Not just interesting but it means the example of deserters getting pardoned in the 7 Years War is useless, since there the motivation is clearly to have more canon fodder. Understandable in a situation where Prussia is rapidly running out not just of soldiers in general but also of officers with any kind of experience or training, the longer the war takes. (Krockow was very good on this, including the reminder than more Prussian officers died in the 7 Years War than at any point of subsequent history until WWII.) Whereas Trenck gets offered his pardon not only in peace time, after the Silesian Wars, when Prussia is doing just fine, but under the explicit condition that he never tries to join the Prussian army again. Ergo: pears and oranges. Can‘t compare.
Amalie‘s physical state: no, I only mentioned near blindness before the end, not the difficulties of moving after what appears to have been a stroke or a series of short ones.
Frey also has some other interesting stuff, including that Thièbault, who is the one having worked for Fritz memoirist who subscribes to the Trenck/Amalie sotry, hadn‘t just read Trenck‘s memoirs, as I had guessed from even the rewritten into two volumes version of Thiebault‘s book, but had met Trenck himself, in 1789 in Paris, and talked to him about this. Unfortunately, this makes the entire thing not more or less plausible, since again, Trenck is Thièbault‘s only source, but it‘s possibly worth noting that Thièbault, who knew Fritz for 20 years, is willing to buy the story.
Then again, Trenck must have been enormously convincing. I mean, he got FW2 to actually order that Trenck was to be paid a pension as an officer of the Prussian army. With retroactive payment covering the Magdeburg years. (Might have been because of FW2‘s general „think about what Uncle Fritz would do, then do the opposite“ mantra, of course.)
Oh, and this happened, since Trenck also got an Austrian pension. Bear in mind he was in Paris twice, once when the Revolution started and once in the middle of the Terreur, when he got himself beheaded.
Trenck: *returns in 1790 from Paris*: Vive la Revolution! A bas les aristocrats! Wow, events in Paris are just awesome. I‘m totally going to publish about this.
Leopold: Who do you think you are, Prinz Heinrich? I might not be willing to commit troops to saving my sister Marie Antoinette, but that kind of thing is not okay. Say farewell to your Austrian pension, Trenck.
Trenck: Habsburg bastard! Fine! I‘m going back to the wonderful land of liberty. While still boasting of my royal connections.
Re: Trenck discussion
Amalie‘s physical state: no, I only mentioned near blindness before the end, not the difficulties of moving after what appears to have been a stroke or a series of short ones.
Frey also has some other interesting stuff, including that Thièbault, who is the one having worked for Fritz memoirist who subscribes to the Trenck/Amalie sotry, hadn‘t just read Trenck‘s memoirs, as I had guessed from even the rewritten into two volumes version of Thiebault‘s book, but had met Trenck himself, in 1789 in Paris, and talked to him about this. Unfortunately, this makes the entire thing not more or less plausible, since again, Trenck is Thièbault‘s only source, but it‘s possibly worth noting that Thièbault, who knew Fritz for 20 years, is willing to buy the story.
Then again, Trenck must have been enormously convincing. I mean, he got FW2 to actually order that Trenck was to be paid a pension as an officer of the Prussian army. With retroactive payment covering the Magdeburg years. (Might have been because of FW2‘s general „think about what Uncle Fritz would do, then do the opposite“ mantra, of course.)
Oh, and this happened, since Trenck also got an Austrian pension. Bear in mind he was in Paris twice, once when the Revolution started and once in the middle of the Terreur, when he got himself beheaded.
Trenck: *returns in 1790 from Paris*: Vive la Revolution! A bas les aristocrats! Wow, events in Paris are just awesome. I‘m totally going to publish about this.
Leopold: Who do you think you are, Prinz Heinrich? I might not be willing to commit troops to saving my sister Marie Antoinette, but that kind of thing is not okay. Say farewell to your Austrian pension, Trenck.
Trenck: Habsburg bastard! Fine! I‘m going back to the wonderful land of liberty. While still boasting of my royal connections.
The. Dumbest. Gryffindor.