Get 25% off Blinkist premium and enjoy 2 memberships for the price of 1! Start your 7-day free trial by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/brandonf ! Also, remember to check out my appearance on the "Life and Times of Frederick the Great" Podcast here: th-cam.com/video/zXLi_dtFy9s/w-d-xo.html
Absolutely brilliant video! Glad The Algorithm brought me hither! I had wondered why Peter the Great and Alexander III admired Prussia. Now I know. Their system was indeed superior to that in many other countries at the time. I enjoy the passion you bring to the topic as well. Bravo!
Hey Brandon could you do a video about the Quing Dynasty China Milltary I heard in the 18th century Quing Dynasty China was at its peak both as a country and as a Milltary power thanks
Prussia was founded on old Teuton order lands that where govern by Catholic warrior monks once they adopted protestantism they secularize themself but at heart they were still a remnant of north crusade state whose purpose was always military oriented
for the record, as a german i find your german accent to be very funny. don't stop it. you are 1 of only 3 creators where i dont skip the ads because they make me laugh every time
21:30 One thing that became really big during that time were uniforms. Tram drivers, railway men, firefighters, all of them wanted their own uniforms, because it was "en vouge", and even a lot of the up and coming factories decided on uniform work clothes for their workers, which is where company uniforms come from.
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Trams and railways came a lot later than Frederick II.
@@Toonrick12 Not really, the uniform craze started in the 1870s/1880s, by then industrialisation was already well underway here in Germany. I'd say it was more of a result of industrialisation, as, because of factories and companies, you now had large groups of people working together for long periods of time, allowing a group mentality to develop
8:05 The German word for mercenary is "Söldner", which means "Someone that receives Sold". "Sold" is a term for salaries/compensation given to Soldiers, in fact, that's where the (later) term is derived from. The German term for Soldier is "Soldat", which also stems from this source.
Prussia is a weird state to talk about, because its best known leader basically led the state to near ruin, as you said. It was really Friedrich Wilhelm I who started the "army with a state," with his schools in garrisons and "Gehorsam und Treue" priests, and then Prussia aggressively remilitarized its society after Napoleon basically traumatized the entire nation, which is where the phrase became unsettlingly true as Prussia started making plans to basically create its own version of the attempted Swedish Empire which Prussia had, somewhat ironically, helped instead destroy.
I also think Friedrich II. is overglorified. On the one hand he set the foundation for prussian dominion over Germany but he nearly lost and destroyed his whole country. Every war gets decided by a bit of luck, but Friedrich the Great really had a whole lot of luck. And sadly for the people whose lives were ruined by his expansionism, he mostly got and still is getting praised, because in the end he won. So as a Prussian myself I can´t really decide, if I think he was great or terrible. Maybe he should just be called Friedrich the lucky.
@@ernestape He *nearly* lost. A *bit* of luck. If we're now deciding the legacy of historical figures based on what *almost* happened then we can dismiss Peter the Great and Alexander the Great as greats of history. Both relied on extraordinary currents of luck. But that nevertheless doesn't negate their inherent skill and competency. What one might call "luck", I would call taking calculated risks that pay off. Not all of them, but most of them do considering we refer to these figures as "the Great". As to what your comment on the misery induced by F-t-G's expansionism- I'm not really sure it can be called expansionism at all really. He realized quite early that Prussia was in an hostile environment, surrounded by neighbors that consistently wished to partition her as soon as Prussia showed its capability to its neighbors. To not expand meant to die out as a relevant power in Europe, something no ruler would ever want whether they be prince or president.
@@hussite7235 Yes, probably greatness can only be achieved by taking large risks. And we cannot know in what kinds of wars he could have been pulled by his neighbours if he had not acted. The odds might have been much worse and the outcome could have resulted in prussias destruction. So probably you are right and he really did the right thing to show his neighbours what his country was capable of in going on the attack to defend his power. These are some well thought out arguments and I am happy you boosted my appreciation for frederick again!
@@Theodosius_fan youre right. without Friedrich, Prussia would never have been in a position to challenge Austria, it may not have even risen as the 2nd german power without his reign
29:09 It was also a thing in the Spanish Army on both the XVIII and XIX century, in fact the Spanish king Carlos III (contemporary and friend with Friedrich der Grosse) hired Prussian composers and trainers for his military reforms.
The only thins that remain of prussia today are the stereotyps that germans are always strict,dont laugh,always on time and overall very disciplined.All these ideas came from prussias military
the prussian army fron 1813- 1860s was a lot more heavily militarised than earlier, but in a rather different way because it was more of national army with universal conscription, it had a huge number of volunteers who joined to get vengeance on the french. also it was a very different beast in stucture.
Prussia was almost annihilated during the SYW. Hell, Frederick nearly killed himself after the disaster at Kunersdorf. Out of 50-60k men the day of the battle, less than 10k returned to the colors a week later. And as you said, Prussia's lack of success in the early Napoleonic Wars is due to resting on unearned laurels and seriously outmoded tactics.
The problem was after Frederick's passing the Prussians kept Fredericks ways of doing things and treated them like the Ten Commandments. They kept doing the "same-old, same-old" and essentially drilled themselves stale. Warfare began changing with the War of the French Revolution and into the Napoleonic Wars and Prussia didn't change with it. And in the end they got their butts kicked. However, when Napoleon visited Frederick's tomb after taking Prussia (Frederick must have been turning over at about 1,500 RPM!) he famously said "Gentlemen if HE were still alive we wouldn't be standing here!" Boney knew Frederick would have learned and changed with the times even if his army didn't. A neat story. As Napoleon was leaving Frederick's tomb one of his generals pointed to Fredericks sword which was laying on top of the coffin and asked "Majesty, aren't you going to take it as a souvenir?" Napoleon smiled and said "No need. I've got my own."
I've been interested in the eighteenth century for a long time but I've never looked into Prussia. Thank you for this introduction to the Prussian military. If you're ever interested in doing a social history of Prussia, I'd like that too.
Considering their performance against the Danes and French, I can see why they gained the reputation they did. Even if they aren’t some hyper militarized industrial Sparta, you’d be thinking that once they’d bombarded and assaulted every square inch of ground you’ve ever held dear.
As someone who did his senior thesis on Frederick the Great and big into Prussian and German military history I’m very happy and grateful. I’m actually reading a book on the Prussian army called “Prussian Army Soldiers and the Seven Years’ War: The Psychology of Honor” by Katrin Möbius and Sascha Möbius. It looks into the real Prussian soldier and helps us understand that these men were indeed human and how they actually operated. If your also interested in Frederick the Great, I also love reading The Kings Love: Frederick the Great: His Gentle Dogs and Other Passions, which looks into his more personal life and helps us better understand him as a full blooded human being and not this stoic Olympian monarch. It was written by Sibylle and Frederick William, both who are direct descendants of the great king. Anyways thank you so much, really appreciate what you do.
@@Perchumovic true, he didn’t have any children, but he did had siblings who did had children and I believe that is what they mean. Also he did visit his wife on few occasions, such as her birthday and it was the few occasions that he wasn’t dressed in military uniform. Yay don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a marriage made in heaven but he did refer to her as his wife, gave her the titles that befit a queen, gave her own palace and allows her to decorate it her own way and helped her with it, and would always demand she be respected as the queen. Sorry for the long response.
