Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile

by Gerhard Ritter, Peter Paret (Translator)

GERHARD RITTER'S biography of Frederick the Great onglnated in a series of lectures, which were published with scarcely any revisions in 1936. In this translation, based on the third edition, published in 1954, Paret has tried to convey the hard and precise style that characterizes the German text, while eliminating some of the numerous adjectives and parallel phrases that a lecturer might have found useful for emphasis but which seem unnecessary on the printed page. With the author's agreement also excluded is the brief introduction and epilogue of the original, since they are addressed specifically to the German reader and to German conditions. Gerhard Ritter died in 1967, shortly after the translation was completed.

Genres: History, Biography, 18th Century, Germany, Nonfiction, Military History

226 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1968

About the author

Gerhard Ritter nacque in Turingia,nel 1888.Professore universitario a partire dal 1924,durante gli ultimi anni della seconda guerra mondiale entrò in contatto con i gruppi di opposizione al regime,e fu imprigionato dalla Gestapo.Ripreso l'insegnamento universitario,morì a Friburgo il 1 luglio 1967.

Reviews

[Bernie4444 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannot have too many Freddy biographies

My favorite Freddy writer still is Nancy Mitford. But remember that is one person with one vision. To get a well-rounded view you will also want to read “Frederick the Great” by Gerhard Ritter, translated by Peter Paret (A good translation can make a significant contribution.)

There are a fair index and no bibliography. Only one picture of Freddy before the book starts.

I will not go through the story as that is why you are purchasing the book.

[Legens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sober reminder of how much our own times influence our historiography: While the author sets out to examine Friedrich in the light of his times, he still uses the lens of nationalism alien to the 18th century. Some of the musings about ancestry seem rather off by today's standards too (did Friedrich like French culture because he had Romance ancestors?). Especially the thematic chapters and the historical judgment are very sound, however.

[TS Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entire life in two-hundred pages. Proof that the greatest works are often the shortest.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine book for an undergrad but there are better options out there for those interested in Frederick the Great.

[Rick Chollett · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this I'm still not aware of why he's referred to as "the Great"

[John Fries · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seven Years War was the great world-wide conflict known in the US as The French and Indian War. (Three of my ancestors fought in that war as members of the colony of Pennsylvania's militia).
On the one side in the Seven Years War were Great Britain and her American colonies, allied with the relatively small northern German kingdom of Prussia, arrayed against France, Austria, the majority of the southern and western German states under Austria's control, and Russia. Prussia fought a three front war of survival for seven years, aided by a few northern German allies (mainly Hanover, the portion of Germany still under the control of England's King George II). The leader of the Prussians in this war was Frederick the Great. Frederick and Great Britain fought the war to the stage of mutual exhaustion of all the parties, at which point the war concluded, the victory to Great Britain and Prussia. The causes of the war were the conflicts 1.), between Britain and France over domination of North America and India, and 2.) between Prussia and Austria, over Austria's attempts to dominate Germany and Prussia, and Prussia's attempts to counter Austria, to gain and hold the German/Polish region of Silesia, a part of the process of Frederick's attempts to knit together from his disparate, separated individual land holdings a united, contiguous kingdom.
This book was written in German in the interim between World Wars I and II; Ritter, a German historian, wrote it in an attempt to rescue the interpretation of Frederick's history, and Frederick's reputation, from the claims being put forward in the 1930's by the nationalistic, pro-Arian Nazi party in Germany - who were attempting to co-opt Frederick as a proto-Nazi, trying to frame the Nazi policy agenda as the natural extension of and fulfillment of Frederick's vision for a united, Greater Germany.
Paret's translation is very readable.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in the process of re-reading this wonderful biography of Frederick the Great. This book is an insightful study of Frederick's personality, his upbringing, his political worldview, and his campaigns to make Prussia into a power in central Europe. This is a good read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the chief personality in Prussia's early rise to greatness.

[Steven]

Well written bio on a very complicated man. I thought author's statement that Frederick believed "that the country's economic forces could be strengthened only in conflict with one's neighbors, not by peaceful collaboration." was a spot on explanation of why Frederick had Prussia in an almost constant state of war.

[Alex Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather dense (though easily readable) biography. It isn't much of a narrative, Ritter relies on psychology (a junk science, in my opinion) to analyze parts of Frederick's childhood --- fortunately it was tempered with much insight from political science.

Overall, it was a good book.

But I was looking for a military biography. This wasn't it.