IN SEARCH OF OLD FRITZ 247preussische Costum, but to the spirit of the discipline and some of the
fundamentals of military institutions. According to the Prince de
Ligne: 'In relation to military affairs Prussia has acquired the same
reputation as did Versailles for fine manners. Soon our armies will
become unrecognisable - they all want to be like Frederick's' (Ligne,
1795—1811,1,162-3). This enterprise was based on nothing better than
a sketchy acquaintance with the crippled army of the later years of
Frederick's reign, and therefore stood at two removes from the force
which had won Rossbach and Leuthen.
Wiser heads appreciated how absurd the attempt was. Simply by
watching parades and manoeuvres it was impossible for the foreigner
to detect either the moving principles of the tactics, or 'certain minor
details... which may easily escape the attention, but which are
nevertheless all-important' (Riesebeck, 1784, II, 139). As Christian
Garve indicated, the Prussian army was the product of a cumulative
education which it had received over the years from Frederick, who
had shaped it through formal instructions, letters to individual
officers, and the comments that he passed on campaign and at the
reviews and manoeuvres (Garve, 1798,140). In 1770 Frederick himself
tried to dissuade Prince Karl of Sweden from constructing an army on
the Prussian model: 'My army has been thirty or forty years in the
making, and it is still far from perfect. How can you hope to work an
overnight transformation in a force as undisciplined as yours?' (Volz,
1926-7, II, 232-3; see also Guibert, 1778, 131; Seidl, 1781, III, 335).
It will perhaps be of interest to accompany the foreign pilgrims on
their attempts to penetrate the secrets of our hero. They usually made
the journey to Brandenburg as an extended excursion from Saxony.
On leaving the fertile open fields of the electorate the travellers
entered a vast zone of woodland. 'The rivers are bordered by exten-
sive swamps, and the frequent and dense woods of conifers are not
calculated to give the landscape a cheerful aspect' (Riesebeck, 1784,
II, 80-1).
Eight or ten hours driving along sandy roads brought the tourist
to the royal capital Berlin, where something of the character of the
Prussian monarchy began to emerge. It was a large city, of great
outward splendour, 'as well from the breadth of the streets, their
cutting each other at right angles, as for the magnificence of the
buildings' (Yorke, 1913, III, 228). The population increased by one-
third during Frederick's reign, from less than 100,000 in 1740 to nearly
150,000 in 1786. A number of imposing edifices began to rise before the
Seven Years War, most notably the Opera House (1741), the Catholic
church of St Hedwig (1747, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome), and
the palace of Prince Henry (1748). This work was completed after the