- German:
- Friedrich Wilhelm I
- Born:
- August 14, 1688, Berlin
- Died:
- May 31, 1740, Potsdam, Prussia (aged 51)
- Title / Office:
- king (1713-1740), Prussia
- Notable Family Members:
- father Frederick I
- daughter Wilhelmina
- son Frederick II
Frederick William I
-
Who was Frederick William I?
Frederick William I (1688–1740) was the second King of Prussia who transformed the country into an efficient and prosperous state, setting the stage for his successor, Frederick II the Great, to establish Prussia as a major military power.
Frederick William I focused on building the Prussian army into Europe’s best fighting force. By the time of his death, he had increased the armed forces from 38,000 to 83,000 soldiers and amassed a war chest of more than 8,000,000 taler.
His domestic policies included resettling depopulated eastern territories, improving the lives of the peasantry, and instituting compulsory primary education in 1717. He also centralized his administration and initiated a program of legal codification.
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When did Frederick William I become the king of Prussia?
Frederick William I, born on August 14, 1688, became the second Prussian king in 1713. He transformed Prussia from a second-rate power into an efficient and prosperous state. His experiences in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) led him to believe that the army was his true calling.
Frederick William dedicated his life to building the Prussian army into Europe’s best fighting force. By the time of his death in 1740, he had increased the armed forces to 83,000 soldiers out of a population of 2,200,000, accumulated a war chest of more than 8,000,000 taler, and elevated Prussia to the third military power on the European continent, after Russia and France.
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What was Frederick William I known for as a king?
Frederick William I, the second Prussian king, reigned from 1713 to 1740 and is known for transforming Prussia from a second-rate power into a strong, prosperous state, which his son, Frederick II the Great, leveraged to make Prussia a major military power.
Frederick William I focused on building the Prussian army into Europe’s best fighting force. By the end of his reign, he had increased the armed forces from 38,000 to 83,000 soldiers, without relying on foreign subsidies. He also created the canton system of recruitment, which provided half the army's manpower from the Prussian peasantry, and he fostered a loyal Prussian officer corps from the nobility.
In addition to his military reforms, Frederick William I was a thrifty and practical ruler who improved the lives of his subjects. He resettled and revitalized Prussia’s eastern territories, improved the lot of the peasantry, and instituted compulsory primary education in 1717.
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How did Frederick William I change the Prussian army?
Frederick William I transformed Prussia into a leading military power by focusing on the army. He increased the armed forces from 38,000 to 83,000 soldiers and created a war chest of more than 8,000,000 taler.
To maintain his army, Frederick William I introduced the canton system in 1733, which conscripted Prussian peasants and recruited soldiers from all over Europe. He also fostered a loyal officer corps from the nobility and employed Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, who instilled rigorous discipline in the infantry.
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What was daily life like in Prussia during his reign?
During Frederick William I's reign (1713-1740), daily life in Prussia was characterized by his efforts to transform the country into a financially independent and militarily powerful state.
Known as the "Soldier King", Frederick William I focused on building the Prussian army into Europe’s best fighting force. He implemented the canton system in 1733, which required Prussian peasants to serve in the army.
To fund his military ambitions and improve the lives of his subjects, Frederick William I enacted several reforms. He dissolved his extravagant court, resettled and revitalized Prussia’s eastern territories that had been affected by the plague, and improved the lives of the peasantry. He also abolished serfdom and hereditary leases on his own lands in 1719.
Additionally, Frederick William I was a practical Protestant who implemented mercantilist policies to encourage industry and manufacturing. Believing that an efficient state needed literate subjects, he instituted compulsory primary education in 1717.
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How did Frederick William I influence his son, Frederick the Great, and Prussia's future?
Frederick William I significantly shaped his son Frederick II, later known as Frederick the Great, and the future of Prussia through military and administrative reforms. He transformed Prussia from a second-rate power into a prosperous state with Europe’s best army.
Frederick William I, despite his son's artistic and intellectual inclinations, instilled in him a sense of duty and work ethic, crucial for governance. Though their relationship was strained, Frederick II acknowledged his father's role in Prussia's achievements, particularly his thriftiness, disciplined army, and just policies. By the time of his death, Frederick William I had expanded Prussia’s army and left his son a well-funded, centralized state.
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Frederick William I (born August 14, 1688, Berlin—died May 31, 1740, Potsdam, Prussia) was the second Prussian king, who transformed his country from a second-rate power into the efficient and prosperous state that his son and successor, Frederick II the Great, made a major military power on the Continent.
The son of the elector Frederick III, later Frederick I, king of Prussia, Frederick William grew up at a glamorous court, but his own temperament was ascetic, and he disapproved of the court’s dissolute atmosphere. In 1706 he married Sophia Dorothea, the daughter of George Louis, elector of Hanover (later George I of England). His experiences in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) decisively shaped his future, leading him to realize that the army was his vocation. Leopold I, prince of Anhalt-Dessau, who commanded the Prussian contingent in that war, became his lifelong friend and principal adviser in military matters.
Frederick William was to spend the rest of his life building the Prussian army into Europe’s best fighting instrument. Realizing that Prussia’s military and financial weakness made it dependent on the relations between the great powers, Frederick William resolved to make his state financially independent.
In 1713 Prussia’s armed forces numbered 38,000 soldiers, supported in large part by foreign subsidies. When Frederick William died in 1740, he left his son an army of about 83,000 out of a population of 2,200,000, a war chest of more than 8,000,000 taler, and a Prussia that had become the third military power on the European continent, after Russia and France.
The canton system of recruitment and replacement, introduced in 1733, provided one-half the manpower of Frederick William’s army from the Prussian peasantry. The rest of the soldiers were recruited from all over Europe. Frederick William also created from his fractious nobility the loyal Prussian officer corps. Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, a brutal, if efficient, drillmaster, provided the instrument wielded by these officers—the Prussian infantry, which could outmarch and outshoot all others.
The need for funds, coupled with Frederick William’s genuine concern for his subjects, led to a number of sweeping reforms and innovations. A thrifty, practical Protestant, the king on his accession all but dissolved his extravagant court. Prussia’s eastern territories, depopulated by the plague of 1709, were resettled and made prosperous once again. The lot of the peasantry improved. In his own domains, which eventually comprised one-third of all the land, Frederick William freed the serfs completely (1719) and abolished hereditary leases. In 1717 a yearly tax replaced the aristocracy’s feudal war service. Against considerable opposition, he levied additional taxes in Prussia and Lithuania. Prussia’s commercial policies were strictly mercantilist, encouraging industry and manufacture, especially the wool industry, which clothed the king’s army. Convinced that an efficient state could not afford illiterate subjects, Frederick William instituted compulsory primary education in 1717. In 1723 he centralized his administration under a general directory through which his ministers executed his orders. Near the end of his reign, he initiated a program of extensive legal codification. Thus, Frederick William left his heir an efficient, centralized state with sound finances and an excellent army.
Frederick William’s foreign policy proved to be much less effective than his domestic programs. He acquired Swedish Pomerania by the Treaties of Stockholm (1719–20), but his lifelong ambition, the incorporation of the duchies of Jülich and Berg on the lower Rhine, remained unfulfilled. Relations with Austria and England cooled considerably and by 1739 Prussia’s only ally was France.
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