#APH Frederick the Great

[danidrawsstuff]

they took “be gay do crime” way too seriously arrested on grounds of robbing austria blind

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[gilsart]

historical hetalia my beloved

[ask-the-awesome-prussian]

You just been psychoanalyzed by your own government. Here is what the results they got.

Self: The Trickster - Represents mischief and breakaway from tradition.

Ego: The Showman - Identifies with his flamboyant personality and confidence.

Superego: The Nonconformist - Challenges traditional norms and expectations.

Shadow: The Bully - Can display arrogance and insensitivity toward others.

Id: The Impulsive One - Craves excitement and acts spontaneously.

Eros: The Seducer - Enjoys playful flirtation and social dynamics.

Thanatos: The Rebellious Spirit - Defies rules, seeking freedom above all.

Anima: The Artistic Soul - Represents creative expression through humor and parody.

I still have my own government. . . ?

I only take real "official" criticism from Old Fritz so whoever these people are don't claim you're my government

So. . .

[proosh]

Fanfic: 1786

Might as well start posting my fics here!

Rating: General Audience Pairing: Frederick II/Prussia Warnings: Major Character Death, angst

The king was dying and there was nothing he could do.

[ask19thcentury-doctorgilbert]

“Some of us also possess superior strength, speed, or even an affinity for befriending local fauna; though that tends to differ from nation to nation. Apart from that, we appear normal enough to seamlessly blend into everyday society without raising much suspicion,”

More detailed meta talk under the cut~!

Humans can become ‘bonded’ with a nation if they constantly spend time with them regardless of the nature of the relationship between the two, whether that’s romantic, platonic, or familial.

The lifespan of a bonded human can be extended due to constant close contact with a nation. However this doesn’t mean they stop aging. They will continue to grow old and will experience all of the problems that comes with being old ( bad memory, failing health, etc. ) but they won’t die unless the nation they’re bonded to makes the conscious decision to let them go.

The only way to tell if a nation and a human have bonded is if the human in question starts to experience the side effects of being bonded. That includes catching glimpses of a nation’s memories ( whether good memories or far more traumatic ones ) in the form of dreams and there have been known cases of humans being able to hear the ‘voices’ that can only normally be heard by the nation themselves. Not everyone can cope with being exposed to these things though, since the human mind isn’t designed to handle what a nation endures. Typical reactions to this range from a heightened inclination towards reckless behaviour to spiralling into madness.

Nations can’t unintentionally influence their people. They have to do it with conscious intent in order for it to be effective. Humans describe it as feeling drawn to a nation, unable to look away or ignore them while they speak.

[inkstaineddove]

A Boy and His Fritz

Pairing: Prussia/Frederick the Great

Characters: Prussia, Frederick the Great

Summary: Someone corners Prussia about his relationship with Frederick the Great. Prussia repeats their sorry history confronting many emotions he would've preferred to keep in the past.

He was always obnoxious, arrogant, way too prideful and stubborn. He was a prince. He was my prince. I should've expected as much, but he still found new ways to surprise me. Like that bullshit with von Katte, but that's later. We gotta get to the early stuff. He pissed me off. God, I couldn't stand him for the longest time. His dad was my boss so that had something to do with it, for sure. Frederick William only wanted compliance. I was the first person he got it so completely from, never questioning what he demanded of me. Vader, Germania, he died when I was pretty young. I was always eager to please my kings to get one of them to see me as their own son. Frederick William was easiest to imagine it happening with cause he hated his kids so much. He was so hard on them. Beating them with canes and calling them things I can't repeat even now...my God. It was a mess. I’ve got no room to judge. I can’t claim any moral superiority. I participated, I helped, I believed he was in the right at the time. Especially with Fritz. It hurts when the heir to the throne only speaks French, only wants to dress French, read French, and pretty much wants to be French. It hurts when he rejects everything that your nation represents. The only thing I had then was the military. He rejected that, thought it was unimportant when the arts and literature and playing his fucking flute were more important. Heh, maybe I'd still be around if he'd stuck to his guns on that principle. Then again, I'd be like Bavaria or some shit and I don't think I could handle that. 

