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For instance, Thomas Carlyle's History of Frederick the Great (8 vol. 1858–1865) emphasised the power of one great "hero", in this case Frederick, to shape history. [314] In German memory, Frederick became a great national icon and many Germans said he was the greatest monarch in modern history.
Frederick was a passionate supporter of the Enlightenment and Voltaire was its greatest spokesman. This included, for example, the abolition of criminal liability for homosexual acts. Frederick however did not abolish it, but unlike under his father, [34] no death sentence was carried out. [23]
Frederick the Great, unlike his father, was an aesthete who admired Voltaire and the French Enlightenment, and was not inclined toward Pietism. He nevertheless felt himself bound to many of his father's ideals and deviated only slightly from Frederick William's self-image as the "first sergeant to the King of Prussia", saying that he wished to ...
Frederick the Great, as an Author, Soldier, King and Man, well deserves to have his History written; better perhaps than Charles XII, whose Biography by Voltaire has always seemed to me one of the most delightful Books. Let your Publishers offer me Three hundred pounds, and time to heat the historico-biographical crucible and fill it and fuse ...
Hans Hermann von Katte (28 February 1704 – 6 November 1730) was a Lieutenant of the Prussian Army, and a friend, tutor and possible lover of the future King Frederick II of Prussia, who was at the time the Crown Prince.
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (1708 – 12 January 1758) was the longest-standing valet and companion of Frederick II of Prussia. The two young men met when the future Frederick II was still in prison for having attempted to run off with his former companion, Hans Hermann von Katte.
Enlightened absolutism is the theme of an essay by Frederick the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, defending this system of government. [5] When the prominent French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire fell out of favor in France, he eagerly accepted Frederick's invitation to live at his palace. He believed that an enlightened monarchy ...
18 August – Frederick the Great of the Kingdom of Prussia suspended the death penalty for sodomy, recommending "Festungarbeit" (military labor) as an alternative punishment, as well as a visit from a preacher, to "make them understand the greatness and abomination of the vice they have committed". [9] (Frederick was himself both gay and ...