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

Re: FS Choice Quotes - Silesia 1 and getting engaged

[mildred_of_midgard]

FS and MT weren't allowed to correspond directly before becoming officially engaged, or to meet without company, but MT's Aja the Countess Fuchs as well as her mother were unofficially helpful with both, i.e. they engineered meetings with minimum supervision when FS was visiting in Vienna after having become Duke and before the official engagement, and FS wrote to the "Fuchsin" knowing she'd forward news to MT.

This may have been in S-R, but if so, I had forgotten, and was surprised and charmed anew! I immediately thought, "No wonder she got buried in the Habsburg crypt." :P

have some excerpts from the "Invading is how you show true friendship" conversation which Gotter, the Prussian representataive, transcribed for Fritz, complete with stage directions.

This whole thing was AMAZING, and I can't believe we hadn't come across it before. How does *every* biographer not cite this, I do not understand.

Whereas giving up Silesia without a fight, well, Mildred wrote lengthy speculations about possible scenarios.

Yes, and as you may recall, I wrote them when we discovered that Saxon and Bavarian foreign policy of the early 1740s was WAY more complicated than we realized early on in salon when we made similar speculations, and it's really hard to predict what would have happened.

Re: FS Choice Quotes - Silesia 1 and getting engaged

[selenak]

This whole thing was AMAZING, and I can't believe we hadn't come across it before. How does *every* biographer not cite this, I do not understand.

It is of utmost hilarity. (Well, to us, from centuries distance, my guess is that MT was probably seething behind the door.) I do suspect the reason why it's not quoted more often is that even Fritz-fannish 19th century German historians did feel a sense of him not coming across as the daring young eagle claiming what's his (why does he over with justifications in the best contorted logic ancien regime style anywway, from their pov? He's supposed to be the bold straight talking manly man here!), and Austrian historians weren't that interested because it's not MT doing the responding but FS.

Re: FS Choice Quotes - Silesia 1 and getting engaged

[mildred_of_midgard]

(why does he over with justifications in the best contorted logic ancien regime style anywway, from their pov? He's supposed to be the bold straight talking manly man here!)

Yeah, fair. But come on, Blanning! :P

Austrian historians weren't that interested because it's not MT doing the responding but FS

Good thing we finally read up on FS, then!