I remember when he tried sneaking away to England with his boyfriend. It was the only thing he’d done until then that I’d respected. The kid had balls to get that many people to disobey the king and help him sneak off. Especially cause he managed to make it so they didn't even get their hands dirty. Ja, I was furious because it felt like he was running away from me instead of just the king. It was real personal. When he got back, I hit him. I hit him and I cursed him out. The look in his eyes then. He didn't see me as any different than his father. I was an extension of him, the embodiment of everything he'd wanted to escape from. It was disgusting. I was disgusting. I never apologized to him for that. For how I treated him for his entire princedom. I always meant to. I always found a reason to pussy out. Funny, huh? I'll run head-on towards an army that'll crush mine without fear, but I'll always chicken out whenever it comes to people. Guess I'm a bit of a coward. Ya'know what it was like watching his boyfriend die? Katte, he didn’t do anything wrong. We knew back then he had tried to stop Fritz. It was all for show. If Frederick William couldn’t kill his son then he needed to kill somebody. Katte happened to be the death that would hurt the most. The poor guy, even his last words were for Fritz. How much he loved him, how loyal he was, how he'd die like this a thousand times. It was so sappy. Wish someone would say that for me when I go. I don't know which image haunts me more - the actual beheading or the aftermath. Seeing Fritz starve himself, lock himself in his cell for days, refusing to talk to anyone or respond to letters. It was scary. He didn’t want anyone to look after him. Frederick wanted to die and, even worse, the king would’ve been fine with it.  Later on - years later, close to his death - I told Fritz what I'd done. I confessed to him how I'd been in the camp encouraging the execution of Katte. I had been double dealing, going back and forth and telling Frederick William what wasn’t mentioned in official reports. I collapsed at his feet, clinging tightly to Fritz's hand as I begged for forgiveness. He didn't respond for the longest time. I was pretty sure he hated me again. If he did, I don't think I could've handled that. I looked up, saw a few tears running down his cheeks. He pulled me up and held me close. He told me I'm a bastard, that of course he forgives me, told me I was the only one he had left and made me promise to never mention the event again. Shit, I feel like his ghost is gonna haunt me now for this. Should I mention his wife? He sure as well never did. Poor Elisabeth. I kept trying to get her to go back to her family in Brunswick. Go someplace where she was wanted and where she was loved. That woman was the epitome of stand by your man. She refused. She actually loved him. She cherished the few times she would see him, the few letters he'd send her. None of it was romantic. He was always really formal around her, but who was I to burst her bubble. The marriage made Fritz somewhat happy and the king very happy. I was content cause my job was easier and how gay he was would get around soon enough. Voltaire really did an awesome job with that. There was such a buzz when he became king. I found myself dragged into it as well, despite technically mourning Frederick William still. I know he denounced Machiavelli a few months before, but that was bullshit. This was an exciting time for us. He’d study our armies with such frantic energy, continiously reforming and expanding them. War was coming. Of course, I was gonna win! It's me! I don't lose when I've got a great leader. I'm too awesome for that shit. The Silesian Wars. What started it all. Meeting Austria face-to-face in the field kept me alive for centuries. From then till the Seven Year’s War, that was the climax of our little rivalry. People can claim the Austro-Prussian War as it, but what do they know? They weren't alive then, they weren't alive for any of it. Only him and I know when it was. And it was in our fights for Silesia, for more than Silesia. That was just a front. It was always about who'd become the dominant force among the rest of our family. Who’d control the Germanic states. Ya'know, sometimes I wish he would've won it all. I wish that he'd kicked me out of unification. Maybe I'd still be on a map. Maybe I'd be allowed at these meetings and would have my contributions to history be seen as a positive thing instead of a thing leading up to...well, you know. It's the most pointless fantasy, but I always slip into it. Can you really blame me? Dammit, I keep getting sidetracked. There's so much in this shit, it’s impossible to not think about everything. This was the best time of my life, but it’s all so bittersweet. Sometimes I’m not sure if I’d wished they’d gone on longer or if they’d never happened. Shit, that's unawesome to confess to. I'll go on. France and Saxony were absolutely useless in the Silesian Wars. It was all me. Ja, they were technically there, but what did they do? I carried the weight. I was the true hero of the day. I don't mind. It's my name that goes down for the win. The recognitions all that matters in the end, right?  