a small redraw c: he's wearing pink and lilac and he stares into your soul

Negotiations of the Franco-Prussian Treay of Tilsit, 6th July 1807

"The flying circus and a man from Prussia, The sky and a plane, this man commands his domain, The western front and all the way to Russia"

🔖| The Red Baron - Manfred von Richtofen

extra:

Heard somewhere eddie literally named his plane "blue baron" , he's definitely a fan

The only way I can picture this happening

Translation:

Frederick II trying to convince the prussian people to eat potatoes:

🎶"these potatoes made by us

are perfect with cutlets, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside

They are sweet and salty at the same time

When you eat them your heart goes toot toot 🚂🎶✨"

Thanks to all the time I waste on tik tok I made this

Victoria, Princess Frederick William of Prussia, March 1859

Victoria was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She is pictured here with her first child, future Emperor Wilhelm II, agd. about two months.

See, I'm taking my research extremely seriously. I'm even annotating and stuff.

a friend recently got me interesting in these two and RAGH i can’t stop thinking abt them :,-)

Wilhelm II (r. 1888-1918)

The Last Kaiser

Well, as you all know, our esteemed Kaiser has had a few bumps along the road of his reign. Most notable was, of course, the sacking of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, which made waves all across Europe. So far, the Iron Chancellor's successors have possessed none of the realpolitik skills needed to govern the country and this "dropping of the pilot" will surely be seen as one of Wilhelm II's greatest failures.

His Majesty has greatly expanded our navy, including the Nassau class of battleship, our response to the British Dreadnought. While some have railed against this expensive arms race with the British, His Majesty assures us that Germany must establish itself on the seas to be taken seriously. One cannot help but wonder if His Majesty's increasingly frantic search for "a place in the sun" has any connection to his upbringing.

His abrasive personality has led to Germany's isolation from former allies Russia and Britain, which places Germany in a precarious geopolitical situation should war in Europe break out. (Note: Don't be ridiculous -T)

Friedrich I (r. 1688-1714)

First King in Prussia

Persuaded the Pope to elevate the duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia to a kingdom, creating the Kingdom of Prussia. Were it not for him, our great state would have never existed. Unfortunately he was unable to claim the title "King of Prussia" due to some ridiculous dispute with the Poles.

A patron of education, he created the Prussian Academy of Arts and the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. The later was shut down under his son due to monetary constraints, but was later reopened and reorganized until Friedrich der Große.

Although he was militarily opposed to the French, he did incorporate a lot of French culture into his court in an imitation of Louis XIV.

Frederick, the potato king

I am not a monarchist. I do, however, occassionally look at monarchs and think, huh, they seem pretty cool. Meet Frederick the Great.

Frederick ruled Prussia from 1712 to 1786. During this time he:

was woken up by a cannon each morning, because his father wanted him to be a military leader

wrote "Anti-Machiavel", a rebuttal to Machiavelli's The Prince

was gay

married a woman to keep his father happy, then separated from her, gave her a palace and visited her once a year for her birthday

was friends with Voltaire

was king of Prussia but wrote exclusively in French. Frederick was a bit of a Francophile, mostly because his dad hated the place

introduced potatoes and turnips to Prussia, and was known as "Der Kartoffelkönig". Potatoes were initially unpopular, so Frederick had them planted and guarded so they looked expensive and desirable. However, the guards were told to let people steal the potatoes

his head was permanently tilted to one side because he spent so long playing his flute

opened the first veterinary school in Prussia

gave everyone free entry to the opera

sheltered Jean-Jacques Rousseau

was bad at spelling (a relatable icon) (also, he was writing in French, and French spelling is even more ridiculous than English)

drank eight cups of coffee each day, mixed with mustard and peppercorns. The cannon alarm clock was discontinued after his father died, so I guess eight cups of coffee would probably be just as effective for waking one up

his lasts words were "cover the dog, he's shivering".

