End of the Seven Years’ War
Maria Theresa and the Elector of Saxony realized that under such
circumstances as these they were in no condition to continue the war
alone against Prussia and that, whether they would or not, they must
take steps to conclude a treaty of peace. The Seven Years’ War had
convinced both of them that they could never take beautiful Silesia from
the hands of their brave enemies, much less humble the Margrave of
Brandenburg. So they extended the hand of peace to the King. The hunting
castle of Hubertsburg[26] was selected as the place for the negotiations
and there the plenipotentiaries made peace, the King of Prussia being
represented by Minister Von Herzberg. As he had fought many enemies in
the field he had to make treaties with many, and they were concluded in
such an honorable and skilful manner that Frederick was once more in
possession of Silesia, and the county of Glatz did not lose a foot of
its old possessions. The treaty was signed February 15, 1763, and caused
unbounded enthusiasm in city and country. Those who have not experienced
the horrors of war have little idea of the true significance of the word
“peace.” It recalls Schiller’s beautiful words: “Gentle peace, sweet
concord, abide with us. May that day never come when war’s hordes shall
devastate this quiet valley and when the evening sky, tinged with
roseate hues, shall reflect the dreadful glare of burning villages and
towns.”
Crowned with victory, the King returned to his capital amid the
rejoicings of his subjects. The Berliners had arranged an ovation for
the homecoming hero. In view of the devastation and misery caused by the
war he declined an immediate reception. On the thirtieth of March, a
little later than he had intended, he entered his capital in the dusk of
evening, remained there a short time, and then hastened on to Potsdam
and Charlottenburg. At the latter place he one day summoned his
musicians and fixed a time at which they should sing the chorale, “We
praise thee, O God.”
They assembled punctually, supposing that the church would be filled
with a large and brilliant audience. Instead of this, the King alone
appeared, seated himself, and gave them the signal. The singers began,
and each one did his utmost to contribute to the success of the
performance. As the music of the hymn of praise, majestic as a song of
cherubim, filled the house of God, Frederick was so affected that he
reverently fell upon his knees and with tears in his eyes expressed his
sincere gratitude to the Almighty for his many deliverances and for the
help which had been vouchsafed him through the long and dreadful war now
so happily ended. It was thus the victorious King celebrated his peace
festival, and his devout attitude was so impressive that there was not a
dry eye among the singers. Never before had they taken part in such a
solemn and inspiring ceremony.
Frederick always spoke freely of the battles in the long war and liked
to hear the accounts of his generals. On one occasion General Seydlitz
was dining with him at Potsdam. After a general conversation, mention
was made of the battle of Rossbach, and the King said: “My dear
Seydlitz, I am greatly indebted to you, to your officers, and to your
whole division for that victory.”
Seydlitz replied: “Excuse me, Your Majesty, not alone my division, but
my chaplain, Balke, also conducted himself most gallantly. When the
battle began he buckled on a sword and fought splendidly.”
“You don’t say so,” said the King. “He must be rewarded in some special
way for such unusual service. The Provost[27] has just died. Balke shall
have the place.” The chaplain was summoned to Potsdam, and was not a
little surprised to receive an appointment to the vacant position.
The King extended his generosity not only in individual cases, but all
over the country. There was urgent necessity to awaken fresh life and
secure prosperity once more for the exhausted provinces. The war, which
had been conducted with great bitterness and sometimes barbarity, had
not only greatly distressed Prussia, but had left all Germany in a
wretched plight. An entire circuit of towns and villages had been
destroyed. The luxuriant fields had been trodden down by hoofs of horses
and were lying waste. Entire villages were destitute of men, for their
former residents had either been killed or driven away by the enemy. The
Prussian army alone lost over two hundred thousand men during the war,
and its allies, England, Hanover, Hesse, and others one hundred and
sixty thousand more. The losses of the enemy were still greater, for
they amounted to more than half a million men. Austria lost one hundred
and forty thousand, Russia, one hundred and twenty thousand, France
twenty-two thousand, Sweden, twenty-five thousand, and the German Reich,
twenty-eight thousand.
