1 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,160 In the spring of 1945, 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,520 Adolf Hitler retreated to the Fuhrerbunker, 3 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,880 16 metres below the streets of Berlin. 4 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:26,200 The Russian army was closing in on the German capital, 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,560 World War II was all but over. 6 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:37,120 But even in his last days, Hitler refused to accept defeat. 7 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,880 He continued to draw inspiration from the deeds of his hero, 8 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,120 a legendary German leader whose portrait was the only image 9 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,400 to adorn the walls of Hitler's private shelter - 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,200 Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia. 11 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,280 200 years earlier, 12 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,960 Frederick the Great had transformed Prussia 13 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:13,960 into a formidable military state. 14 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:20,040 In the 19th Century, it was this iron kingdom that would 15 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,000 create for the first time, a single unified Germany. 16 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,760 And in the 1930s, 17 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,400 Hitler fused the glorious history of this old Prussia 18 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:33,080 to his Nazi regime. 19 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,120 But this association would be a disaster for Frederick's reputation 20 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,400 and for the future of Prussia itself. 21 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,320 For there was another Prussia, and another Frederick. 22 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,800 Frederick the Great was also a self-styled philosopher king, 23 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,040 an intellectual heavyweight, 24 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,440 a talented musician, philosopher, historian and poet. 25 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:15,480 Frederick's Prussia was a beacon of enlightenment and culture, 26 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,680 and his life unfolded as an epic drama of scandal, 27 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,920 sacrifice and glory. 28 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,480 So how great was Frederick? 29 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,480 And how did this enlightened monarch 30 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,880 become an inspiration for the most repellent regime 31 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,040 in modern European history? 32 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,440 I want to rediscover Frederick the Great... 33 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,960 ..to unravel the many lives of this extraordinary man, 34 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:51,960 and through his story, 35 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,280 to gain a deeper understanding of the enigma of Prussia. 36 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,040 The Kingdom of Prussia sprang from humble origins. 37 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,240 In the beginning, there was only Brandenburg. 38 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,160 Centred on the city of Berlin, 39 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,320 this would become Prussia's heartland. 40 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:33,680 But in the 17th Century, it was just one of literally 41 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,080 hundreds of separate German sovereignties. 42 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,840 Brandenburg was landlocked, it possessed no defensible geographical 43 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,920 frontiers, there were no rivers or mountain ranges on its boundaries, 44 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,280 it had poor soils over most of its extent 45 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,760 and had little in the way of natural resources. 46 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,600 This was an unpromising backwater. 47 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:04,720 Landlocked Brandenburg was similarly challenged geopolitically. 48 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:09,600 It was surrounded on all sides by predatory neighbouring powers. 49 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:17,360 What we have to understand about Brandenburg is its place on the geopolitical map of Europe. 50 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,680 Brandenburg was situated in a dangerous neighbourhood. 51 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,280 In the east, was the vast empire of Russia, 52 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:27,480 in the north, 53 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,720 Sweden - 54 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,720 one of the most powerful protagonists in the 17th century - 55 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:34,800 in the west, 56 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,600 France and in the south, 57 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,240 the sprawling empire of the Hapsburgs' Austria. 58 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,400 And sandy Brandenburg was in the no man's land 59 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,800 between these major European powers. 60 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:59,600 Deep in the bowels of Berlin Cathedral... 61 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,120 ..lie the bones of the Hohenzollern dynasty. 62 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,560 This is the clan of Protestant noblemen that would lead 63 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:18,240 the transformation of modest Brandenburg into a European power. 64 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,520 By the close of the 17th Century, 65 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:25,400 they had acquired a collection of territories that stretched 66 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,480 like an uneven line of stepping stones across Central Europe. 67 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:34,680 This included on its Eastern frontier the Duchy of Prussia, 68 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,320 and after Frederick's grandfather was crowned king there, 69 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,160 all Hohenzollern lands became known as Prussia. 70 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,640 Yet the Kingdom remained geopolitically exposed 71 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,720 and nobody felt this inherent vulnerability 72 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,400 more acutely than Frederick William I. 73 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:58,720 Nicknamed the Soldier King, 74 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,560 he began to create a Prussian military machine. 75 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:04,880 Good news for Prussia, 76 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:10,280 bad news for his eldest son, the future Frederick the Great. 77 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,880 Bonsoir. Je suis... 78 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,720 Professeur, Docteur...? Clarke. 79 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,720 Clarke. Riding on your own horse. 80 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,040 Yes, I've left my horse outside. I hope that's OK? 81 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:33,040 It's better so. 82 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,920 We're in the Charlottenburg Palace, 83 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,920 built in 1701, and in the early part of the 18th Century, 84 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,200 this place became a major cultural centre. 85 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,160 Like many of his forbears, the Crown Prince Frederick 86 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,600 loved painting, music and literature, the arts of peace. 87 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:05,400 But the cultured prince was a grave disappointment to his authoritarian father. 88 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:10,600 Frederick William I, his father, wanted him to be a good soldier. 89 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,160 He had to be on horseback and he had to learn to shoot 90 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,520 and he had to learn discipline, 91 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,000 and Frederick was not really interested as a young boy in military things at all. 92 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:27,080 He started reading French books and tried to read Latin, 93 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,920 and he was not allowed to because his father hated French books and hated Latin, 94 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:33,800 and he had to do this in the night. 