FREDERICK WILLIAM I, King of Prussia. — Born 15 Aug. 1688, died 21 May 1740. The Great Northern War forced him to come to terms with Peter I of Russia; in 1715 he declared war on Sweden, and by the Peace of Stockholm (1730) he obtained Stettin and the mouth of the Oder.
Of harsh and soldierly character, he established an iron discipline in administration and the army. He drew his troops even from the peasantry, while officers were chosen exclusively from the nobility. He thus gave rise to a state of soldiers and officials, governed directly by the sovereign.
BIBL.: G. Künzel, Die drei grossen Hohenzollern, Stuttgart 1922, V. Moche; C. Hinrichs, Friedrich Wilhelm I. König von Preussen, Hamburg 1941; R. Ergang, The Potsdam Führer: F. William I. father of Prussian militarism, New York 1941; cf. also P. Muret, La prépondérance anglaise, 2nd ed., Paris 1942, pp. 46 ff. (with bibliography). L. Roberto Palmarocchi.