Frederick the Great of Prussia
Great Lives
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Frederick the Great: A Life in Conflict
Frederick's never been popular in Poland. He was part of a remarkable and I think probably unprecedented act of predation, which took place during his reign. The first partition of Poland when together with Austria and Russia, Prussia simply bit chunks out of what had been one of the great polities of Central Europe. After his death, there were two further partitions in the 1790s, which result in the complete disappearance of Poland from the map of Europe. So to me, as somebody who hails from the heartlands of these legacies, that is what fascinates me about him."
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