95 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,720 By the age of 16, the crown prince was leading a double life. 96 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:45,920 Outwardly he conformed to a gruelling regime imposed by his father, 97 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,400 but in secret, 98 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,600 he continued to pursue his artistic passions. 99 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:02,560 This was no ordinary teenage rebellion. 100 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,000 Frederick's rift with his father escalated 101 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,080 into a vicious psychodrama. 102 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,560 Sensing that his son was drifting away from him, 103 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,080 Frederick William became increasingly violent. 104 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:19,640 He frequently cuffed, slapped and humiliated the prince in public. 105 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:25,120 Frederick thought that his father hated him, and I think he was right. 106 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,560 And in my opinion he really, really hated his father. 107 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:35,120 This clash was nothing new in Hohenzollern family history, 108 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,000 but never before had the struggle between father and son 109 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,640 been waged with such emotionally and psychological intensity. 110 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:49,120 In 1730, fearing a rift with Austria, 111 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:53,360 the King blocked Frederick's proposed marriage to an English princess. 112 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,160 For the 18-year-old prince, this was the final straw. 113 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:04,560 He hatched a plan to run away to England to begin a new life in exile, 114 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:10,040 an act of high treason that scandalised the courts of Europe. 115 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:15,080 But the flight was a fiasco and, inevitably, Frederick was captured. 116 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:25,280 The King was incandescent with rage and here at Kustrin, 117 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,040 the site of a mighty Prussian fortress, 118 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,920 he has his own son thrown in jail. 119 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,200 Frederick was here for two months 120 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,520 from September 5th, and he was in a prison without an exit. 121 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:45,920 And at this time, Fredrick himself expected his own execution. 122 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:51,280 Do you think the King would actually have executed his own son? Is that conceivable? 123 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:52,880 I am quite sure. 124 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,160 But the King discovered that his son had an accomplice. 125 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,640 Hans Hermann von Katte, a dashing young officer, 126 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,000 had become the prince's closest friend, 127 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,400 and it was Katte who would suffer the full force of the King's fury. 128 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,880 Frederick's life would be spared. 129 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,520 Let's go to the spot where it must have been. 130 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,240 But the prince would be forced to witness 131 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,600 the gruesome spectacle of his friend's execution. 132 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:36,400 The execution was public, but especially it was a performance 133 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:42,240 for the crown prince who was in the castle. And the window was high. 134 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:46,520 Two servants had to hold Frederick... 135 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,680 ..so he could see Katte passing the wall. 136 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,280 And there this last dialogue took place. 137 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:01,160 Prince: "Please, my dear Katte, forgive me what I do with you." 138 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,800 And Katte replied in French, of course, 139 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:09,680 "My prince, I would like to do this for you a thousand times." 140 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:14,840 And then he fainted. 141 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,240 Within three years of Katte's death, 142 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,720 resigned to his dynastic obligations as heir to the throne, 143 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:42,040 Frederick reluctantly agreed to marry an Austrian-approved bride. 144 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,160 But the trauma inflicted here at Kustrin 145 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:52,760 would forever shape this future king's personal and political character. 146 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:58,240 This was a man who threw up defences around himself, 147 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,120 he became a highly artificial person. A man of artifice - 148 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,760 not of deception, I don't think, but of dissimilation, 149 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,800 a man who became accustomed to playing a role. 150 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,280 He once said to an intimate friend that he felt he was a mirror 151 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,600 that dared not be what nature made it, 152 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,360 but was obliged always to reflect what was around it. 153 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:25,760 And this appalling, traumatic experience also had political ramifications. 154 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,040 It was the Austrians who had opposed the English marriage, 155 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:34,400 and it was the Austrians who advised King Frederick William I of Prussia 156 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,640 about the length of his son's imprisonment and, ultimately, 157 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,320 it was the Austrians who forced him to marry his wife - 158 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,520 she was an Austrian candidate, chosen by the Austrian court. 159 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,680 It would be seven years before Frederick could wreak his vengeance 160 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:57,600 upon Austria, a period in which the crown prince 161 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,960 would again astound the courts of Europe, 162 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,040 this time as a radical writer, 163 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:08,680 an intellectual heavyweight of the age of enlightenment. 164 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:23,200 The 18th Century was an era of enlightened monarchs - Charles III, Leopold II of Tuscany, 165 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:28,000 even to some extent Catherine of Russia - but none contributed 166 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,800 to the enlightenment as active cultural producers in the way that Frederick did. 167 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:38,360 And I think what that tells us is something about the seriousness of the philosophical side 168 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,800 of that curious double existence Frederick led, 169 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:43,720 the existence of a philosopher king. 170 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,960 Frederick's intellectual mentor 171 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,680 was none other than the French philosopher Voltaire, 172 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:56,640 the most celebrated mind of his age. 173 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,800 It was under Voltaire's direct tutelage that his royal apprentice 174 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,800 wrote and published this... 175 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:14,520 ..a provocative essay in which, with remarkable eloquence, 176 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:20,280 the precocious young prince radically redefined the nature of kingship. 177 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,680 Well, this is extraordinary. 178 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:29,720 I'm holding Frederick the Great's Anti-Machiavel, 179 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:34,840 a treatise expressing his vision of a virtuous kingship in opposition 180 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:39,080 to Machiavelli's Prince, an essay which stressed the importance 181 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,480 of the quest for glory and riches. 182 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:48,320 In contrast to that, Frederick sets out a vision of kingship which is about sustaining the welfare 183 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,520 of the state, the happiness of one's subjects and so on. 184 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:57,640 And that's what I have in my hands here, the King's own manuscript in tiny beautiful handwriting. 