Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 45

[cahn]

Unfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.

(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

Aaahhh, I love that you chose this quote!

[selenak]

For reals. A most excellent choice. Though I'm not sure whether the non deceiving of his servants holds up. I mean, clearly not in the incompetent way Louis did, but I'm reminded of Mitchell early on in the 7 Years WAr suspecting Heinrich of being set on negotiating with the French behind Fritz' back to make himself look like the saviour, of stabbing Fritz in the back, and of Voltaire using the fact he and Fritz are pen pals once more to get military secrets from Fritz. Meanwhile: Fritz uses both Heinrich and Wilhelmine to sound out the French behind Mitchell's back for a separate peace, and of course sharing military secrets wasn't even on the menu when he was living with Voltaire, let alone midst-war. I mean, Mitchell wasn't Fritz' servant, he was working for G2, but what I'm getting at is that Fritz with his training in paranoia by FW was quite capable of only sharing selected truths with people who were working for him or in alliance with him.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yeah, I had a very similar thought. It depends on how you define "deceive"--withholding information is part of management. I have to do it on a daily basis, and it's nothing to do with paranoia. If Fritz *hadn't* ever withheld information from the people working for him, he would have been a disaster! But there are good ways of doing it and bad ways of doing it, and I agree with Broglie that by the standards of absolute monarchs, Louis's way was particularly ineffective--but I agree with you that "deceiving servants" doesn't feel like the real difference.

I'm reminded of Macaulay's "We could make shift to live under a debauchee or a tyrant, but to be ruled by a busybody is more than human nature can bear"--it's a hilarious sound bite, though it's not literally true.

[selenak]

I think where Broglie and we all agree is that Fritz had an internally consistent policy in mind, and whatever he shared or didn't share with the people working for him all fitted with his ultimate goals. Whereas Louis was internally inconsistent, and that was the disaster.

Now, what could and did happen was trouble with allies, like:

First Silesian War:

Wilhelmine: Good news, Bro! Bayreuth is now joining your war effort we've just signed treaties with the French!
Fritz: Err, I wouldn't, if I were you.
Wilhelmine: .?
Fritz: *has just signed secret truce with MT, hanging the French out to dry*

But not within the Prussian administration.

[cahn]

Though I'm not sure whether the non deceiving of his servants holds up.

Lol, when I read the quote I was like, "well, Fredersdorf mostly knew what he needed to know, sounds legit..."

I HAVE A ONE-TRACK MIND, OKAY

[mildred_of_midgard]

ROFL! I see you have your priorities straight.