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rheinsbergSince imo if there's a radio active core at the bottom of the fraternal hateship Fritz/Heinrich, it's what happened with brother August Wilhelm more than anything else, including Fritz' behavior in war (though the two are connected), I thought I might present some collected details from the letters in the Trier archive and those biographer Ziebura made available. With the Greeks, before every tragedy, there is a farce. The tragedy happens in 1757/1758, the farce happens in the summer of 1749.
Brotherly Conduct I: The Prelude
In the June of 1749, Fritz has an attack of gout, is in a bad mood. Heinrich's regiment is exercising in Potsdam. Fritz notices that there are some recruits who are short of the minimum height of 5 ft 5 inches. (Feet and inches given in Ziebura, not metres.) Without talking to Heinrich - and thus giving him the opportunity to deal with this himself - he appoints Colonel Kaspar Friedrich von Rohr as new commander with the order "to finally bring order into this sloppy regiment". He accuses Heinrich of not having taken care of his regiment, thus giving his officers the chance to hire unfitting people to fill in for deserters.
"I thought it was fitting to put rules in your regiments because they were getting lost", writes Fritz to Heinrich. " I am not accountable to you for my actions. If I made changes, it was because they were appropriate. You will have to do a lot to change your conduct; but I intend to explain myself another time in this matter. That is all I have to say to you for the present. I am, my brother, your brother."
Heinrich is furious and offers to quit the army. ("Since the last signs of vivacity you've given me, I would act very carelessly if I were to lose sight of you", comments Fritz.)
The entire AW-Heinrich correspondance is lost, but we have the letters from all the brothers to youngest brother Ferdinand and his to them. Ferdinand writes to AW about this and blames Fritz' mood, says everyone in Potsdam is suffering from it and that several officers have offered their resignation. He himself is glad he got a regiment in Ruppin and thus can get the hell away from Big Bro. Even Winterfeldt - one of Fritz' favourite generals, later to play an important role in AW's downfall , and otherwise in a state of mutual dislike with Heinrich - in this case was siding with Heinrich because he thought this wasn't about some recruits missing a few inches, it was about Fritz feeling the need to humble his brother.
AW the professional family mediator who until then has had only positive experiences with Big Bro and is Heinrich's favourite brother decides to mediate. Bad idea, AW. He tells Heinrich that even if he feels badly treated, he's the younger, Fritz is King, Heinrich ought to apologize first. Heinrich doesn't think so. Then AW tries Fritz. Surely this is all the work of evil rumor mongers because he can't imagine Fritz wanting to humiliate their brother by transfering the regiment command without even offering the chance to explain, let alone justify. Could not Fritz, the Solomon of the North, give Heinrich the chance to either explain and justify himself or to apologize? (Bear in mind that Heinrich according to Ferdinand has no intention to apologize.)
Fritz is not impressed: The matter with Heinrich, says he, is known to AW only via Heinrich. (Not true, btw, see above re: Ferdinand and Winterfeldt.) "You believe blindly everything he tells you. I hope that at least this time, you'll reduce the marvellous bias you have in his favour somewhat." Heinrich is a slob, and Rohr had to be appointed to clean up the regiment. "Heinrich is your idol, your blind friendship for him doesn't let you recognize his faults. I love him as a brother, but I'd regret it if he doesn't improve in all the regards I've told him about. I was not acting out of an impulse, or to throw my weight around. Only his bad conduct is at fault."
AW replies on July 19th 1749: "I am sad about the unflattering idea you have of your brothers. The portrait you draw of Heinrich is very disadvantagous. You ascribe a character to him which I, for one, never saw him exhibit, and myself you believe to be so limited in my perception as to be blinded and fooled by him. "
Fritz replies the same day: "As you take Heinrich's part, I won't talk to you any further about this. Please understand the things I tell you literally and don't seek for hidden meaning in my simple words."
He won't talk any further to AW, at any rate. Instead, he orders Heinrich to him to Potsdam. No witnesses to this chat, but the results are reported by Fritz to AW on August 5th, and have ended up in the political correspondance because: "I have news this time which I think will be pleasant to you. Peace has been concluded and ratified between Henri and me."
The conditions for the peace: Heinrich gets his regiment back - and agrees to marry at the King's convenience.
"My dear brother, I am delighted to see you think so wisely about your own interests", writes Fritz.
(The actual marriage doesn't happen until the summer of 1752.)
Now, everybody seems to have something of a point here. I note nobody is disputing a few of the recruits are below minimum height. It's just that everyone but Fritz thinks Fritz took this as an excuse to start a new round of Bringing Heinrich To Heel.
Conversely, he's of course not wrong brother AW is biased in Heinrich's favour and is going to believe Heinrich over Fritz any day of the week. When August Wilhelm, apropos the birth of his oldest son, future FW2, in 1744, writes a "my life so far" summary for himself, his entry for the year of doom 1730 - aka the year in which Fritz attempts to escape and Katte dies - is, wait for it: "My brother Heinrich, who was born in 1726, was given into my steward's care as well, and we were raised together from now on."
(Heinrich joined AW's household in February 1730, i.e. before the flight attempt, but still.)
Incidentally we have eight years old AW's letter to father FW about this happy event: "When my dear Papa had left my brother Heinrich came into my room and has learned a bit, too. We are now sleeping together in the same room and are very happy about it. The other morning I got up at eight, my brother at ten, and we both learned, and all of my sisters learned, too. We thank our dear Papa from our hearts for thinking of us...")
But since the whole thing ends in "sloppy" Heinrich getting the regiment back not after rethinking his military behavior but after making promising to marry, which has nothing to do with anything under discussion, Fritz undermines his own case. And as I mentioned elsewhere, it's hard to dispute Ziebura's case that making Heinrich marry is utterly pointless in terms of dynasty - AW has already produced the next Hohenzollern generation - or politics - he'll marry a princess from Hessen-Kassel, a principality with which Prussia is already alligned and which isn't even that rich or important; it can have only two points: a) putting Heinrich through exactly the same thing Fritz was put through, and b) making Heinrich submit to Fritz in a way that he won't ever be able to shake off. (Since princes required the King's permission to divorce.)