185 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,800 It's really quite a remarkable thing. 186 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,640 "To gain the affection of the people and the great, 187 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,600 "it is necessary for a prince to be humane and gracious, 188 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,240 "to have a fund of probity and virtue, 189 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,240 "and to inspire confidence through wisdom." 190 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,760 The Anti-Machiavel was a ground-breaking work of political philosophy... 191 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,680 ..a manifesto for all aspects of statecraft, 192 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,680 including a blueprint for war. 193 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,040 In May 1740, Frederick's father died. 194 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:49,320 His son announced his new reign with a spectacular act of vengeance and daring. 195 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:55,520 He unleashed war on the empire that had long overshadowed Prussia, 196 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:00,560 intimidated his father and inflicted such misery on Frederick himself - 197 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,800 Hapsburg, Austria. 198 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:08,080 In December 1740, just seven months into his reign, 199 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:14,400 Frederick amassed 27,000 troops on the banks of the River Oder. 200 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,000 Their objective, to invade and conquer Silesia, 201 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,080 the richest province of the Hapsburg Empire. 202 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,680 To the astonishment of all of Europe, 203 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,560 the philosopher king was waging war. 204 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,640 HE SPEAKS IN GERMAN 205 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:02,720 The decision to launch an unprovoked strike on Silesia 206 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,840 was taken by the King alone, 207 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:09,200 against all the advice of his military and diplomatic aides. 208 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,480 It was the single most important political act of Frederick's life. 209 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,240 "I've crossed the Rubicon," Frederick declared, 210 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:24,240 invoking the military exploits of none other than Julius Caesar. 211 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:43,400 Six weeks after crossing the River Oder, virtually all of rich Silesia, 212 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,440 including the Catholic capital Breslau, was in Prussian hands, 213 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,440 and Frederick had no intention of letting go. 214 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,560 Over the next five years, 215 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,040 Frederick fought and won two Silesian wars, 216 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,960 changing forever the balance of power in Central Europe. 217 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,560 "Never will Austria get over the pain of Silesia's loss," 218 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,520 the King later reflected, 219 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:13,760 "Never will it forget it must now share its authority in Germany with us." 220 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:24,160 What astounded contemporaries about Frederick's Silesian adventure 221 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,720 was the formidable performance of the Prussian army. 222 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,720 All of Europe marvelled at the co-ordinated movement 223 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,120 of its infantry, advancing like moving walls. 224 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,480 Relentless, unstoppable, 225 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,240 an awesome weapon fashioned by Frederick's father. 226 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,520 Of course, this is the inheritance of the soldier scheme. 227 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,960 This is one of the qualities Frederick inherited from his father. 228 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:59,680 Frederick really preferred long, tall soldiers who had to be trained in 229 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:05,800 single movements like one battalion, as a single man moving like walls. 230 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:11,920 The underlying principle was keeping the soldiers in line, which may sound somewhat trivial. 231 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,240 But assembling a whole army of 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers 232 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:22,640 is only possible if each single man would do what was required. 233 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:36,680 During his Silesian campaigns, Frederick began to turn Prussia into a highly militarised state. 234 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,560 To his men "Fritz", as they affectionately called him, 235 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,440 was a fearless comrade who led from the front, 236 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,880 dressed in this plain blue uniform. 237 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,400 It's a simple officer's coat, 238 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,360 a shabby uniform, dirty, 239 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:05,680 full of stains to show, as a true philosopher, 240 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,400 that outward appearance means nothing. 241 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,440 "I'm the servant of Prussia, 242 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,760 "I'm the servant of the people 243 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:22,360 "and I do not allow myself a personal luxury." 244 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:33,000 This is about as close as we are going to get to the real Frederick, and there's something touching about 245 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,880 the sense of proximity you get when you are confronted with 246 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,480 an object so intimately associated with the person of this king. 247 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,160 I think it's worth thinking about the effect this jacket must have 248 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,000 had on the King's subjects and what I think it communicated to them 249 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,720 was that the man inside the uniform was in some ways less important than the uniform itself. 250 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,360 And this is where I think it becomes very psychologically interesting. 251 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:03,840 It's an act of self effacement, it's a refusal to be recognised 252 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:10,200 as an individual, and I think the roots of that self effacement lie very deep in this king's character. 253 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,440 The fact he grew up in an environment where he was absolutely forbidden 254 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:21,840 to be what he wanted to be, and I think that habit of self effacement stays with the King 255 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:28,200 throughout his life, and that's one reason why he feels comfortable in this anonymous, symbolic jacket. 256 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,480 In the first five years of his 46-year reign, 257 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,840 Frederick transformed and enlarged Prussia through war. 258 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,960 There now followed over a decade of peace... 259 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,920 ..11 years in which the King's artistic life 260 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,480 blossomed at a beautiful summer palace 261 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,200 that came to embody Frederick's cultural world. 262 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:16,360 When Frederick the Great took over the throne in 1740, he had 263 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:20,000 the problem that in Potsdam there was only the city palace 264 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,280 and there was no garden, and it was so fashionable 265 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:29,360 in the mid-18th Century to have a garden to the palace that he was looking for a garden spot somewhere. 266 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:33,000 He found this little mountain, he bought it, and if you have a garden 267 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,880 you know you need a garden house somehow and this is, if you like, the beginning of Sanssouci. 268 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,920 It has only 12 rooms, so it's a little garden house. 