Comments by "Nattygsbord" (@nattygsbord) on "Prussian Infantry under Frederick the Great" video.

  1. Well, not every country have their military music written by Beethoven, Haydn and other great masters... https://youtu.be/knNRn--vzJM?t=17s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzCyBgnqZ4
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  2. "Frederick’s financial policy was successful inasmuch as he ‘contrived to produce on the economic resources of what was then the least prosperous section of Germany, a public revenue which was greater than that of Russia (under Catherine II), with a per capita burden of taxation no greater than of Austria, and considerably less than that of France’. Moreover Frederick ‘managed to support the army of a first-rate power on the resources of a third-rate state and at the same time accumulated a large reserve in the public treasury’." - Studies in the Economic Policy of Frederick the Great, by Bill Henderson
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  3. Well the major powers was conspiring against him so I don't see he had much of choice other than to start a war at point of time that he choose. Taking Schlesien was immature and I think he greatly underestimated the political consequences of his actions. But besides from that I think he was a great statesman. He greatly expanded the countrys territory and population during his reign. The economy grow greatly. The big army had a reputation that made the country an enemy to fear and an ally everyone wish they had. So I think he deserves much credd for his effort to promote new industries, his infrastructure projects such as canal building and draining of swamp, his tradepolicies that diverted money away from other places into his empire. He was also early in seeing the benifits of growing potatoes in Germany. But he also made mistakes grounded in backward thinking, such as his efforts to trying instanly trying to go back to earlier pre-war value of the Thaler directly after the Seven years war and all war inflation. And the result was of course a severe deflationary economic crash. But on the military and political field his mistakes were greater. He made himself enemy of Austria and France and were close to seeing his country lost to the enemy despite all many impressive victories. But afterwards he would repair his foreign relations and improve his economy by taking land from Poland togheter with Russia and Austria.
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  4. Stalin organ is my favorite instrument
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  5. https://youtu.be/kAJCfEAFRW4?t=52s
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  6. Frederick won many impressive victories despite he was heavily outnumbered in the battles he fought. He might have been defeated, but he would then still be remembered as a great General, a 18th century Hannibal. One could paraphrase an MHQ-article and say that battlefields of the 1700s usally was a fight between armies who dealt equally large losses to each other, and the side with more men to spare usally went off with the victory. Frederick revolutionized warfare with his bold warfare and threw the old rules of the game out the window. And he scored crushing victories against superior opponents at Hohenfriedberg, Leuthen, Rossbach and other places. But his problem was that his victories never ended up in anything decisive.
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  7. Frederick would put more efforts into improving the Prussian artillery and cavalry at the later period of his reign. And his cavalry was by no means bad, it was actully quite good. And Zieten and Seydlitz were both very skilled cavalry generals. But of course, the Austrians had started the wars against Prussia with a more experienced cavalry than the Prussians since the Austrians had fought much against the Turks. The Prussians relied more upon the infantry, and the great drilling not only paid off in terms of superior firepower with more shot per minute, but Prussian troops could also move much faster on the battlefield and do complex manouvers and changes in formations in a way that no other army could pull off at that time without ending up in disorganized caos. I agree with you that he probably underestimated the willpower of Maria Theresa - who seem a bit too manical and obsessed to get her lost province back so she would sacrifice all diplomatic and economical resources for decades to get Silesia back. I mean, I could have some sympathy for her after losing one of her richest provinces to a traitorous thief, and that one could feel a dynastic responsability gain back the lost land. But I think she took things way too seriously. After all, most of the Austrian lands had been gained by royal marriages rather than hard fought military conquests. And blackmailing small states and stealing their land was a game that every major country played back then. So it would just be hypocritical to be upset if Brandenburg retook some lost lands.
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  8. 24pounders, 12 pounders, 6pounders and 3 pounders
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  9. Baron von Steubens drilling tactics and training came to have an impact on the American army. And Fredericks troops marching goose step became very popular among other armies and is still used in many parts of the world. For example did the Swedish army start to use the Prussian marching style during the 1760s when Sweden fought against Frederick in Northern Germany. Germanys offensive aggressive warfare would also be formed by the experiences Prussia had during the Seven years war. Frederick Army was strong enough to deal a hard local punch to any enemy, but it lacked the resources for a long war. So Frederick had to beat his enemies at one place, so he could move his men to another front.
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  10. like Blücher
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  11. Musicians were spared from spared from enemy fire, and they often carried special uniforms so the enemy could differentiate them. (middlesex county volunteers carry white uniforms instead of American blue, and colonial williamsburg and the old guard fife and drum carries red uniforms like the british)... There is a wild debate on the internet what exactly dressing up the musicians in an uniform opposite to what the regular troops really means. So me say that it means dressing up in the colour of the enemy - which is the reason why some American fife and drum corps carry british uniforms. While other means that this interpretation of opposite is wrong, and instead means that armies with blue jackets and white shirts should have musicians that carry white jackets instead. Anyways...aside from the American revolution so did armies dress up their musician in special clothes in other ways... the Prussians wore shoulder straps for example. And a nice custom during 18th century was also to let the losing side play a march of the winning side after a battle. But sometimes the losing side were denied this courtesy, as what happened to the British troops surrendering at Yorktown which had to surrender playing a British march instead, and according to legend were they playing "The World Turned Upside Down" as Britain had lost the battle and the war.
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  12. Dat age when war involved flags, military music, colourful uniforms and polite noble gentlemen. "Fire gentlemen,the French guard never fire first!" :^)
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  13. Most people in Prussia spoke German.. but Prussia also had much immigrants from France, and slavic minorities. According the good of biography by Pierre Gaxotte so did Frederick himself mostly speak french (atleast after his father died and Frederick became king). Frederick despised the German language, the German culture and the idea of a united German nation. And Gaxotte described the German Frederick as an ugly coachman-German filled with swearwords, short sentences and much exclamation marks.... which he used when he talked with ordinary people such as soliders and peasants. He seemed to have forgotten how to speak normal german the later half of his life.
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