Under such circumstances, it is not strange there were not enough men
left in the country to till the soil. Women had to do that work, and in
some places there were not women enough. Consequently the King issued an
order to take a hundred of the strongest boys from the Potsdam Orphan
Asylum, and set them at work in these depopulated localities. He devised
still other means to make up this lack of men. He released Prussians
from the army, filled their places with foreign recruits, and then
ordered that as few Prussians as possible should be enlisted until the
deficiency was made good. The number thus released was thirty thousand
seven hundred and eighty. Every effort was made to assist them in the
habits of self-reliance and industrial life, and orders were also issued
that soldiers in such districts should be allowed to marry without a
license from the authorities. Many buildings abandoned by their owners
were going to ruin, and more than thirteen thousand houses in Prussia
were destroyed. Fertile fields after the war looked like a barren
wilderness, for there was a lack of seed-corn and products, and
implements of every kind needed to put them in good condition again.
Gentry and peasants alike had been plundered by so many armies, and had
lost so much by contributions and confiscations, that they were utterly
destitute. The enemy had left them nothing but their lives. The country
was not the only sufferer. Prosperity was ruined and trade was dead in
the cities. There was no longer any regard for habits of order, and the
police administration was wretched. The courts of justice and financial
institutions had been reduced to inaction by these frequent invasions of
the enemy. The silence of the laws had made the people reckless and
produced in them an uncontrollable greed of gain. Nobles, merchants,
farmers, and laborers raised the prices of their commodities, and their
demands were exorbitant beyond belief. The situation called for drastic
remedies, and the King, who was greatly concerned over the country’s
condition, did not hesitate to apply them in a practical way. He
realized that the Provinces could not recover unaided, and so he decided
to help them. By his orders Silesia had to contribute three million;
Pomerania and Neumark, one million four hundred thousand; the
Electorate, seven hundred thousand; the Duchy of Cleve, one hundred
thousand, and the province of Prussia, eight hundred thousand thalers.
Beside this, he distributed among the most needy localities twenty-five
thousand bushels of rye and meal, and seventeen thousand bushels of oats
taken from the public storehouses. He went even further than this. He
reduced the army, and distributed thirty-five thousand horses among the
peasants and gentry. In those parts of the country which had suffered
most severely during the war, particularly Crossen, Hohenstein, and
Halberstadt, the taxes were reduced one-half. In Silesia the payment of
taxes was suspended for six months, and in Pomerania and Neumark for two
years. The gentry also received considerable sums of money for the
arrangement of their affairs and the payment of debts, for their
resources had been so greatly impaired, money was so scarce, and credit
so uncertain, that there was otherwise no hope for their recovery.[28]
It was not only cities and villages that were ruined during this war.
The discipline of the army was so impaired by dissoluteness that more
stringent regulations had to be adopted. The work, however, proceeded so
slowly that permanent results were not apparent until 1775. From that
time the army displayed the genuine military spirit. Everything except
the regulations governing enlistments had been changed.
It was natural that by the reduction of the army many a deserving
soldier found himself badly off. When the free battalions were
organized, a blacksmith’s journeyman in a Silesian village enlisted in
the one commanded by Quintus Icilius, became a corporal, and
subsequently was promoted to the position of major and was given the
decoration for merit. After the battalion was disbanded, he was left to
shift for himself, and as he could find nothing better went back to the
smithy, but still wore his decoration. Seydlitz found him at work, and
inquired where he got that decoration. He told his story, and Seydlitz
told it to the King. Quintus was in attendance upon the King, and, one
day at table, he said to him:
“Quintus, you had some fine specimens of officers in your battalion.
There is, for instance, a blacksmith journeyman who has decorated
himself with a service badge. How did that Cyclops come by it?”
Quintus replied: “I remember the brave fellow. I wish Your Majesty had
had more such smiths in the campaign. This one certainly did well, and
Your Majesty recognized his service and gave him the decoration in
Saxony.”
“Why have you not told me about him before?” said the King.
Quintus answered: “It has been done, but Your Majesty at the time was
much prejudiced against the free battalions and struck the name of this
brave fellow off the list.”
The King smiled and shaking his head, said: “He has had hard luck and I
must help him some way. Now, listen, I will give the man a pension for
service, but he must not wear his decoration when at work and he must
keep quiet until I call him.”
The quondam major shortly after this received a kindly letter, which
assured him a generous pension and made him the happiest of men.
Considering the care with which this sagacious sovereign looked after
matters in general as well as individual affairs, and devoted himself to
the humblest as well as the greatest in his dominions, it is not
surprising that the ruined towns and villages, and the waste lands as
well, soon presented a changed aspect, but it took years before the
sorely oppressed country recovered entirely from the devastating effects
of war. With the increasing industry of the people, however, and the
unfailing encouragement and assistance of the King in advancing the
interests of commerce, trade, and agriculture, Prussia in time rose to a
higher degree of prosperity and culture than ever before.