269 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,840 The Palace of Sanssouci, French for "without a care," 270 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,080 was an extraordinary cultural statement. 271 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:57,600 Here was a Prussian king whose palace was more French orangery than German castle, 272 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:02,000 and whose inner circle looked to France for its intellectual inspiration. 273 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,280 He invited friends, there were several philosophers and so on. 274 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,760 Most famous Voltaire, for example, who lived here for three years. 275 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,640 And they would come here for the day, 276 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,200 and then have discussion circles or dinners. 277 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:23,160 His idea of this place was to live between the real world 278 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,360 and the world he was dreaming of, I think. 279 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,120 Away from the bustle of the royal court in Berlin, 280 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:37,560 Sanssouci was Frederick's spiritual home, 281 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,640 and it was in the music room here 282 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,480 that he won a reputation as a prolific composer and gifted musician. 283 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:02,440 He probably could be considered one of the most competent amateur flute players there ever was. 284 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,080 All the composers at the court 285 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,000 wrote flute pieces and some were immensely difficult. 286 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,280 The ones he wrote for himself also contain quite difficult passages. 287 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,040 Even now, a flute player who could play all those materials 288 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,240 with ease would be a highly accomplished flute player. 289 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,560 So he was a highly accomplished player, 290 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,040 but why choose the flute? For a number of reasons. 291 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,680 Firstly, the flute has a long-standing association with military practice. 292 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:37,320 At the same time, it was an instrument that you could play with elegance and ease. 293 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,800 You would not find a king playing the trumpet for example, or the violin, 294 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:47,600 which involved too much contortion of the body. Secondly, the flute had been developed from the simpler 295 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:52,800 cylindrical instrument of the renaissance into this three piece, highly ornamented instrument 296 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:56,880 of the early 18th Century by French makers and players. 297 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,160 It was the French players who gave the flute 298 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,880 a sort of "elan" that it hadn't had before. 299 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,280 The highly acculturated milieu of Sanssouci 300 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,000 would become a recurrent theme in representations 301 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,720 of Frederick long after his death, but one person who didn't enjoy 302 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,240 the pleasures of the King's summer palace was his wife. 303 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:34,200 Frederick was married to Elisabeth Christine from Brunswick-Bevern 304 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,680 and she was not living here in Sanssouci - there was no space for her. 305 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:43,320 She was only once visiting this place and she saw there was no space for her and she left again. 306 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,360 There was not really love between Frederick and Christine. 307 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,200 They had no children, 308 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,560 she had her duties, he had his and that was it. 309 00:25:54,320 --> 00:26:00,720 The King did not divorce his wife, banish her from the country or replace her with mistresses, 310 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:06,760 but he became notorious for the remarkable lack of feeling he displayed towards her, 311 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:12,920 leading contemporaries and historians alike to speculate about Frederick's sexuality. 312 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,400 It's nowadays often asked whether Frederick the Great was gay or not, 313 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:22,720 and it's a delicate question because gayness in the 18th Century means something... 314 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:28,840 Well, of course it means the same thing as nowadays, but it has a different importance, mainly 315 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:35,520 in this social level because at the court it would be interesting if someone else is from the same 316 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,360 social level, but not really if he is from this sex or the other sex. 317 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,800 So Frederick, he had partners, 318 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,880 "les favoris," he had men, 319 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:49,080 but he had to press his feelings under the carpet. 320 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:55,400 And so I think in the psychology of this king, of this man, it is a very important aspect to him. 321 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:02,120 Even in his most private domain, the most powerful man in the land 322 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:07,640 was once more the mirror that dared not be what nature made it. 323 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:13,280 Perhaps the closest expression of his true self we can hope to find is in his music. 324 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,920 For me, it's a music with sufficient profundity to say 325 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,600 that he was somebody who wrote from a true necessity to make music, 326 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,200 it wasn't just a pose. 327 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,000 The predominant affect is melancholy. 328 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,800 There are moments of almost choleric agitation. 329 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,320 Anger...sadness...passion, 330 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,200 as if he is overtaken by a moment of passion. 331 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,200 There's a sense that it was for him a genuine and truthful expression. 332 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,400 It was 11 years since Frederick had been to war, 333 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:05,400 but in January 1756, the King made a rare strategic blunder. 334 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,160 He was manoeuvred into an ill-judged alliance with the British 335 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:16,520 that alienated Prussia's powerful neighbours and plunged his kingdom into crisis. 336 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,840 This was a diplomatic disaster. 337 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:26,760 Prussia was now encircled by a mighty coalition comprising France, Austria and Russia. 338 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,920 Frederick faced the prospect of a war on three fronts, 339 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,920 a war that could threaten Prussia's very existence. 340 00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:41,120 Frederick's reaction was characteristically decisive and typically do or die. 341 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,320 He packed his flute, saddled up his horse 342 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:51,120 and once again prepared his army to strike first. 343 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,000 In August, Frederick invaded Saxony, 344 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,480 the most powerful of Prussia's rival German states. 345 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:13,720 Taking Saxony would reduce the threat of an attack on Berlin, 346 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,200 but this was a high risk move. 347 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:22,120 Frederick's Prussia was plunged into its longest and bloodiest war. 348 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,560 The King would spend the next seven years on horseback, 349 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:29,640 riding thousands of miles, 350 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:36,120 commanding his armies and micro-managing his kingdom from the saddle. 351 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:42,160 Lose, and Prussia could be returned to its primordial condition 352 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,200 as a landlocked German backwater. 