Brotherly Conduct II: The Main Act
Okay, now the big one. Just to put things in to perspective: as of early 1756, if you had asked which brother gets along best with Fritz, who of the three younger ones is his favourite, the universal answer by everyone would have been AW. Not just because AW seems to have gotten along with most people, but because, the 1749 Heinrich argument excepted, Fritz didn‘t quarrel with him. The surviving letters from Fritz to AW pre 7 Years War are sometimes teasing but without bite, and very fond, it at times a bit condescending, which means no one, including probably Fritz, saw what would happen coming. We are now in early 1756. When AW on the occasion of the Prussian treaty with England - at a time when France and England are duking it out in the overseas colonies - seems to have wondered how the rest of Europe will react, Fritz, in full hubris mode, replies:
This year which I expect to have won is worth as much as five of the preceding ones, and, if in the future I can serve as mediator for the belligerent powers, I will have created for Prussia the greatest role that it can play in peacetime; and do you count for nothing the pleasure of stopping the Queen of Hungary, of humiliating, or to put it better, of destroying Saxony, of making Bestushew despair? These are the consequences that a little stroke of the pen will have.
Yes, well. The Diplomatic Revolution (aka Maria Theresia ending two centuries of a feud with France in favour of a new alliance) happens, also by a little stroke of the pen, France is now Austria‘s ally, and AW dares to wonder whether maybe, just maybe, having so many nations hostile towards Prussia is a bit dangerous?
My dear brother. If our enemies force us to wage war, we must ask…: where are they? but not…: how many are there? We have nothing to fear, our enemies have more reason to run than us, and, according to the rule of probabilities, we will get out of this trap with all possible honor. Let the women in Berlin talk about sharing treaties ... but, for Prussian officers who fought our wars, they must have seen that neither the number nor the difficulties could have robbed us of the victory; they must think that these are the same troops now as in the last war, that the whole army is more trained in the maneuvers of battles, and that, if we do not fall into very rough blunders, it is morally impossible that we miss our shot. This is a comforting thought, my dear brother, which, I hope, will dissipate the fogs that politicians and political ladies have spread over the city. I embrace you, assuring you of the tenderness with which I am, my dear brother, your faithful brother and servant
Federic.
Naturally, when things start to go wrong, there is one person whose fault it can't possibly be. How much or little AW was at fault for the military disaster to come has been debated ever since it happened. He's written a defense before he died, but had been dissuaded from publishing it mid war. In the end, it wasn't published until the late 19th century, and then it was promptly condemned by patriotic Prussian historians as "one sided" (you think?) and damaging to the memory of the Great King. Among the points of contention: did Fritz give AW clear or conflicting orders - on top of everything else going wrong, several of their letters crossed or were delivered too late - , could AW, given the information he had, have acted differently, did he just let things happen without trying to prevent disaster? Ziebura argued:
The relative immovability of his army wasn't Wilhelm's fault. The King had dumped everything on him which he himself hadn't wanted to be burdened with - canons, pontons and the heavy baggage. Hence, the Prince needed urgently a positive order from Friedrich - what exactly did his supreme commander want him to do? Cover Silesia or remain in Bohemia and protect Zittau, for as things stood, the former and the later were mutually exclusive. (...) If Friedrich and with him later historians blame the Prince of Prussia for his hesitation, his "too long war councils", his indicisiveness, even his phlegma, they should have asked for the reason for his remaining in Leipa. That reason was his incapability to act against the King's explicit wishes and to rely solely on his own judgment. He wasn't the only one finding himself in this position. The Prince of Bevern in Breslau, Schmettau in Dresden and Finck at Maxen had all, by following the King's orders against their better knowledge, experienced a fiacso. They were all punished with disgrace, with a casheering.
(mildred_of_midgard: What the verb tense doesn't make it clear here is that all of these were in AW's future, so this is a commentary on Fritz's leadership style, not a list of examples that AW would have had in mind. AW was one of the first victims of Fritz's scapegoating during the Seven Years' War.)
Theodor Fontane, in "Wanderungen in der Mark Brandenburg", quotes an eyewitness on the actual brotherly showdown:
Prince August Wilhelm had been given the command of those troops who were to withdraw to Lausitz; Winterfeldt was added to him. Things went badly and when the two brothers finally met again, the terrible scene took place, which Count Schwerin, the adjutant of Winterfeldt, described in the following words.
»A circle was formed n which the prince and all his generals stood. It was not the king who entered the circle, but Winterfeldt instead of his. On behalf of the king, he had to say: "They all deserved to be put in front of a war tribunal, where they could not escape being condemned to lose their heads; however, the king did not want to push it so far, because in the general he did not forget his brother." The king stood not far from the circle," continues Count Schwerin, "and listened to whether Winterfeldt also strictly used the expressions commanded of him. Winterfeldt did it, but with shudders, and he could see the impression of his words immediately, for the prince immediately stepped out of the circle and rode, without speaking to the king, to Bautzen.«
A stunned AW writes Fritz the following letter from Bautzen, dated July 30th 1757, proving that he, too, wasn't without the Hohenzollern temper:
My dearest brother,
The letters you wrote to me, and the reception you gave me yesterday, prove to me only too much that I have lost all honor and reputation in your mind. This saddens me, saddens me, but does not bring me down, having no reproach to make. I am fundamentally convinced that I did not act by whim, that I did not follow the advice of people unable to give good ones, but I did what I thought was for the good of the military. All your generals will do me this justice.
I realize that it would be useless to ask you to have my conduct examined by a tribunal. It would be a grace that you would give me; so I have to give up the hope for it.
