Frederick the Great discussion post 11

[cahn]

In our last installment, our heroes found that Henri de Catt's memoirs, a major source for current biographers of Frederick the Great, are not to be trusted!!

rheinsberg

Comments

Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take

[mildred_of_midgard]

A few things I forgot to comment on last time:

True. I can now tell you he also quotes Fritz' various war memoirs without a question mark.

Taking Fritz at face value is pretty special.

Except for Mollwitz; there, he adds Schwerin's account.

Well, that's good!

MT: He's lying liar who lies, but also a smart, capable workoholic and an A plus general.

Also, wait, weren't we having a discussion a few months ago about how people were getting on MT's case for not being chill enough to say positive things about Fritz like he did to her? Perhaps they're not reading enough ambassador reports.

Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take

[selenak]

They probably didn't. BTw, none of the documents so far contain the "evil man in Potsdam/Berlin" quote, either, nor for Fritz the "three whores of Europe/must smell of diapers/birthing machine quotes. Though they do have the "bigotted maenad" I was already familiar with, as well as "It's easier to fight brave men than a malicious woman". (When MT post Leuthen doesn't offer peace.)