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149-1049: Emden ( German pronunciation: [ˈɛmdn̩] ) is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems . It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. [REDACTED] County of East Frisia 1464–1744 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1744–1806 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810 [REDACTED]   First French Empire 1810–1813 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1813–1815 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Hanover 1815–1866 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1866–1871 [REDACTED]   German Empire 1871–1918 [REDACTED]   Weimar Republic 1918–1933 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1933–1945 [REDACTED]   Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949 [REDACTED]   West Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   Germany 1990–present The exact founding date of Emden

298-544: A département and a commune ; it is the only French city with this status. The Council of Paris ( Conseil de Paris ) exercises functions similar to those of a departmental council ( conseil départemental ) and a city council ( conseil municipal ). However, Paris and the départements closest to it are part of the Île-de-France région . In Germany, most of the federal states are subdivided into administrative districts called Kreise (engl. circles ), each of which normally includes several towns or cities. However,

447-533: A Kreisfreie Stadt , although the city is de jure a part of the special-status Hanover Region . Two cities in Germany, namely Berlin and Hamburg , are considered city-states (German: Stadtstaaten ). Additionally, the state of Bremen is officially classified as a city-state although it consists of the two cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven , which are separated by the state of Lower Saxony . Together with thirteen area states (German: Flächenländer ) they form

596-414: A federal structure, the federal capital is often separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government. Addis Ababa , capital of Ethiopia, has held the designation of chartered city since 1991, when it was separated from the former province of Shewa . It shares this status with one other city, Dire Dawa . Bamako , the capital of Mali, is contained within

745-528: A province , and thus do not share their tax revenues with any province. In practise, most cities outside of Metropolitan Manila are often still grouped with provinces that they were partitioned from for the sake of convenience and simplicity. The national government and its agencies serve these cities through sub-offices for each region , to which the cities are indirectly subject. There are 38 such cities, with 16 being located in Metro Manila (including

894-521: A French woman, Madame de Montbail , who had also educated Frederick William. Frederick William I, popularly dubbed the "Soldier King", had created a large and powerful army that included a regiment of his famous " Potsdam Giants "; he carefully managed the kingdom's wealth and developed a strong centralised government. He had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. In contrast, Frederick's mother Sophia, whose father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg , had succeeded to

1043-439: A German quasi-state under (Western) Allied supervision. Since 1990/1991, the reunited Berlin is an ordinary German state among others. In Hungary, 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights". These cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary. Budapest , the capital city is also a special district, outside of the country's system of counties. Although Budapest does not belong to Pest County which surrounds it, it

1192-668: A casualty when a bullet smashed a snuffbox he was carrying. Nevertheless, the Austro-Russian forces hesitated and stopped their advance for the year, an event Frederick later called the " Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ". Frederick spent the remainder of the year in a futile attempt to manoeuvre the Austrians out of Saxony, where they had recaptured Dresden. His effort cost him further losses when his general Friedrich August von Finck capitulated at Maxen on 20 November. At

1341-557: A close relationship, which lasted until her death in 1758. Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. Undeterred by his father's desire that his education be entirely religious and pragmatic, the young Frederick developed a preference for music, literature, and French culture. Frederick Wilhelm thought these interests were effeminate, as they clashed with his militarism, resulting in his frequent beating and humiliation of Frederick. Nevertheless, Frederick, with

1490-410: A common municipal government. The remaining 302 of them, however, are a standalone urban gmina ( Polish : gmina miejska ) which contains solely either an independent town or one of the 107 cities (the latter governed by a city mayor or prezydent miasta ). Among the 107 cities, 66 of them constitute counties in their own right, formally called cities with powiat rights . They are suitably marked on

1639-1097: A contingent of troops to aid the Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the War of the Polish Succession , Frederick studied under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the campaign against France on the Rhine ; he noted the weakness of the Imperial Army under Eugene's command, something that he would capitalise on at Austria's expense when he took the throne. Frederick William, weakened by gout and seeking to reconcile, granted Frederick Schloss Rheinsberg in Rheinsberg , north of Neuruppin. At Rheinsberg, Frederick assembled musicians, actors and other artists. He spent his time reading, watching and acting in dramatic plays, and composing and playing music. Frederick formed

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1788-636: A defender of German liberties. To stop Joseph II's attempts to acquire Bavaria, Frederick enlisted the help of the Electors of Hanover and Saxony along with several other minor German princes. Perhaps even more significantly, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church, the Archbishop of Mainz, who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick and Prussia's standing amid

1937-473: A densely built-up area consisting of 19 communes including the capital city Brussels , became one of Belgium's three regions after the country was turned into a federation in 1970. (In Belgium there are special circumstances due to the country's language communities.) The Brčko District is independent of both Entities that constitute Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). All other cities and municipalities are under

2086-729: A former lover and favourite, on the Polish throne. After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities in 1769–1770, Frederick's representative in Saint Petersburg, his brother Prince Henry, convinced Frederick and Maria Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. They agreed to

2235-723: A great power. Frederick remained an admired historical figure through Germany's defeat in World War ;I , and the Nazis glorified him as a great German leader prefiguring Adolf Hitler , who personally idolised him. His reputation became less favourable in Germany after World War II , partly due to being symbolically adopted by the Nazis as a historical hero. Historians in the 21st century tend to view Frederick as an outstanding military leader and capable monarch, whose commitment to enlightenment culture and administrative reform built

2384-473: A humongous or huge and sometimes "a person who dares and works with precision". In addition, the village of Emden, Illinois in the United States was named after Jacob Emden due to the large number of emigrants from Emden to the village in northwestern Logan County, Illinois . Other places in the U.S. named after the city include Emden, Missouri ; Embden, Maine ; and Embden, North Dakota . Emden

2533-520: A major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great (German: Friedrich der Große ) and was nicknamed " Old Fritz " (German: der Alte Fritz ). In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia . However, upon ascending to the throne, he attacked and annexed

2682-592: A marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November, which secured Berlin from further raids. Frederick became a casualty when he was hit in the chest by a spent bullet. By 1761, both the Austrian and Prussian military forces were so exhausted that no major battles were fought between them. Frederick's position became even more desperate when Britain, having achieved victory in the American and Indian theatres of

2831-477: A much larger Franco-Austrian army at the Battle of Rossbach and another Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen . Frederick hoped these two victories would force Austria to negotiate, but Maria Theresa was determined not to make peace until she had recovered Silesia. Despite its strong performance, the losses suffered from combat, disease and desertion had severely reduced the quality of the Prussian army. In

