HIB0006 The Rise to Power of Prussia and Frederick II

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Dušan Uhlíř, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Malíř, CSc.
Department of History – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Hana Ambrožová
Timetable
Mon 11:40–13:15 A21 stara
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 90 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/90, only registered: 0/90, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/90
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course looks at the history of Prussia and its transformation from the state structure of the Order of the Teutonic Knights to the secularisation by the Hohenzollerns at the start of the 16th century, to the territorial unification of Eastern Prussia with Brandenburg under the rule of the Hohenzollern dynasty, up to the proclamation of the Prussian kingdom in 1701. The focal point of the course is then an examination of the efforts at integration by two Prussian kings – Frederick William and his son Frederick II. Their aim was to internally strengthen the fragmented state and form a strong, united administrative, legal, economic and military basis.
Syllabus
  • The oldest history of the Prussian lands, three forms of East European colonisation, the origin of the monastic state on the lands of the once pagan Prussia, the development of the Margraviate of Brandenburg under the Ascanian and then Hohenzollern dynasties, the crisis of the Order of the Tuetonic Knights and the beginning of their feudal dependence on the Polish kings, the secularisation of the monastic lands under Albert Brandenburg-Ansbach (1525), the Brandenburg margraves under the Kurfürst line of the Hohenzollerns, the unification of territory under John Sigsmund (1618), the ambitions of Frederick William the Great Elector (1640-1688) and the freeing of East Prussia from Polish feudal dependence, the proclamation of the Prussian kingdom under Frederick I (1701), Frederick William I (1713-1740) the “greatest domestic king” of Prussia and the founder of Prussian militarism (le roi sergeant), his reforms aimed at strengthening the state, his son Frederick II (1740-1786) as a “philosopher on the throne” and creator of an enlightened absolutism, his domestic and foreign policies, military conquestions and proposed reforms (justice, financial and economics policies, resettlement plans, the army). After the victories in Silesia (two Silesian wars and the Seven Year War).
Literature
  • STELLNER, František. Fridrich Veliký :cesta Pruska k velmocenskému postavení. Vyd. 1. Praha: Panevropa, 1998, 552 s., 16. ISBN 80-85846-10-1. info
  • SALMONOWICZ, Stanisław. Prusy :dzieje państwa i społeczeństwa. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1987. ISBN 83-210-0714-7. info
  • MEHRING, Franz. Bedřich II. a jeho doba : Lessingovská legenda : k historii a kritice pruského despotismu a klasické literatury : Die Lessing-Legende (Orig.). 1. aut. vyd. Praha: Svoboda, 1949, 416 s. info
Assessment methods
lecture; colloqium
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2000, Spring 2001, Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2009/HIB0006