(^336) FREDERICK AND WAR
him at a distance from many things that ought to have received his
closest attention. The soldiers received a poor return for the consider-
able sums which he devoted to his field hospitals (Nicolai, 1788-92,
III, 336; Kiister, 1793, 156; Dreyer, 1810, 36), and he remained un-
aware of the collapse of his medical services in the War of the
Bavarian Succession, until Dr Zimmermann enlightened him on the
subject in the summer of 1786. On Zimmermann's suggestion
Frederick at once appointed Dr Fritze as Oberaufseher in Magdeburg,
with special responsibility for supervising the Feldscherer.
The Frederick of the Seven Years War was a consummate master
of the skills of leadership. He had a quasi-Napoleonic recall of the
names and faces of old soldiers. On the march he spoke to his men in
their Low German dialects, and he tolerated familiarities for which
he would have cashiered an ensign. In this respect the British were
much more on their dignity than was Frederick himself. In the War of
American Independence an officer in the contingent of Hanau artil-
lery was forced to intervene on behalf of one of his gunners, who had
caused great offence by staring at an English officer.' "Now", I asked
the cannonier, "Why did you look at the officer?" He replied, that "he
had served His Majesty, the King of Prussia, for eight years, and was
allowed to look at him whenever he met him; and, moreover, he had
never been reproved for so doing" ' (Pausch, 1886, 112).
Frederick had not yet shrunk into the Old Fritz of the 1768
Testament, and he could still maintain:
My troops are good and well disciplined, and the most
important thing of all is that I have thoroughly habituated
them to perform everything that they are required to execute.
You will do something more easily, to a higher standard, and
more bravely when you know that you will do it well. I
encourage my soldiers and excite their sense of honour. I give
them rewards, and I hold out the prospect of still further
recompenses, when it seems necessary. ('Principes Generaux',
1748, Oeuvres, XXVIII, 40)
The Frederician military discipline was certainly harsh, and it was
judged to be so by the standards of the time. Was it also unreasonable?
Probably not.
In the first place, Frederick had to impose effective control on
men who were of aggressive temperament and unpredictable be-
haviour. He recalled the case of a wounded grenadier at Mollwitz
who had commandeered a riderless horse, ridden into the cavalry
battle, and returned with an Austrian senior officer as his prize. 'I was
struck by the courage of this grenadier... and I ordered good care to
be taken of him... When he had fully recovered from his wound I
sean pound
(Sean Pound)
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