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Why did Duke Karl Eugen require Friedrich Schiller to attend the Military Academy?

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Friedrich Schiller Friedrich Schiller, painting by Anton Graff, c. 1785.

Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg required Friedrich Schiller to attend the Military Academy (the Karlsschule) as a result of a despotic command issued by the sovereign. Although Schiller’s parents had hoped for him to be trained for the ministry, the Duke personally founded and supervised the academy and decreed that the young Schiller was to prepare for the study of law there, against his parents' wishes.1