353 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,520 At eight o'clock in the morning on the 5th of November 1757, 354 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,160 Frederick stood in this very spot 355 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,560 on the morning of a great battle, 356 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:04,400 and across these fields stood 40,000 French and Austrian troops. 357 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,400 The Prussian army was outnumbered two to one. 358 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,680 Things had not been going well for the Prussians thus far, 359 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:16,960 but the Battle of Rossbach would prove a crucial turning point in the King's fortunes 360 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:21,240 In previous campaigns, 361 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,240 there had been little hint of Frederick's individual genius on the battlefield. 362 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:29,920 Oh, this is incredible. 363 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:33,400 But in what would become known as the Seven Years' War, 364 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,480 Fritz would prove to be Prussia's most potent weapon. 365 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,680 MAN SPEAKS GERMAN 366 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,400 OK, so this is the diorama of the Battle of Rossbach, 367 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,280 fought on the 5th of November 1757. 368 00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,720 Nobody knows the Battle of Rossbach more intimately than Herr Wenzel. 369 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:08,400 So after a briefing from the master, let's see if I can explain. 370 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,480 So the French marched in a great arc behind these hills 371 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,440 and emerged into this space here. 372 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,520 You can see the French troops just here pushing forward. 373 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,920 When Frederick saw the French troops were trying to outflank his position, 374 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,240 he used one of the oldest tricks in the book - he faked a retreat. 375 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:38,520 The French fell for this trick hook, line and sinker and went into pursuit mode. 376 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,640 At this point, out of sight from the French positions, 377 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,760 the Prussians started bombarding the front of the French lines, the French cavalry. 378 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:53,600 And in that moment, 3,300 Prussian cavalrymen 379 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,240 pushed in and made its first attack. 380 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,760 At this point, two very bad things happened to the French. 381 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:08,000 The first is their forward-marching infantry columns are subjected to artillery fire. 382 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,920 That's bad enough. 383 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:15,120 But at that moment, the marching columns of Prussian infantry 384 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,000 close like the blades of a scissors, 385 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,040 cutting into the flanks of the French. 386 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,800 And this is really Frederick's doing. 387 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:29,160 Prussia's enemy was a coalition force of mixed nationalities, 388 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,240 its commanders speaking different languages, 389 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,560 its troops' loyalties divided. 390 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:39,200 But Frederick boasted a tightly-organised, highly-motivated, 391 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:40,960 beautifully-drilled army, 392 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:46,000 united behind a single inspirational leader. 393 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,040 Rossbach was Frederick's most important military victory. 394 00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:58,760 The French columns were broken up and destroyed, 395 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,880 the day was decided in a matter of minutes. 396 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:06,720 The Prussians lost 500 men, the enemy lost 10,000 397 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,000 and, most important of all, 398 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:15,240 it's at Rossbach that Frederick emerged as a truly brilliant military commander. 399 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,040 After his victory at Rossbach, 400 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,640 Frederick rode over 200 miles east 401 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,920 to face the Austrians at Leuthen in Silesia. 402 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:38,920 Once again outnumbered by almost two to one, 403 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,240 the Prussians won a famous victory. 404 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:46,400 Leuthen would become the most celebrated battle of Frederick's life, 405 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,880 a triumph that would seal his place in history 406 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:55,360 as a military genius on a par with Caesar and Napoleon. 407 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:59,280 As the Prussians marched from the battlefield at Leuthen, 408 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:03,720 legend has it that a single soldier began to sing. 409 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,880 He was immediately joined by the entire host 410 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:11,160 in a spontaneous rendition of a famous hymn of thanksgiving, 411 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:17,400 known thereafter and to this very day as the Chorale Of Leuthen. 412 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:29,960 Napoleon later claimed that Frederick's achievement at the Battle of Leuthen alone 413 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:35,160 placed him among the greatest commanders of all time. 414 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:37,760 Nearly two centuries after the event, 415 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:41,560 the famous victory was dramatically re-enacted 416 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,640 in a Nazi propaganda film. 417 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:48,680 Long after his death, Frederick's epic victories 418 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,120 would become the stuff of legend. 419 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:59,320 But a gruelling war on three fronts stretched Prussia to its very limit, 420 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,480 and not even Frederick the Great was infallible. 421 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:14,440 In August 1759, Frederick arrived here in Kunersdorf 422 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:20,120 to face his greatest fear, the massive Russian army, 423 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,320 which had made it to within just 90km of Berlin. 424 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,720 Initially, Frederick's men overwhelmed the enemy, 425 00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:31,760 but the King then made a critical mistake. 426 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:37,840 The Prussian king, who decided that we continue our attack, 427 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:41,920 he saw only the flat land. 428 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:46,760 There is a very deep valley, a deep depression. 429 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,800 This is the famous Kuhgrund. Kuhgrund. 430 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,480 In this direction, about 1km. 431 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,200 You have to go down and climb up, 432 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:01,840 but they have to order their lines before the next attack. 433 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:09,000 This ordering continues. The Russian fire was destructive for the army. 434 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:16,160 The attack was stopped because there was no army any more, 435 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,480 only a group of fleeing soldiers. 436 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,240 Kunersdorf was a disaster. 437 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:34,120 19,000 Prussian casualties, 6,000 of them dead on the field 438 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,400 and most of the Prussians who were killed were killed just here, 439 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:41,440 in the Kuhgrund, as they made their way towards the Russian lines. 440 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,320 The King himself had two horses shot from under him. 441 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,160 Musket balls tore holes in his jacket. 442 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,800 One of which was deflected by the King's snuffbox. 