Posted on 02/05/2012 2:36:57 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Germans bury Prussia taboo to fete Frederick
(Reuters) - Portraits of Frederick the Great line the streets, bookshops are bursting with new biographies, talk shows debate his legacy and toymaker Steiff has made a limited edition teddy bear of the Prussian ruler in his blue uniform coat and tricorn hat.
Germans gearing up for a year of celebrations to mark Frederick's 300th birthday are showing a new, relaxed pride in the much-disputed figure and in Prussia itself, long considered a byword for the militarism glorified by the Nazis.
Between 1740 and 1786, Frederick the Great transformed Prussia from a small, barren territory into a mighty European power by waging wars with a well-trained, disciplined army.
He also abolished torture and promoted religious tolerance and education, and the arts and sciences flourished under his rule.
A revised view of such a pivotal historical figure, coming as modern German politicians are pushing their diplomatic and economic agenda in Europe, is an important step for a country still in the process of defining what its international role should be in the 21st century.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Good! Frederick was the closest to humane of virtually all of the ‘divine right’ despots. He has been made into a political caricature by both idolaters and detractors. The real man is complex and interesting.
He is the Prince of Prussia.
?
Frederick did not have children.
You may be right. His nephew inherited the throne.
My ancestors were from Prussia.
Where are my reparations?
Mine too! My Grandfather said that we were Prussian royalty.
I need some cash.
My ancestors were run out of every nation in Europe after they got caught showing a princess their horn.
I hope the German people drop this sissy liberal euro-fag phase and get back to their roots.
According to Casanova, who was offered a job by Frederick the Great, Frederick had a regiment of soldiers who all wore a pocket watch. This distinction was reportedly conferred on the soldiers after they had had sexual relations with Frederick.
He and Catherine the Great colluded to pretty much delete Poland from existence.
It was ironic that Prussia was basically a vassal state of Polish kingdom at one point.
...and not that Catherine II of Russia was an awful person. She didn’t want to be referred to as “The Great”, it was her subjects that conferred that title upon her. She was one of the earlier proponents of the enlightenment. She was a pen pal with Voltaire and others of his ilk.
I asked a German friend once if the word in German for Poland didn’t mean “buffer zone.” He didn’t think it was too funny. Another time at some party a Japanese girl asked one of my Chinese friends what city in China he was from. I said, “Let’s hope not Nanking.” My other Chinese friend thought that was rude but I told him that kids her age in Japan had absolutely no clue about what Japan did there back then because their history classes had been “cleaned up.”
That’s amazing. Of course we here in America have pretty much cleansed our schools of history as well.
An exception to this course was the period between 1949 and 1966, when Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhardt ran the country. Both were strong believers in small government and free markets and were solidly anti-Communist.
Just the other day, I saw a video on this site in which a high school student in the state of Washington told an interviewer that the US won its independence in the Korean War--so Korea must have ruled us before we became independent.
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