Realizing his father was inexorable, Frederick re-
sumed his military training and civic duties and, at his
father’s direction, married Princess Elizabeth of Bruns-
wick-Wolfenbuttel in 1733. For a period (1734–40), he
was able to enjoy some leisure at Rheinsberg, studying
French literature and music. He corresponded with the
philosopher Voltaire and composed several pieces for the
flute, an instrument on which he excelled. Following his
father’s death, he acceded to the throne of Prussia on 31
May 1740.
In October 1740, the German emperor Charles VI
died and was succeeded by his daughter Maria Theresa,
who inherited Hungary, Bohemia, and Austria as well
as other smaller territories on their borders. Frederick
revived an old claim on Silesia, lying between Prussia
and Austria, and marched his army over its borders in
December 1740. He defeated the Austrians at Mollwitz
(10 April 1741) and at Chotusitz (17 May 1742), forc-
ing Maria Theresa to cede Upper and Lower Silesia to
him by the Peace of Breslau (11 June 1742).
In the Second Silesian War (1744–45), Frederick
acquired more of Silesia and then spent 11 years of peace
in introducing radical reforms of the Prussian govern-
ment’s administration and improving its finances. The
year 1756 saw the start of the Seven Years War in Eu-
rope, in which Frederick took the opportunity to fight
the Third Silesian War, which won him more territory
from the weakened Austrians. When the war ended with
the Peace of Hubertushof (15 February 1763), his repu-
tation as a military leader was known across Europe. In
1772, he joined with Russia and Austria in the first par-
tition of Poland, by which he acquired Polish Prussia.
This enabled him to join Brandenburg and Pomerania,
which Prussia had long ruled, into one territory with
Prussia itself. Finally, in 1778 a brief campaign won him
more territory around Nuremburg, north of Bavaria,
and the Treaty of Teschen gave him the Franconian
principalities.
Frederick the Great died at Potsdam on 17 August
1786, having doubled the territory ruled by Prussia and
leaving his successor with one of the finest armies in Eu-
rope and a full treasury. As good an administrator as he
was a military leader, Frederick had fought wars and left
Prussia with a large standing army, a sound economy, its
treasury full, and its people prosperous. He had raised
Prussia from a minor kingdom into a state that chal-
lenged Austria as the major Germanic power, a challenge
that would grow until a family descendant (from Freder-
ick’s nephew), William I of Prussia, became emperor of
Germany in 1871, less than a century later.References: Bongard, David L., “Frederick II the Great,”
in The Encyclopedia of Military Biography, edited by Trevor
N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson, and David L. Bongard (Lon-
don: I. B. Taurus, 1992), 258–259; Duffy, Christopher,
Frederick the Great: A Military Life (London: Routledge,
1988); Barker, Thomas M., ed., Frederick the Great and
the Making of Prussia (New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1972); McLeod, Toby, “Frederick II ‘the Great’,
King of Prussia,” in The Oxford Companion to Military
History, edited by Richard Holmes (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001), 321–323.French, Field Marshal Sir John Denton
Pinkstone, first earl French of Ypres and High
Lake (1852–1925) British general
John Denton Pinkstone French was born in Ripple Vale,
Kent, England on 28 September 1852, the son of Com-
mander John Tracey William French of the British Royal
Navy. He was descended from the French family of
French Park, County Roscommon, Ireland. After enter-
ing the British navy in 1866, he served as a naval cadet
and midshipman but transferred to the army eight years
later. He saw military action with the 19th Hussars in
the Sudan (1884–85) and served as a commander of the
1st Cavalry Brigade during the Boer War (1899–1902),
in which he commanded British forces at the battles of
Elandslaagte (21 October 1899), Reitfontein (24 Octo-
ber 1899), Lombard’s Kop (30 October 1899), and the
capture of Bloemfontein and Pretoria in 1900. He was
promoted to general in 1907 and also served as inspector
general of the forces from 1907 to 1911, when he was
appointed chief of the Imperial General Staff. In 1913,
he was promoted to the rank of field marshal.
With the outbreak of the First World War in August
1914, French was named as commander of the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF), which was sent to main-
land Europe to assist the French army against the in-
vading Germans. (Ironically, his sister, Charlotte French
Despard, was one of Britain’s leading campaigners against
British involvement in the conflict.) French commanded
four full British divisions into France and placed them
to the left of the French Fifth Army. At Mons (August0 FRench, FielD mARShAl SiR John Denton pinkStone