Library

In European history, there are few figures as great as King Friedrich the Great. When he succeeded to the Prussian throne in 1740, he ruled a weak and scattered kingdom; by the end of his reign, Prussia had become one of the great powers of continental Europe. In this book, historian Timothy Braining gives us a comprehensive portrait of the king who dominated the political, military, and cultural life of Europe half a century before Napoleon. Friedrich had a complex and multi-faceted character. He was sometimes a ruthless monarch, sometimes a strategizing battlefield commander, and sometimes an enthusiastic patron of the arts. He also maintained active contacts with other major thinkers of the era such as Voltaire. Timothy Breining's ambitious biography recounts Friedrich's remarkable life and the sweeping political and cultural transformation of Prussia under his rule. Readers can delve into the mind of this great monarch and better understand Prussia's rise to become a European power.

[UK] Tim Blanning is Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a member of the British National Academy. He is the author of more than ten books including "Joseph II and Enlightened Despotism", "The Origins of the French Revolutionary War", "The Romantic Revolution", "King Frederick the Great", "The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Europe of the Old Regime, 1660-1789", "The Triumph of Music: The Arrival of Composers, Musicians and Their Art".