Lifschitz, AS; (2016) Review of Tim Blanning, Frederick the Great: King of Prussia (London: Allen Lane, 2015). European History Quarterly , 46 (4) pp. 710-712. 10.1177/0265691416658234b.

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Abstract

Frederick II of Prussia – dubbed ‘the Great’ – has acquired such symbolic significance in German history that it is almost impossible to exhume the life and deeds of the eighteenth-century monarch from the layers of subsequent interpretation and myth-making. The Prussian king has rarely been discussed in the media without reference either to Hitler’s veneration of his military ferocity or (less frequently) to his Enlightenment credentials. Indeed, an earlier reviewer of this book in The Economist complained about Tim Blanning’s reluctance to trace Frederick’s afterlife all the way to Hitler in this new biography. Academic historians should, however, be grateful to Blanning precisely for avoiding this well-worn cliché. A better understanding of Frederick the Great can surely be achieved by situating him more firmly within his contemporary intellectual, cultural and socio-political contexts.

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