Appendix
The following is a chronological statement of the principal events in
the Seven Years’ War:
1756 Frederick invades Saxony.
October 1, 1756 Frederick’s first victory at Lobositz.
1757 Frederick invades Bohemia.
May 6, 1757 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Prague.
June 18, 1757 Frederick defeated by the Austrians at Kollin.
July 26, 1757 French victory at Hastenbeck.
August 30, 1757 Russian victory at Grossjägendorf.
November 5, 1757 Frederick’s great victory at Rossbach.
December 5, 1757 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Leuthen.
August 25, 1758 Frederick defeats the Russians at Zorndorf.
October 14, 1758 Frederick defeated by Austrians at Hochkirch.
August 1, 1759 French defeated at Minden.
August 12, 1760 Frederick defeated at Kunersdorf.
August 15, 1760 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Liegnitz.
November 3, 1760 Frederick’s great victory at Torgau.
January 5, 1762 Death of Czarina Elizabeth and accession of Peter III.
March 3, 1762 Peter makes peace with Frederick.
July 17, 1762 Peter assassinated and succeeded by Catharine.
July 21, 1762 Frederick’s victory at Burkersdorf.
October 29, 1762 Victory of Prince Henry at Freiburg.
Last battle in the Seven Years’ War.
February 10, 1763 Peace between France, England, and Prussia.
February 15, 1763 Peace of Hubertsburg and close of the war.
Footnotes
[1]The Mark or Margravate of Brandenburg was the beginning of the
Kingdom of Prussia. The Nordmark, now in Saxony, was founded by Henry
I in 928 to preserve certain German territory. In 1134 it was granted
to Albert, who took the title of Margrave of Brandenburg. The mark
was gradually extended during the next three centuries, and in 1618
the Duchy of Prussia was united to it. During the reign of Frederick
William, the “Great Elector,” it was largely developed, and in 1700
it became the Kingdom of Prussia.
[2]This was in the Autumn of 1756.
[3]Pirna is on the Elbe, twelve miles from Dresden. It suffered greatly
not only during the Seven Years’ but the Thirty Years’ War.
[4]Francis I, son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, married Maria Theresa in
1736 and was elected Emperor of Austria in 1745.
[5]“Very certain it is, at sight of his own regiment in retreat,
Feld-Marschall Schwerin seized the colors, as did other generals, who
are not named, that day. Seizes the colors, fiery old man: ‘_Heran,
meine kinder_’ (‘This way, my sons’), and rides ahead, along the
straight dam again; his ‘sons’ all turning and with hot repentance
following. ‘On, my children, _heran!_’ Five bits of grapeshot, deadly
each of them, at once hit the old man; dead he sinks there on his
flag: and will never fight more. ‘_Heran!_’ storm the others with hot
tears. Adjutant von Platen takes the flag; Platen too is instantly
shot; but another takes it. ‘_Heran_, on!’ in wild storm of rage and
grief; in a word, they manage to do the work at Sterbohol, they and
the rest.”—_Carlyle’s “Life of Frederick the Great_,” Book XVIII.
[6]July 5, 1757, Frederick wrote to his sister Wilhelmina at Baireuth:
“We have no longer a mother. This loss puts the crown on my sorrows.
I am obliged to act; and have not time to give free course to my
tears. Judge, I pray you, of the situation of a feeling heart put to
so cruel a trial. All losses in the world are capable of being
remedied; but those which death causes are beyond the reach of hope.”
[7]July 22, 1757.
[8]Eisenach is famous as the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, the
father of modern music. Luther also passed his early days there.
Wartburg, the princely residence of the Grand Duke of Weimar, is
there.
[9]A village in Saxony, nine miles southwest of Merseburg.
[10]Carlyle, in his “Frederick the Great,” quotes the following verse
from one of these hymns:
“Grant that with zeal and skill this day I do
What me to do behoves, what thou command’st me to;
Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit,
And when I do it grant me good success in it.”
[11]A famous solitary and massive eminence south of Leuthen, known as
the “Magic Mountain.”
[12]
“Nun danket alle Gott
Mit Herzen, Mund, und Händen,
Der grosse Dinge thut
An uns und allen Erden.”