2980-513: A number of the more important and more populous cities are not part of a Kreis , but are instead themselves each equivalent in status and functions to a Kreis . Such cities are known as Kreisfreie Städte (literally, "district-free cities") – or, in the case of Baden-Württemberg , Stadtkreise ("urban districts"). There are currently 110 kreisfreie Städte (or equivalents). Of these, the 22 largest are: [a]: Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen are also federal states in their own right. [b]: Effectively

3129-520: A period of considerable religious and political freedom. Soon Protestants were barred from public offices and the Sejm (Polish Parliament). Frederick took advantage of this situation by becoming the protector of Protestant interests in Poland in the name of religious freedom. Frederick further opened Prussian control by signing an alliance with Catherine the Great who placed Stanisław August Poniatowski ,

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3278-629: A somewhat bigger shipyard. At the end of the 19th century, a big canal, the Dortmund-Ems Canal was constructed, which connected Emden with the Ruhr area. This made Emden the "seaport of the Ruhr area", which lasted until the 1970s. Coal from the south was transported to the North Sea port, and imported iron ore was shipped via the canal towards Rhine and the Ruhr . The last iron ore freighter

3427-408: A terrible man he was. But he was just, intelligent, and skilled in the management of affairs... it was through his efforts, through his tireless labour, that I have been able to accomplish everything that I have done since." Frederick was twenty-eight years old when his father died and he ascended to the throne of Prussia. Frederick William I had left him with a highly militarised state. Prussia

3576-516: A territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg, and his East Prussian provinces. The new territories would provide an increased tax base, manpower for the military, and serve as a surrogate for the overseas colonies of the other great powers. Poland was vulnerable to partition due to poor governance and the interference of foreign powers in its internal affairs. Frederick himself was partly responsible for this weakness by opposing attempts at financial and political reform in Poland, and undermining

3725-482: A third. It also prevented Augustus III , King of Poland and Elector of Saxony , from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. In late March 1741, Frederick set out on campaign again to capture the few remaining fortresses within the province that were still holding out. He was surprised by the arrival of an Austrian army, which he fought at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741. Though Frederick had served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this

3874-505: A trading hub and looked to Prussia for help. In exchange for recognising Prussia’s claim to East Frisia, Emden demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops, the return of sequestered assets, and the relocation of the estate treasury to Emden. Prussia, under Frederick II, aimed to secure its claim to East Frisia, relying on a 1694 decree from Emperor Leopold I. Negotiations led by Sebastian Anton Homfeld resulted in two treaties signed on 14 March 1744. These agreements upheld Emden’s status and granted

4023-542: Is BSV Kickers Emden . The capacity of the stadium is 7,200, due to safety objections of the German Football Association . In 1994, some 12,000 spectators followed a match against the reserves squad of Hamburger SV , which remains the record. In that season, Kickers Emden finished top of the 3rd League, but were not promoted to the Second League as they lost the promotion round. Since Emden

4172-662: Is twinned with: Independent city (Germany) An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). In the Holy Roman Empire , and to a degree in its successor states the German Confederation and the German Empire , so-called " free imperial cities " (nominative singular freie Reichsstadt , nominative plural freie Reichsstädte ) held

4321-729: Is a primate city in terms of its large population, having nearly 8% of Thailand's total population. In Indonesia, the national capital Jakarta is within the Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta (Jakarta Capital Special Region). Jakarta is considered one of Indonesia's provinces , therefore Jakarta is headed by a governor and not a mayor. However, Jakarta is divided into 5 smaller "administration-cities" ( kota administrasi ) and one "administration-regency" ( kabupaten administrasi ). The administration-cities are Central , North , East , West , and South Jakarta . The Kepulauan Seribu ( Thousand Islands ) administration-regency

4470-634: Is also included in the formal definition of Jakarta. All of these sub-units have their own degree of autonomy. Mayors of the five administration-cities and the regent of Kepulauan Seribu administration-regency are not elected, but directly appointed by the Governor and members of the Provincial Parliament of Jakarta . Furthermore, these sub-units do not have local parliament as opposed to other cities or regencies in Indonesia. New Delhi and

4619-586: Is not only located close to the North Sea, but also to the river Ems and various small rivers and canals, boat sports are very popular among inhabitants and tourists. Three German light cruisers were named after the city, two of which served in World War I and the third in World War II . Today, the fifth navy ship named after the city is in service. A deep sea spot in the Pacific Ocean close to

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4768-434: Is still the county headquarters. Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford are governed by independent city councils. In Norway, Oslo is both a municipality ( kommune ) and a county ( fylke ) within itself. Among Polish municipalities containing a town or a city, 638 are organized as a mixed urban-rural gmina ( Polish : gmina miejsko-wiejska ) consisting of a town and surrounding villages and countryside, governed by

4917-511: Is the main location from which vehicles produced at all Volkswagen Group factories in Germany are marshalled for export overseas. More than 1.4 million cars were imported and exported in 2017. The Nordseewerke shipyard, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp , employs around 1,400 dockers and specializes in conventional submarines. It also produces different kinds of cargo ships as well as ships for special purposes such as icebreakers, dredgers and other ships of that type. Another important economic sector

5066-470: Is tourism, mainly as a day trip destination for tourists staying in the surrounding villages on the North Sea coastline. A university of applied sciences ( Fachhochschule ) was opened in 1973. At present, around 4,240 students are enrolled, most of them studying for technical degrees. The airline Ostfriesische Lufttransport had its headquarters in Emden. The highest playing association football club

5215-620: Is unknown, but it has existed at least since the 8th century. Older names for Emden are Setutanda, Amuthon, Embda, Emda, Embden and Embderland. Town privilege and the town's coat of arms, the Engelke up de Muer (The Little Angel on the Wall) was granted by Emperor Maximilian I in 1495. In the 16th century, Emden briefly became an important centre for the Protestant Reformation under the rule of Countess Anna von Oldenburg who

5364-615: The Battle of Chotusitz . Frederick's retrained cavalry proved more effective than at Mollwitz, but once more it was the discipline of the Prussian infantry that won the field and allowed Frederick to claim a major victory. This victory, along with the Franco-Bavarian forces capturing Prague, forced the Austrians to seek peace. The terms of the Treaty of Breslau , negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County, with