My health being greatly disturbed by fatigue, but even more by grief, I stayed in town to try to restore it.
I asked the Duke of Bevern to report to you on the army; he can tell you everything.
Be persuaded, my very dear brother, that, independently of the undeserved misfortunes which overwhelm me, I will never cease in my life to be devoted to the State, and that, as a good citizen, I shall be glad to learn about the happy success of your exploits. I have the honor to be, etc.
Fritz writes back the same day:
You have put my affairs in a desperate situation by your bad behavior; it is not my enemies who will make me lose, but the wrong actions you have taken. My generals are inexcusable, either for having advised you badly, or for having allowed you to make such bad decisions. Your ears are only accustomed to the language of flatterers; Daun didn't flatter you, and you see the aftermath. IN this sad situation it only remains for me to take the most desperate actions. I will fight, and we will all be massacred, if we cannot succeed. I am not accusing your heart, but your inability and your lack of judgment to take the best advantage. I‘m telling you the truth. Who has only one moment to live, has nothing to hide. I wish you more happiness than I had.
Fritz had forbidden contact between AW and Heinrich (or anyone else) at this point. Heinrich ignored this and went to Bautzen along with his Ajudant Henckel through whose war diary we know about this. On this occason, AW showed him all the letters Fritz had written him before and after and gave him a thorough description of the campaign. Heinrich agreed with AW that the King blaming Wilhelm exlusively for the botched withdrawal was not justified. He also supported AW's decision to go to Dresden when he saw how much weight his brother had lost and how miserable he looked.
Meanwhile, their youngest brother, Ferdinand, wrote this to Heinrich's wife Mina:
July 31st 1757: The situation of my brother August Wilhelm causes unspeakable sadness to me. You know how much I love him, and you will easily deduce how much I am affected by the misfortune that still ies ahead for him. I know that he got blamed entirely for the disaster at Lausitz. I know one will go as far as destroy his reputation. If the public one day learns which kind of orders he's received, it would understand that he simply was following them, and that he's not to blame. My heart is bleeding when I think of it, and I sense that this affair will have the most evil consequences. I've just learned that my brother August Wilhelm has arrived in Dresden. You'll understand what this means. I don't dare to say anything further.
Ferdinand and AW were both far closer to Mina than Heinrich ever managed to be, and as all of the Heinrich/AW correspondance has been lost, AW's letters to her are an important source as to his immediate reaction to events:
AW to Mina, August 1st 1757: You will be surprised, dear sister-in-law, to find me here. (In Dresden.) (...) As things stand now, one wants to blame me for everything. One writes honor-destroying letters to me, glowers at me at the first encounter and gives me and all the generals under my command the compliment that by law, we'd all have deserved to lose our head. Following this, I've left the army, went to Bautzen and wrote. I got a despicable letter in reply. (...) My one consolation is that all the generals have been fair to me; they had tears in their eyes when I left and agreed with my behavior. My brother Heinrich has done something which I won't be able to thank him enough for for as long as I shall live. He has refused the command of the army I had left; for he did not want to build his glory on my downfall. (AW's command after Heinrich's refusal went to Ferd(inand) the brother of EC. I will never forget this.
AW to Mina, 13th August 1757: Our great man is so enthralled with himself, doesn't ask anyone for advice, acts hastily in his rashness, and in his temper he doesn't believe true reports. If luck turns against him, he pulls out of the game and blames the innocent. That's why he wants the public to blame Moritz for the loss of the battle (of Kolin) and me for the misfortune of Zittau. Anyone who can leave this galley is in luck. The danger of losing life and health, arms and legs, that's nothing; any soldier is threatened by this in any war. But losing honor and reputation, that's too much, and in no army in the world a commander is threatened by this without being guilty. Anyone who is guilty should be punished by the laws of war. Forgive me rambling, but anyone whose heart is full will spill over in words.
In Dresden, things didn't get better for AW. The full enormity of what had happened began to set in. Fever, insomnia, throwing up, and increasing desperation ensued. Renewed petitions for either an audience with the King or a commission to investigate his decisions - which he was still believing would exonorate him - got this withering reply from Big Bro:
I do not reply to your letter, my dear Brother, because your head is spinning, and I believe that you wrote it in a delirium of hot fever. I am your faithful brother and servant
Federic
At which point AW asked for permission to return to Berlin. This was about the worst thing he could have done. Writes Fritz:
What, you want to flee, while we fight to keep the state for you and your family? You want to set an example to cowards of the army, who may say: We are only asking for what the Prince of Prussia has obtained? Blush to the bottom of your soul the proposals you make to me; you speak of your honor: it lay in leading the army well and not to lose four battaillons, your magazine and your baggage in one stroke. I willl not entrust you another commando again for as long as I live. (...) But you may remain with the army I lead without your honor being impuned by this. You can, of course, do whatever you want, but you must know that I will deny you as my brother and family if you don't follow the demands of honor, the only one fitting for a Crown Prince!
AW's reply, Dresden 29. August: „My very dear Brother. I am so convinced of my incapacity and of the uselessness of which I could be in the army, since it has pleased you to repeat my faults to me, that I will take good care not to bother you there. However, I cannot deny that it is a very great sorrow to me that my care and my application have been in vain, and that I see myself at my age a useless member of the State, having no other resource than to spend my life in retirement. Notwithstanding this I assure you that, although you condemned me, without hearing me and that you attributed to me perhaps more fault than I deserve, that I will always take part in all that can contribute to the accomplishment of your wishes. I have the honor to be with the deepest respect, my very dear brother, your very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother
Guillaume.
By now, the fraternal rage had become solidified ice:
My dear brother. It is better to be a useless member in an army than a harmful member. You will do what you want, I don't meddle in your business anymore; but it would be better for you to be in my army, as you have always been there, than to stay in Dresden.
