Frederic the Great was completely different from his father, petty 'sergeant-king' William Frederic, who tried cruelly but in vain to sabotage his heir's intellectual and cosmopolitan interests. The conflict even cost Frederic's youth friend his life after a failed escape to England. As king, Frederic turned 'boorish capital' Berlin into Prussia's counterpart to Versailles, yet proved a great but pragmatic reformer and conqueror, but his incurable risk-taking came at a terrible price again.