5513-540: The British throne as King George I in 1714, was polite, charismatic and learned. The political and personal differences between Frederick's parents created tensions, which affected Frederick's attitude toward culture, his role as a ruler, and his relationship with his father. In his early youth, Frederick lived with his mother and sister Wilhelmine, although they regularly visited their father's hunting lodge at Königs Wusterhausen . Frederick and his older sister formed

5662-669: The City of Manila , the national capital); eight in the rest of Luzon and its surrounding islands; seven in the Visayas island group; and seven in Mindanao and its surrounding islands. Vietnam has five municipalities that are not part of any of the Vietnam's provinces . This includes Hanoi , the capital of Vietnam; and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the most populous city of Vietnam. In China, both Beijing and Tianjin are independent of

5811-700: The Convention of Westminster , by which Prussia would protect Hanover against French attack, and Britain would no longer subsidise Russia. This treaty triggered the Diplomatic Revolution in which Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, who had been traditional enemies, allied together with Russia to defeat the Anglo-Prussian coalition. To strengthen his strategic position against this coalition, on 29 August 1756, Frederick's well-prepared army preemptively invaded Saxony. His invasion triggered

5960-555: The First Partition of Poland in 1772 without war. Frederick acquired most of Royal Prussia, annexing 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi) and 600,000 inhabitants. Although Frederick's share of the partition was the smallest of the partitioning powers, the lands he acquired had roughly the same economic value as the others and had great strategic value. The newly created province of West Prussia connected East Prussia and Farther Pomerania, granted Prussia control of

6109-638: The League of Nymphenburg , sponsored the candidacy of his ally Charles of Bavaria to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. In late November, the Franco-Bavarian forces took Prague, and Charles was crowned King of Bohemia. Subsequently, he was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles ;VII on 24 January 1742. After the Austrians pulled their army out of Silesia to defend Bohemia, Frederick pursued them and blocked their path to Prague. The Austrians counter-attacked on 17 May 1742, initiating

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6258-922: The Netze District , recognising their educational activities as an asset for the nation. He continued to support them after their suppression by Pope Clement XIV . He befriended the Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop of Warmia, Ignacy Krasicki , whom he asked to consecrate St. Hedwig's Cathedral in 1773. He accepted countless Protestant weavers from Bohemia, who were fleeing from the devoutly Catholic rule of Maria Theresa, granting them freedom from taxes and military service. Constantly looking for new colonists, he encouraged immigration by repeatedly emphasising that nationality and religion were of no concern to him. This policy allowed Prussia's population to recover very quickly from its considerable losses during Frederick's three wars. Though Frederick

6407-514: The Philippines is named after the first Emden ship, and is therefore called Emdentief in German. The spot (10,400 m or 34,100 ft deep) was sounded in the 1920s (in 1920, 1923 or 1928—sources vary). The word "Yamandan" and "Emden" entered the lexicons of Malayalam and Tamil respectively after the bombing of Madras Harbour in 1914 by SMS Emden. The word in the local language means

6556-485: The Prussian Law Code of 1794, which balanced absolutism with human rights and corporate privilege with equality before the law. Reception to the law code was mixed as it was often viewed as contradictory. Frederick strove to put Prussia's fiscal system in order. In January 1750, Johann Philipp Graumann was appointed as Frederick's confidential adviser on finance, military affairs, and royal possessions, and

6705-581: The Seven Years' War . The city was recaptured by Anglo-German forces in 1758 and for the rest of the conflict was used as a major supply base by the British to support the ongoing war in Westphalia . During the Napoleonic Wars , Emden and the surrounding lands of East Frisia were part of the short-lived Kingdom of Holland . Industrialization started at around 1870, with a paper mill and

6854-551: The Third Silesian War and the larger Seven Years' War , both of which lasted until 1763. He quickly captured Dresden, besieged the trapped Saxon army in Pirna , and continued marching the remainder of his army toward North Bohemia, intending to winter there. At the Battle of Lobositz he claimed a close victory against an Austrian army that was aiming to relieve Pirna, but afterward withdrew his forces back to Saxony for

7003-678: The administrative division system of the Republic of China, some cities are directly administered by the Executive Yuan , some are administered by provinces (the province of Taiwan is nominal), and some are subordinate to counties . The centrally-administered ( Taipei City , Kaohsiung City , New Taipei City , Taichung City , Tainan City , and Taoyuan City ) and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition. In addition to its nine provinces, South Korea has seven province-level "metropolitan cities." By far

7152-672: The list of counties in Poland . Bucharest , the capital of Romania, is outside the country's system of counties . In the Russian Federation, Moscow and Saint Petersburg are both subjects of the federation and cities themselves. Russia also considers the Crimean city of Sevastopol to be a federal city of Russia , but this is not recognized by the majority of states who see the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea as unlawful. In Spain, there exist two so-called autonomous cities , Ceuta and Melilla , which are located on

7301-655: The seignorage . The coin eventually became universally accepted beyond Prussia and helped increase industry and trade. A gold coin, the Friedrich d'or , was also minted to oust the Dutch ducat from the Baltic trade. However, the fixed ratio between gold and silver led to the gold coins being perceived as more valuable, which caused them to leave circulation in Prussia. Unable to meet Frederick's expectations for profit, Graumann

7450-535: The 15th century. Thus, upon succeeding to the throne on 31 May 1740, Frederick declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI . Upon the death of Charles VI on 29 October 1740, Frederick disputed the 23-year-old Maria Theresa's right of succession to

7599-441: The 1759 campaign, the Austrian and Russian forces took the initiative, which they kept for the remainder of the war. They joined and advanced on Berlin. Frederick's army, which consisted of a substantial number of quickly recruited, half-trained soldiers, attempted to check them at the Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August, where he was defeated and his troops were routed. Almost half his army was destroyed, and Frederick almost became

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7748-596: The 1944 raid, the current Emden city hall was officially opened. The main industries in Emden are automobile production and shipbuilding. Volkswagen runs a large production plant which builds the Volkswagen Passat car and which employs around 10,000 people. Emden harbor is also one of the three main ports for car shipping in Europe (together with Zeebrugge in Belgium and Bremerhaven in Germany). Emden

7897-900: The Austrian Emperor Joseph II , the French court was unwilling to support him because they were already supporting the American revolutionaries in North America and the idea of an alliance with Austria had been unpopular in France since the end of the Seven Years' War. Frederick ended up as a beneficiary of the American Revolutionary War , as Austria was left more or less isolated. Saxony and Russia, both of which had been Austria's allies in

