Frederick William, The Great Elector

Frederick William, also known as the Great Elector Of Brandenburg, lived from 1620-1688. He inherited the throne of Prussia (which was separated into 3 parts, Brandenburg, Prussia and West Prussia) on December 1st 1640, after the death of his father, George William. He would go on to rule for 40 years until his death on May 9th, 1688.

As the ruler of Prussia at the time, one of the main issues that Frederick William was challenged by could have potentially destroyed Prussia. Fortunately, Frederick William realized that the countries surrounding his were not only larger, but much stronger in terms of army strength as well. Even worse, Prussia had no natural borders separating countries and allowing enemies to easily enter and invade. As a result, he decided to dedicate effort to developing a well trained and efficient army to help defend against attacks. At the time of his death, Prussia had been known as the best equipped fighting force in whole of Germany.

Despite all external problems that Prussia faced, they also had some internal issues that delayed their success. Prussia’s lack of natural resources and small population were all largely benefiting factors of their success. But the reason that caused these disadvantages were due to the Thirty Years War (will be later discussed). Once again, as a result of their small population, besides forming a strong army, he was forced to outsmart opponents and form temporary alliances to defeat enemies. For example during the First Northern War in 1655 when Prussia teamed with Poland, Russia, and Denmark in pursuit to destroy Sweden.

The Thirty Years War was a series of conflicts that took place in Central Europe during 1618 to 1848, for approximately 30 years (hence the name). It is known as one of the deadliest and most devasting wars in history with 8 million estimated casualties. The war was initially religion based, among the several Protestant groups and the Catholics, but if gradually developed and included the greatest powers in Europe. Due to Prussia’s position in Northern Germany, they were especially vulnerable to attacks and had much of population killed and territory left in debris.

All of the war and conflicts were inevitable, therefore it was up to Frederick William to make the best of what he could. As mentioned previously, one of his most notable positive contributions to Prussia was based on their army. Drastically strengthening the Prussian army in many aspects helped raise their chances and value during war. Geographically, he was also able to expand the area of his realm by 40 percent and increased the population from around 600,000 to 1.5 million by the end of his career.