Frederick William I was a skilled and smart leader, wise king, and successful politician. Among his accomplishments, there are such examples as creating a strong image of Prussia, due to which other countries started to respect it, developing the army, making Prussia to rise, creating a working bureaucracy system, etc.
Explanation:
Frederick William I was born on the 14th of August, 1688, and died on the 31st of May, 1740. Apart from being the king in Prussia, he was also known as “the soldier king”, since he was passionate towards army and soldiers, and, consequently, managed to make the Prussian army thriving.
The troops and soldiers had all the things that were needed, and everything was efficient and useful in the military. Along with the creation of a successful bureaucracy system, it was the reason why Frederick William I made it possible for Prussia to rise and develop.
Moreover, Frederick William I held the position of the Elector of Brandenburg, which meant that he could take part in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. He was the first Prussian representative who was taken seriously in this role, as, before that, Prussia was treated mostly as a cause for fun in eastern Europe.
The background of that was the previous Duke of Prussia, George William, who was claimed to be incompetent and too dependent on the self-centered noble people, whose suggestions were directed only towards their selfish goals. It was he who left Prussia wretched after the war with almost no army and no image before Frederick William came to rule.
Consequently, due to the wise ruling and considerable development, he got one more nickname, “the great elector”. It meant that Frederick William had managed to build the image of his country and made the representatives of other lands treat him seriously.
One more name that Frederick William I held was “Prince of Neuchatel”. The Republic and Canton of Neuchatel was a French-speaking canton (small town) in western Switzerland, which was ruled by many different politicians throughout the years. Frederick I and then his successors also ruled it for almost a century, although, it was taken from Frederick William III of Prussia by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
It is impossible to deny that Frederick William I was a skilled and smart leader, wise king, and successful politician. Despite that, his relationships within a family were not so sparkling. His oldest son and future heir, Frederick II (Fritz), born in 1712, with age, developed a personality that was opposite to his father’s.
That inevitably led to misunderstandings and quarrels in terms of education and lifestyle. One way or another, by the end of Frederick William’s life, they have had quite peaceful, reasonable communication, and later Fritz succeeded his father and came to rule Prussia. As a result of his ruling, he had even got the name “Frederick The Great”.
So, it can be agreed that, although father and son did not see eye to eye, the son’s way of ruling was not worse, and, in addition, he inherited some positive, admirable character traits.
To sum up, Frederick William I did his best in the situation in which he was inheriting the country from his ancestor. He proved to be a wise and skillful king and leader in terms of military and politics.
However, his army was not completely perfect – Frederick II discovered that in an actual fight, the regiment was not so excellently prepared and skilled. Moreover, some researchers claim that the roots of the Nazi’s Aryan race, consisting of tall blond people with blue eyes and light skin, were inspired by the Giants from the Prussian army.