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Born in Königsberg, Frederick was the third son of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg by his father's first marriage to Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau, eldest daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. His maternal cousin was King William III of England.

Frederick William I, popularly dubbed the "Soldier King", had created a large and powerful army that included a regiment of his famous "Potsdam Giants"; he carefully managed the kingdom's wealth and developed a strong centralised government. He also had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. [6]

Frederick William I ( German: Friedrich Wilhelm I.; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the "Soldier King" ( German: Soldatenkönig ), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel. Frederick William instituted major military reforms, and expanded the army to new limits.

Ruling from his new capital, Berlin, Frederick’s father, Frederick William I, was Prussia’s second monarch. During his reign (1713-1740), Frederick William built up a large, well-trained army ...

King Frederick William I of Prussia, the “Soldier-King,” modernized the Prussian Army, while his son Frederick the Great achieved glory and infamy with the Silesian Wars and Partitions of Poland. The feudal designation of the Margraviate of Brandenburg ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, which made the Hohenzollerns ...

ABSTRACT. This chapter examines the factors complicating and sometimes impeding Frederick William I's efforts to establish his authority throughout Brandenburg-Prussia. In 1703, he began to take part in meetings of the influential Privy War Council, an agency established by his grandfather, the Great Elector, which oversaw all the military ...

The future king and emperor was born William Frederick Louis of Prussia ( Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen) in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin on 22 March 1797. As the second son of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Prince Frederick William, himself son of King Frederick William II, William was not expected to ascend to the throne.

Frederick was the eldest surviving son of Frederick William I, king of Prussia, and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, daughter of George I of Britain. Frederick’s upbringing and education were strictly controlled by his father, who was a martinet as well as a paranoiac.