Brotherly Conduct III: The Aftermath
At this point, news of the disaster had started to spread out far and wide. Lehndorff even hears about it in Berlin from the Danish ambassador. Ulrike in Sweden has heard about it. And of course, it also spreads to Bayreuth, where Wilhelmine writes to both brothers, trying her best to mediate.
Wilhelmine to AW, 24th August 1757: Your information makes me desperate. But three things may comfort you. Firstly, your experience is still completely unknown. Secondly, the reports to Berlin which the King has written himself name you as the liberator of the garnison of Zittau. And finally, you haven't done anything without asking for advice first. That you are mortified by what happened is only natural. But given the misery all of you are in, you must forget all of this and do everything for a reconciliation. You have no idea what an evil effect the enstrangement between the two of will have. I could tell you things in this regard which would greatly surprise you. But most of all, don't confide into many people, dear brother. They do you ill service, some out of foolishness, some out of recklessness, some out of selfishness. I speak with comlete frankness and with the sincerity I owe to you, and which you have demanded from me.
Ulrike to AW, September 13th 1757: Your letter from August 13th has touched me deeply. I'm deeply affected by anything concerning you, and sincerely share your grief. May heaven grant me the ability to lighten it somehow! Tell me frankly whether I can be of service to you. I can't hide from you that there is much talk about this affair, but you don't get blamed. This would be a natural cause to write to the King about what kind of rumors are making the rounds regarding this quarrel. One would have to declare them as evidently false, and make some pretty strong remarks, in order to pave the way to reconciliation. But I won't do anyting without your wish so I don't make things even worse. God give you patience and the ability not to give into your distress! You mean too much for me not to do all I can for you.
Wihlelmine to AW, September 29th 1757: Despite being half dead, dear brother, I get up to write you. I hope you've received the letter I'd previously written. Oh, dear brother, how miserable we all are! (..) But you don't know how your indifference comes across in a time where we all need to help and comfort each other, instead of remaining hurt. Dear God, please show in this time of misfortune your kindness of heart with which you've always won the devotion of anyone who knows you. Please, consider, it is your brother, your blood and more against whom you feel such bitterness. Forget what has happened! I am convinced that he will do the same. Oh, if you'd know how much honor you would win with such a high minded behavior, how much it would touch him in these difficult times! Forgive me for talking to you in this way. I'd give my life to see you all reconciled again. And I probably will have only a short span left to live. I shall use this little time to act and figure out anything that could help all of you. My fate will be that of my family, if death won't cut my thread of life off sooner. Be convinced that I do love you tenderly and sincerely, that I do you the justice you deserve, and that I would do the impossible to make you happy. Please remain alive, restore your health, which does worry me alot, and forgive my eagerness and the loyalty in which I may talk too frankly.
Wilhelmine to AW, November 19th 1757: Only yesterday, your letter has arrived, which has made me infinitely happy, for I take it as a proof for your recovery. You do me justice by counting on my friendship. Be convinced no one shares your joys and grievances more sincerely than I. (...) Allow me to talk openly about your current situation, as a true friend and tenderly loving sister. I won't speak about the quarrell with the King. His first bouts of anger were too violent. The letters which you have forwarded to me bear witness to this, and I am convinced that he has repented his behaviour too late. But what I have to tell you now isn't about him. I will only talk about what affects you, personally, as a loving sister. You say you want to give up your regiments and withdraw into private life. The first may work, but regarding the second, I must tell you something which you have to see as the greatest effort my love for you produces, for I say it only with the greatest reluctance. If we were at peace, your decision could not be faulted. But in times of war, when the entire state is overwhelmed with enemies and close to its downfall, your reputation would be endangered if you as the successor to the throne would settle down in Berlin and would only observe the miseries of a country which you should defend. Will not this behavior hurt your fame and enstrange the hearts of your future subjects from you? Your quarrel with the King is well known, but not its cause. The letters which you received are surely hidden by silence. Consider how your plan will come across to the public. I can only repeat, dear brother: the best which you could do for your restoration is to write to the King and ask to join the war as a simple volunteer. If he declines this, no one can blame you. If he allows it, no one can accuse you of having shirked your duty. Your argument cuts me to the heart; and in any quarrel, someone has to make the first step. But as things are now, I don't hope for a reconciliation. I am convinced, though, that he would be happy about such a turn of events, and sooner or later, everything would get into balance again. This is my sincere conviction; you may follow her, if you wish.
But nothing less than accepting complete blame on AW's part would do, and AW keeps insisting on his innocence. Meanwhile, the French army has reached Thuringia and Fritz has to do something to stop them from uniting with the Austrian army, so he leaves part of the army to cover Silesia and marches with the other part to Leipzig. Despite his bad state, AW goes to Leipzig as well in the hope to finally getting a chance to speak with Fritz. Fritz still won't see him. Heinrich does see him and is shocked by Wilhelm's physical state as well as the mental one. He urges Fritz - who thinks that AW is faking - to send his chief physician Cothenius. At first, Fritz refuses. Whereupon Heinrich writes to Bayreuth and describes AW's illness to Wilhelmine. She writes to Fritz, Heinrich pleads again, and Fritz does agree to let Cothenius see AW. But despite all his siblings begging him to visit his brother, he still refuses to do so.
By now, it's November, and Fritz wins, triumphantly and against all odds, the battle of Roßbach. (See this eaerlier post.) When AW writes to him again because of this, he replies:
My dear brother. I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of congratulations which you have kindly paid me on the occasion of the success of the last battle, and am convinced of the sincerity of your feelings. Do not complain about me, and remember that it is only your extraordinary and, so to speak, reckless behavior that has spoiled everything. I would have liked for your own reputation that, even if you had no command in the army, you would have been at least present at the above battle to share the glory instead of sitting around uselessly.
