Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 28

[cahn]

That is a lot of posts! :D <3

Comments

Re: From Pyrmont With Love? Waters, Spies, and Dogs

[felis]

It's a nice little vignette, isn't it? I was rather intrigued by the level of day-to-day detail from a different than usual source.

Okay, checking Duffy's military bio of Fritz, I see June 5 is when Fritz concludes an alliance with France, but reserves the right to go to war only when he saw fit. ...
Since Unger's letter is dated June 14, it's possible Fredersdorf was telling the truth

Ah, okay. I knew that the alliance happened while he was there (and of course the France connection is the main reason for G2 to send a spy in the first place), but not the other details.
Still thinking Fredersdorf was being deliberately cagey (to possibly misleading) while taking care to appear totally cordial and friendly.

(In the 18th century spy movie I was envisioning, he'd figured out Unger's motives for suddenly visiting his father-in-law very quickly of course, so the fever would be faked and he'd hatched the plan - together with Fritz? - to mislead G2's spy. ;))

I don't want to say we don't, as I may be forgetting one/some, but certainly few enough that it's definitely been on my radar as a thing that doesn't seem to happen much if at all.

Yep. And in letters I only recall the List of the Six really.

ETA: that June 1744 is also when AW is officially named Prince of Prussia
I just looked that up, and according to Rödenbeck/Droysen, it's June 30th, and Heinrich gets Rheinsberg two days earlier. Now I'm thinking that both things might have happened because he knew he was going back to war and was a bit more level-headed re: the possible dangers to himself.

Re: From Pyrmont With Love? Waters, Spies, and Dogs

[mildred_of_midgard]

(In the 18th century spy movie I was envisioning, he'd figured out Unger's motives for suddenly visiting his father-in-law very quickly of course, so the fever would be faked and he'd hatched the plan - together with Fritz? - to mislead G2's spy. ;))

Heee, that is a great spy movie! I approve. And the head of Fritz's spy ring should absolutely be able to deceive other spies.

And in letters I only recall the List of the Six really.

Oh, right, the List of the Six! Yeah, there's not much out there. Much like talking about Katte after his death: we've found at least one example, but it's notable by its rarity.

I just looked that up, and according to Rödenbeck/Droysen, it's June 30th, and Heinrich gets Rheinsberg two days earlier. Now I'm thinking that both things might have happened because he knew he was going back to war and was a bit more level-headed re: the possible dangers to himself.

Ooh, good catch, good catch! Heinrich went to war with him, as I recall, so that must have been an interesting "Here's my favorite palace, you might die before you ever get to see it," moment. And Luise gave birth to FW2 in September, so on June 30 they would have known she was pregnant, but not that there would be a male heir.

I've updated the chronology with these dates, thank you! (We're getting closer to a day-by-day account of the 18th century, lol.)