NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Friedrich Wilhelm

Friedrich Wilhelm (Frederick William) of Brandenburg, Kurfürst of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia (February 16, 1620 - April 29, 1688) of the House of Hohenzollern, was the Kurfürst (elector) of Brandenburg, from 1640 until his death. He is known as the "Großer Kurfürst" (Great Elector). From [1], in the public domain This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... From [1], in the public domain This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events September 6 - English emigrants on the Mayflower depart from Plymouth, England for the future New England and arrive at the end of the year. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... Events A high-powered conspiracy of notables, the Immortal Seven, invite William and Mary to depose James II of England. ... Aerial view of the castle, Hohenzollern, Germany. ... The prince-electors or electoral princes of the Holy Roman Empire — German: Kurfürst (singular) Kurfürsten (plural) — were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Emperors of Germany. ... Surrounding but excluding the national capital Berlin, Brandenburg is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). ... Events December 1 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king. ... Death is either the cessation of life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ...

Friedrich Wilhelm was born, in Berlin, to Georg Wilhelm von Brandeburg and Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz. His inheritance was a completely devastated Brandenburg and Prussia, where the Thirty Years War had ravished and decimated the land and the population greatly. His father Georg Wilhelm had to keep a delicate balancing act between the northern Protestant forces and the Imperial Catholic forces. Out of these meager beginnings the Great Elector managed to rebuild the country and to get free of the overlords by the treaties of Wehlau, Labiau and Oliva. Berlin (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... Georg Wilhelm Hohenzollern, elector of Brandenburg, duke of Prussia, was born 1595 in Berlin. ... The victory of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) The Thirty Years War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...

Friedrich Wilhelm is notable for raising an army of 40,000 soldiers, by 1678. He was an advocate of mercantilism, monopolies, subsidies, tariffs, and internal improvements. Following Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he encouraged skilled French Huguenots to emigrate to Prussia, bolstering the nation's technical and industrial base. He agreed to exempt the nobility from taxes, in return they agreed to dissolve the Estates-General. A nations army is its military, or more specifically, all of its land forces. ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... Events August 10 - Treaty of Nijmegen ends the Dutch War. ... Mercantilism is the economic theory that a nations prosperity depended upon its supply of gold and silver, that the total volume of trade is unchangeable. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ... A tariff is a tax placed on imported and/or exported goods, sometimes called a customs duty. ... The notion of internal improvements or public works is a concept in economics and politics. ... Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... The Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598 by Henry IV of France to grant French Protestants (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a Catholic nation. ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... A tax is an involuntary fee paid by individuals or businesses to a state, or to functional equivalents of a state, including tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements. ... The word States-General, or Estates-General, refers in English to : the Etats-Généraux of France before the French Revolution the Staten-Generaal of the Netherlands. ...

He simplified travel in the ancestral lands of Brandenburg and Prussia by connecting riverways with canals, a system, that was expanded by later Prussian architects, such as Georg Steenke and which is still functioning and in use today. Surrounding but excluding the national capital Berlin, Brandenburg is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen or Preussen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia and... Georg Jakob Steenke (1801, Königsberg, Prussia - 1884, Elbing, Prussia) was a Prussian Royal Baurat (construction councillor). ...

On 7 December 1646, at The Hague, he married Luise Henriette von Nassau (1627-1667), daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Their children were Wilhelm Heinrich (1648-1649), Karl (1655-1674), Friedrich III-I (1657-1713), Amalie (1656-1664), Heinrich (1664-1664), and Ludwig (1666-1687) December 7 is the 341st day (342nd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Ongoing events English Civil War (1642-1649) Births April 15 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. ... Arms of The Hague The Hague (with capital T; Dutch: Den Haag, or officially s-Gravenhage) is the administrative capital of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country, in the province South Holland of which it is also the capital. ... Frederick Henry (January 29, 1584–March 14, 1647), Prince of Orange, the youngest child of William the Silent, was born at Delft about six months before his fathers assassination. ... Amalia van Solms (31 August 1602 - 8 September 1675), countess of Braunfels, was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. ... Friedrich I of Prussia. ...

On 13 June 1668 at Groningen he married Sophie Dorothea of Holstein-Glücksburg, daughter of Philipp von Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Lauenburg. June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... Events January - The Triple Alliance of 1668 is formed. ... Groningen is a municipality and a city in the north of the Netherlands, and the capital of the Groningen province. ...

Their children were Philipp Wilhelm (1669-1711), Marie Amalie (1670-1739), Albrecht Friedrich (1672-1731), Karl (1673-1695), Elisabeth Sofie (1674-1748), Dorothea (1675-1676), and Christian Ludwig (1677-1734).