443 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:57,000 A letter he wrote that evening to one of his ministers captures a sense of the King's despair. 444 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,760 "A cruel reverse," he wrote. 445 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:06,400 "I shall not survive it, everything is lost." 446 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,360 During the Seven Years' War, 447 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,440 Frederick won just 8 out of 16 major battles. 448 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:23,880 Kunersdorf was far from unique, but, remarkably, 449 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,360 the Russians failed to capitalise. Frederick held out 450 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,680 and Prussia fought on for another five years, 451 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:37,440 its resilience personified by a notorious class of loyal warriors. 452 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:43,200 In order to understand the success of Frederick's military machine, 453 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:49,480 we need to understand the ethos and culture of the noble class who ran it, the Prussian Junkers. 454 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:58,040 In Frederick's view, the Junkers, Prussia's conservative land-owning nobility, 455 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,240 were the only group capable of serving as officers in the military. 456 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,000 As such, they enjoyed a unique relationship with the Prussian state. 457 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,560 Hello, please come in! 458 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:16,880 And the Kleists are one of the oldest of these Prussian noble families. 459 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:27,520 It's sometimes said that the officer class and the Prussian nobility 460 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,920 are essentially the same thing. Is that true? 461 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:35,040 It is true that under Frederick's guidance, 462 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,800 in those days, most of the higher ranking officers 463 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:40,080 were noblemen. 464 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:47,600 Only the eldest son inherits the estate and the younger sons have to go. 465 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:54,480 So they served as civil servants or officers, 466 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,480 and created a so-called Dienstadel. 467 00:38:57,480 --> 00:38:58,960 A service nobility. 468 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:00,200 Service nobility. 469 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:07,440 And it was a question of honour to serve le Roi de Prusse. 470 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,160 And of course the King has this view that only the nobility had a true honour code, 471 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:15,400 and therefore only the nobility was fitted for service in an officer role. 472 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:20,280 That was the idea of Frederick's father. 473 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,800 He invented, so to speak, a code of honour, 474 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:29,800 and the young Frederick the Great was very intelligent to use it. 475 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:38,560 It all belongs to the militarisation of the whole country. 476 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:44,840 Frederick the Great concentrated the whole country on his military ideas. 477 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:52,160 And I feel that it is not only the Frederick times, 478 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:58,880 but a general Prussian feeling, a feeling that we do something for our fatherland. 479 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:07,000 During Frederick's military campaigns, 1,500 officers died, 480 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:11,520 a toll concentrated on a small group of noble families. 481 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,960 This collective loss of its young men 482 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:20,480 earned the Junkers a powerful and permanent bond with the state. 483 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:28,200 Their values became a defining feature of successive Prussian regimes in war and in peace. 484 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:34,560 Of course, this nobility internalised military service 485 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,240 as a way of life, according a high esteem to military virtues, 486 00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:40,720 such as courage, loyalty and discipline. 487 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:45,400 But it's important to remember militarism and bellicosity - militarism and warmongering - 488 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:51,080 are not the same thing. Prussia was not a warmongering state during the reign of Frederick the Great. 489 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:55,520 In fact, it spent less time at war than any of the other major European powers. 490 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,560 Loyalty alone wasn't enough to win the Seven Years' War, 491 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:10,800 but the patriotic resilience of his army 492 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,440 did buy Frederick just enough time to prevail. 493 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:19,120 Ultimately he was saved by a stroke of luck. 494 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:23,600 In 1762, with Prussia's forces all but spent, 495 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:27,400 Tsarina Elizabeth, ruler of Russia, died. 496 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:32,800 Her passing was celebrated in Berlin as the Miracle of Brandenburg. 497 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:38,280 Her successor, Grand Duke Peter, was an ardent admirer of Frederick. 498 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:42,080 Russia's days in the anti-coalition were numbered, 499 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:45,120 the Seven Years' War would soon be over 500 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:51,200 and its end inaugurated 23 years of peaceful Frederician rule. 501 00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:55,880 In the second half of his reign, 502 00:41:55,880 --> 00:42:00,800 diplomacy, Realpolitik and the first partition of Poland 503 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:05,080 would bring Frederick more new territory than he'd gained through war. 504 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:13,600 At home, he worked tirelessly to build the progressive state he had outlined in the Anti-Machiavel, 505 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:19,120 a vision that survives today in the architecture at the very centre of Berlin. 506 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:29,840 Frederick had initially intended that this square 507 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,840 should be a bog-standard, European residential square. 508 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,080 That meant at one end there'd be a palace 509 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:39,160 and then extending from each wing, a royal opera house and a royal library. 510 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:41,960 But what Frederick did was something completely radical. 511 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:47,560 He subtracted the palace from this ensemble and instead, you had an opera on one side, 512 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:52,520 a free-standing library opposite and over in the corner, St Hedwig's Cathedral. 513 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:58,080 Work on this cathedral began in 1745, 514 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,680 after the King got back from the Silesian Wars 515 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:04,440 and St Hedwig was the patron saint of Silesia. 516 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:10,640 This was to be a cathedral for the Catholic subjects of a Protestant kingdom. 517 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:15,920 It was one thing to tolerate the existence of a religious minority 518 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,480 within the borders of your kingdom - that was not uncommon in 18th century Europe - 519 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:22,600 but to establish a building like this 520 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,880 as a projection of tolerance, as a value in its own right, 521 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,320 that was a highly distinctive and unusual gesture. 522 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:32,760 In characteristic, absolutist fashion, 523 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,640 the King intervened personally in every area of state policy, 524 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:40,440 public education the civil service, law, 525 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,480 agriculture, trade and industry. 