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Hello, in 1714 Berlin, Frederick II, the new king in Prussia, took an opportunity that earned him

the title Frederick the Great. In Vienna, the Holy Roman Emperor had died suddenly, and in St. Petersburg,

the Russian Emperor's died shortly afterwards. Frederick took advantage of the turmoil,

seizing the rich Austrian province of Silesia to the south. Before his Saxon neighbour had their

chance, he was 28. He fought off a broad alliance for over 20 years with only Britain,

offering occasional support. His eventual victory turned Prussia from a small state into a leading

European power. A significant achievement for a man whose father had threatened to execute him,

who considered himself a philosopher, was a gifted flute player, and became arguably the most

enlightened ruler of his age. With me to discuss Frederick the Great are, Tim Blanning,

a marital professor of modern European history at the University of Cambridge,

Katrin Kohl, professor of German literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of

Jesus College, and Thomas Biskup, lecturer in early modern history at the University of Hill.

Oh sorry, Tim Blanning, what was Prussia's place in Europe in Frederick's childhood?

Frederick summed it up when he came to the throne in 1740 and wrote about his, what he had

inherited when he came to the throne, and he said that Prussia was like a hermaphrodite.

It wasn't quite a nation, it wasn't quite a state, but it was a bit more than an electorate,

it was somewhere in between a minor state and a major one.

And did that annoy him? Did he determine to do something about it?

He was absolutely determined to do something about it. He had to make a name for himself.

He'd come. He came to the throne with a very useful inheritance indeed from his father,

...