Frederick the Great and the Rise of Prussia (Annotated)

About this edition

Reddaway tells Prussia’s rise through the career of Frederick II. The structure gives force and continuity to a complex period: early Hohenzollern consolidation leads to the crown prince’s conflict with his father, accession in 1740, the Silesian struggles, the Seven Years’ War, reconstruction, diplomacy, and the contested measure of Frederick’s greatness. Published in the Heroes of the Nations series in 1904, the book belongs to a biographical tradition that often converts institutions and populations into the background of a commanding individual. That frame illuminates decision and personality but can obscure serfdom, taxation, forced service, religious and ethnic minorities, and the administrative labor of the Prussian state. The new reading notes make that imbalance explicit without rewriting the source. The visual portfolio separates contemporary likeness from later memory. Anton Graff’s portrait was made during Frederick’s life; Menzel’s flute concert is a nineteenth-century reconstruction of court culture; the 1869 map visualizes territorial growth after the fact. Together they show both Frederick’s world and the historical image later Prussia made from it.

Source edition

W. F. Reddaway’s 1904 Heroes of the Nations text and index, from Project Gutenberg ebook 56387 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56387). The source text is public domain in the USA. This edition adds cited historical commentary, reading notes, chronology, glossary, and documentary images. A source illustration-list date is explained as 1815 rather than 1715; one evident transcription typo, "voluntered", is corrected to "volunteered".

Editorial method

Read the restoration and corrections policy

Source publication

1904

Length

368 pages

Topics

Frederick the Great, Prussia history, Seven Years War, Silesian Wars, European monarchy, public domain biography

Source basis

W. F. Reddaway’s 1904 Heroes of the Nations text and index, from Project Gutenberg ebook 56387 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56387). The source text is public domain in the USA. This edition adds cited historical commentary, reading notes, chronology, glossary, and documentary images. A source illustration-list date is explained as 1815 rather than 1715; one evident transcription typo, "voluntered", is corrected to "volunteered".

Edition by

Horn & Hickory Library, Horn & Hickory

Edition published

August 13, 2026

Corrections

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Contents

1. Edition notice
2. Frederick, State, and Historical Memory
3. How to read this edition
4. Reader context
5. List of figures
6. Preface
7. Introduction
8. Chapter I: The Rise of Prussia
9. Chapter II: Frederick as Crown Prince, 1712-1740
10. Chapter III: The Problem of 1740
11. Chapter IV: The Silesian Adventure, 1740-1742
12. Chapter V: The Second Struggle for Silesia, 1742-1745
13. Chapter VI: The Ten Years’ Peace, 1746-1756
14. Chapter VII: The Seven Years’ War to the Battle of Leuthen
15. Chapter VIII: The Seven Years’ War (continued): Leuthen to Maxen, December 1757 to December 1759
16. Chapter IX: The End of the Seven Years’ War, 1760-1763
17. Chapter X: Frederick and Prussia after the War
18. Chapter XI: Frederick and Europe, 1763-1786
19. Chapter XII: Frederick’s Death and Greatness
20. Index
21. Edition apparatus