Fritz was in the limelight. He was the talk of Europe and he knew it. Everyone was intrigued by us, trying to guess our next move. We were a powerful team. I'm not surprised Napoleon studied us so much. I would too if I were him. We had courtiers from France, Britain, even fucking Russia knocking on our door! You know what was awesome about Fritz? He told them all to fuck off. Didn't want anything to do with them. He just wanted to be left alone with his friends, his dogs, and his flute. I think that's where I got that from. The period between the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years War, that was the good time. He wasn't a paternalistic man in the slightest. He had no desire for kids and wasn’t always sure what to do with them. But he regarded me like I'd imagine a father treats his son. Hell, he let me start calling him ‘dad’ around this time. I really only started calling him ‘Old Fritz’ when he was gone. Figured everyone would find it weird if I was still calling my old boss my dad.  We lived without a care then. He taught me flute, we composed together, wrote together. He would take me to the opera and theater every chance he could. He always made time for me. I don't think I left his side during this time except to shit and sleep. He was proud of my terrible poetry. God, it was awful. It’s hidden somewhere in West’s basement. It’s too painful to look at. He taught me French - against my will, but it was the royal language so he made it mandatory even for me - and English. He'd sit out in the gardens to read and watch me hunt. Fritz thought it was a dumb thing to enjoy, but he always managed to act proud of what I caught. Then war hit again. We had a minor disagreement in perspective on that. Some would say I was overconfident in my chances, but others would say he was incredibly pessimistic and a bit rude about ours. Maybe he realized the threat of Russia, Sweden, France, and Austria against us better than I did originally, but at least I had gusto. Despite that, we were both going to fight it whether it killed us and everyone really wanted to kill us. The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg is the only thing that saved us. Again, historians don't know jack shit when they define it. They claim it was the death of the Tzarina and the rise of her nephew that was obsessed with me. I'm not kidding, I swear he had a crush on me. I don’t blame him, but it was a different time. He should’ve been more discreet. The real miracle was that Fritz didn't kill himself or abdicate like he kept promising to do. With anyone else on the throne, even with her death we would've lost. Taking on France and a vengeful, bloodthirsty Austria required skill back then that only Fritz and I had. We won by the skin of our teeth. Fritz had to carry me back to Potsdam after treaty negotiations. I was barely conscious. For weeks after that I was knocked out. Apparently I kept hallucinating and thought I was a kid again. Healing was a slow process since my entire body took so much damage, including Berlin. It took a month for the heartburn to go away.   When I finally came to, I never left his side. We shared a bedroom. He'd lost so much of his family during that war. He was afraid of being alone. He clung to me and Voltaire, which I didn’t approve of. Voltaire was a gossip and a prick, always in the pocket of France’s court if Francis could cough up enough money. He was a shit spy anyway, but when have the French been known for their intelligence? Anyways, I did whatever he wanted. His fingers became too swollen and stiff and he was losing all his teeth, so I would play the flute for him. I'd run through his favorites or create new things on the spot. I'd play for hours on end if he wanted. I just wanted to make him happy again. I'd missed seeing him smile. We'd walk around the gardens at lunch. That was always when he reflected on his life to me. At the time, I thought it was really fucking weird. I'd been through everything with him. I knew it all and I'd seen it all. Made more sense for him to tell his biographers this shit. Not like I could go out and immortalize it in some book other than my diaries. I didn't appreciate it until Bismarck started making a name for himself. Then I finally understood the appeal. It's hard to explain why exactly. I just do. It gives me more of him to think about. It's more than having one of his hats or walking sticks or still being allowed to live in Sans Soucci. It's him. It's how he saw things. A person's perspective is more valuable than any material object. Fuck, I've really turned into a sentimental old man, haven't I? I used to say his death was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Dissolution beats it, but only by a small amount. The mythos is true, by the way. The clock in his room did stop at the exact time he died. I've got no fucking idea what he was doing up that early, but that’s how he was. Maybe he knew he was dying and wanted to meet his last adversary ready. That's how I like to think about it. I like to think it was painless. I know he was smiling. He looked so relaxed, like he finally got what he wanted all along. I woke up to the body. Sometimes I fall asleep still seeing it. They had to pull me away from him. I was sobbing, hugging him close. Maybe if I prayed hard enough, one of our Gods would give him some of my immortality. I think my prayer backfired. Seems like I'm starting to get some of his mortality, huh? Ain't the world funny. No, fuck you, I'm not crying. There's just some shit in my eye. Mind your own business. Do you think he'd be proud of me? I'm not talking about me as Prussia. I know he wouldn’t cause all his hard work went to shit. All his hard won land is now apart of a German state he didn't want, Austria, a country he helped remove from the map, Russia, and Lithuania. So that's definitely a disappointment. I want to know if he's proud of me, Gilbert. From 1740 onward, I always tried to make him proud. I only wanted to do what he would think is best, make him smile from beyond the grave. Do you think he is? I think so. I have to. Sometimes, that thought is the only one that keeps me going. 

