Frederick the Great discussion post 12

[cahn]

Every time I am amazed and enchanted that this is still going on! Truly DW is the Earthly Paradise!

All the good stuff continues to be archived at rheinsberg :)

Comments

Re: Poniatowski: Mobster indeed

[selenak]

Found the passage Hahn was quoting from. It's when P discusses the 7 Years War. Worth bearing in mind: P, as a Pole employed by the Saxon government (holding a fiery "behold what Fritz the bastard just did to us, AGAIN!" speech to Elizabeth as the Saxon envoy was one of his first big profile opportunities) at the time and later as the next King, does have a bias and numbers to back him up, i.e. he knows whereof he speaks.

The usual income of Saxony was then around nine million Taler; one can assume the King of Prussia extorted through additional taxes three times as much. 7 x 9 is 63, 3 x 63 is 189 - as many million Taler was Saxony worth to the King of Prussia; additionally, he received 700 000 Pound Sterling of annual English subsidies; and that made it possible what had seemed impossible: that an Elector of Brandenburg resisted for seven years the united countries Russia, Austria, France and Sweden.

Moreover, this prince gained a profit one can't understimate by inventing - as the first among all rulers - the custom of clipping coins with the stamp of another monarch; but he wasn't content with making the Saxon coinage print coins with the image of August III., no, he even had the stamps imitated in his own states and reduced the content bit by bit, to a degree that the coins at last didn't have a third of the worth they were supposed to have.

Since the main field of this war was in Saxony and since he, armed by weapons, only bought what he didn't deign to take for free anyway, he made up for his expenses with a third of the usually assumed sum.

But he didn't only damage Saxony by this; Poland suffered as much, which happened thusly: the treaty of Wehlau had added to the advantages which the House of Brandenburg already possessed in East Prussia yet another, which was that both states should dictate the coinage after agreeing to it. This of course was disregarded; the ruling princes of the House of Brandenburg were content to print coins in their own right which were bearing the same names as the Polish Tymphs and Sixes and were supposed to carry the same worth; consequently, these Prussian coins were used in Poland as much as Polish coins were. (...)

Using the pretense of simply continuing the Saxon print and the prints of his own Prussian Tympths and Sixes, the King of Prussia managed to bring about a hundred million of his devalued coins into circulation in Poland, before the majority of my countrymen (...) even wanted to believe in the possibility of a devaluement. They got into circulation so quickly becuase Poland was to the King of Prussia a store; he bought corn, horses, cattle, salpeter, rough linnen and even cloth, nearly everything he needed. Silesia and the other states ruled by the King of Prussia had been exposed to so many attacks and devastations in the course of this war that Poland was back then able to replace all he used to get from Silesia in the last two listed items. When the Poles finally realized that they had been deceived regarding the value of these Prussian coins, they heightened the prices of their articles, but the substance of theese coins was lessened even more for about the same sum, and always a time passed until one had realised the renewed and even greater deception, so that by the year 1763, at the end of this war, over 200 million Gulden of these false coins were circulating in Poland.

Re: Poniatowski: Mobster indeed

[mildred_of_midgard]

Slytherin with a strong Gryffindor streak. :P

Re: Poniatowski: Mobster indeed

[cahn]

This is awesome! Economic hijinks plots are my favorite :D So I remember waaaay back, hearing this (I think it was this?) story of the counterfeit coins / inflation; is this then the primary source for that story (which I dimly remember we didn't have a primary source for at the time)?

Re: Poniatowski: Mobster indeed

[selenak]

It was Hahn's, which is who we got reminded to check the memoirs again.