Age of Enlightenment

Frederick II (German: Friedrich II.; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until 1786. He 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 his military successes in the Silesian wars, his reorganisation of the Prussian Army, the First Partition of Poland, and his patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became 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 in the art of war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia. However, upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked and annexed the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. 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 throughout his realm that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities and faiths to come to Prussia, although he enacted oppressive measures against Catholics in Silesia and Polish Prussia. He supported the arts and philosophers he favoured, and allowed freedom of 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 a great power in Europe. 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 his status as a Nazi symbol. 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 the foundation that allowed the Kingdom of Prussia to contest the Austrian Habsburgs for leadership among the German states.

Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel (31 January 1741 – 23 April 1796) was a German satirical and humorous writer.
Hippel was born at Gerdauen in the Kingdom of Prussia, where his father was rector of a school. He enjoyed an excellent education at home, and in his sixteenth year he entered the University of Königsberg as a student of theology. Among his instructors was the philosopher Immanuel Kant, and the two became close friends. Interrupting his studies, he went, on the invitation of a friend, to St Petersburg, where he was introduced at the court of the empress Catherine II. Returning to Königsberg he became a tutor in a private family; but, falling in love with a young lady of high position, his ambition was aroused, and giving up his tutorship he devoted himself with enthusiasm to legal studies. He was successful in his profession, and in 1780 was appointed chief burgomaster in Königsberg, and in 1786 privy councillor of war and president of the town. As he rose in the world, however, his inclination for matrimony vanished, and the lady who had stimulated his ambition was forgotten. He died at Königsberg on 23 April 1796, leaving a considerable fortune.Hippel had extraordinary talents, rich in wit and fancy, but his was a character full of contrasts and contradictions. Cautiousness and ardent passion, dry pedantry and piety, morality and sensuality; simplicity and ostentation composed his nature and, hence, his literary productions never attained artistic finish. In his Lebenslaufe nach aufsteigender Linie (1778–81) he intended to describe the lives of his father and grandfather, but he eventually confined himself to his own. It is an autobiography, in which persons well known to him are introduced, together with a mass of heterogeneous reflections on life and philosophy. Kreuz- and Querzüge des Ritters A bis Z (1793–94) is a satire levelled against the follies of the age: ancestral pride and the thirst for orders, decoration and the like.Among others of his better known works were Über die Ehe (1774) and Über die bürgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber (1792). In the latter essay, Hippel argued that the natural traits of women make them superior for many tasks, especially education. According to Jane Kneller, Hippel's "central claim" in this essay is that "excluding women from the public square is a travesty of justice that prevents the advancement of humanity toward genuine civilization." Timothy F. Sellner has produced an English translation of this work under the title On Improving the Status of Women. Hippel was once called the fore-runner of Jean Paul, and had some resemblance to this author, in his constant digressions and in the interweaving of scientific matter in his narrative. Like Richter he was strongly influenced by Laurence Sterne. He never married.
In 1827–38 a collected edition of Hippel's works in 14 volumes was issued at Berlin. Über die Ehe was edited by Emil Brenning (Leipzig, 1872) and Gustav Moldenhauer (Leipzig, n.d. [c. 1905]), and the Lebenslaufe nach aufsteigender Linie, in a modernized edition by Alexander von Oettingen (1878), went through several editions. See J Czerny, Sterne, Hippel and Jean Paul (Berlin, 1904).