[freilufthintern]

Old Fritz and Prussia.

[thyboredomhatharrivedth]

How do you see Gil and Fritz’s relationship? Bc there are so many interpretations and it can vary from being romantic to friends to a father/son dynamic

First off, thank you for the ask-

Second, I could never see them as romantic, considering I can’t bring myself to ship a nation with a human. It’s a bit odd, don’t you think? Gilbert would have known Fritz since he was a kid and played with him. And then later Fritz would grow to be an adult but Gilbo remains a teenager (I headcanon him to be a teenager of maybe sixteen-seventeen at the time). So age-wise it feels odd to me though I know some people would disagree.

Anyway, I do believe Fritz taught Gilbert a lot, like a mentor. He taught him the flute, him taught him etiquette, not so sure about languages because I’m sure Gilbert spoke whichever ones Fritz spoke already. And I do think Gilbert looked up to him, so preferably a father/son relationship but a friends relationship works too! Anything platonic, really.

[oldfritz]

do you like sad prussia talking about old fritz’s life because i sure do

[seven-years-war]

Seriously, Frederick the Great fandom sould have a meet up in Potsdam and call it Fritzcon and just stroll around the city, cosplaying and stuff like that, because it's totally the best fandom ever

[theotakuplace]

18th January: Alles gute zum geburtstag  Preußen!

HE, The King Frederick II, who became known as Frederick the Great, ruled Prussia and made it a nation recognized as a european great power. 

Happy Birthday Prussia!

Feliz Aniversário Prussia!

Old Fritz, the great prussian king.

[danidrawsstuff]

and i think i’m gonna love you for a long, long time

:’)

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[gilsart]

a crossover between what i usually draw, if you will

young friedrich tells gilbert abt some court rumors and gilbert is, once again, tired of all these nobles (i was in a rush so he totally isn't 100% historically accurate ((esp the hair)), but i might draw him in 18th century accurate attire someday)

[earths-roots-grow-up]

Headcanons on Russia’s and Prussia’s relationship with France.

Russia:

I think that in the XVIII century a large chunk of Europe had a crush on France. French culture was widespread among European courts and the language was being used to communicate in a similar manner English is used today. Frenchness was just very IN at that time.