8046-565: The Austrians retaining only the portion called Austrian or Czech Silesia . By 1743, the Austrians had subdued Bavaria and driven the French out of Bohemia. Frederick strongly suspected Maria Theresa would resume war in an attempt to recover Silesia. Accordingly, he renewed his alliance with France and preemptively invaded Bohemia in August 1744, beginning the Second Silesian War . In late August 1744, Frederick's army had crossed

8195-549: The Austrians, who were reinforced by the Saxons, crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. After allowing them across, Frederick pinned them down and decisively defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June 1745. Frederick subsequently advanced into Bohemia and defeated a counterattack by the Austrians at the Battle of Soor . Frederick then turned toward Dresden when he learned the Saxons were preparing to march on Berlin. However, on 15 December 1745, Prussian forces under

8344-480: The Bamako Capital District. Maputo , the capital of Mozambique, is its own district with provincial status surrounded by the Province of Maputo . Niger's capital, Niamey , comprises a capital district of Niger. It is surrounded by the Tillabéri Department . Nigeria's capital Abuja is located in the Federal Capital Territory . The Territory was established in 1976, and the capital was formally moved from Lagos (the historic capital) in 1991. In Taiwan under

8493-435: The Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria . For their part, the Austrians tried to pressure the French to participate in the War of Bavarian Succession since there were guarantees under consideration related to the Peace of Westphalia , clauses which linked the Bourbon dynasty of France and the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty of Austria. Unfortunately for

8642-443: The Bayard Order to discuss warfare with his friends; Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué was made the grand master of the gatherings. Later, Frederick regarded this time as one of the happiest of his life. Studying the works of Niccolò Machiavelli , such as The Prince , was considered necessary for any king in Europe to rule effectively. In 1739, Frederick finished his Anti-Machiavel , an idealistic rebuttal of Machiavelli. It

8791-468: The Bohemian frontier, marched directly to Prague, and laid siege to the city, which surrendered on 16 September 1744 after a three-day bombardment. Frederick's troops immediately continued marching into the heart of central Bohemia, but Saxony had now joined the war against Prussia. Although the combined Austrian and Saxon armies outnumbered Frederick's forces, they refused to directly engage with Frederick's army, harassing his supply lines instead. Frederick

8940-545: The Director-General of all mint facilities . Graumann's currency reform slightly lowered the silver content of Prussian thaler from 1 ⁄ 12 Cologne mark of silver to 1 ⁄ 14 , which brought the metal content of the thaler into alignment with its face value, and it standardised the Prussian coinage system. As a result, Prussian coins, which had been leaving the country nearly as fast as they were minted, remained in circulation in Prussia. Frederick estimated that he earned about one million thalers in profits on

9089-399: The Duchy of Brabant to the Protestant city Emden to escape persecution by the Spanish rulers of the Low Countries. During this period, the predominantly Calvinist Emden came into conflict with the Lutheran counts of East Friesland. The Emden Revolution in 1595 resulted in Emden becoming a distinct city-state. With the support of the Dutch Republic, Emden became a free government city under

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9238-436: The German states. In his earliest published work, the Anti-Machiavel , and his later Testament politique ( Political Testament ), Frederick wrote that the sovereign was the first servant of the state. Frederick helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state. He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. He increased

9387-449: The Habsburg lands, while simultaneously asserting his own right to the Austrian province of Silesia based on a number of old, though ambiguous, Hohenzollern claims to parts of Silesia. The First Silesian War (1740–1742, part of the War of the Austrian Succession ) began on 16 December 1740 when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied almost all of Silesia within seven weeks. Though Frederick justified his occupation on dynastic grounds,

9536-518: The North African coast surrounded by Morocco and have been under Spanish jurisdiction since the 15th century. Spain is a highly decentralized state organized in autonomous communities . These two cities hold their special status because they are not large enough to be considered regions on their own. Nonetheless, they function as autonomous communities with a high degree of self-administration and law-making powers. Historically, until 1967, Stockholm did not belong to any county of Sweden. Instead, there

9685-437: The Polish economy by inflating its currency by his use of Polish coin dies. The profits exceeded 25 million thalers , twice the peacetime national budget of Prussia. He thwarted Polish efforts to create a stable economic system by building a customs fort at Marienwerder on the Vistula, Poland's major trade artery, and by bombarding Polish customs ports on the Vistula. Frederick used Poland's religious dissension to keep

9834-412: The Prussian ambassador in London , Benjamin Reichenbach. The pair undermined the relationship between the British and Prussian courts using bribery and slander. Eventually Frederick William became angered by the idea of Frederick being married to an English wife and under the influence of the British court. Instead, he signed a treaty with Austria, which vaguely promised to acknowledge Prussia's rights to

9983-417: The Seven Years' War, were now allied with Prussia. Although Frederick was weary of war in his old age, he was determined not to allow Austrian dominance in German affairs. Frederick and Prince Henry marched the Prussian army into Bohemia to confront Joseph's army, but the two forces ultimately descended into a stalemate, largely living off the land and skirmishing. Frederick's longtime rival Maria Theresa, who

10132-400: The Special Act on the Installation of Sejong City. Currently, the population of Sejong Special Self-governing City is lower than that of the aforementioned metropolitan cities, but the population is increasing with the construction of a mixed-use administrative city. In 2006, the ruling party floated a proposal to eliminate all current province and independent-city borders. This plan would divide

10281-455: The Treaty of Hubertusburg, Catherine the Great signed an eight-year alliance with Prussia, albeit with conditions that favoured the Russians. Frederick's ultimate success came at a heavy financial cost to Prussia. Part of the burden was covered by the Anglo-Prussian Convention , which gave Frederick an annual £670,000 in British subsidies from 1758 until 1762. These subsidies ceased when Frederick allied with Peter III, partly because of

10430-412: The avidity of my enemies". The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 led to the succession of the Prussophile Peter III , her German nephew, who was also the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition; Peter immediately promised to end the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania. One of Peter III's first diplomatic endeavours

10579-400: The beginning of 1760, the Austrians moved to retake Silesia, where Frederick defeated them at the Battle of Liegnitz on 15 August. The victory did not allow Frederick to regain the initiative or prevent Russian and Austrian troops from raiding Berlin in October to extort a ransom from the city. At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war. He won

10728-559: The capital, Karachi was located in the Federal Capital Territory , which later reverted to the Sindh Province. In United Arab Emirates, the seven emirates are themselves city-states, or were historically, in particular Abu Dhabi , Dubai and Sharjah . The city of Vienna is a federal state within the Republic of Austria. A similar concept is the statutory city . The Brussels capital region ,