If you haven't already look into Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian officer who Benjamin Franklin convinced to come train the US Continental Army in the Revolution. The US military drill and ceremony to this day is based on a combination of 18th century Prussian and British drill and ceremony. The combat tactics of the time were shed though, but the foundation of US infantry tactics is built on modified Native American tactics from the time developed by 7 years war veterans, British and American. That's one of the things I love about America, we were like a sponge since the beginning sucking up the best of cultures all over the world in practically everything from military and government to cooking and music.
regarding the "mercenary" term: in this time period both the terms "soldat" (soldier) and "söldner" (Mercenary) were effectivly synonyms and used completly interchangeably in most forms of german at the time.
Soldat comes from the french. Most of the military terminology comes from the French. General, colonel, corps (Korps in German), marshal (from Maréchal), Brigadier, baïonnette (bayonet), …
Now that you’ve covered Prussia, I would love to see you do the various Hessian states, to compare the two different, highly militarized, societies of 18th century Germany.
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Wouldn't Switzerland also be highly militarised? (They are sort-of German, even if not in Germany.)
thanks so much for sharing your sources! currently writing a paper on the German Military in WW1, these sources are great for explaining the development of the German army. Dont worry you will be included in my bib for your work in researching! Many thanks Brandon!
I'm glad it's helping out! It's always really nice to hear when a video is well timed like that for someone. Though really, no need to put me in the bibliography for anything. This is just a video where I spit out other people's research and list some books! But definitely look into the links provided, a lot of the books actually go beyond the 18th century into the 19th and 20th.
Very interesting. This was one of the central questions I researched for my thesis in university. Especially the seeming paradox about Prussia's militaristic (authoritarian) tradition, and yet the "free state of Prussia" in the Weimar Republic was considered the last, and most stable, bastion of democracy. Good job on the video!
When you see it in context, Prussia has always been a "liberal" state: schools, religious freedom, a relative fair system of conscription. The reasons behind these "social politics" of course all served the army and the state, but it was a start.
I'd love to see you address in a new video the actual impact of having ex-Prussian officer von Steuben training and leading American troops during the Revolution. What things did he bring with him that may have made that training harder or easier (other than his English language skills not being the best). Thanks for another entertaining and informative video!
Recruiting in a neighbouring country always was difficult. Normaly the emperor wrote to the minor powers in the HRRDN that it is forbidden to allow recruitment of foreign powers. The recruiting officers had to ask for a permission to recruit in the district of a local administration for example in the city hall. But suspecting that permission would be unlikely many did recruitment without it (we have to keep in mind that local powers had recruit in their own territory too and wanted to prevent good subjects from leaving the country). I have written a lot about the subject on our blog.
There is an entertaining autobiographical account of the sharper side of Prussian recruitment practices in Ulrich Bräker's The Poor Man of Toggenburg (Der arme Mann im Tockenburg), in which a young Swiss finds himself indentured as a servant to a 'Polish nobleman', only to discover upon arrival in Berlin that he has actually been tricked into joining the Prussian army. He subsequently deserts at the earliest opportunity during the battle of Lobositz and is sent home to Switzerland at Austrian expense.
I have read stories that the ruler of Hesse, who was hiring his troops to the British in the 1770's to fight in America, kidnapped Germans from other states who were traveling through his land to fill up his armies. Do you kow if there is any truth in this?
@@mrcant7970 His desertion at Lobositz is questionable as he describes the capture of the Saxons too which was later. Recruitment of other states too sometimes worked with tricks.
@@amtmannb.4627 That's very interesting, thanks. The thing that really fascinated me about that section was the extent to which the Austrians clearly had an efficient system set up for processing and repatriating non-native Prussian deserters back to their homelands.
What a great and detailed video! I'm following your channel for quite some time now and I'm glad that you now have also covered the Prussian military. This video will be an invaluable addition to my library on 18th century Prussia, together with Military History Visualized's take on Prussian infantry and House of History's series on Frederick the Great's battles.
I'd always note the key to any efficient system was that most hated but vital of things, that being a sophisticated bureaucracy to manage and administrate. The Prussian conscription system was great to maintain a relatively large and pre-trained army. Issue for Prussia is that everyone else had more money and more men, and in reality it didn't take long for them to become sufficiently as capable.
when bureaucracies are indeed efficient then they do not garner too much hate. It is when they are seen as lazy, ineffectual, pettifogging, and self seeking that they are hated. Unfortunately that is the norm in most human societies.
Though very militaristic, Prussia was also known for being very liberal and very multi-cultural comparing to other european nations for that period of time. Immanuel Kant; for example.
Because it was multi-cultural it needed the army to achieve its coherence. Militarism and imperialism are not opposing multiculturalism. All big empires proved that. Even the Nazi army had (against their own ideology) to obey this unwritten law of history.
Overall, you are an excellent content creator. Your videos are awesome. This may sound a bit strange, but since you focus your work on 18th century to early 20th warfare, have you consider making a video about south american wars of independence, most of which took place right after the napoleonic wars? Discussing equipment, military doctrines and tactics of the contending armed forces (from the royalist generals such as Monteverde and Morillo, to the patriots such as Bolívar and San Martín).
Ausgezeigtnet meine junge! Well done! I couldn't miss the mention of Colonel Dundas. Dundas was with Lord Cornwallis during his visit to Prussia after the American Revolution. Cornwallis wasn't impressed with the Prussian's maneuvering's on the field saying "He'd have been hooted off the field if he tried that in America!" Dundas however went ga-ga over the Prussian way of doing things and dashed off his book as soon as he got home. However seeing this we can understand Baron von Steuben's frustrations with the Continental Congress and colonial governments when he came over here during the Revolution. In Prussia when the state went to war EVERYTHING in the country went to the support of the army, especially since it meant natonal survival. The Americans just couldn't seem to get that and it drove Steuben crazy!
@@Tareltonlives Dundas might be interesting depending on how much info Brandon can find on him. All I know about him comes from a history of Frederick the Great's army, really the part about witnessing Prussian drill and battlefield manuvering and going nuts over it. Brandon's done a video about the Steuben drill but not about the man himself. If you want to check the old Baron out yourself there's a VERY fine biography about him called: "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge (The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army)" by Paul Lockhart. Published in 2008 by HarperCollins it's a great read!
That last part is an understatement, the resistance to fund and support the Army, the petty infighting amongst politicians and commanders all nearly consigned the rebels to defeat.
Great video, I enjoyed learning about the military doctrine that Prussia had during the 1800s. Can you talk about the fallout of France after napoleon, and the societal division in French life as a whole, and the whole recovery process? A suggestion I would make for future videos is including a time frame, or a date per-say over specific events, while yes most of the video revolves around the early adoption and use of the military under Fredrick the great, dates would be a great way to understand the timeframe when these events transpired. Nice video.
I reenact hessian regiment von Bose and I have to say, it’s great to see the Germans getting some love. I hope there will be videos about the German auxiliaries in the AWI in the future.
Did you see his excellent video on the Hessians? Did a great explanation dispelling the "mercenary" myth, describing how the house of Hanover had power on the continent, and explaining why so many decided to desert and settle in the US.
This is what history lessons should be like, not the date-flinging, continuity-disregarding, ruler-obsessed abominations I had in secondary school. None of the dates and names mean anything without a coherent story told by someone who cares about what they speak of. My respects to you, sir.
I found your channel recently and like to fall asleep listening to TH-cam history videos. My God I've never been so jolted awake from an ad. I jumped awake trying to skip it/turn off the volume but it was part of the video. Fingers crossed I'll get some sleep this weekend after that guys 🤞
The idea of working a second job while being an active duty soldier today sounds baffling, but I have met someone who did it , he worked at the Burger King on base on weekends because he had nothing else to do in this free time. Just wanted more money. This was in Germany too. He could’ve traveled Europe, but he just wasn’t interested.
