18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 37

[cahn]

More diaries of our favorite 18th-century Prussian diary-keeper have been unearthed and have been synopsized!

January 18th: Blessed be thou to me! Under your light, my Prince Heinrich was born!

Comments

Re: Most ruthless?

[mildred_of_midgard]

Hitler should just get on with the casheering already

Incidentally, not that this excuses Fritz, but the more 18th century history I read, the more generals I see in different countries losing their heads because they were judged not to have engaged with the enemy aggressively enough. Occasionally the punishment gets downgraded to cashiering/exile/imprisonment/something non-fatal, but death sentences are surprisingly common.

When Fritz said "I would be justified in cutting off your head," he wasn't just channeling FW: he was speaking literally of the norms of his time.

But of course he was *also* channeling FW, conscripting involuntary therapists, rewriting history, scapegoating like crazy, etc. Which is what makes the Hohenzollern dysfunction so fascinating.

But seriously. Göring! I'm glad neither AW nor Heinrich was alive to see that.