526 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:47,680 SHE SPEAKS GERMAN 527 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:23,960 Conceived during his last years and published in 1794, 528 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:25,600 eight years after his death, 529 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:30,000 this is perhaps Frederick's greatest domestic achievement. 530 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:37,440 A comprehensive law code which redefined the relationship between the monarchy and the state. 531 00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:43,640 The law code envisaged a world of free citizens, 532 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:50,360 in which the state was sovereign and kings and governments were bound by law. 533 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:56,600 Almost 20,000 paragraphs legislate for every conceivable transaction 534 00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,080 between one Prussian and another. 535 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,080 Before there was a general law code, 536 00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:07,880 the law was embodied in an endless plethora of edicts and decrees. 537 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:13,880 With a law code, suddenly you had transparency, you had glasnost. 538 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:18,680 Frederick's achievements made him a cult figure throughout Europe, 539 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:22,640 but the King himself shunned personal adulation. 540 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:28,040 In his last 20 years, he withdrew almost entirely from his capital. 541 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:31,400 A cranky old man, most likely to be glimpsed 542 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,560 walking his beloved greyhounds at Sanssouci. 543 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:47,080 With the exception of a few coins and medallions, 544 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:50,720 this is the only image which Frederick of Prussia 545 00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:53,520 deliberately propagated of himself 546 00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:58,920 and it's a portrait by Johann Heinrich Christoph Francke. 547 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,920 The King shown here as not a glorious or powerful figure. 548 00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:08,560 He's effectively an old man, we see a tired old man. 549 00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,840 He turns towards us, a face bearing all the marks of age. 550 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:17,120 Cheeks are sunken, lips have fallen, he has clearly lost all his teeth. 551 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:21,360 It really is remarkable that it's by this image 552 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,560 that this king wanted to be remembered. 553 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:28,360 What it really is is a fascinating document 554 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:33,760 which I think captures the King's sense of who he himself was. 555 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:38,800 He perceived himself, I think, as a man whose energies had been consumed 556 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:42,280 by long years of war and long years of work 557 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:46,760 for his subjects, for his kingdom, for the Prussian state. 558 00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:55,880 Frederick the Great died aged 74 559 00:46:55,880 --> 00:47:00,600 in his armchair on 17th August 1786. 560 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:07,560 He had built a progressive, cultured and militarised state. 561 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:13,560 There was no enigma. 562 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,720 We're surrounded by what are often called the arts of peace, 563 00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:19,040 and it might seem impossible to imagine 564 00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:23,320 that the man who led his armies is also the man who designed 565 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:27,280 and financed this extraordinary palace of Sanssouci. 566 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:28,400 Is this a paradox? 567 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,600 I don't think so. It certainly was not a paradox for Frederick. 568 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:35,040 For Frederick it was all part of this sort of Gesamtkunstwerk, 569 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:37,360 the total work of art that was in his life. 570 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:41,200 He was an intensely aesthetic man who thought through everything that he did 571 00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:45,040 in an aesthetic as well as a political and philosophical way. 572 00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:49,320 This cultivation of the arts, of music, 573 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:53,960 of conversation, of philosophy and of reasoned, rational state craft, 574 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,000 they were all cut from one cloth. 575 00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:02,320 There was no paradox here between the Frederick who played the flute and the Frederick who led armies. 576 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:06,760 These two worlds flow together in Frederick's existence 577 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,000 and become one, the contradiction is dissolved. 578 00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:31,440 Most young Germans know next to nothing of Frederick the Great. 579 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:38,120 Even here in Berlin, where the echoes of his memory are everywhere. 580 00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:47,360 You don't have to look too hard to find Frederick's presence in the German capital today. 581 00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:53,360 But among the people, he's a distant, largely forgotten figure, 582 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,960 the memory of his deeds buried by the sheer scale and weight 583 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,600 of Germany's subsequent triumphs and traumas. 584 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:07,920 In the late 19th century, 585 00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,920 Prussia rose under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck 586 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:15,440 to become the political heartland of a single German nation. 587 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:21,120 A Hohenzollern descendant of Frederick's family, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 588 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:25,600 led this unified Germany into the horrors of World War One. 589 00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,480 But it was in the 1930s that Frederick the Great's Prussia 590 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:36,560 would be most emphatically appropriated as a model for the future of Germany. 591 00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:43,680 It's difficult to imagine today, 592 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:47,320 but this was once the site of Potsdam's garrison church. 593 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:52,760 Built in 1735 by Frederick's father, Frederick William I, 594 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,040 the so-called "Soldier-King", 595 00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:58,880 it was an eloquent statement of Prussia's military identity. 596 00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:03,400 In March 1933, 597 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:08,640 this was the setting for a dramatic propaganda spectacle known as the Day of Potsdam. 598 00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:13,280 As Adolf Hitler proclaimed the inauguration of the Third Reich, 599 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,920 wreaths were laid on the tombs of Frederick and his father 600 00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:22,800 and the church resounded to the familiar strains of the Leuthen Chorale. 601 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:29,160 The purpose of the Day of Potsdam was to anchor the Hitler regime in Prussian history. 602 00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:34,440 It proclaimed the fusion of the old Prussia and the new Germany. 603 00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:45,120 In the same year as the Day of Potsdam, 604 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:48,600 Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, 605 00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:52,160 began to take control of the German film studio UFA. 606 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:59,200 Goebbels would raise the Nazification of Frederick's Prussia to a fine art. 607 00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:08,160 For German cinemagoers in the 1930s, 608 00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:11,640 Otto Gebuhr was Frederick the Great, 609 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:15,280 and in films such as Der Grosse Konig, The Great King, 610 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:20,120 Goebbels turned his Frederick into a prototype for Hitler. 611 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:34,400 What do you think these depictions tell us 612 00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:36,960 about Hitler's attitude to Frederick the Great? 