Frederick the Great pulled off some stunning victories while being outnumbered. His elegant use of attack in echelon and the machine like discipline of his infantry cannot be understated as contributing factors. I still believe thr Prussian army was the 18th century golden standard.
If you were to do a video on Prussian army reform during/after the Napoleonic Wars by Gerhard von Scharnhorst and the like, that would be quite interesting =)
Great work on staying focused on the facts! As one of those thumbnails you showed implied, historical video games like EU4 may be good in generating an interest of history but can spread exaggerated or false narratives.
tbh, from my experience of playing as Prussia, in eu4, will also make you face the same issues Fritz had during and after a war with a major power. These problems include the lack of manpower to replace casualties, lack of economy to support the large army, and almost leading to the same result of the country focusing more on economy by removing militarization, as the militarization mechanic prevents you from having a proper economic base. Though, this experience might only apply to a more casual player, as a more experienced player can get around these drawbacks.
Mad respect for you pronouncing most german words pretty correct. I am so used to hear and see my language butchered, often for no reason at all (if you already hired a voiceactor, then why not someone who knows the languange?) So yeah, thanks, and as always, amazing work.
We see American English get butchered all the time as well 😂 I’m pretty sure every language, gets butchered by non native speakers lol. And every language has those people! So relax and don’t take it so personally lol. Most Germans can’t speak American English for shit, from our perspective either lol so we’re even 😉🇺🇸
@@newtonwhatevs Then gives us a lecture in Adverbien and substantive words. The guy writes in near perfect English and i doubt you could do the same in German or any other foreign language.
I was war gaming one night I had command of the Prussian Landwehr. Being attacked by French line I rolled 12 and wiped out the regiment. I took losses but didn't demoralize. The rules were revised after that so Landwehr weren't able to do that on one role. Thanks Brandon always interesting.
Brandon, when you discussing the legal protections that Prussian soldiers enjoyed. The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act here in modern day America, provides many of the same proections.
One thing we have to remember about Frederick William's militarism was the situation of Prussia in the early 18th Century. At the time Prussia had no strong natural borders like rivers or mountain ranges, it was wide-open to attack from anyone who chose to do so. F-W saw a strong, well-trained and equipped army as a deterrant to attack and so it proved. To my knowledge F-W never went to war with anyone or had to. As far as Frederick the Great is concerned we have to be a little careful in examining him. In the post-WW2 years many historians began to look through the lens of the war years and treated strong Germanic leaders of the past as proto-Hitlers, Frederick being one of them. Maybe we can't really blame them but Frederick was no Hitler, not by any means. Yes, his taking of Silesia was a naked act of agression but that might have been revenge on Austria for a very ugly incident during his young manhood he blamed the Austrians for. (It's complicated, I won't go into it but you can look it up yourself. Not that it justifys agression on his part.) Prussia got involved in the Seven Years War through some slick diplomacy of the part of the British plus a generous subsidy to make it happen. Frederick came to regret getting involved in that one.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 It's like the difference between Philip and Alexander. Perhaps Old Fritz wrecked the Prussian army as an act of revenge on his abusive father.
The german word for Mercenary is "Söldner" a person that gets paid a "Sold" which basically just means "payment for military service" and thats also where the word Soldier in german "Soldat" comes from.
How difficult would it be for an able-bodied man, of necessary stature, and build to live a civilian life, without seeing military service past a town militia role, in Pruße, or anywhere else in the 18th century?
In a place like Britain, it'd be very easy, just don't enlist. Unless there was one of the rare militia acts like they had in the Napoleonic wars. But in Prussia, if you met all the requirements and would be an active benefit to the service? I'd imagine pretty difficult unless an exemption was secured one way or another!
@@BrandonF One exemption would be if you were more valuable to society as a gainfully employed (and making good money) civilian taxpayer than as a soldier. Prussia wasn't the only country in Europe with that attitude either.
I came across some interesting cases that relate to this while transcribing some C18th Moravian Church letters several years ago. One involved a church member who was forcibly conscripted while passing through Halle iirc (it should be pointed out that the Moravians had something of a dispensation from military service on account of religious observance and being economically very productive). Fortunately he happened to know a Prussian sergeant who ran a local brewery and was able to wangle an audience with Der alte Dessauer, Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, no less, who sent him on his way with a flea in his ear. The second was a pleading letter sent by a desperate young gentleman from Saxony to the wife of a Prussian general and family friend, who recounted his tale of being hauled off a stage-coach by a recruiting officer while transiting to East Prussia. The officer apparently had a policy of targeting well-to-do looking young men on the assumption that they would willingly buy their way out of military service (and he, presumably, would trouser a share of the money). This particular young gentlemen was strapped for cash, however, and the letter asks the lady to either intervene on his behalf or send him some money.
In a fair few countries, tradesmen/artisans that were deemed to be "Vital infrastructure" would generally be exempt from conscription, so, blacksmiths and particular types of woodworkers, just to name a few rather obvious ones. So if you worked in one of the few exempt trades, you'd have a pretty decent chance of escaping the recruitment sergeant or press gangs.
@@JariB. The genius of *the Prussian system* was that these people could be soldiers too because they spent most of their time working at their civilian trades.
Prussophilia was a big thing in Britain's American colonies as well. Consider if you will, how many colonies have place names like Frederick, Berlin, and Hanover, to say nothing of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. One big Frederick the Great fanboy was George Washington, which is why a relative nobody like Frederick von Steuben became a leading force in Washington's army.
Washington certainly studied Frederick and the most important lesson he learned was as long as the army survives intact the state survives. Lose the army and you lose everything. Which is the reason Washington told the Congress he'd never put everything to the risk unless there was a certain chance of victory. By the way, post Seven Years War there were damn few military men who weren't fans of Frederick.
Soldier 1: "I'm a volunteer in the Prussian army." Soldier 2: "Oh, you volunteered. How patriotic of you." Soldier 1: "No. I didn't volunteer. I was volunteered. I ain't even Prussian, so it's not patriotic."
"Night or the Prussians must come." Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. So the Prussians must have been still a considerable force to be reckoned with, if they managed to be one of the deciding factors of the victory over Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, right?
The Prussian Army at Waterloo was a lot different than the one beaten by Napoleon nine years earlier. Well armed and equipped and trained to current standards (and thirsting for revenge) it was a force to be reckoned with again. As we'd have said in the Marines "They meant to kick ass and did!"
Historical publishing, and it's impact on history, cannot be overstated. After all, we named half of the planet after a man who never discovered a single thing, he merely tagged along on other peoples voyages, but upon returning, widely published fantastic tales of deeds he never performed, and received all the credit others were due.
I always adjust TH-cam’s custom setting for video playback, setting it at 85%, because I find you talk too fast. It adds gravitas to your voice --and makes your arguments a little easier to follow - great insights by the way !
Once again a well thought out and insightful video Brandon, though if I may a little bit of a cheep shot to say the Prussian army was pretty mid cause Napoleon smashed it, dude practically smashed everyone, I might even be so bold as to say (in an most unworthy none historian opinion) that after the Napoleonic reforms Prussia held a high military dominance in most wars of the mid to late 1800's that combined with the military's ability to up swing against armies large then theirs constituently might have born the internets over blotted view of it, another reason could be something you pointed out the governments budget, to be sure before the seven years war and after the Napoleonic military spending became very big in Prussia, perhaps the view came from the idea that the Prussian states first priority was the army. Thoughts?
Brandenburg was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia was part of Poland. Actually, Prussia was more than that. It was the successor state to the Teutonic Knights . It's my understanding that the last grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights was Duke of Prussia and made his nephew, the elector of Brandenburg his heir. This is what created Prussia. So it was always militaristic. Prussia was also fortunate that Sweden and Poland were continuously fighting and Austria was busy with the Ottoman Empire and the French.
Thanks for this well researched look into the Prussian Army of the 18th century - I usually only touch very superficially on the 18th century with a focus on the bloody long 19th century in most of my research and reading. Most of my knowledge of 18th century Prussia comes from both Showalter and Clark with both chiefly focusing on my preferred period. So thank you for this concise and properly sourced introduction! Also: that's a substantial tie knot! Still "just" a Windsor or a Double Windsor? Hey! *On War* in it's entirety isn't *that* hard a read!🤣📔 Best regards Raoul G. Kunz
There's a nation in my fantasy story im writing with huge inspirations from Prussian culture. Many germanic and slavic cuktures blended together to make the prussian sttle of society and what drew me to the cantonment system was that this nation is constantly under threat by the forces of a dark malicious entity that wants them dead, enslaved, or worse. I find your video very entertaining and enjoyable. It is informative and helps sharpen the mind to a world that is behind us.
The Swedish Royal life guards on horse still includes the Preussian pickel haube with horse hair plumes as well as wide thigh riding pants and 6.5×55mm m/1896 mauser carbines.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Hate to say it, and I don't want to hurt their feelings if any are looking in, but I don't think the Germans have quite figured out what kind of Germans they want to be. With the exception of the Berlin Wachtbatallion the Kaiserreich re-enactors are more impressive than the Bundeswehr is.
@@vetarlittorf1807 it werent the allies but the germans themselfs. When the Bundeswehr was formed there was a internal argument, if the "new Wehrmacht", how it was called before the name "Bundeswehr" was chosen, will be a traditionell german army (the traditionalists) or if it will be completely new with no connections to former german armys (the reformists). The reformists won at the end but there where still some traditionell influences (like rank names, the Wachbattailion and stuff like this) and the formal uniforms still somewhat resemble german uniforms. The allies didnt care how the Bundeswehr looked, they just wanted a strong cannonfodder army on the iron curtain. The Bundesgrenzschutz (todays federal police) had uniforms that where way more traditionell and they even wore the classic Stahlhelm (that was also used by police forces, firefighters,...).
@@Material_Monkey Yes but it was instilled by the Americans and the Soviets. They even forced the Austrians to delude themselves that they aren't Germans at all. Sure, Austrians have their own culture, but so does every German state.
Hey Brandon, I’m not German but my older family members spoke German while I was growing up. (PA Dutch) please, don’t stop doing your funny german accent. It’s very funny to me, and almost endearing. Ignore those who are complaining
Once Frederick the Great of Prussia becomes King, his father's beloved Regiment of Giant Grenadiers (whom Frederick positively despised) would be largely disbanded, reduced, and repurposed to a much less significant (and much less _familiar)_ role within the Prussian Army.
The Giant Grenadiers (The Prussians called the "Der Lange Kerls," or "The Big Guys") were a VERY expensive unit to maintain, not just in uniforms but in rations, they were fed much better than other troops because they had to be. Frederick considered them an expensive and useless extravagance and so disbanded them
A point of order, in german the term mercenary translates into Söldner, which comes from the term "Sold" which is a form of regular wage. So the regular prussian troops would have been called something more akin to wage soldier as opposed to mercenary.
the holy roman empire gets complex with military recuiting and the divide between the imperial army and the reichsarmee which different entities because the imperial was pretty much what became the ausrian and later eventually the austro-hungarian Landstreitkräfte Österreich-Ungarns. it gets quite confusing.
You could say the the soft power (i.e. the cool look and reputation) of the Prussian Army saved the state, rather than the hard power (i.e. actual fighting prowess). Prussia was on the brink of destruction when Catherine the Great died and her nephew Paul took over. A great admirer of Frederik, he stops the campaign and Prussia survives. Later, Paul attempted to reform the Russian army to look more like the Prussians, something the history does not remember fondly. In essense, the Prussians earned a stratagic victory for "looking cool".
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Also, remember to check out my appearance on the "Life and Times of Frederick the Great" Podcast here: th-cam.com/video/zXLi_dtFy9s/w-d-xo.html
Absolutely brilliant video! Glad The Algorithm brought me hither! I had wondered why Peter the Great and Alexander III admired Prussia. Now I know. Their system was indeed superior to that in many other countries at the time. I enjoy the passion you bring to the topic as well. Bravo!
Hey Brandon could you do a video about the Quing Dynasty China Milltary I heard in the 18th century Quing Dynasty China was at its peak both as a country and as a Milltary power thanks
i can believe i rewatched a sponsored section twice 🤣🤣🤣
Prussia was founded on old Teuton order lands that where govern by Catholic warrior monks once they adopted protestantism they secularize themself but at heart they were still a remnant of north crusade state whose purpose was always military oriented
for the record, as a german i find your german accent to be very funny. don't stop it. you are 1 of only 3 creators where i dont skip the ads because they make me laugh every time
same the adds are hilarious and the German accent is especially funny
I agree I love his ads.
Same
As a German, is that saying correct? Shouldn't it be: "Und der König absolut, wenn er unsern Willen tut!"?
I agree, it's terrible but hilarious.
21:30 One thing that became really big during that time were uniforms. Tram drivers, railway men, firefighters, all of them wanted their own uniforms, because it was "en vouge", and even a lot of the up and coming factories decided on uniform work clothes for their workers, which is where company uniforms come from.
Trams and railways came a lot later than Frederick II.
So you could say that the high demand of standardized uniforms was one of the seeds of the first industrial revolution?
@@Toonrick12 Not really, the uniform craze started in the 1870s/1880s, by then industrialisation was already well underway here in Germany. I'd say it was more of a result of industrialisation, as, because of factories and companies, you now had large groups of people working together for long periods of time, allowing a group mentality to develop
I'm not a big fan of racial stereotypes, but German people becoming massive fans of uniforms is such a German thing to do
@@highbread817 Yeah totally, theres a reason why those stereotypes came about, and I say that as a german 😅
8:05 The German word for mercenary is "Söldner", which means "Someone that receives Sold". "Sold" is a term for salaries/compensation given to Soldiers, in fact, that's where the (later) term is derived from. The German term for Soldier is "Soldat", which also stems from this source.
Which stems from italian soldato, derived from soldo(cent, penny).
@@ragael1024 Which stems from the roman coin solidus.
The source comes from the English actually which came from the Saxons which were German, the people that made the English.
All of you are crazy. All of these words are from dictionaries.
So I guess in the end of the day the only thing that separates a soldier from a warrior is a steady paycheck. Interesting.
Prussia is a weird state to talk about, because its best known leader basically led the state to near ruin, as you said. It was really Friedrich Wilhelm I who started the "army with a state," with his schools in garrisons and "Gehorsam und Treue" priests, and then Prussia aggressively remilitarized its society after Napoleon basically traumatized the entire nation, which is where the phrase became unsettlingly true as Prussia started making plans to basically create its own version of the attempted Swedish Empire which Prussia had, somewhat ironically, helped instead destroy.
I also think Friedrich II. is overglorified. On the one hand he set the foundation for prussian dominion over Germany but he nearly lost and destroyed his whole country. Every war gets decided by a bit of luck, but Friedrich the Great really had a whole lot of luck. And sadly for the people whose lives were ruined by his expansionism, he mostly got and still is getting praised, because in the end he won. So as a Prussian myself I can´t really decide, if I think he was great or terrible. Maybe he should just be called Friedrich the lucky.
@@ernestape He *nearly* lost. A *bit* of luck. If we're now deciding the legacy of historical figures based on what *almost* happened then we can dismiss Peter the Great and Alexander the Great as greats of history. Both relied on extraordinary currents of luck. But that nevertheless doesn't negate their inherent skill and competency. What one might call "luck", I would call taking calculated risks that pay off. Not all of them, but most of them do considering we refer to these figures as "the Great".
As to what your comment on the misery induced by F-t-G's expansionism- I'm not really sure it can be called expansionism at all really. He realized quite early that Prussia was in an hostile environment, surrounded by neighbors that consistently wished to partition her as soon as Prussia showed its capability to its neighbors. To not expand meant to die out as a relevant power in Europe, something no ruler would ever want whether they be prince or president.
I would disagree that Friedrich led them to near ruin. He led them to greatness through great suffering.
@@hussite7235 Yes, probably greatness can only be achieved by taking large risks. And we cannot know in what kinds of wars he could have been pulled by his neighbours if he had not acted. The odds might have been much worse and the outcome could have resulted in prussias destruction. So probably you are right and he really did the right thing to show his neighbours what his country was capable of in going on the attack to defend his power. These are some well thought out arguments and I am happy you boosted my appreciation for frederick again!
@@Theodosius_fan youre right. without Friedrich, Prussia would never have been in a position to challenge Austria, it may not have even risen as the 2nd german power without his reign
29:09 It was also a thing in the Spanish Army on both the XVIII and XIX century, in fact the Spanish king Carlos III (contemporary and friend with Friedrich der Grosse) hired Prussian composers and trainers for his military reforms.
If you want to see Prussian military parades you probably want to go to Chile ;)
The only thins that remain of prussia today are the stereotyps that germans are always strict,dont laugh,always on time and overall very disciplined.All these ideas came from prussias military
the prussian army fron 1813- 1860s was a lot more heavily militarised than earlier, but in a rather different way because it was more of national army with universal conscription, it had a huge number of volunteers who joined to get vengeance on the french. also it was a very different beast in stucture.
Prussia was almost annihilated during the SYW. Hell, Frederick nearly killed himself after the disaster at Kunersdorf. Out of 50-60k men the day of the battle, less than 10k returned to the colors a week later. And as you said, Prussia's lack of success in the early Napoleonic Wars is due to resting on unearned laurels and seriously outmoded tactics.
"Prussia is Overrated" is a video I still want to make one of these days!
@@BrandonF Go and make it
@@BrandonF That would be amazing.
Do it. Just do it.
The problem was after Frederick's passing the Prussians kept Fredericks ways of doing things and treated them like the Ten Commandments. They kept doing the "same-old, same-old" and essentially drilled themselves stale. Warfare began changing with the War of the French Revolution and into the Napoleonic Wars and Prussia didn't change with it. And in the end they got their butts kicked.
However, when Napoleon visited Frederick's tomb after taking Prussia (Frederick must have been turning over at about 1,500 RPM!) he famously said "Gentlemen if HE were still alive we wouldn't be standing here!" Boney knew Frederick would have learned and changed with the times even if his army didn't.
A neat story. As Napoleon was leaving Frederick's tomb one of his generals pointed to Fredericks sword which was laying on top of the coffin and asked "Majesty, aren't you going to take it as a souvenir?" Napoleon smiled and said "No need. I've got my own."
I've been interested in the eighteenth century for a long time but I've never looked into Prussia. Thank you for this introduction to the Prussian military. If you're ever interested in doing a social history of Prussia, I'd like that too.
Considering their performance against the Danes and French, I can see why they gained the reputation they did. Even if they aren’t some hyper militarized industrial Sparta, you’d be thinking that once they’d bombarded and assaulted every square inch of ground you’ve ever held dear.
And against the Austrians.
They were humiliated by Napoleon in a single day. A single day. In 3 weeks their army literally disappeared.
@Zouzou G - Amazigh and then they came back and beat him
And then beat the French in their next war
@@mickethegoblin7167 without british support they wouldn't have.
As someone who did his senior thesis on Frederick the Great and big into Prussian and German military history I’m very happy and grateful. I’m actually reading a book on the Prussian army called “Prussian Army Soldiers and the Seven Years’ War: The Psychology of Honor” by Katrin Möbius and Sascha Möbius. It looks into the real Prussian soldier and helps us understand that these men were indeed human and how they actually operated.
If your also interested in Frederick the Great, I also love reading The Kings Love: Frederick the Great: His Gentle Dogs and Other Passions, which looks into his more personal life and helps us better understand him as a full blooded human being and not this stoic Olympian monarch. It was written by Sibylle and Frederick William, both who are direct descendants of the great king.
Anyways thank you so much, really appreciate what you do.
'Descendants'-I thought he was one of those gay men who never went near their wives?
@@Perchumovic true, he didn’t have any children, but he did had siblings who did had children and I believe that is what they mean. Also he did visit his wife on few occasions, such as her birthday and it was the few occasions that he wasn’t dressed in military uniform. Yay don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a marriage made in heaven but he did refer to her as his wife, gave her the titles that befit a queen, gave her own palace and allows her to decorate it her own way and helped her with it, and would always demand she be respected as the queen. Sorry for the long response.
@@PerchumovicYou describe the emerging Junker class to a T! 😂
If you haven't already look into
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian officer who Benjamin Franklin convinced to come train the US Continental Army in the Revolution. The US military drill and ceremony to this day is based on a combination of 18th century Prussian and British drill and ceremony. The combat tactics of the time were shed though, but the foundation of US infantry tactics is built on modified Native American tactics from the time developed by 7 years war veterans, British and American.
That's one of the things I love about America, we were like a sponge since the beginning sucking up the best of cultures all over the world in practically everything from military and government to cooking and music.
regarding the "mercenary" term: in this time period both the terms "soldat" (soldier) and "söldner" (Mercenary) were effectivly synonyms and used completly interchangeably in most forms of german at the time.
Soldat comes from the french. Most of the military terminology comes from the French. General, colonel, corps (Korps in German), marshal (from Maréchal), Brigadier, baïonnette (bayonet), …
Even Hanover? Those guys basically took over Britain.
Now that you’ve covered Prussia, I would love to see you do the various Hessian states, to compare the two different, highly militarized, societies of 18th century Germany.
Wouldn't Switzerland also be highly militarised? (They are sort-of German, even if not in Germany.)
@ they are not "sort-of" german they are german
@@applejuice7847All of them? 🤔
thanks so much for sharing your sources! currently writing a paper on the German Military in WW1, these sources are great for explaining the development of the German army. Dont worry you will be included in my bib for your work in researching! Many thanks Brandon!
I'm glad it's helping out! It's always really nice to hear when a video is well timed like that for someone. Though really, no need to put me in the bibliography for anything. This is just a video where I spit out other people's research and list some books! But definitely look into the links provided, a lot of the books actually go beyond the 18th century into the 19th and 20th.
If you haven't read it yet, "The German Way of War" has an excellent overview of Prussian military culture on Germany's military.
@@BrandonF Seems when Prussia disappeared Germany became far less militaristic
Very interesting. This was one of the central questions I researched for my thesis in university. Especially the seeming paradox about Prussia's militaristic (authoritarian) tradition, and yet the "free state of Prussia" in the Weimar Republic was considered the last, and most stable, bastion of democracy. Good job on the video!
When you see it in context, Prussia has always been a "liberal" state: schools, religious freedom, a relative fair system of conscription. The reasons behind these "social politics" of course all served the army and the state, but it was a start.
I'd love to see you address in a new video the actual impact of having ex-Prussian officer von Steuben training and leading American troops during the Revolution. What things did he bring with him that may have made that training harder or easier (other than his English language skills not being the best). Thanks for another entertaining and informative video!
Recruiting in a neighbouring country always was difficult. Normaly the emperor wrote to the minor powers in the HRRDN that it is forbidden to allow recruitment of foreign powers. The recruiting officers had to ask for a permission to recruit in the district of a local administration for example in the city hall. But suspecting that permission would be unlikely many did recruitment without it (we have to keep in mind that local powers had recruit in their own territory too and wanted to prevent good subjects from leaving the country). I have written a lot about the subject on our blog.
There is an entertaining autobiographical account of the sharper side of Prussian recruitment practices in Ulrich Bräker's The Poor Man of Toggenburg (Der arme Mann im Tockenburg), in which a young Swiss finds himself indentured as a servant to a 'Polish nobleman', only to discover upon arrival in Berlin that he has actually been tricked into joining the Prussian army. He subsequently deserts at the earliest opportunity during the battle of Lobositz and is sent home to Switzerland at Austrian expense.
I have read stories that the ruler of Hesse, who was hiring his troops to the British in the 1770's to fight in America, kidnapped Germans from other states who were traveling through his land to fill up his armies. Do you kow if there is any truth in this?
@@mrcant7970 His desertion at Lobositz is questionable as he describes the capture of the Saxons too which was later. Recruitment of other states too sometimes worked with tricks.
@@amtmannb.4627 That's very interesting, thanks. The thing that really fascinated me about that section was the extent to which the Austrians clearly had an efficient system set up for processing and repatriating non-native Prussian deserters back to their homelands.
@mrcant7970 Indeed, sometimes, when the preponderance of interest is so strong, even normally slow bureaucracies are stirred to action! 😂
You're a great public speaker. Every compliment counts, and this is probably one of the rarer ones.
Much appreciated, thank you!
What a great and detailed video! I'm following your channel for quite some time now and I'm glad that you now have also covered the Prussian military. This video will be an invaluable addition to my library on 18th century Prussia, together with Military History Visualized's take on Prussian infantry and House of History's series on Frederick the Great's battles.
I'd always note the key to any efficient system was that most hated but vital of things, that being a sophisticated bureaucracy to manage and administrate.
The Prussian conscription system was great to maintain a relatively large and pre-trained army.
Issue for Prussia is that everyone else had more money and more men, and in reality it didn't take long for them to become sufficiently as capable.
I guess thats why they always insist on quick wars.
when bureaucracies are indeed efficient then they do not garner too much hate. It is when they are seen as lazy, ineffectual, pettifogging, and self seeking that they are hated. Unfortunately that is the norm in most human societies.
Though very militaristic, Prussia was also known for being very liberal and very multi-cultural comparing to other european nations for that period of time. Immanuel Kant; for example.
Because it was multi-cultural it needed the army to achieve its coherence. Militarism and imperialism are not opposing multiculturalism. All big empires proved that. Even the Nazi army had (against their own ideology) to obey this unwritten law of history.
Your ads were funny & your shows great.You do ramble but as its truthful,I can live with it.
Overall, you are an excellent content creator. Your videos are awesome.
This may sound a bit strange, but since you focus your work on 18th century to early 20th warfare, have you consider making a video about south american wars of independence, most of which took place right after the napoleonic wars? Discussing equipment, military doctrines and tactics of the contending armed forces (from the royalist generals such as Monteverde and Morillo, to the patriots such as Bolívar and San Martín).
REVOLUTIONS podcast has already done many of those events. Check it out!
I love the video! Thank you for the shoutout!!
How a German accent can turn Russian, I love Prussia though.
Thank you for making this video, Brandon. A good teacher of history inspires passion for the subject, and you seem very good to me!
Ausgezeigtnet meine junge! Well done!
I couldn't miss the mention of Colonel Dundas. Dundas was with Lord Cornwallis during his visit to Prussia after the American Revolution. Cornwallis wasn't impressed with the Prussian's maneuvering's on the field saying "He'd have been hooted off the field if he tried that in America!" Dundas however went ga-ga over the Prussian way of doing things and dashed off his book as soon as he got home.
However seeing this we can understand Baron von Steuben's frustrations with the Continental Congress and colonial governments when he came over here during the Revolution. In Prussia when the state went to war EVERYTHING in the country went to the support of the army, especially since it meant natonal survival. The Americans just couldn't seem to get that and it drove Steuben crazy!
I'd love for him to do some videos on Dundas and Von Steuben.
@@Tareltonlives Dundas might be interesting depending on how much info Brandon can find on him. All I know about him comes from a history of Frederick the Great's army, really the part about witnessing Prussian drill and battlefield manuvering and going nuts over it. Brandon's done a video about the Steuben drill but not about the man himself. If you want to check the old Baron out yourself there's a VERY fine biography about him called:
"The Drillmaster of Valley Forge (The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army)" by Paul Lockhart. Published in 2008 by HarperCollins it's a great read!
That last part is an understatement, the resistance to fund and support the Army, the petty infighting amongst politicians and commanders all nearly consigned the rebels to defeat.
this is the first and only video that I saw of your channel, and I already love your video's style and I will definitely keep watching some more!
Great video, I enjoyed learning about the military doctrine that Prussia had during the 1800s. Can you talk about the fallout of France after napoleon, and the societal division in French life as a whole, and the whole recovery process? A suggestion I would make for future videos is including a time frame, or a date per-say over specific events, while yes most of the video revolves around the early adoption and use of the military under Fredrick the great, dates would be a great way to understand the timeframe when these events transpired. Nice video.
I reenact hessian regiment von Bose and I have to say, it’s great to see the Germans getting some love. I hope there will be videos about the German auxiliaries in the AWI in the future.
Did you see his excellent video on the Hessians? Did a great explanation dispelling the "mercenary" myth, describing how the house of Hanover had power on the continent, and explaining why so many decided to desert and settle in the US.
Excellent video Brandon. Would be great to see one on each of the main combatants in Europe of the time to see how they differ.
This is what history lessons should be like, not the date-flinging, continuity-disregarding, ruler-obsessed abominations I had in secondary school. None of the dates and names mean anything without a coherent story told by someone who cares about what they speak of. My respects to you, sir.
I can only imagine what military preparations or organization could have taken place in those little exclaves to the west of the main body of Prussia.
I found your channel recently and like to fall asleep listening to TH-cam history videos.
My God I've never been so jolted awake from an ad. I jumped awake trying to skip it/turn off the volume but it was part of the video.
Fingers crossed I'll get some sleep this weekend after that guys 🤞
The idea of working a second job while being an active duty soldier today sounds baffling, but I have met someone who did it , he worked at the Burger King on base on weekends because he had nothing else to do in this free time. Just wanted more money. This was in Germany too. He could’ve traveled Europe, but he just wasn’t interested.
Frederick the Great pulled off some stunning victories while being outnumbered. His elegant use of attack in echelon and the machine like discipline of his infantry cannot be understated as contributing factors. I still believe thr Prussian army was the 18th century golden standard.