AW must have forwarded this letter (or a copy) to Wilhelmine, for on December 14th 1757 she wrote:
My valet says he's found you well. I thus hope your current sickness is only political in nature. As he said, he's found you alone with your books. Your letter has touched me deeply. Honestly, I can't reply to you. When I wrote to you, I hadn't known the latest letters which you have received. But what you say about hatred, I can swear to you on my life to be wrong. You are mistaken. I can prove the opposite to you by letters I have received; in them, he shows himself extremely distressed at your indifference.
Heinrich, who had participated in the battle - and was wounded, resulting in fever, so has to recover -, returns to Leipzig and spends the next three week with AW. This will be the last time he sees his brother alive. At the end of the three weeks and Heinrich's return to the army, Fritz permits Wilhelm to go to Berlin, while Heinrich gets entrusted with the supreme command of the Prussian army in Saxony.
From Berlin, AW writes to Fritz on January 5th 1758: My dear Brother. You have assured me that my military lack of competence would be the obstacle that will forever prevent you from entrusting me with the least thing, so I believe, my dear brother, that you will not disapprove that I put the care of everything which concerns my regiments, in the hands of those who command them. Be convinced that I regret my uselessness in the only profession that remains for princes to distinguish themselves! In the unfortunate case that I find myself, I [have] no other choice but to avoid being dependent on you and being in the army. The misfortune which made me lose your esteem, will never erase the attachment that I have devoted to you, and the respectful feelings with which I have the honor to be, my very dear brother, the very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother Guillaume.
What he hears as a reply is: My dear brother. I received the letter you sent me from the 5th of this month. You must not be very astonished that you do not have my esteem, because the conduct which you held for some time must deprive you of it by necessity, as it deprives you of the esteem of all reasonable people. The role which you play at present in the public can only be very detrimental to you and your reputation. I am all the more angry because I fear that you will make everything worse for yourself in the world around there. I am your good brother
Federic.
Meanwhile, Wilhelmine still tries her best to mediate. On January 5th 1758 she writes to AW: I was full of joy to receive your dear letter today. I understand your current situation has to be very embarrassing to you. I don't want to touch this chord anymore, otherwise you might scold me as biased and partial, and regard me as stubborn. Still, I wish you'd find means and ways to make peace. If you could bring yourself to return to the army, I am utterl convinced that you would receive satisfaction sooner or later. But your behavior is believed to be defiance and indifference. As a monarch, he demands the first step from the other party. Please put yourself in his shoes. He regards himself as the injured party.
"Why," you will reply to me, "doesn't he let my conduct be examined by a war tribunal then?" "Should I," he would answer, "expose my brother and successor in this way? Such a procedure wreck terrible havoc. I have contented myself with confronting him with his mistakes, though this I did harshly, but among ourselves, and regarded the public, I have preserved his honor. Why does he cause things which should remain secret to become public through his own subsequent behavior? I shall never give anything when pressured: for I must retain my authority."
This is how the King thinks. He knows you too well to despise you. I repeat: if the affair happened again and he'd act in cold blood, he would surely express himself more thoughtfully. But what has happened has happened; there is no remedy for the past, just, maybe, for the future. I assure you, people talk about your adventure. In vain I swear that you're just ill; one doesn't believe me. Currently, the winter quarters serve as an excuse. But if this is over, I fear you will wrong yourself if you don't find means and ways for a reconciliaton. I speak as a sister and true friend. Your well being, your happiness are as close to my heart as my own. But as much as your situation distresses me, I can look at it more coldbloodedly than you can, and I assure you, I am not the only one feeling this way. If you could hear what people say you'd see many feel similarly. Frankness is an important part of friendship, and I owe you both. I am not lecturing you; I don't reject your point of view, I try to do it justice, and will gladly use any insight of yours you care to tell me. But when grief attacks the mind, one often can't judge freely. I feel your entire distress and suffer with you. Measured ambition is the inspiration of virtue. Yours is laudable; it has to move you to action. Your philosophy must guide you to self discipline. Dear brother, I demand much of you. But I know what you are capable of, because I know your heart.
AW, who's recovered (or so it seems) from his illness, now takes Wilhelmine's advice about and requestions the permission to rejoin the army as a simple volunteer to prove he's not deserting the fatherland in the hour of need. Brother Ferdinand is horrified and protests a crown prince of Prussia can't do that:
The whole army knows you and knows about your bravery, which you have proved wherever you were commanded to. Everyone knows you were forced to leave the army. Every officer has understood that you want to return to the army if only it could be done honorably. Everyone misses you.
"Doing so honorably" after the public disgrace would of course mean an equally public restitution. No dice. Lehndorff, who spends a lot of the January and February with AW in Berlin, notes down this:
He had thought of joining our army in Swedish-Pomerania commanded by General Dohna as a simple volunteer. The King has learned of this plan and forbade it via General Finck. (...) I was worried because the Russians had taken possession of (Eastern) Prussia - where Steinort, aka the Lehndorff family seat and the Lehndorff-owned agrarian estates are, which means he's currently without an income beyond what EC pays him - and because I thought about my impending marriage with Fräulein von Häseler. When I talked with him about this, he said: "You are right, my dear Lehndorff, to consider founding a household which will protect you from many ills. I'm thinking about your happiness now, and once I get a hold of a Taler, I'll share it with you. But I don't promise anything if I ever get to be King, because then the Devil takes hold of one. (This last sentence is written by Lehndorff in German, not French (the language he writes his journal in, as 1907! editor notes and as one can tell by the sudden Rokoko spelling, which means AW said it in German.)
