Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 121, The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.

I'd like to just begin with a quick show note to explain the gap to the previous episode,

which is I've been working on finishing up A History of the United States Volume 2,

the second book in our series which should be ready for a release very soon, so that's very exciting.

But back to the podcast.

In our last episode, we looked at British politics and how it shifted in 1761, with George III now in power, Pitt positioned weakened,

and he was finally forced out in October due to his desire to preemptively declare war on Spain.

Of course, less than two months later, the British declared war on Spain anyway.

After spending so much time in Westminster last time out, today I want to look back at Berlin before setting the stage for peace.

Now, I know it feels like we've been in the middle of the Seven Years War for well, seven years,

but we will be done in two episodes time. So let's dive into it.

1761 had not gone well for King Frederick. Not at all. Not in the West, not in the East,

not at all. Ferd the west, not in the east, not at all.

Ferdinand had withdrawn from the Rhineland due to supply issues and invaded Hess, but a French

counter-attack forced him back east of the Weiser. He did manage to push back in November,

which crucially protected Hanover. It hadn't gone well, but Newcastle and Butte could be happy that their stronghold in Western Europe

had been defended while they continued to dominate in the colonies. It was, however, a resounding success when compared to Frederick. Back in 1756,

the Prussian army had been the best in Europe, but it had suffered so many defeats that the

core of the army was gone and the rest could only be rebuilt so many times. By 1761, Frederick had 100,000

troops available, and over half of these were either foreigners or new recruits. I'll let Frederick

describe his state of mind, in his own words, quote, the hairs on the right side of my

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