FREDERICK WILLIAM II, King of Prussia. — Born 25 Sept. 1744, died 16 Nov. 1797. Son of Augustus William, eldest son of Frederick II, who predeceased his father in 1758, he succeeded him in 1786. Of an indolent and easygoing disposition, he allowed ministers and favourites to dominate the court. In 1792 he joined the coalition against France; military defeats and financial exhaustion led to the Peace of Basel, which stripped Prussia of territories west of the Rhine. This loss was offset by gains made at Poland’s expense in the second and third partitions.
BIBL.: F. R. Paulig, Friedrich Wilhelm II. Sein Privatleben und sein Regierung in Lichte neuerer Forschungen, Frankfurt 1897. For further bibliography cf. Ph. Sagnac, La fin de l'ancien régime et la révolution américaine, Paris 1941, pp. 526 ff. Roberto Palmarocchi.