's why he's my fave, let's be real.)

Re: With Liars among Liars: The Austrian Dossier (Seckendorf II)

[selenak]

It makes him so very interesting. Mind you: I had a quick look at the start of the English two volume version of Trenck's memoirs you uploaded, and can't help but observe Fritz not retaliating against anyone involved in Küstrin is a public gesture in the public eye and makes him look good, contributing to creating good will for the new monarch. Otoh, before Trenck publishes his memors, no one (other than possibly Amalie) cares what happens to Trenck, and so Trenck gets first the one year on Glatz and then the entire 7 Years War in Magdeburg under war crime conditions.

Though I have to say, I can now see where the German editor of the Gutenberg version who says he cut down Trenck's three volume Rokoko rants and emo to a one volume book "where nothing of value was lost, and a decent adventure novel gained" is coming from. Some of it is due to a change of tastes and conservatism, sure. As in the cut of the entire dedication to the Ghost of Frederick the Great, which is just so very Trenckian, and all the cuts where Trenck snarks multi directional about the power of monarchs. Also I am amused that where Gutenberg Trenck just says that slanderous rumor has Fritz asleep at Soor and being captured by Austrian Trenck, then released due to a bribe, which he, Prussian Trenck, knows to be false because Fritz wasn't even there, he'd already been up and about since 2 am, English translated Trenck renders the evil rumor he's refuting as the King supposedly being in bed with Demoiselle de Schwerin when Austrian Trenck shows up. (I'm with you, Prussian Trenck: Pure slander, that one.)

But Prussian Trenck also rarely misses an opportunity for an outburst about how his poor, poor children have been robbed of their rights to the Trenck estates due to all the injustice that has been happening to him in his life, he's publishing these memoirs mainly for their sake, or no one suffered as much as him, how everyone knows he's the greatest and most blameless and a model of brave manhood and so forth. If the Gutenberg edition already left me with the impression of "he does protest too much", good lord, does the English edition ever. Hence my slightly greater sympathy for the stiff upper lip favouring Gutenberg edition editor.

Re: With Liars among Liars: The Austrian Dossier (Seckendorf II)

[mildred_of_midgard]

Fritz not retaliating against anyone involved in Küstrin is a public gesture in the public eye and makes him look good, contributing to creating good will for the new monarch

Agreed, but! You could just as easily start off your reign with a "don't fuck with me" example, and Fritz chose to create goodwill instead.

If you ask me, the difference is that he didn't feel any of those people were a threat to him any more, and so he was able to reason about what would serve his interests best.

English translated Trenck renders the evil rumor he's refuting as the King supposedly being in bed with Demoiselle de Schwerin when Austrian Trenck shows up.

Aha! Well, good thing we acquired the English version, even if it is heavy on the rants and emo. The ghost dedication is priceless!

(I'm with you, Prussian Trenck: Pure slander, that one.)

And not even convincing slander! Fritz in bed with a woman in 1745, pfff. I'm still divided on whether he was even still going to bed with men in 1745!

Hence my slightly greater sympathy for the stiff upper lip favouring Gutenberg edition editor.

I find this very amusing. :D