By the end of February, AW's sickness returns, fever, aches, shortness of breath. And this time, it doesn't leave again. When he goes to Oranienburg on April 29th, he knows he won't come back. There, he gets a letter from Ulrike:
Ulrike to AW, April 1758: It deeply distresses me that this argument continues. God knows how much I love and esteem you, and how gladly I would sacrifice any of my life's conveniences for you. But I fear the public will not judge your inaction well at a time when glory calls all heroes to action, and when possibly even the King himself wishes that you could forget the past. There is nothing shameful or low about giving in to one's King and lord. Blood and friendship are good advocates with a brother. He is energetic, rash, and the distress he's had heighten his impulsiveness even more. You know, this is our family flaw, but your heart and his are worth each other's. Often the heart proves to be a lie what we might have said in our first rashness. God knows only tender friendship lets me talk like this, and that I am acting on my own here! I'd give my life for your happiness and would find no comfort if you were to take what I have to say ill.
AW to Mina, Oranienburg, May 1758 (he's now dying, with just a few more weeks to live): My sister Ulrike who doesn't know my cause very well, or the character of the one whom I am dealing with, has sent me a long letter. She says that my reputation will suffer through my inaction and that I should forget the impulsivities of a brother who loves me. I know she means well. (...) But if I am inactive, it is not through my fault; gods be my witness. I can't possible humiliate myself so much that I forget what I owe to myself. This isn't an argument between brothers, nor is it a family matter. I have no claims on the King, but I don't wish anything more than never to see him again. (...) As long as he lives, I have no honor, no distinction and no opportunity to restore my reputation. Forgive my ramblings about my affairs.
He tries to distract himself via the continued restoration of Oranienburg, but by the end of May, he can't get out of bed again. Amalie has visited intermittently; on May 27th, she doesn't return to Berlin again as earlier, but orders every doctor she knows to come from Berlin. On June 12th, AW dies, at 35 years of age.
And now, as an encore, the full length letter from Fritz to Heinrich about this, to complete why I see all of this - not just the public disgrace, but the year long aftermath, up to said letter - as the radioactive core of Heinrich's feelings for his oldest brother.
I received very sad and unfortunate news from Berlin: the death of my brother, which I had never expected. I am all the more afflicted by it, since I have always loved him dearly, and since I had to deal with all the sorrows he caused me as a result of his weakness to follow bad advice, and as an effect of his temper, of which he was not always the master. Reflecting on his good heart and his other good qualities, I endured with gentleness many things in his conduct, which were very irregular, and by which he failed in what he owed me. I know the tenderness you had for him; I hope that, after having given friendship and nature the first ventings of your pain, you will make all the efforts of which a strong soul is capable, not to erase from your memory a brother whose imprint must without cease live in your heart and mine, but to moderate the excess of an affliction which could be fatal to you. Think, please, that in less than a year I have lost a mother whom I adored and a brother whom I have always dearly loved; in the critical situation in which I find myself, do not cause me new afflictions by the harm that grief could do you, and use your reason and philosophy as the only remedies to make the evils bearable to us. Think of the state and our homeland, which would perhaps be exposed to the greatest misfortunes, if, in the course of this terrible war, our nephews fell under guardianship; finally think that all men are mortal, and that our most tender bonds, our strongest attachments, do not guarantee us of the common law which is imposed on our species, and that, after all, our life is so short, that it does not even leave us time to grieve, and that, while weeping for others, we can believe without being mistaken that in a little time we will wept for, too. Finally, my dear brother, I neither want nor can elaborate on the sad subject of this letter; I fear for you, I wish you long life and good health, and I wish at the same time that the multitude of your occupations and the glory which you will acquire serve you to distract you from objects which can only pierce your heart, grieve you and bring you down, being with perfect tenderness and esteem, etc.
Addendum:
The Gospel According To Fritz
So, I checked de Catt's memoirs again because I recalled the passages about AW's death as being basically the bizarro land version, even before I read the introduction to de Catt's diary which points out that the memoirs point blank invent Fritz calling de Catt to him as soon as a relation has died. In the case of AW, in the diary de Catt only talks about him four days after the news have arrived. Equally questionable is the pasage where Fritz asks de Catt what he's heard about the fraternal argument, and de Catt replies with an only slight paraphrasing of a pamphlet making the rounds at the time - i.e. presumably older de Catt looked up said pamphlet to give his readers an exposition. And lastly, AW's private secretary years later became de Catt's brother-in-law, so the fact that in the memoirs this same man is named by Fritz as one of the only two non-evil advisors of AW when the diary contains nothing of the sort also throws a less than stellar light on the reliability of de Catt's rendition of what Fritz has to say. Not to mention that de Catt is writing the memoirs at a time when AW's son is on the throne. Still, with all these caveats in mind, what Fritz according to de Catt does say about his fallout with AW is so bizarre and out there that it almost sounds like the real deal again. I.e. it sounds like a man feeling guilty and absolutely incapable of admitting, even to himself, that he is, in fact, guilty, so he's rewriting reality on such a massive scale not seen since FW declared his killing Katte an act of mercy.
Says Fritz, according to Henri de Catt:
"At this news, seeing that all was lost for us, I could not contain myself. I wrote a furious letter, it is true, in this first moment of anger which made me see all my contriving at the point of dissolution. I used expressions which were too strong, I confess again, and I was sorry on that account as soon as my blood began to cool a little; but, my dear sir, put yourself for a moment in my place. Was it not cruel to see my brother, his family, the country and myself the victim of dangerous consels, because of his inclination to listen for preference to what pleased him in those incosiderate counsels given by persons who preferred their own interests to him, to mine and to the country's. My brother left for Dresden and quit the army. Doubtless, in the crisis in which I was, he would have come back to me, if certain rogues whom I know only too well had not stirred up the fire, and had not repeated to him every day that he could not remain int eh army with honor, nor forgive me the manner in which I had written to him: is not all this abominable? How they continued to embitter him during his stay at Oranienburg! A part of the horrible things vomited out against me has come back to me. I really pitied my dear brother for listening with so much complacency to this devilish race." (Here de Catt adds a footnote that the King named some names which he, of course, is too discreet to.) "If he had known it as I knew it, he would have repulsed it with horror. Ah, my friend, how unfortunate princes are, when they will only have near them people who flatter them(...)! If my brother had only had around him his aide-de-camp Hagen, his secretary Hainchelin, and another couple of such upright souls, his life at Oranienburg would have been calmer, and his heart more disposed to come back to mine. I am certain of what I state, for his heart was goodness, uprightness and charity itself. My knowledge of this made still more heartrending for me the bitterness against me which had been instilled into him. Hasty as I am, if we had been left to ourselves, we should have very soon forgotten our reciprocal wrongs."
