Frederick William II (German: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was also Prince-elector of Brandenburg and Prince of Neuchâtel.
As a defensive reaction to the French Revolution, Frederick William II ended the German Dualism between Prussia and Austria. Domestically, he turned away from the enlightened style of government of his predecessor and introduced a tightened system of censorship and religious control. The king was an important patron of the arts especially in the field of music. As a skilled cellist he enjoyed the dedication of various cello-centric compositions by Mozart, Haydn, Boccherini, and Beethoven. He also commissioned some of the most notable architecture in Prussia, including the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Marble Palace, and Orangery in the New Garden, Potsdam.
Frederick William was born in Berlin on 25 September 1744, the eldest son of the Prussian Prince Augustus William of Prussia (1722–1758) and Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Initially, Frederick William was second in line to the Prussian throne after his father. His childless predecessor, King Frederick II, had designated his younger brother Augustus William, Frederick William's father, as Prince of Prussia in 1744.
Frederick William was born into a time of war, for Prussia had again been at war (1744–1745) with Austria since 10 August 1744. Since the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Habsburg in 1740, Vienna had been without a male heir to the throne. Although Charles VI had appointed his daughter Maria Theresa as heir with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, this document contradicted the previously valid Salic law, which only provided for male heirs to the throne. Frederick II of Prussia took advantage of the Austrian succession crisis to annex Habsburg Silesia. He thus began the first of a total of three Silesian Wars which, with brief interruptions, were to last until 1763.
On 11 October 1744, Frederick William was baptized in the predecessor of today's Berlin Cathedral. In addition to members of the Prussian royal family, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Tsarina Elisabeth of Russia, Louis XV of France and the Swedish heir to the throne Adolf Frederick were chosen as godparents in keeping with his status. The choice of godparents also demonstrated the king's attempt to isolate Austria in terms of alliance policy. These foreign rulers were not personally present at the baptism, but had themselves represented.
In 1747, King Frederick II removed his three-year-old nephew from the care of his family, who lived in the Berlin Crown Prince's Palace and Oranienburg Palace. He had Frederick William brought to the Berlin Palace and decided on an education in the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, selecting a tutor for his four-year-old nephew.
Nicolas de Béguelin was selected by the king to fulfill this role. Béguelin had studied law and mathematics, then worked at the Imperial Chamber Court in Wetzlar and had been in Prussian service since 1743. He had already come into personal contact with Frederick II and enjoyed his esteem. Béguelin strictly regulated the daily routine of the four- and five-year-old prince: in the morning, the prince learned German and French, the language of the European courts. At noon, he had to invite cavaliers of the court to be introduced to diplomatic manners. After lunch, the language lessons continued in written form, since he could already read and write at the age of five. Only then did he have time to play. But even at this time of day, he had to act out what he had learned with the help of puppets.
Frederick II constantly intervened in education. At the reception of the cavaliers at noon, for example, he demanded that Frederick William not be brought up to be modest and reserved. As a possible successor to the kingship, he was to gain respect among the country's nobility through "Dreistigkeit" (audacity), in accordance with Frederick II's will. The rather shy Frederick William could not meet these demands of his uncle. The high expectations that were placed on the child's behaviour and willingness to perform on a daily basis left little room for carefree hours and child-friendly activities. If the prince did not feel like performing certain tasks or showed defiance, Béguelin would take away his favourite toy or even threaten to beat him.
Frederick William was taught mathematics, science, medicine, law, philosophy and history. Members of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, which under Frederick II brought together important, predominantly French scholars, repeatedly acted as educational mentors. The future king had a solid knowledge of Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Jewish history in particular. Occasionally Béguelin relaxed the lessons by taking the prince on excursions to Berlin manufactories, workshops and art studios. Dancing, fencing and riding were also on the programme. However, he did not receive an education that would have prepared Frederick William for the affairs of state of a reigning monarch.
In 1751, the king chose the well-read and highly educated Major Heinrich Adrian von Borcke for Frederick William's military training. The 36-year-old count showed little pedagogical sensitivity. Reports that Borcke had to write regularly to Frederick II to report on the child's progress show that Frederick William often behaved rebelliously and was punished for it with beatings. When this did not help either, Borcke forbade the prince to have contact with his younger brother Henry. Frederick II approved of this educational practice. On 19 August 1754, he demanded that Frederick William move from Berlin to Potsdam, to his court. The king stated that the aim was to transform Frederick William's sensitive and reserved nature:
"As he (Frederick William) is somewhat shy, I have told all who come to me to tease him in order to make him speak. I am convinced that he will not be embarrassed in front of anyone in the near future."
- Letter from King Frederick II to his younger brother Augustus William of Prussia
Frederick William's youth was overshadowed by the experiences of the Third Silesian War and Seven Years' War (1756–1763).
The war exacerbated tensions between King Frederick II and Frederick William's father, Augustus William, who had been heir presumptive to the throne as Prince of Prussia since 1744. In the autumn of 1757, Frederick II dishonourably dismissed his brother from the Prussian Army over accusations of multiple failures. Some historians suggest that Frederick deliberately used his brother as a scapegoat to distract attention from his own failures as a general, and later transferred his contempt for the younger brother to Frederick William. In fact, Frederick II had treated his nephew no more viciously than those around him before Augustus William's death.
After the death of Frederick William's father, it was not until December 1758 that both Frederick William and his brother Henry were able to visit King Frederick II in his winter camp in Torgau. On this occasion Frederick II confirmed his nephew's position as heir presumptive to the throne and on 13 December 1758 bestowed on him the title and name Prince of Prussia. In this way Frederick II signalled to the outside world that Prussia's existence was secure through his nephew. In fact, however, Prussia faced complete dissolution several times during this war. The Prussian court was often on the run or had to entrench itself in the fortress of Magdeburg.
In the final stages of the Seven Years' War, Frederick II viewed the popularity of the heir to the throne with the soldiers with concern, as it threatened to overshadow his own military fame. In 1762, the Prince of Prussia took part in the Siege of Schweidnitz and the Battle of Burkersdorf. Although Frederick II praised him for his bravery and appointed him commander of a Potsdam infantry regiment, over time the relationship between the monarch and his heir to the throne cooled noticeably.