613 00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:43,280 First of all, it's so directly to parallel Frederick with Hitler. 614 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:47,120 This only man, this single man, einsam... 615 00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:49,240 Alone? Alone. Solitary. 616 00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:54,320 Having responsibility for these things, this single man deciding everything. 617 00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:56,520 That's the thing which fits to Hitler. 618 00:51:56,520 --> 00:52:01,360 Hitler himself always tried to find parallels in some mystic way, 619 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,720 that the fate which was with Frederick will also be with him. 620 00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:19,880 One thing that's very remarkable about this film 621 00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:23,760 is that various characters make reproaches to the King, 622 00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:28,440 which are the kinds of complaints and reproaches that many Germans were tempted to make of Hitler. 623 00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:35,120 They say, "You've dragged us into a war needlessly, you've sacrificed the welfare of the people." 624 00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:38,320 You spoil everything, you kill the people. 625 00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:47,760 I think this is a very intelligent way of doing propaganda and the idea is, 626 00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:52,600 "OK, if we, the system, which shows you this movie 627 00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:56,800 "already knows about it, all these questions, we know the answers, too. 628 00:52:56,800 --> 00:52:58,440 "We know what you think." 629 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:00,520 It gives them Glaubwrdigkeit. 630 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:03,160 It gives them credibility. Credibility. 631 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:08,240 Frederick the Great won the war and so now Hitler might also, 632 00:53:08,240 --> 00:53:11,360 so don't be afraid that we have too many enemies. 633 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:16,480 To equate Hitler with Frederick the Great, 634 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:22,200 Nazi Germany with Prussia is a ludicrous perversion of history. 635 00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:29,080 The idea that one of Europe's most enlightened and gifted monarchs 636 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:33,640 pre-figured one of the most repellent dictators in modern history 637 00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:36,200 is simply absurd. 638 00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:42,560 But during the final stages of World War Two, 639 00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:46,200 as his downfall became inevitable, 640 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:50,680 Hitler's identification with the Prussian king steadily intensified. 641 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:56,760 The minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, had a very, very big influence. 642 00:53:56,760 --> 00:53:59,760 Goebbels used to read the personal papers 643 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:04,440 and the letters of Frederick the Great, so he could say to Hitler, 644 00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:08,560 "Oh, it's exactly your situation and he reacted exactly like you," 645 00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:12,920 and he gave an imagination that Hitler should think, 646 00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:15,440 "Oh, I am very near to Frederick 647 00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:19,320 "and if I am very near, I will win the war maybe." 648 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:26,920 In the Seven Years' War, Frederick had been saved by the death of the Russian Tsarina, 649 00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:29,680 the Miracle of Brandenburg, 650 00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:36,120 and in April 1945 it seemed that history was repeating itself. 651 00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:42,880 'Aboard a special train, beginning the 24-hour trip back to Washington, 652 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:48,320 'the 31st President of the United States leaves Warm Springs forever.' 653 00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:54,240 So tight was the grip of this historical romance 654 00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:57,440 that the propaganda minister responded with elation 655 00:54:57,440 --> 00:54:59,200 and even a sense of triumph 656 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:02,520 when he learnt the news of the death of the American President, 657 00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:06,240 Franklin Roosevelt, on the 12th April 1945. 658 00:55:06,240 --> 00:55:10,520 He put in the call to Hitler's apartment and said, 659 00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:16,760 "Mein Fuhrer, I congratulate you, Roosevelt is dead, God has not abandoned us." 660 00:55:19,720 --> 00:55:22,000 But this was pure fantasy. 661 00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:30,240 Within a month of Roosevelt's death, Berlin was finally overrun by the Russians. 662 00:55:30,240 --> 00:55:32,480 Germany was defeated. 663 00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:36,760 It was the end for the Nazis and for Frederick's Prussia. 664 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:45,000 After the downfall, the reckoning. 665 00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:54,280 The Allies identified Prussia as the very source of German militarism... 666 00:55:55,600 --> 00:56:02,080 ..an evil seed that had spawned two world wars and inspired Hitler. 667 00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:05,640 Their retribution was swift and decisive. 668 00:56:06,720 --> 00:56:09,280 On the 25th February 1947, 669 00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:13,280 representations of the victorious powers - the United States, 670 00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:17,120 the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and France - met here, 671 00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:22,600 in one of the few government buildings still standing in war-torn Berlin. 672 00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:30,400 Their purpose was to discuss the Prussian problem and their solution was simple and shocking. 673 00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:32,800 Prussia was to be abolished. 674 00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:40,240 In that moment, the entire history of a great European state was cast onto the scrapheap. 675 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:54,880 The Nazi regime cast a long shadow over Germany's past. 676 00:56:55,920 --> 00:57:01,480 But Frederick was too important to lie forgotten for long, 677 00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:05,840 and 30 years ago, he was back in Berlin. 678 00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:12,120 In 1980, the Communist government of East Germany 679 00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:15,840 relocated this equestrian statue of Frederick the Great 680 00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:18,880 to its original position here on Unter den Linden, 681 00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:23,560 in the heart of was then East Berlin, the capital of the German Democratic Republic. 682 00:57:23,560 --> 00:57:31,080 The statue had been removed from the centre of Berlin around the time the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. 683 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:36,960 At that time, Frederick was an unwelcome reminder of Germany's reactionary past. 684 00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:41,360 But by 1980, things had changed and the Communists did a curious U-turn. 685 00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:46,520 They reclaimed the King of Prussia as a socialist hero. 686 00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:50,640 He was re-cast as a king of the beggars, a monarch with a social conscience. 687 00:57:54,480 --> 00:57:58,280 Successive German regimes have found the urge 688 00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:02,560 to reinvent this man in their own image irresistible. 689 00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:06,280 They warped and distorted his memory. 690 00:58:06,280 --> 00:58:12,160 But as we emerge from the shadows of the 20th century, 691 00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:15,720 Frederick remains a man too great to ignore. 692 00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:21,840 It's Frederick's brilliance and complexity 693 00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:24,680 that put him among the great leaders of history. 694 00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:27,120 Figures such as Caesar and Napoleon, 695 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,520 who, whatever we may choose to make of them, 696 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:32,120 so captured the spirit of their age 697 00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:35,880 that it is impossible to imagine the past without them. 698 00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:49,320 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 699 00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:52,880 Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk