Frederick the Great was the best champion of Enlightenment.

 Frederick the Great of Prussia  (1740 - 1786)

 Frederick wrote - ''Princes, Sovereigns, Kings are not clothed with supreme authority- He is only the fight servant of the state obliged to act, with fairness, wisdom and unselfishness, as at every instant, he would have to render an account of his administration to his citizens- ''Further he said, '' The prince is to  the nation he governs what the head is to the man, it is his duty to see, think and act for the whole community that he may procure it every advantage of which it is capable''. ''The monarch is not the absolute master but only the first servant of the state''. During his long reign of forty six years. Frederick indeed was the first servant of Prussia.

Frederick the Great

When Frederick ascended the throne in 1740 at the age of twenty eight, he came equipped with a free and keen intellect, with a character of iron and with an ambition that was soon to set the world to flame. He ruled for forty six years and before half the reign was over it was evident that he had no peer in Europe. It was thought that he would adopt a manner of life quite different from his father. Instead, however, there was the same austerity, the same simplicity, the same intense devotion to work, the same singleness of aim, that aim being the exaltation of Prussia. The machinery of government was not altered, but it was now driven at unprecedented speed by the vigorous, aggressive supple personality. For Frederick possessed supreme ability and displayed it from the day of his accession to the day of his death. He was as Lord Action has said, ''the most consummate practical genius that in modern times had inherited a throne''.

His first important act revealed the character and intentions of the ruler. For this man as a youth had loathed the life of a soldier and shirked its obligation as long as he could was now to prove himself one of the great military commanders of the world's history. He invade Silesia a large  and rich province belonging to Austria. He wanted it and considered the moment opportune as an inexperienced young woman Maria Theresa had just ascended the Austrian throne. ''My soldiers were ready , my purse was full'',  said Frederick concerning this famous raid. Of all the inheritance of Maria Theresa, ''Silesia'',  said , he was that part which was most useful to the House of Brandenburg'', ''take what you can'', he also remarked, ''you are never wrong unless you are obliged to give back. 

He seized Silesia with ease in 1740 for so unexpected was the attack. He thus added to Prussia a territory larger than Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode island combined with a population of over a million and a quarter. But having seized it he was forced to fight intermittently for twenty-three years before he could be sure of his ability to retain it.

It was the seven years war that made the name and fame of Frederick ring throughout in Europe. He came out of this war with his territories intact but not increased. Silesia he retained. He came out of it also prematurely old, hard, better, misanthropic, but he end made upon the world an ineligible impression of his genius. His people had been decimated and appalling, impoverished, nevertheless he was the victor and great was his renown. All  that he won was fame, but that he enjoyed in full and overflowing measure.

In a hundred ways he sought to hasten the recuperation and the development of his sorely visited land, draining marshes, clearing forests, encouraging industries, opening schools, welcoming and favouring immigrants from other countries. Indeed over 300,000 of these responded to the various  inducements offered and Frederick founded more than 800 villages. He reorganised the Army , replenished the public treasury, remodelled the legal code. In religious affairs he was the most tolerant ruler in Europe, giving refuge to the Jesuits when they were driven out of Catholic countries - France, Portugal, Spain - and when their order was abolished by the Pope himself. ''In Prussia'', said he, ''every one has the right to win salvation in his own way.

His government was unlimited although frequently enlightened despotism. He was a absolute to monarch, surrounded by a privileged nobility resting upon an impotent mass of peasantry. His was a militarist state and only nobles could become general officers. Laborious, rising at there in summer, at four in winter and holding himself tightly to his mission as, first servant to the king of Prussia'', Frederick knew more drudgery than pleasure. 

In 1772, the conqueror, of Silesia  proceeded to gather new laurels of a similar land. In conjunction with the monarchs of Russia and Austria, he partially dismembered Poland. The task was easy of accomplishment as Poland was defenceless. Frederick frankly admitted that the act was that of brigands and his opinion has been ratified by the general agreement of posterity. With a strong army, a full treasury and an obedient people Frederick the Great was master of his fate. No loyalties restrained his freedom was prepared to throw his sword now in this scale , now in that as Prussian interests seem to demand.

When Frederick died in 1786 at the age of seventy - four he left his kingdom nearly doubled in size and with a population more than doubled. In all his actions he thought not of Germany but of Prussia, always  Prussia. Germany was an abstraction that had no upon his practical mind. Nevertheless he was regard throughout German lands, beyond Prussia a national hero and he filled the national thought and imagination as no other German had done since Luther. His personality, his idea and his methods became an enduring and potent factor in the development of Germany. According to W.N Weech, ''He was a true father of his country and though he treated his ministers as mere clerks, making all decision himself, he never shrank from the immense burdens of the state''.