If this isn't WTF!!! (given what actually happened, as documented not least by Fritz' own letters) enough, some time and a march later de Catt has him monologing thusly:
"My friend, the death of my brother is constantly on my mind. I busy myself in vain; his image is ever present in my soul, nad makes hell in it. I regret his kind heart, his true attachment to the country and to me, and his end, my dear sir, in the prime of life! If only diabolical creatures had not embittered him against me, if he had not been so easily persuaded and had not listened to so many treacherous speeches, if he had opened his heart to me, who knows but what he might yet be living, and if he had died, as everything dies, I should at least have the pleasant satisfaction of knowing that he had nothing against me, and he himself would not have carried off to the tomb ideas that were perhaps disagreeable. My friend, my friend, those people who sow disunion in families, whoever they may be, are to be condemned! They are monsters who should be choked. The hatred they cause between relations whom everything tends to bring together are, unfortunately, the most stubborn and violent hatred of all."
(And then he tops even this by telling de Catt that he totally would have abdicated in AW's favour post war and retired to be a philosopher full time.)
Now, aside from the handy "evil advisors" trope - which btw the rest of the gang wasn't immune to, either, only in reverse; Heinrich firmly cast Winterfeldt in the role of evil advisor, only to Fritz, not AW, for example, not that this made him excuse Fritz - the complete reality reverse here makes this actually into a confession, if you go by the law of projection. It was, of course, Fritz, who had hardened his heart, who refused to listen, who didn't open his heart to his brother, who wasn't sorry once his blood cooled down but kept on and on and on with bile. And if people who cause hate between relations are to be condemned, well, that's him. A part of him had to know that he was speaking his own judgment even while busily rewriting reality into something more acceptable for himself and de Catt. And since this is, even in de Catt's rendering, somewhat later, he has sent his first letter to Heinrich and got an icy reply back. Now AW might have forgiven him, had he lived, but he knew damn well Heinrich never would. No evil advisors necessary.
Brotherly Conduct I: The Prelude
In the June of 1749, Fritz has an attack of gout, is in a bad mood. Heinrich's regiment is exercising in Potsdam. Fritz notices that there are some recruits who are short of the minimum height of 5 ft 5 inches. (Feet and inches given in Ziebura, not metres.) Without talking to Heinrich - and thus giving him the opportunity to deal with this himself - he appoints Colonel Kaspar Friedrich von Rohr as new commander with the order "to finally bring order into this sloppy regiment". He accuses Heinrich of not having taken care of his regiment, thus giving his officers the chance to hire unfitting people to fill in for deserters.
"I thought it was fitting to put rules in your regiments because they were getting lost", writes Fritz to Heinrich. " I am not accountable to you for my actions. If I made changes, it was because they were appropriate. You will have to do a lot to change your conduct; but I intend to explain myself another time in this matter. That is all I have to say to you for the present. I am, my brother, your brother."
Heinrich is furious and offers to quit the army. ("Since the last signs of vivacity you've given me, I would act very carelessly if I were to lose sight of you", comments Fritz.)
The entire AW-Heinrich correspondance is lost, but we have the letters from all the brothers to youngest brother Ferdinand and his to them. Ferdinand writes to AW about this and blames Fritz' mood, says everyone in Potsdam is suffering from it and that several officers have offered their resignation. He himself is glad he got a regiment in Ruppin and thus can get the hell away from Big Bro. Even Winterfeldt - one of Fritz' favourite generals, later to play an important role in AW's downfall , and otherwise in a state of mutual dislike with Heinrich - in this case was siding with Heinrich because he thought this wasn't about some recruits missing a few inches, it was about Fritz feeling the need to humble his brother.
AW the professional family mediator who until then has had only positive experiences with Big Bro and is Heinrich's favourite brother decides to mediate. Bad idea, AW. He tells Heinrich that even if he feels badly treated, he's the younger, Fritz is King, Heinrich ought to apologize first. Heinrich doesn't think so. Then AW tries Fritz. Surely this is all the work of evil rumor mongers because he can't imagine Fritz wanting to humiliate their brother by transfering the regiment command without even offering the chance to explain, let alone justify. Could not Fritz, the Solomon of the North, give Heinrich the chance to either explain and justify himself or to apologize? (Bear in mind that Heinrich according to Ferdinand has no intention to apologize.)
Fritz is not impressed: The matter with Heinrich, says he, is known to AW only via Heinrich. (Not true, btw, see above re: Ferdinand and Winterfeldt.) "You believe blindly everything he tells you. I hope that at least this time, you'll reduce the marvellous bias you have in his favour somewhat." Heinrich is a slob, and Rohr had to be appointed to clean up the regiment. "Heinrich is your idol, your blind friendship for him doesn't let you recognize his faults. I love him as a brother, but I'd regret it if he doesn't improve in all the regards I've told him about. I was not acting out of an impulse, or to throw my weight around. Only his bad conduct is at fault."
AW replies on July 19th 1749: "I am sad about the unflattering idea you have of your brothers. The portrait you draw of Heinrich is very disadvantagous. You ascribe a character to him which I, for one, never saw him exhibit, and myself you believe to be so limited in my perception as to be blinded and fooled by him. "
Fritz replies the same day: "As you take Heinrich's part, I won't talk to you any further about this. Please understand the things I tell you literally and don't seek for hidden meaning in my simple words."