Those countries included Russia. At that time Peter the Great was westernizing his country, and injecting French-ness into Russian lives was a part of this process - Versailles and the French court impressed Peter immensely when he went to visit France and when he came back home, he began emulating many things he observed in the western country. Language, customs, widespread mirrors everywhere, architecture, gardens. You name it.

High-born Russians would talk to each other in French and give themselves French names. Lets note that French wasn’t the only foreign language that was widespread in Russia, so were others, like German and Latin [mostly used by the academia.

“(...) of  all  the  languages  which  began  to  have  currency  in  eighteenth-century Russia, it was French that acquired the greatest social, cultural, and political significance,even if it was not always so widely spoken as German“.

The two next generations of Russians grew up within this Francophile culture and viewed it as something natural, from their perspective it was no longer an exotic fashion, just the way thing always were. Therefore, this was something more than just a fleeting fascination that lasted as long as Peter ruled - and had lingering influence on Russian culture.

“The most important stimulus for the development of French-speaking in Russia, though, was the use of French as a court language from around the middle of the reign of Peter’s daughter Elizabeth (1741–61), who had learnt it in childhood from a French lady at her father’s court.“

And so it went on from there: “At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Russian nobility still preferred French to Russian for everyday use, and were familiar with French authors such as Jean de la Fontaine, George Sand (etc.). The influence of France was equally strong in the area of social and political ideas. Catherine II's interest in the writings of the (french) philosophers of the Enlightenment (...) contributed to the spread of their ideas in Russia during the eighteenth century.” and “ During the nineteenth century, travel in France was considered a form of cultural and intellectual apprenticeship. “.

(source) So the interest in French ideas and culture was strong in the second half of the XVIII century and in the XIX century.

So in other words, Russia had a crush on France - it was a total puppy love mostly based on superficial things, like aesthetic, nice smells and pretty, elegant European opulence but most of all: France was the ideal of what Russia was trying to become, the epicenter of European-ness, the “civilization” and Ivan was in the middle of this lowkey cultural revolution in which he was trying to re-invent himself as a modern, “European” country. So I think this crush was very much one of those "I wanna BE YOU" types of crushes, he was head over heels for what France represented - that’s why this hit so hard.

There was some more personal stuff there too, like France's eloquence, his literature and philosophy. Enter a lot of perfumed love letters! Even when the crush slowly withered away Russia still felt - and feels - strong admiration for France and honestly enjoys his culture a lot.

France himself enjoyed the crush but wasn't really that interested in  reciprocating - as mentioned above, large chunk of Europe was also crushing on him due to his culture just being in fashion, so it's not like Russia himself was standing out. But they did become friends and still have good personal relations with each other. They have a lot of passions in common, such as ballet, art, music, opera, Romanticism etc, so they still enjoy talking about this stuff together. It’s not a Deep friendship where they trust each other, don’t be fooled, they don’t trust one another at all! But they do like hanging out.

I also HC that the way both French and German were important in XVIII century Russia (as cited above: French with greater cultural significance and German more widespread) is representative of him catching feelings for both France and Prussia at this time, tho one of those wasn't just a crush.

Prussia:

My non-canon-approved hot take here is that I don't think him and France were ever friends. The exact opposite of that even.

It's true that Frederick the Great also had this hard-on for the French, and in effect Prussia speaks and writes excellent French. But after Frederick William II took over the throne, he took back all those Francophile preferences and began promoting German literature and language instead - something the educated classes of Prussia were thankful for. So because Russia shared his ruler's fascination with France his interest outlasted Peter the Great and became a more prevalent part of Russian culture for a long time, while Prussia never shared Fredrick’s fascination and therefore it got overturned as soon as the new king sat on the throne.

And that makes sense, bc in general Germans and French weren't very friendly with each other during their history. German- French enmity, also called the hereditary enmity, is an idea introduced in the XIX century, and it states that those two forces are natural enemies due to their inherently different goals and incompatible interests. Due tho this they keep bumping against each other throughout the ages. You can see echos of this sentiment it in the Napoleonic Wars, Franco-Prussian War, WW1, the Treaty of Versailles, WW2 etc. France was also the country that stood in the strongest opposition to the German Empire being created, so a big issue for Prussia.