“Now thank God, one and all,
With heart, with voice, with hands,
Who wonders great hath done
To us and to all lands.”
[13]About $3.50 in our money.
[14]About $3,350,000.
[15]“His wardrobe consisted of one fine gala dress, which lasted all his
life; of two or three old coats fit for Monmouth Street, of yellow
waistcoats soiled with snuff, and of huge boots embrowned by
time.”—_Macaulay’s Essays._
[16]George Keith was an English soldier, who fought for the house of
Stuart in 1715, with his younger brother James. When that cause was
lost, they went to the Continent and served under various flags,
finally taking service with Frederick. Macaulay says: “Some of those
who knew the palace best pronounced that the Lord Marischal (Keith)
was the only human being whom Frederick ever really loved.”
[17]This letter was written by Daun to the Russian General Fermor. The
reply sent to Daun was written by the King, but was signed “Fermor,”
and read: “Your Excellency was in the right to warn me against a
cunning enemy whom you know better than I. Here have I tried fighting
him and got beaten.
“Your unfortunate
“Fermor.”
[18]Princess Friederike Sophie Wilhelmina was the favorite sister of
Frederick the Great. She was born in 1709, married the Margrave of
Baireuth in 1731, and died in 1758. She wrote her memoirs, but they
were not published until 1810. Like her brother, she was the frequent
victim of her father’s cruelty.
[19]Lord George Sackville, third son of the first Duke of Dorset, was an
English soldier. He was made Major General in 1755 and Lieutenant
General in 1757. He served second in command to Marlborough at
Hanover in 1758, and upon the latter’s death succeeded to the chief
command. For his conduct at Minden he was dismissed from the army.
[20]Frankfurt.
[21]The battlefield of Kunersdorf is near Frankfurt, on the other side
of the Oder, fifty miles southeast of Berlin.
[22]A ducat was the equivalent at that time of seven thalers.
[23]“In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon-Bruhl dragoons, who by their
conduct, might have been the dragoons of Attila, smashed the
furniture and the doors, cut the pictures, much maltreated the poor
people, and what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor
Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only knocking
off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest reparation by cement
should be possible, their officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on.
A scandalous proceeding, thought everybody, friend or foe,—especially
thought Frederick; whose indignation at the ruin of Charlottenburg
came out in way of reprisal by and by.”—_Carlyle’s_ “_Life of
Frederick the Great._”
[24]Elizabeth Petrovna, born December 29, 1709, Empress of Russia from
1741 to 1762, was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I.
She was the founder of the Moscow University and St. Petersburg
Academy of Fine Arts.
[25]Peter III was born in Holstein in 1728. He was the son of Charles
Frederick, Duke of Holstein, and Anna, daughter of Peter the Great.
He was assassinated, and his wife, who was an accomplice, succeeded
him.
[26]This castle is near Wermadorf, Saxony, twenty-five miles east of
Leipsic.
[27]An ecclesiastical officer.
[28]The translator has taken the liberty to omit a few paragraphs in
this connection, setting forth some of Frederick’s financial and
economical methods for the restoration of prosperity. They have only
a local interest, and would hardly be entertaining for young people.
LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
_Translated from the German by
GEORGE P. UPTON_
8 Vols. Ready
Beethoven
Mozart
Bach
Maid of Orleans
William Tell
The Little Dauphin
Frederick the Great
Maria Theresa
_Each, with 4 Illustrations, 60 cents net_
LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
_BIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCES
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY_
GEORGE P. UPTON
_A new, interesting, and very useful series that will be found especially
suitable for school libraries and for supplementary reading_
The books in this series are translated from the German, because in that
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Eight titles are now ready and more will follow.
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For parents who feel disposed to give their children books that provide
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The “life-stories” retain the story form throughout, and embody in each
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main are historically correct. They are therefore both entertaining and
instructive, and present biography in its most attractive form for the
young.
A FULL LIST OF THE TITLES IS GIVEN ON THE NEXT PAGE
The work of translation has been done by Mr. George P. Upton, whose
“Memories” and Lives of Beethoven, Haydn, and Liszt, from the German of
Max Mueller and Dr. Nohl, have been so successful.
_Each is a small square 16mo in uniform binding, with four
illustrations. Each 60 cents net._
_FULL LIST OF TITLES_
Frederick the Great
The Maid of Orleans
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Mozart
Beethoven
Johann Sebastian Bach
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