10877-528: The central government. Examples are Seoul , Busan , Daegu , Incheon , Gwangju , Daejeon and Ulsan in South Korea and Pyongyang and Rason in North Korea. In South Korea, the main criterion for granting secession from the province is a population reaching one million. In Thailand, the capital Bangkok operates independently of any province and is considered a special administrative area. It

11026-419: The changed political situation and because of Britain's decreasing willingness to pay the sums Frederick wanted. Frederick also financed the war by devaluing the Prussian coin five times; debased coins were produced with the help of Leipzig mintmasters , Veitel Heine Ephraim , Daniel Itzig and Moses Isaacs. He also debased the coinage of Saxony and Poland . This helped Frederick cover over 20 per cent of

11175-495: The city for the duration of the war. On 6 September 1944, the RAF and USAAF launched their largest bombing raid against Emden, which destroyed approximately 80% of all structures in the city center. However, the Emden shipyards, in contrast to the rest of the city, was left largely unaffected by the bombing raids. After the war, Emden came under Allied occupation and rebuilding efforts commenced. On 6 September 1962, exactly 18 years after

11324-488: The city of Basel itself. In Ukraine, the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol are part of the country constituent regions along with the autonomous republic of Crimea (ARK), and 24 other oblasts (see Oblasts of Ukraine ). Frederick the Great Frederick II ( German : Friedrich II. ; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He

11473-485: The city special economic and administrative privileges. After Carl Edzard’s death on 25 May 1744, Prussia quickly occupied East Frisia without resistance, and the region soon swore allegiance to the Prussian crown. Foreign troops withdrew from the area. In 1752 Frederick the Great chartered the Emden Company to trade with Canton , but the company was ruined when Emden was captured by French forces in 1757 during

11622-527: The command of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau soundly defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf . After linking up his army with Leopold's, Frederick occupied the Saxon capitol of Dresden, forcing the Saxon elector, Augustus III, to capitulate. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden , signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia. It

11771-561: The conflict. Although Frederick managed to bring his army up to 190,000 men by the time the economy had largely recovered in 1772, which made it the third-largest army in Europe, almost none of the officers in this army were veterans of his generation and the King's attitude towards them was extremely harsh. Frederick suffered a number of personal losses. Many of his closest friends and family members—including his brother Augustus William, his sister Wilhelmine, and his mother—had died while Frederick

11920-403: The cost of the war, but at the price of causing massive inflation and economic upheaval throughout the region. Saxony, occupied by Prussia for most of the conflict, was left nearly destitute as a result. While Prussia lost no territory, the population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. The best of Frederick's officer corps were killed in

12069-508: The crown prince fainted just before the fatal blow. Frederick was granted a royal pardon and released on 18 November 1730, although he remained stripped of his military rank. He was forced to remain in Küstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration for the War and Estates Departments. Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Küstrin a year later, and Frederick

12218-455: The economy. One of Frederick's achievements after the Seven Years' War included the control of grain prices, whereby government storehouses would enable the civilian population to survive in needy regions, where the harvest was poor. He commissioned Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky to promote the trade and – to take on the competition with France – put a silk factory where 1,500 people found employment. Frederick followed Gotzkowsky's recommendations in

12367-532: The entire republic into fifty or sixty city- or county-level administrations, similar to the system in Japan. The plan was intended to help reduce regional discrimination and animosity by eliminating provincial identity. Many major cities in the Philippines are independent cities, classified as either "highly urbanized" or "independent component" cities. These cities are administratively and legally not subject to

12516-585: The experiment came to an end. Nevertheless, the legacy was important for the reformation in the Netherlands. At the end of the 16th century, Emden experienced a period of great prosperity. Due to the Spanish blockade of Flemish and Brabant ports at the start of the Dutch Revolt , Emden became the most important transshipment port on the North Sea. Thousands of Protestant refugees came from Flanders and

12665-558: The field of toll levies and import restrictions. When Gotzkowsky asked for a deferral during the Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 , Frederick took over his porcelain factory, now known as KPM . Frederick modernised the Prussian civil service and promoted religious tolerance throughout his realm to attract more settlers in East Prussia. With the help of French experts, he organised a system of indirect taxation , which provided

12814-663: The former Duchy of Prussia , outside of the Empire bordering the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He was titled King in Prussia because his kingdom included only part of historic Prussia; he was to declare himself King of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. When Frederick became king, he faced vulnerably disconnected holdings with a weak economic base. To strengthen Prussia's position, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty had reigned as Holy Roman Emperors continuously since

12963-661: The foundation that allowed the Kingdom of Prussia to contest the Austrian Habsburgs for leadership among the German states. Frederick was the son of then-Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover . He was born between 11 and 12 p.m. on 24 January 1712 in the Berlin Palace and was baptised with the single name Friedrich by Benjamin Ursinus von Bär on 31 January. The birth

13112-450: The freedom of speech in press and literature, abolished most uses of judicial torture , and limited which crimes could be punished by death. Working with his Grand Chancellor Samuel von Cocceji , he reformed the judicial system and made it more efficient, and he moved the courts toward greater legal equality of all citizens by removing special courts for special social classes. The reform was completed after Frederick's death, resulting in

13261-512: The grain stocks he held in reserve for military campaigns. Many other rulers soon followed the steps of Frederick in reforming their own currencies. The functionality and stability of the reform made the Prussian monetary system the standard in Northern Germany. Around 1751, Frederick founded the Emden Company to promote trade with China. He introduced the lottery , fire insurance , and a giro discount and credit bank to stabilise

13410-523: The help of his tutor in Latin, Jacques Duhan , procured a 3,000-volume secret library of poetry, Greek and Roman classics, and philosophy to supplement his official lessons. Frederick William I had been raised a Calvinist in spite of the Lutheran state faith in Prussia, but feared he was not one of God's elect . To avoid the possibility of his son Frederick being motivated by the same concerns,

13559-534: The honours befitting her station, but never displayed any affection. After their separation, he would only see her on state occasions. These included visits to her on her birthday, among the rare occasions when Frederick did not wear military uniform. In 1732, Frederick was restored to the Prussian Army as Colonel of the Regiment von der Goltz, stationed near Nauen and Neuruppin . When Prussia provided

13708-590: The imperial level . After the Napoleonic era, in 1815, four were still city-states: Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck in Northern Germany, and Frankfurt where the Federal Convention was located. Frankfurt was incorporated by Prussia in 1866, and Lübeck became a part of Prussia during the national socialist regime in 1937 (Greater Hamburg Law). After 1945, Berlin was a divided city, and the Western part became