You can believe whatever you want I suppose.
@@JohnyG29 can you defend your snarky comment?
@@JohnyG29 it is the truth
@@ryan7864 he can't
You are the best Historian on TH-cam by 15 thousand miles
You're being far too kind!
Que the a thousands miles song by vanessa carlton
If you were to do a video on Prussian army reform during/after the Napoleonic Wars by Gerhard von Scharnhorst and the like, that would be quite interesting =)
Great work on staying focused on the facts! As one of those thumbnails you showed implied, historical video games like EU4 may be good in generating an interest of history but can spread exaggerated or false narratives.
tbh, from my experience of playing as Prussia, in eu4, will also make you face the same issues Fritz had during and after a war with a major power. These problems include the lack of manpower to replace casualties, lack of economy to support the large army, and almost leading to the same result of the country focusing more on economy by removing militarization, as the militarization mechanic prevents you from having a proper economic base.
Though, this experience might only apply to a more casual player, as a more experienced player can get around these drawbacks.
Your enthusiam for history is infectious! Thanks for the great video.
Mad respect for you pronouncing most german words pretty correct. I am so used to hear and see my language butchered, often for no reason at all (if you already hired a voiceactor, then why not someone who knows the languange?)
So yeah, thanks, and as always, amazing work.
We see American English get butchered all the time as well 😂
I’m pretty sure every language, gets butchered by non native speakers lol. And every language has those people!
So relax and don’t take it so personally lol. Most Germans can’t speak American English for shit, from our perspective either lol so we’re even 😉🇺🇸
*correctly *hearing *seeing *language - Oh the irony...
@@newtonwhatevs Then gives us a lecture in Adverbien and substantive words. The guy writes in near perfect English and i doubt you could do the same in German or any other foreign language.
Excellent video. Entertaining and interesting topics. Educational content. Love for history. HILARIOUS ADVERTISING. Superb job. Subscribed!
I'm so glad I've found your chanel. Keep up the good work.
I was war gaming one night I had command of the Prussian Landwehr. Being attacked by French line I rolled 12 and wiped out the regiment. I took losses but didn't demoralize. The rules were revised after that so Landwehr weren't able to do that on one role. Thanks Brandon always interesting.
Brandon, when you discussing the legal protections that Prussian soldiers enjoyed. The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act here in modern day America, provides many of the same proections.
One thing we have to remember about Frederick William's militarism was the situation of Prussia in the early 18th Century. At the time Prussia had no strong natural borders like rivers or mountain ranges, it was wide-open to attack from anyone who chose to do so. F-W saw a strong, well-trained and equipped army as a deterrant to attack and so it proved. To my knowledge F-W never went to war with anyone or had to.
As far as Frederick the Great is concerned we have to be a little careful in examining him. In the post-WW2 years many historians began to look through the lens of the war years and treated strong Germanic leaders of the past as proto-Hitlers, Frederick being one of them. Maybe we can't really blame them but Frederick was no Hitler, not by any means. Yes, his taking of Silesia was a naked act of agression but that might have been revenge on Austria for a very ugly incident during his young manhood he blamed the Austrians for. (It's complicated, I won't go into it but you can look it up yourself. Not that it justifys agression on his part.)
Prussia got involved in the Seven Years War through some slick diplomacy of the part of the British plus a generous subsidy to make it happen. Frederick came to regret getting involved in that one.
He fought the Swedes at Stralsund around 1715.
@@karlwilhelmmeinert7592 Was that during The Great Northern War? If it was I think that was the only time F-W went to war.
PS: Did he win?
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Yes he did.
@@karlwilhelmmeinert7592 Thanks! I'm sure Frederick William was glad to find out the money he spent on his army wasn't wasted!
@@wayneantoniazzi2706
It's like the difference between Philip and Alexander.
Perhaps Old Fritz wrecked the Prussian army as an act of revenge on his abusive father.
Incredible quality video and information. I hope you do more on Prussian topics.
Great work, you are a brilliant historian.
This is one of the best you’ve ever done bud. Fascinating
Another amazing brandon F video, Huzzah!
This was the fastest 40 minute video ever
Glad to hear it!
Amazing lecture. I loved it.
11:55 love that the little russian kid turned into mario for a sec there
Been looking for a deep dive video like this for a while thank you
Nice three-piece, man’s got style.
You earned my subcription! I love your enthusiasm teaching about those things!
Part of my family came to Texas from Prussia in the early 1800s to escape conscription.
The german word for Mercenary is "Söldner" a person that gets paid a "Sold" which basically just means "payment for military service" and thats also where the word Soldier in german "Soldat" comes from.
Whereas some states possess a health service, the British NHS possesses a state.
you are very underrated you make truly high quality videos, your videos are 1 million subscriber quality
How difficult would it be for an able-bodied man, of necessary stature, and build to live a civilian life, without seeing military service past a town militia role, in Pruße, or anywhere else in the 18th century?
In a place like Britain, it'd be very easy, just don't enlist. Unless there was one of the rare militia acts like they had in the Napoleonic wars. But in Prussia, if you met all the requirements and would be an active benefit to the service? I'd imagine pretty difficult unless an exemption was secured one way or another!
@@BrandonF One exemption would be if you were more valuable to society as a gainfully employed (and making good money) civilian taxpayer than as a soldier. Prussia wasn't the only country in Europe with that attitude either.
I came across some interesting cases that relate to this while transcribing some C18th Moravian Church letters several years ago. One involved a church member who was forcibly conscripted while passing through Halle iirc (it should be pointed out that the Moravians had something of a dispensation from military service on account of religious observance and being economically very productive). Fortunately he happened to know a Prussian sergeant who ran a local brewery and was able to wangle an audience with Der alte Dessauer, Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, no less, who sent him on his way with a flea in his ear. The second was a pleading letter sent by a desperate young gentleman from Saxony to the wife of a Prussian general and family friend, who recounted his tale of being hauled off a stage-coach by a recruiting officer while transiting to East Prussia. The officer apparently had a policy of targeting well-to-do looking young men on the assumption that they would willingly buy their way out of military service (and he, presumably, would trouser a share of the money). This particular young gentlemen was strapped for cash, however, and the letter asks the lady to either intervene on his behalf or send him some money.
In a fair few countries, tradesmen/artisans that were deemed to be "Vital infrastructure" would generally be exempt from conscription, so, blacksmiths and particular types of woodworkers, just to name a few rather obvious ones. So if you worked in one of the few exempt trades, you'd have a pretty decent chance of escaping the recruitment sergeant or press gangs.
@@JariB.
The genius of *the Prussian system* was that these people could be soldiers too because they spent most of their time working at their civilian trades.
Prussophilia was a big thing in Britain's American colonies as well. Consider if you will, how many colonies have place names like Frederick, Berlin, and Hanover, to say nothing of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. One big Frederick the Great fanboy was George Washington, which is why a relative nobody like Frederick von Steuben became a leading force in Washington's army.
Hanover was a different state, and I think it might have to do with the fact that kings of Britain starting with George I were dukes of Hanover also.
Washington certainly studied Frederick and the most important lesson he learned was as long as the army survives intact the state survives. Lose the army and you lose everything. Which is the reason Washington told the Congress he'd never put everything to the risk unless there was a certain chance of victory.
By the way, post Seven Years War there were damn few military men who weren't fans of Frederick.
Soldier 1: "I'm a volunteer in the Prussian army."
