Frederick the Great Character Analysis

Frederick the Great was an 18th-century Prussian king whose military feats and social reforms are credited with establishing Prussia as a major European power, paving the way for German unification a century later. As a young man, Frederick was more interested in philosophy and music and had a difficult relationship with his domineering father Frederick Wilhelm. This journey, to Nietzsche, is what made Frederick an avatar of an “audacious” German skepticism which is far more redeemable than other manifestations of such an attitude. Frederick conquered despite his own personal misgivings and yet never lost his sense of self as an enlightened monarch, demonstrating how to be noble in worldly matters.