13857-459: The inhabitants as "slovenly Polish trash". His long-term goal was to remove the Poles through Germanisation , which included appropriating Polish Crown lands and monasteries, introducing a military draft, encouraging German settlement in the region, and implementing a tax policy that disproportionately impoverished Polish nobles. Late in his life Frederick involved Prussia in the low-scale War of

14006-409: The invasion of this militarily and politically vulnerable part of the Habsburg empire also had the potential to provide substantial long-term economic and strategic benefits. The occupation of Silesia added one of the most densely industrialised German regions to Frederick's kingdom and gave it control over the navigable Oder River . It nearly doubled Prussia's population and increased its territory by

14155-440: The judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick encouraged immigrants of diverse backgrounds to come to Prussia. While Protestantism remained the favored faith, he allowed religious freedom and tolerated Jews and Catholics in Prussia, however his actions were not entirely without prejudice. He supported the arts and philosophers he favoured, and allowed freedom of

14304-658: The jurisdiction of the Entity (in Republika Srpska) or under the jurisdiction of cantons (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Dayton Peace Agreement afforded the special designation as a district, while also creating the Office of the High Representative that currently oversees the district of Brčko. The capital city of Sofia has the status of oblast (region). The capital city of Zagreb has

14453-471: The king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination . Despite his father's intention, Frederick appeared to have adopted a sense of predestination for himself. At age 16, Frederick formed an attachment to the king's 17-year-old page , Peter Karl Christoph von Keith . Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became inseparable.... He served my brother from feelings of real devotion". Wilhelmine would further record that "Though I had noticed that he

14602-535: The kingdom open to Prussian control. Poland was predominantly Roman Catholic, but approximately ten per cent of Poland's population, 600,000 Eastern Orthodox and 250,000 Protestants, were non-Catholic dissenters. During the 1760s, the dissenters' political importance was out of proportion to their numbers. Although dissenters still had substantial rights, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had increasingly been reducing their civic rights after

14751-435: The largest among these in terms of population is the capital, Seoul , called a teukbyeol-si (특별시; literally, special city), which is home to more than 20% of the entire population of the country. The remaining six independent cities are called gwangyeok-si (광역시; literally, large city) whose names are: Busan , Daegu , Daejeon , Incheon , Gwangju , and Ulsan . Historically, these independent cities have been carved from

14900-498: The legal status of imperial immediacy , according to which they were not subinfeudated to any vassal ruler and were instead subject to the authority of the Emperor alone. Examples included Hamburg , Bremen , and Lübeck , along with others that gained and/or lost the privileges of immediacy over the course of the Empire's history. A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. In countries with

15049-547: The meantime, the Russian army had advanced within 100 miles (160 km) east of Berlin. In August, he fought the Russian forces to a draw at the Battle of Zorndorf , in which nearly a third of Frederick's soldiers were casualties. He then headed south to face the Austrian army in Saxony. There, he was defeated at the Battle of Hochkirch on 14 October, although the Austrian forces were not able to exploit their victory. During

15198-577: The mid-1720s, Queen Sophia Dorothea attempted to arrange the marriage of Frederick and his sister Wilhelmine to her brother King George II 's children Amelia and Frederick , the heir apparent . Fearing an alliance between Prussia and Great Britain , Field Marshal von Seckendorff , the Austrian ambassador in Berlin , bribed the Prussian Minister of War, Field Marshal von Grumbkow , and

15347-506: The mouth of the Vistula River , and cut off Poland's sea trade. Maria Theresa had only reluctantly agreed to the partition, to which Frederick sarcastically commented, "she cries, but she takes". Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilising mission that emphasised the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways. He saw Polish Prussia as barbaric and uncivilised, describing

15496-574: The names of their state organs: their governments are called Senate, the prime ministers 'mayor' (Governing Mayor in Berlin and First Mayor in Hamburg) or President of the Senate (in Bremen) and also the expressions for their state parliaments differ from the other states. In the 18th century, many German cities were free imperial cities (German: Reichsstädte ), without a principality between them and

15645-453: The newer independent cities is that, in some cases, the government administrative buildings ( docheong ) of the provinces they were once a part of are still located within city boundaries, meaning that these provinces have capitals that are not within their borders. On 1 July 2012, Yeongi-gun, Chungcheongnam-do absorbed parts of Cheonan, Gongju and Cheongju, and became independent from Chungcheongnam-do as Sejong Special Self-governing City under

15794-526: The niece of Empress Anna of Russia , but this plan was ardently opposed by Prince Eugene of Savoy . Frederick himself proposed marrying Maria Theresa of Austria in return for renouncing the succession. Instead, Eugene persuaded Frederick William, through Seckendorff, that the crown prince should marry Elisabeth Christine , a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs . Frederick wrote to his sister that, "There can be neither love nor friendship between us", and he threatened suicide, but he went along with

15943-567: The old city of Delhi together form the National Capital Territory of Delhi . The capital of Iraq, Baghdad , is contained within a special capital district. In Japan, Tokyo, as well as being a city, forms a prefecture, falling into a special category of "metropolitan prefecture" having some of the attributes of a city and some of a prefecture. Within Tokyo, there are smaller units, "wards", "cities", "towns", etc., but some of

16092-470: The pair of treason . The king briefly threatened the crown prince with execution , then considered forcing Frederick to renounce the succession in favour of his brother, Augustus William, although either option would have been difficult to justify to the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire . The king condemned Katte to death and forced Frederick to watch his beheading at Küstrin on 6 November;

16241-546: The press and literature. Frederick was almost certainly homosexual , and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. Because he died childless, he was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II . He is buried at his favourite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam . Nearly all 19th-century German historians made Frederick into a romantic model of a glorified warrior, praising his leadership, administrative efficiency, devotion to duty and success in building Prussia into

16390-510: The principalities of Jülich - Berg , which led to the collapse of the marriage proposal. Soon after his relationship with Keith ended, Frederick became close friends with Hans Hermann von Katte , a Prussian officer eight years older than Frederick who became one of his boon companions and may have been his lover. After the English marriages became impossible, Frederick plotted to flee to Britain with Katte and other junior army officers. While

