Frederick entered Bohemia with 18,000 men, and on the 30th of September was attacked, at a village called Sorr, by a force of 40,000. Nevertheless he managed his cavalry so admirably, that he gained the victory. Then, learning that the Saxons were preparing to invade Prussia in his rear, he garrisoned all the passes leading from Bohemia into Silesia, and marched into Saxony with his main force. The "Old Dessauer," as Prince Leopold was called, took Leipzig, and, pressing forwards, won another great victory on the 15th of December, at Kesselsdorf. Frederick, who arrived on the field at the close of the fight, embraced the old veteran in the sight of the army. The next day, the Prussians took possession of Dresden: the capital was not damaged, but, like the other cities of Saxony, was made to pay a heavy contribution. Peace was concluded with Austria ten days afterwards: Prussia was confirmed in the possession of all Silesia and Glatz, and Frederick agreed to recognize Francis of Lorraine, Maria Theresa's husband, who had already been crowned Emperor at Frankfort, as Francis I. Thus ended the Second Silesian War. Frederick was first called "the Great," on his return to Berlin, where he was received with boundless popular rejoicings.
The "War of the Austrian Succession," as it was called, lasted three years longer, but its character was changed. Its field was shifted to Italy and Flanders: in the latter country Maurice of Saxony (better known as Marshal de Saxe), one of the many sons of Augustus the Strong, was signally successful. He conquered the greater part of the Netherlands for France, in the year 1747. Then Austria, although she had regained much of her lost ground in Northern Italy, formed an alliance with the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, who furnished an army of 40,000 men. The money of France was exhausted, and Louis XV. found it best to make peace, which was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in October, 1748. He gave up all the conquests which France had made during the war. Austria yielded Parma and Piacenza to Spain, a portion of Lombardy to Sardinia, and again confirmed Frederick the Great in the possession of Silesia.
1747.
After the Peace of Dresden, in 1745, Prussia enjoyed a rest of nearly eleven years. Frederick's first care was to heal the wounds which his two Silesian wars had made in the population and the industry of his people. He called himself "the first official servant of the State," and no civil officer under him labored half so earnestly and zealously. He looked upon his kingdom as a large estate, the details of which must be left to agents, while the general supervision devolved upon him alone. Therefore he insisted that all questions which required settlement, all changes necessary to be made, even the least infractions of the laws, should be referred directly to himself, so that his secretaries had much more to do than his ministers. While he claimed the absolute right to govern, he accepted all the responsibility which it brought upon him. He made himself acquainted with every village and landed estate in his kingdom, watched, as far as possible, over every official, and personally studied the operation of every reform. He rose at four or five o'clock, labored at his desk for hours, reading the multitude of reports and letters of complaint or appeal, which came simply addressed "to the King," and barely allowed himself an hour or two towards evening for a walk with his greyhounds, or a little practise on his beloved flute. His evenings were usually spent in conversation with men of culture and intelligence. His literary tastes, however, remained French all his life: his many works were written in that language, he preferred to speak it, and he sneered at German literature at a time when authors like Lessing, Klopstock, Herder and Goethe were gradually lifting it to such a height of glory as few other languages have ever attained.
His rough, practical common-sense as a ruler is very well illustrated by his remarks upon the documents sent for his inspection, many of which are still preserved. On the back of the "Petition from the merchant Simon of Stettin, to be allowed to purchase an estate for 40,000 thalers," he wrote: "40,000 thalers invested in commerce will yield eight per cent., in landed property only four per cent.; this man does not understand his own business." On the "Petition from the city of Frankfort-on-Oder, against the quartering of troops upon them," he wrote: "Why, it cannot be otherwise. Do they think I can put the regiment in my pocket? But the barracks shall be rebuilt." And finally, on the "Petition of the Chamberlain, Baron Müller, for leave to visit the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle," he wrote: "What would he do there? He would gamble away the little money he has left, and come back like a beggar." The expenses of Frederick's own Court were restricted to about 100,000 dollars a year, at a time when nearly every petty prince in Germany was spending from five to ten times that sum.
1748. FREDERICK AS RULER.
In the administration of justice and the establishment of entire religious liberty, Prussia rapidly became a model which put to shame and disturbed the most of the other German States. Frederick openly declared: "I mean that every man in my kingdom shall have the right to be saved in his own way:" in Silesia, where the Protestants had been persecuted under Austria, the Catholics were now free and contented. This course gave him a great popularity outside of Prussia among the common people, and for the first time in two hundred years, the hope of better times began to revive among them. Frederick was as absolute a despot as any of his fellow-rulers of the day; but his was a despotism of intelligence, justice and conscience, opposed to that of ignorance, bigotry and selfishness.
Frederick's rule, however, was not without its serious faults. He favored the education of his people less than his father, and was almost equally indifferent to the encouragement of science. The Berlin Academy was neglected, and another in which the French language was used, and French theories discussed, took its place. Prussian students were for a while prohibited from visiting Universities outside of the kingdom. On the other hand, agriculture was favored in every possible way: great tracts of marshy land, which had been uninhabited, were transformed into fertile and populous regions; canals, roads and bridges were built, and new markets for produce established. The cultivation of the potato, up to that time unknown in Germany as an article of food, was forced upon the unwilling farmers. In return for all these advantages, the people were heavily taxed, but not to such an extent as to impoverish them, as in Saxony and Austria. The army was not only kept up, but largely increased, for Frederick knew that the peace which Prussia enjoyed could not last long.
1755.
The clouds of war slowly gathered on the political horizon. The peace of Europe was broken by the quarrel between England and France, in 1755, in regard to the boundaries between Canada and the English Colonies. This involved danger to Hannover, which was not yet disconnected from England, and the latter power proposed to Maria Theresa an alliance against France. The minister of the Empress was at this time Count Kaunitz, who fully shared her hatred of Frederick II., and determined, with her, to use this opportunity to recover Silesia. She therefore refused England's proposition, and wrote a flattering letter to Madame de Pompadour, the favorite of Louis XV., to prepare the way for an alliance between Austria and France. At the same time secret negotiations were carried on with Elizabeth of Russia, who was mortally offended with Frederick II., on account of some disparaging remarks he had made about her. Louis XV., nevertheless, hesitated until Maria Theresa promised to give him the Austrian (the former Spanish) Netherlands, in return for his assistance: then the compact between the three great military powers of the Continent was concluded, and everything was quietly arranged for commencing the war against Prussia in the spring of 1757. So sure were they of success that they agreed beforehand on the manner in which the Prussian kingdom should be cut up and divided among themselves and the other States.