It’s important to mention that this German-French enmity was often used as a  propaganda tool for wars and simplified the complex relations between those two groups. Of course it did, even Austrian/Prussian relations weren’t ALWAYS bad, even tho they were called ‘the biggest enemies’ by historians.

It is believed that the enmity ended after WW2 and no longer is a thing. To me that is a pretty great example of Germany taking over the reign and replacing Prussia. Prussian/France relations were bad, but German/France relations are pretty darn good. And it makes sense, because Prussia had different goals than Germany has, and they are very different individuals. I see France and Germany as friends due to their shared work in UE, tho I’m not sure if they would be something more than just work friends.

Anyway, this is Hetalia and not a historical-political deep dive - to me what counts in Hedcanon context is the general feel throughout history: were they generally allies or enemies? Were their interests clashing with one another or were they compatible, most of the time at least? The whole idea behind this “inherited” enmity is that French and German interests were incompatible, so it had to end with a conflict. And they did, many times over. I feel like the importance of the Napoleonic wars especially is often undervalued here - it was a HUGE conflict that would have a lasting impact on their relations, way bigger than the Wars for Austrian Succession, which are often cited as proof of their friendship. But they were an outlier in general Prussian/French relations.

That’s why I think Prussia and France are not, nor ever were friends, they view each other as enemies and dislike each other. Tho during the reign of Old Fritz their relationship was warmer and more amicable than during other periods, considering they actually had similar goals and fought together for a change - mostly because that was convenient for then, not due to some preexisting friendship. But I do like the idea that during this time they had some kind of difficult comradery going for a brief while and there was this fleeting “maybe in another reality we could be friends” vibe.

Due to the bad history, Prussia's dislikes of France can be seen in many small things that irritate him, like he just detests Francis' need to show opulence, his over-the-top rococo aesthetic and cuture-esque fashion sense, hight emotionality drives him bonkers and even the pastel flowery color palettes he often wears irk him. And don’t even get his started on the Revolutions! He’ll talk your ear off.

Tl’Dr: So Prussia and France don't like each other and are generally bitchy and passive-aggressive with one another. Russia and France are friendly and good acquaintances, while not exactly close. Russia just likes him - he still admires a lot of things about French culture, enjoys the language, cuisine, architecture, fashion etc, and used to have a crush on him.

Rusprus take:

Prussia in a confident, self-assured person, but when it comes to France, he can be surprisingly self-conscious. He still remembers that crush Russia used to have on him and WHY he had it -  because of many characteristics that France possesses, but Prussia doesn't. Like being romantic and sentimental, sensitive, emotionaly open, appreciative of beauty, artsy etc. Sometimes Russia finds that cute and endearing, bc it makes him feel wanted, but sometimes it's just... ridiculous.

APH Prussia: What do you wanna watch tonight, Vanka?

APH Russia: Hm... maybe that movie, Marie Antoinette?

APH Prussia: Ugh OF COURSE you wanna ogle HIM!

APH Russia: W... what.

APH Prussia: France! You wanna ogle that cheese-smelling frog-eater!

APH Russia: What... no! Gilya, Gilyushka, Gilynechka! That's absurd, I just want to watch a pretty period drama!

APH Prussia: Don’t you “Gilynechka“ me! And as if that's not enough...

APH Prussia: She was AUSTRIAN

APH Russia: Omg. Kill me now. When you have almost 1000 years of history together then even picking a Netflix show can be a minefield!

Anyway, they end up watching the movie but Prussia roasts everything in frame :D

[spoopyium]

This is meant to be a piece for my art project but I liked it so much I just had to post it here :0

[ask19thcentury-doctorgilbert]

Ahhh thank you for the compliments, I hope you enjoyed the hour you spent going through the blog xD Please enjoy this little doodle of the king and his nation that was done to the sound of National Anthem playing in the background