16539-486: The protection of the Dutch Republic. The Brabantian dialect became the official language of trade and civil administration. Emden was a very rich city during the 17th century, due to large numbers of Dutch and Flemish immigrants such as Diederik Jansz. Graeff . It was a centre of reformed Protestantism at that time. The political theorist Johannes Althusius served as Syndic from 1604 to 1638. In 1744, Emden

16688-494: The province that surrounds them. Consequently, they typically share a strong regional and cultural identity with the adjoining province(s). For instance, Gwangju, located at the center of Jeolla region, is heavily associated with the region. Seoul and Incheon are said to make up the National Capital Area along with the densely populated Gyeonggi that almost completely encompasses them. One interesting relic of

16837-457: The remaining years of the war, Frederick faced a coalition of enemies including Austria, France, Russia, Sweden , and the Holy Roman Empire, supported only by Britain and its allies Hesse , Brunswick , and Hanover . In 1758 Frederick once more took the initiative by invading Moravia. By May, he had laid siege to Olomouc , but the Austrians were able to hold the town and destroyed Frederick's supply train, forcing him to retreat into Silesia. In

16986-634: The responsibilities normally assigned to cities and towns in other Japanese prefectures are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government instead. The capital of Pakistan, Islamabad , is a planned city within the Islamabad Capital Territory , which was created in 1960 out of the Punjab Province. The Territory elects representatives to both houses of the legislature. Before Islamabad was made

17135-525: The rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. Frederick was a supporter of enlightened absolutism , stating that the ruler should be the first servant of the state. He modernised the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and pursued religious policies that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed

17284-634: The royal retinue was near Mannheim in the Electorate of the Palatinate , Robert Keith (Peter Keith's brother and one of Frederick's companions) had an attack of conscience when the conspirators were preparing to escape and begged Frederick William for forgiveness on 5 August 1730. Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin . Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Britain, Frederick William accused

17433-414: The sixteen federal states of Germany . Hamburg and Bremen are " Free and Hanseatic Cities". Generally, the city-states have no other rights or duties than the other states. Through the financial redistribution system of Equalization Payments in Germany (German: Länderfinanzausgleich ), they do receive more money because of their demographic characteristics. The city-states are most distinctive due to

17582-405: The size of the huge army he had inherited. The situation is summed up in a widely translated and quoted aphorism attributed to Mirabeau , who asserted in 1786 that " La Prusse n'est pas un pays qui a une armée, c'est une armée qui a un pays " ("Prussia was not a state in possession of an army, but an army in possession of a state"). Using the resources his frugal father had cultivated, Frederick

17731-614: The start of the Seven Years' War in 1756. In each case, these confessions also served personal or political goals. He tolerated all faiths in his realm, but Protestantism remained the favoured religion, and Catholics were not chosen for higher state positions. Frederick wanted development throughout the country, adapted to the needs of each region. He was interested in attracting a diversity of skills, whether from Jesuit teachers, Huguenot citizens, or Jewish merchants and bankers. Frederick retained Jesuits as teachers in Silesia, Warmia , and

17880-492: The state with more revenue than direct taxation; though French officials administering it may have pocketed some of the profit. He established new regulations for tax officials to reduce graft. In 1781, Frederick made coffee a royal monopoly and employed disabled soldiers, the coffee sniffers , to spy on citizens illegally roasting coffee, much to the annoyance of the general population. Though Frederick started many reforms during his reign, his ability to see them to fulfillment

18029-602: The status equal to županija (county), whereas all other cities and municipalities are under a county jurisdiction. Historically, Croatian cities became independent by being named a " royal free city ". Under the Austro-Hungarian Empire , the city of Rijeka (Fiume) was a separate city from the Counties of Hungary , and the Modros-Fiume County that surrounded it. The city of Paris is both

18178-436: The surrounding province of Hebei , of which they were formerly a part. Similarly, Shanghai is now independent from Jiangsu and Chongqing from Sichuan . Hong Kong and Macao have the status of special administrative regions , separated from their original province Guangdong . In both South Korea and North Korea, special cities are independent from their surrounding provinces and city-states under direct governance from

18327-548: The threat to his eastern borders over, and France also seeking peace after its defeats by Britain, Frederick was able to fight the Austrians to a stalemate. While the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg returned the European borders to what they had been before the Seven Years' War, Frederick's ability to retain Silesia in spite of the odds earned Prussia admiration throughout the German-speaking territories. A year following

18476-552: The throne, Frederick separated from Elisabeth. He granted her the Schönhausen Palace and apartments at the Berliner Stadtschloss , but he prohibited her from visiting his court in Potsdam . They had no children, and Frederick bestowed the title of the heir to the throne, "Prince of Prussia", on his brother Augustus William. Nevertheless, Elisabeth Christine remained devoted to him. Frederick gave her all

18625-408: The war with Prussia to regain Silesia. During the ten years of peace that followed the signing of the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick prepared to defend his claim on Silesia by further fortifying the province, expanding his army, and reorganising his finances. In 1756, Frederick attempted to forestall Britain's financing of a Russian army on Prussia's border by negotiating an alliance with Britain at

18774-569: The war, ended its financial support for Prussia after the death of King George II, Frederick's uncle. The Russian forces also continued their advance, occupying Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. With the Russians slowly advancing towards Berlin, it looked as though Prussia was about to collapse. On 6 January 1762, Frederick wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein , "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from

18923-584: The wedding on 12 June 1733. He had little in common with his bride, and the marriage was resented as an example of the Austrian political interference that had plagued Prussia. Nevertheless, during their early married life, the royal couple resided at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin. Later, Elisabeth Christine accompanied Frederick to Schloss Rheinsberg, where at this time she played an active role in his social life. After his father died and he ascended

19072-545: The winter. When the Saxon forces in Pirna finally capitulated in October 1756, Frederick forcibly incorporated them into his own army. This action, along with his initial invasion of neutral Saxony, brought him widespread international criticism; but the conquest of Saxony provided him with significant financial, military, and strategic assets to sustain the war. In the early spring of 1757, Frederick again invaded Bohemia. He

19221-506: Was Joseph's mother and his co-ruler, did not want a new war with Prussia, and secretly sent messengers to Frederick to discuss peace negotiations. Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to enter the war on Frederick's side if peace was not negotiated, and Joseph reluctantly dropped his claim to Bavaria. When Joseph tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund (League of Princes), allowing himself to be seen as

19370-605: Was a Governor of Stockholm that had the normal responsibilities of the County Administrative Boards and their managers, the governors. There was no County Council (which is elected by the people and is responsible for example for health care); instead, the City of Stockholm handled such tasks. One of the cantons of Switzerland , Basel-Stadt , is considered to be a city-state, although it contains two smaller municipalities Bettingen and Riehen alongside

