A great sovereign must know exactly what the strong and weak points of his country are. He must be well acquainted with its resources and the national commerce. The sovereign must perform his duties connected to his offices with care. Fredrick William II would say, he is “the principle servant of the state”; therefore, he must act unselfishly, honestly and with wisdom. “The sovereign stands to his people in the same relation in which the head stands to the body.” (Barker, p22)
Fredrick William I reined from 1713 to 1740. When he came to power Prussia was only broken territories, so his goal was to make Prussia a country. Four achievements marked his reign. His military became one of the largest in Europe. He wanted an intimidating army so only tall men were hire
Fredrick William II was also known as Fredrick the Great. He did not allow government officials to take money. He did not allow his subjects to be tortured and he had religious toleration. He was an absolute ruler, and he lived as though he was the “first servant of the state.” He did not rule by his personal desires, but with the guidance of what was beneficial for Prussia. It seemed like he was everywhere at once, he checked the work of his officials constantly. New methods of agriculture and manufacturing were introduced under his rule. Marshes were drained to provide new land for cultivation and the institution of serfdom was liberalized to an extent. The efficiency plus the size of the army was increased noticeably also. Fredrick II saw a chance to unify Prussia geographically by taking over t
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