Soldier 2: "Oh, you volunteered. How patriotic of you."
Soldier 1: "No. I didn't volunteer. I was volunteered. I ain't even Prussian, so it's not patriotic."
Amazing content, very interesting, well written, and beautifully enounced. Thank you!
Excellent presentation. Thanks so much.
"Night or the Prussians must come." Wellington at the battle of Waterloo.
So the Prussians must have been still a considerable force to be reckoned with, if they managed to be one of the deciding factors of the victory over Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, right?
The Prussian Army at Waterloo was a lot different than the one beaten by Napoleon nine years earlier. Well armed and equipped and trained to current standards (and thirsting for revenge) it was a force to be reckoned with again. As we'd have said in the Marines "They meant to kick ass and did!"
Historical publishing, and it's impact on history, cannot be overstated. After all, we named half of the planet after a man who never discovered a single thing, he merely tagged along on other peoples voyages, but upon returning, widely published fantastic tales of deeds he never performed, and received all the credit others were due.
The “junkers” were really the “lower” nobility. More akin to “gentry” in the English style. But certainly below the rank of Baron to be certain.
I always adjust TH-cam’s custom setting for video playback, setting it at 85%, because I find you talk too fast. It adds gravitas to your voice --and makes your arguments a little easier to follow - great insights by the way !
Yess I've been waiting for u to talk about Prussia more.
I actually had Dr. Alex Burns as a professor in college
the book Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Fall of Prussia covers much of this.
9:39 In this case, the correct wording would be: dem König
11:46 He even said "Oh my god" in Russian which is something like "Bozhe"!
I loved the Prussia Gloria in the backround of the ad read.
Would love an episode from you about Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and the battle of Minden
Once again a well thought out and insightful video Brandon, though if I may a little bit of a cheep shot to say the Prussian army was pretty mid cause Napoleon smashed it, dude practically smashed everyone, I might even be so bold as to say (in an most unworthy none historian opinion) that after the Napoleonic reforms Prussia held a high military dominance in most wars of the mid to late 1800's that combined with the military's ability to up swing against armies large then theirs constituently might have born the internets over blotted view of it, another reason could be something you pointed out the governments budget, to be sure before the seven years war and after the Napoleonic military spending became very big in Prussia, perhaps the view came from the idea that the Prussian states first priority was the army. Thoughts?
Brandenburg was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia was part of Poland. Actually, Prussia was more than that. It was the successor state to the Teutonic Knights . It's my understanding that the last grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights was Duke of Prussia and made his nephew, the elector of Brandenburg his heir. This is what created Prussia. So it was always militaristic. Prussia was also fortunate that Sweden and Poland were continuously fighting and Austria was busy with the Ottoman Empire and the French.
Thanks for this well researched look into the Prussian Army of the 18th century - I usually only touch very superficially on the 18th century with a focus on the bloody long 19th century in most of my research and reading.
Most of my knowledge of 18th century Prussia comes from both Showalter and Clark with both chiefly focusing on my preferred period.
So thank you for this concise and properly sourced introduction!
Also: that's a substantial tie knot! Still "just" a Windsor or a Double Windsor?
Hey! *On War* in it's entirety isn't *that* hard a read!🤣📔
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
Great video. Thank you.
Loved the ad!
Very happy you used Alex Burns as a source. Very sad you did not use Duffy.
Great work, man.
There's a nation in my fantasy story im writing with huge inspirations from Prussian culture. Many germanic and slavic cuktures blended together to make the prussian sttle of society and what drew me to the cantonment system was that this nation is constantly under threat by the forces of a dark malicious entity that wants them dead, enslaved, or worse.
I find your video very entertaining and enjoyable. It is informative and helps sharpen the mind to a world that is behind us.
You killed it Brandon! Keep up the good work!
Nice work here!!
While as a german myself I absolutely love your german accent, your russian one on the other hand is truly a crime on humanity. Great video as always
You could start with writing your comments is good English, before finding fault...
fun fact King frederick willam 1 in Prussia had an obsession of tall soldiers
One Thing I have to ad.
Literaly EVERYBODY got smashed by Napoleon.
I rewatched that caroleans video yesterday. Very worthwhile.
The depth of your research does you credit.
The Swedish Royal life guards on horse still includes the Preussian pickel haube with horse hair plumes as well as wide thigh riding pants and 6.5×55mm m/1896 mauser carbines.
I've seen some amazing videos of those Swedish Royal Guards, they're more German (Prussian) than the Germans are!
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Same with Chile. They feel more German than Germany. Germany was pretty much lobotomized by the Allies of WW2.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Hate to say it, and I don't want to hurt their feelings if any are looking in, but I don't think the Germans have quite figured out what kind of Germans they want to be. With the exception of the Berlin Wachtbatallion the Kaiserreich re-enactors are more impressive than the Bundeswehr is.
@@vetarlittorf1807 it werent the allies but the germans themselfs. When the Bundeswehr was formed there was a internal argument, if the "new Wehrmacht", how it was called before the name "Bundeswehr" was chosen, will be a traditionell german army (the traditionalists) or if it will be completely new with no connections to former german armys (the reformists). The reformists won at the end but there where still some traditionell influences (like rank names, the Wachbattailion and stuff like this) and the formal uniforms still somewhat resemble german uniforms. The allies didnt care how the Bundeswehr looked, they just wanted a strong cannonfodder army on the iron curtain. The Bundesgrenzschutz (todays federal police) had uniforms that where way more traditionell and they even wore the classic Stahlhelm (that was also used by police forces, firefighters,...).
@@Material_Monkey Yes but it was instilled by the Americans and the Soviets. They even forced the Austrians to delude themselves that they aren't Germans at all. Sure, Austrians have their own culture, but so does every German state.
Will you do a video on the how the British army reforms changed it from the French revolutionary wars to just prior world war one?
Hey Brandon, I’m not German but my older family members spoke German while I was growing up. (PA Dutch) please, don’t stop doing your funny german accent. It’s very funny to me, and almost endearing. Ignore those who are complaining
Once Frederick the Great of Prussia becomes King, his father's beloved Regiment of Giant Grenadiers (whom Frederick positively despised) would be largely disbanded, reduced, and repurposed to a much less significant (and much less _familiar)_ role within the Prussian Army.
The Giant Grenadiers (The Prussians called the "Der Lange Kerls," or "The Big Guys") were a VERY expensive unit to maintain, not just in uniforms but in rations, they were fed much better than other troops because they had to be. Frederick considered them an expensive and useless extravagance and so disbanded them
A point of order, in german the term mercenary translates into Söldner, which comes from the term "Sold" which is a form of regular wage. So the regular prussian troops would have been called something more akin to wage soldier as opposed to mercenary.
the holy roman empire gets complex with military recuiting and the divide between the imperial army and the reichsarmee which different entities because the imperial was pretty much what became the ausrian and later eventually the austro-hungarian Landstreitkräfte Österreich-Ungarns. it gets quite confusing.
You could say the the soft power (i.e. the cool look and reputation) of the Prussian Army saved the state, rather than the hard power (i.e. actual fighting prowess). Prussia was on the brink of destruction when Catherine the Great died and her nephew Paul took over. A great admirer of Frederik, he stops the campaign and Prussia survives. Later, Paul attempted to reform the Russian army to look more like the Prussians, something the history does not remember fondly. In essense, the Prussians earned a stratagic victory for "looking cool".
You got the wrong queen. Catherine was the wife of Paul and putsched him, because he left the war.
Very epic Mardi Gras episode