19519-529: Was after the signing of the treaty that Frederick, then 33 years old, first became known as "the Great". Though Frederick had withdrawn from the War of the Austrian Succession once Austria guaranteed his possession of Silesia, Austria remained embroiled in the war until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Less than a year after the treaty was signed, Maria Theresa was once more seeking allies, particularly Russia and France, to eventually renew

19668-399: Was allowed to visit Berlin for his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth on 20 November 1731. The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Küstrin on 26 February 1732 on condition that he marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern . Frederick William considered marrying Frederick to Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ,

19817-466: Was annexed by Prussia . The Emden Convention, signed on 14 March 1744, was a treaty that formalised Prussia's annexation of East Frisia after the local Cirksena dynasty died out. It recognised the rights and privileges of the city of Emden and the regional estates. Carl Edzard, the last Count of East Frisia, assumed power in 1734 but faced opposition from Emden and other estates, leading to political and economic isolation. Emden sought to regain its status as

19966-554: Was determined to find a religious "third way" between Lutheranism and Catholicism . In 1542 she invited the Polish noble John Laski (or Johannes a Lasco ) to become pastor of a Protestant church at Emden, and for seven years he continued to spread the new religion around the area of East Frisia . However, in 1549 following pressure from the Emperor Charles V , the Countess was forced to ask Laski to leave for England and

20115-447: Was engaged in the war. Frederick sought to acquire and economically exploit Polish Prussia as part of his wider aim of enriching his kingdom. As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that his country would benefit from annexing Polish territory, and had described Poland as an "artichoke, ready to be consumed leaf by leaf". By 1752, he had prepared the ground for the partition of Poland–Lithuania, aiming to achieve his goal of building

20264-411: Was eventually able to establish Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power . When Frederick ascended the throne as the third "King in Prussia" in 1740, his realm consisted of scattered territories, including Cleves , Mark , and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire; Brandenburg , Hither Pomerania , and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire; and the Kingdom of Prussia,

20413-524: Was forced to withdraw to Silesia as winter approached. In the interim, Frederick successfully claimed his inheritance to the minor territory of East Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany, occupying the territory after its last ruler died without issue in 1744. In January 1745, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria died, taking Bavaria out of the war and allowing Maria Theresa's husband Francis of Lorraine to be eventually elected Holy Roman Emperor. Now able to focus solely on Frederick's army,

20562-399: Was his first major battle in command of an army. Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. Believing his forces had been defeated, Frederick galloped away to avoid capture, leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin to lead the disciplined Prussian infantry to victory. Frederick would later admit to humiliation at his abdication of command and would state that Mollwitz

20711-456: Was his school. Disappointed with the performance of his cavalry , whose training his father had neglected in favour of the infantry, Frederick spent much of his time in Silesia establishing a new doctrine for them. Encouraged by Frederick's victory at Mollwitz, the French and their ally, the Electorate of Bavaria , entered the war against Austria in early September 1741 and marched on Prague . Meanwhile, Frederick, alongside other members of

20860-552: Was moored in the port of Emden in 1986. In 1903, a large shipyard ( Nordseewerke , "North Sea Works") was founded and was in operation until 2010. During World War II , Emden was repeatedly targeted by Allied bombing raids , which destroyed the majority of the city center. The Royal Air Force (RAF) launched its first bombing raid over Emden in 31 March 1940, and both the RAF and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) continued to launch raids against

21009-426: Was not as disciplined or thorough as his military successes. In contrast to his devoutly Calvinist father, Frederick was a religious sceptic , and has been described as a deist . Frederick was pragmatic about religious faith. Three times during his life, he presented his own confession of Christian faith: during his imprisonment after Katte's execution in 1730, after his conquest of Silesia in 1741, and just before

21158-470: Was on more familiar terms with this page than was proper in his position, I did not know how intimate the friendship was." As Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, his relationship with Keith may have been homoerotic, although the extent of their intimacy remains ambiguous. When Frederick William heard rumours of their relationship, Keith was sent away to an unpopular regiment near the Dutch frontier. In

21307-468: Was removed in 1754. Although Frederick's debasement of the coinage to fund the Seven Years' War left the Prussian monetary system in disarray, the Mint Edict of May 1763 brought it back to stability by fixing rates at which depreciated coins would be accepted and requiring tax payments in currency of prewar value. This resulted in a shortage of ready money, but Frederick controlled prices by releasing

21456-566: Was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia , declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His most significant accomplishments include military successes in the Silesian wars , reorganisation of the Prussian Army , the First Partition of Poland , and patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment . Prussia greatly increased its territories and became

21605-465: Was the twelfth largest country in Europe in terms of population, but its army was the fourth largest, after France, Russia and Austria. Prussia had one soldier for every 28 citizens, whereas Britain only had one for every 310, and the military absorbed 86% of Prussia's state budget. The Prussian infantry trained by Frederick William I were, at the time of Frederick's accession, arguably unrivalled in discipline and firepower. By 1770, Frederick had doubled

21754-464: Was to seek a Prussian title; Frederick obliged. Peter III was so enamoured of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war against Austria, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia. More significantly, Russia's about-face from an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who hastily made peace with Frederick. With

21903-435: Was victorious against the Austrian army at the Battle of Prague on 6 May 1757, but his losses were so great he was unable to take the city, and settled for besieging it. On 18 June 1757, Frederick suffered his first major defeat at the Battle of Kolín , which forced him to abandon his invasion of Bohemia. When the French and the Austrians pursued him into Saxony and Silesia in the fall of 1757, Frederick defeated and repulsed

22052-567: Was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I , as his two previous grandsons had died in infancy. With the death of Frederick I in 1713, his son Frederick William I became King in Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince. Frederick had nine siblings who lived to adulthood. He had six sisters. The eldest was Wilhelmine , who became his closest sibling. He also had three younger brothers, including Augustus William and Henry . The new king wished for his children to be educated not as royalty, but as simple folk. They were tutored by

22201-602: Was written in French—as were all of Frederick's works—and published anonymously in 1740, but Voltaire distributed it in Amsterdam to great popularity. Frederick's years dedicated to the arts instead of politics ended upon the 1740 death of Frederick William and his inheritance of the Kingdom of Prussia. Frederick and his father were reconciled at the latter's death, and Frederick later admitted, despite their constant conflict, that Frederick William had been an effective ruler: "What

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