wanted to be buried with his greyhounds. This didn't happen, but now he had a nice gravestone and people leave potatoes there

birthday boy! 🍰

quer (german): askew

Querflöte: flute

Strange incident in Berlin during the War of the 4th Coalition reported in Prussian newspapers

“After the unfortunate battle of Jena, Napoleon took up his headquarters in Charlottenburg Palace. He had barely gone to bed when the Prussian cavalry attack blared through the stillness of the night. Napoleon thought he had been ambushed and, startled, left his bed, rushed to the window and sounded the alarm. Everything rushes under the gun. The attack is blown again — and strangely enough — in the castle. An adjutant rushing from the Marble Hall finally solves the riddle. In that hall stands the Belloneon*, which His Majesty our King had had made by the acoustician Kaufmann in Dresden, a short time before that unfortunate battle, and which, on the King’s orders, had been provided with all the trumpet pieces of the Prussian cavalry. Napoleon’s curious companions had rummaged through the castle and had also come to the Belloneon in the Marble Hall. This strange instrument was examined and touched from all sides with genuine French curiosity. One happened to touch a small button that set the work in motion, and so it happened that a cavalry attack from 12 trumpets woke the Emperor from his sleep.”

———

*A Belloneon is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of many trumpets and kettle drums. The German Museum has a Belloneon with 24 trumpets and two drums (Inv.-Nr. 9654), built in 1805/06 by Friedrich and his father Johann Gottfried Kaufmann.

———

Original German:

»Nach der unglücklichen Schlacht bei Jena nahm Napoleon sein Hauptquartier im Schlosse von Charlottenburg. Er hatte sich kaum zu Bette begeben, als die preußische Cavallerie-Attaque durch die Stille der Nacht schmettert. Napoleon glaubt sich überfallen, fährt erschrocken von seinem Lager, stürzt an's Fenster und läßt Alarm schlagen. Alles eilt unters Gewehr. Die Attaque wird noch einmal geblasen - und sonderbar genug - im Schlosse. Ein aus dem Marmorsaale herbeieilender Adjutant löst endlich das Räthsel. In jenem Saale steht das Belloneon, welches Se. Maj. unser König von dem Akustiker Kaufmann in Dresden, kurze Zeit vor jener unglücklichen Schlacht, hatte verfertigen lassen, und welches auf Befehl des Königs mit allen Trompeterstücken der preußischen Cavallerie versehen worden war. Napoleon's neugierige Begleiter hatten das Schloß durchstöbert und waren auch zum Belloneon im Marmorsaale gekommen. Dieses merkwürdige Instrument wurde mit echt französischer Neugierde von allen Seiten untersucht und betastet. Man berührte zufällig ein kleines Knöpfchen, welches das Werk in Bewegung setzt, und so kam es, daß eine Cavallerie-Attaque von 12 Trompeten den Imperator aus dem Schlafe aufschmetterte.«

Source:

Wolf, Rebecca (2012). "Die Musikmaschinen von Kaufmann, Mälzel un Robertson: eine Quellenedition [The music machines of Kaufmann, Mälzel and Robertson: a source edition]" (pdf). Preprint (5). Deutsches Museum

Something is very wrong here

A few days ago I came upon a photograph of the future Wilhelm II, when very young, sitting at a table with an equally young Princess Elizabeth of Hesse. Yesterday I was looking for material for the blog and found something very annoying. Please look at the pictures below carefully. The first one is Ella and Wilhelm (the one I found the day before.) The second one is Wilhelm and his future wife Dona. Apparently it is an engagement picture.

Can you tell me what is going on here? It seems to me somebody messed with the photo

I think there was more than one picture altered. Look at these other two. And the alteration is flawless. I would love to know if this was done then or now.

I have deleted my original post with the altered image to avoid confusion

German Empress Augusta Victoria (Center) with her daughter Victoria Louise of Prussia, Duchess of Brunswick (right) and her daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia (left)

"Freund! Sie lieben ein M��dchen?! Sie werden geliebt..." In diesen Fragen sprach sich die zarteste Eifersucht aus, daß der Freund nicht allein das ganze Herz besitze wie er gedacht hatte