Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
obligatory second language, indispensable for anyone looking for social and career success.
Another fillip to the city's development was the completion of the Friedrich Wilhelm Canal ,
linking the Spree and the Oder, which boosted it as an east-west trade centre.
Carrying on from where his father had left off, Friedrich III succeeded in becoming
king of Prussia to boot (thus also gaining the title Friedrich I), while Berlin continued
to expand. he Friedrichstadt and Charlottenburg quarters and the Zeughaus (now the
Deutsches Historisches Museum) were created during this period, and Andreas
Schlüter revamped the Elector's palace. In 1709, Berlin-Cölln finally became a single
city named Berlin . None of this came cheap, however. Both Berlin and the Mark of
Brandenburg were heavily in debt by the end of Friedrich's reign, to the point where
he even resorted to alchemists in the hope of refilling his treasury.
Berlin under the Soldier King
he next chapter in the city's history belongs to Friedrich I's son, Friedrich Wilhelm I
(1688-1740). Known as the Soldier King and generally reckoned to be the father of the
Prussian state, he dealt with the financial chaos by enforcing spartan conditions on his
subjects and firing most court servants. As much as eighty percent of state revenues
were then directed to building up his army, and culture took a back seat to parades
(eventually he even banned the theatre). While the army marched and drilled, the
populace had a draconian work ethic drubbed into them - Friedrich took to walking
about Berlin and personally beating anyone he caught loafing.
Friedrich tried to introduce conscription but had to make an exception of Berlin when
the city's able-bodied young men fled en masse to escape the army. Despite this, Berlin
became a garrison town geared to maintaining the army: the Lustgarten park of the royal
palace was transformed into a parade ground, and every house was expected to have space
available for billeting troops. Much of modern Berlin's shape and character can be traced
back to Friedrich - squares like Pariser Platz (the area in front of the Brandenburg Gate)
began as parade grounds, and Friedrichstrasse was built to link the centre with the
Tempelhof parade ground. When Friedrich died after watching rehearsals for his own
funeral (and thrashing a groom who made a mistake), few Berliners mourned.
Frederick the Great and the rise of Prussia
His son, Friedrich II - known to historians as Frederick the Great (1712-86) and to his
subjects as “Der alte Fritz” - enjoyed a brief honeymoon as a liberalizer, before reverting
to his father's ways. Soon Prussia was drawn into a series of wars that sent Berlin taxes
through the roof, while the king withdrew to Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, where only
French was spoken, leaving the Berliners to pay for his military adventurism. Friedrich's
saving grace was that he liked to think of himself as a philosopher king, and Berlin's
cultural life consequently flourished. his was thanks in part to the work of the leading
German Enlightenment figures, like playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and
philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, both of whom enjoyed royal patronage.
It was the rise of Prussia - particularly the invasion and subsequent annexation of
Silesia in 1740 - that alarmed Austria, Saxony, France and Russia into starting the
Seven Years' War in 1756. Four years later they occupied Berlin and demanded a tribute
1307
1451
Cölln and Berlin become known simply
as “Berlin”, the larger of the two cities.
Berlin becomes the royal residence of the Brandenburg
Electors and has to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city.
 
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