Frederick was the son of Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. He was born sometime between 11 and 12 p.m. on 24 January 1712 in the Berlin City Palace and was baptised with the

In one defining respect Frederick would come to the throne with an exceptional inheritance. Frederick William I had left him with a highly

Contrary to his father's fears, Frederick became a capable military commander. With the exception of his first battlefield experience at the Battle of Mollwitz, Frederick proved himself courageous in battle. He frequently led his military forces personally and had a

At age 16, Frederick formed an attachment to the king's 17-year-old page, Peter Karl Christoph von Keith. Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became

War of the Austrian Succession
When Frederick became king, he was faced with the challenge of overcoming Prussia's weaknesses, vulnerably disconnected holdings

Administrative modernisation
In his earliest published work, the Anti-Machiavel, and his later Testament politique (Political Testament), Frederick wrote that the sovereign

Near the end of his life, Frederick grew increasingly solitary. His circle of close friends at Sanssouci gradually died off with few replacements, and Frederick became increasingly critical and arbitrary, to the frustration of the civil service and officer corps. Frederick