Frederick the Great King of Prussia

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, dominated the 18th century in the same way that Napoleon dominated the start of the 19th -- a force of nature, a caustic, ruthless, brilliant military commander, a monarch of exceptional energy and talent, and a knowledgeable patron of artists, architects and wr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Blanning, T. C. W. (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Random House, [2016]
Edition:First U.S edition.
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Summary:Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, dominated the 18th century in the same way that Napoleon dominated the start of the 19th -- a force of nature, a caustic, ruthless, brilliant military commander, a monarch of exceptional energy and talent, and a knowledgeable patron of artists, architects and writers, most famously Voltaire. From early in his reign he was already a legendary figure -- fascinating even to those who hated him. Tim Blanning's biography recreates a remarkable era, a world which would be swept away shortly after Frederick's death by the French Revolution. Equally at home on the battlefield or in the music room at Frederick's extraordinary miniature palace of Sanssouci, Blanning draws on a lifetime's obsession with the 18th century to create a work that is in many ways the summation of all that he has learned in his own career. Frederick's spectre has hung over Germany ever since: an inspiration, a threat, an impossible ideal -- Blanning allows us to understand him in his own time.
Item Description:"Originally published by Allen Lane in the UK"--Title page verso.
Physical Description:xxvii, 653 pages : illustrations (some color), map ; 25 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-621) and index.
ISBN:9781400068128
1400068126
Author Notes:Until his retirement in 2009, Tim Blanning was a professor of modern European history at the University of Cambridge, and he remains a fellow of Sidney Sussex College and of the British Academy. He is the general editor of The Oxford History of Modern Europe and The Short Oxford History of Europe . He is also the author of The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture, which won a prestigious German prize and was short-listed for the British Academy Book Prize, the New York Times bestseller The Pursuit of Glory, The Triumph of Music, and The Romantic Revolution . In 2000 he was awarded a Pilkington Prize for teaching by the University of Cambridge.