He won't talk any further to AW, at any rate. Instead, he orders Heinrich to him to Potsdam. No witnesses to this chat, but the results are reported by Fritz to AW on August 5th, and have ended up in the political correspondance because: "I have news this time which I think will be pleasant to you. Peace has been concluded and ratified between Henri and me."
The conditions for the peace: Heinrich gets his regiment back - and agrees to marry at the King's convenience.
"My dear brother, I am delighted to see you think so wisely about your own interests", writes Fritz.
(The actual marriage doesn't happen until the summer of 1752.)
Now, everybody seems to have something of a point here. I note nobody is disputing a few of the recruits are below minimum height. It's just that everyone but Fritz thinks Fritz took this as an excuse to start a new round of Bringing Heinrich To Heel.
Conversely, he's of course not wrong brother AW is biased in Heinrich's favour and is going to believe Heinrich over Fritz any day of the week. When August Wilhelm, apropos the birth of his oldest son, future FW2, in 1744, writes a "my life so far" summary for himself, his entry for the year of doom 1730 - aka the year in which Fritz attempts to escape and Katte dies - is, wait for it: "My brother Heinrich, who was born in 1726, was given into my steward's care as well, and we were raised together from now on."
(Heinrich joined AW's household in February 1730, i.e. before the flight attempt, but still.)
Incidentally we have eight years old AW's letter to father FW about this happy event: "When my dear Papa had left my brother Heinrich came into my room and has learned a bit, too. We are now sleeping together in the same room and are very happy about it. The other morning I got up at eight, my brother at ten, and we both learned, and all of my sisters learned, too. We thank our dear Papa from our hearts for thinking of us...")
But since the whole thing ends in "sloppy" Heinrich getting the regiment back not after rethinking his military behavior but after making promising to marry, which has nothing to do with anything under discussion, Fritz undermines his own case. And as I mentioned elsewhere, it's hard to dispute Ziebura's case that making Heinrich marry is utterly pointless in terms of dynasty - AW has already produced the next Hohenzollern generation - or politics - he'll marry a princess from Hessen-Kassel, a principality with which Prussia is already alligned and which isn't even that rich or important; it can have only two points: a) putting Heinrich through exactly the same thing Fritz was put through, and b) making Heinrich submit to Fritz in a way that he won't ever be able to shake off. (Since princes required the King's permission to divorce.)
Brotherly Conduct II: The Main Act
Okay, now the big one. Just to put things in to perspective: as of early 1756, if you had asked which brother gets along best with Fritz, who of the three younger ones is his favourite, the universal answer by everyone would have been AW. Not just because AW seems to have gotten along with most people, but because, the 1749 Heinrich argument excepted, Fritz didn‘t quarrel with him. The surviving letters from Fritz to AW pre 7 Years War are sometimes teasing but without bite, and very fond, it at times a bit condescending, which means no one, including probably Fritz, saw what would happen coming. We are now in early 1756. When AW on the occasion of the Prussian treaty with England - at a time when France and England are duking it out in the overseas colonies - seems to have wondered how the rest of Europe will react, Fritz, in full hubris mode, replies:
This year which I expect to have won is worth as much as five of the preceding ones, and, if in the future I can serve as mediator for the belligerent powers, I will have created for Prussia the greatest role that it can play in peacetime; and do you count for nothing the pleasure of stopping the Queen of Hungary, of humiliating, or to put it better, of destroying Saxony, of making Bestushew despair? These are the consequences that a little stroke of the pen will have.
Yes, well. The Diplomatic Revolution (aka Maria Theresia ending two centuries of a feud with France in favour of a new alliance) happens, also by a little stroke of the pen, France is now Austria‘s ally, and AW dares to wonder whether maybe, just maybe, having so many nations hostile towards Prussia is a bit dangerous?
My dear brother. If our enemies force us to wage war, we must ask…: where are they? but not…: how many are there? We have nothing to fear, our enemies have more reason to run than us, and, according to the rule of probabilities, we will get out of this trap with all possible honor. Let the women in Berlin talk about sharing treaties ... but, for Prussian officers who fought our wars, they must have seen that neither the number nor the difficulties could have robbed us of the victory; they must think that these are the same troops now as in the last war, that the whole army is more trained in the maneuvers of battles, and that, if we do not fall into very rough blunders, it is morally impossible that we miss our shot. This is a comforting thought, my dear brother, which, I hope, will dissipate the fogs that politicians and political ladies have spread over the city. I embrace you, assuring you of the tenderness with which I am, my dear brother, your faithful brother and servant
Federic.
Naturally, when things start to go wrong, there is one person whose fault it can't possibly be. How much or little AW was at fault for the military disaster to come has been debated ever since it happened. He's written a defense before he died, but had been dissuaded from publishing it mid war. In the end, it wasn't published until the late 19th century, and then it was promptly condemned by patriotic Prussian historians as "one sided" (you think?) and damaging to the memory of the Great King. Among the points of contention: did Fritz give AW clear or conflicting orders - on top of everything else going wrong, several of their letters crossed or were delivered too late - , could AW, given the information he had, have acted differently, did he just let things happen without trying to prevent disaster? Ziebura argued:
The relative immovability of his army wasn't Wilhelm's fault. The King had dumped everything on him which he himself hadn't wanted to be burdened with - canons, pontons and the heavy baggage. Hence, the Prince needed urgently a positive order from Friedrich - what exactly did his supreme commander want him to do? Cover Silesia or remain in Bohemia and protect Zittau, for as things stood, the former and the later were mutually exclusive. (...) If Friedrich and with him later historians blame the Prince of Prussia for his hesitation, his "too long war councils", his indicisiveness, even his phlegma, they should have asked for the reason for his remaining in Leipa. That reason was his incapability to act against the King's explicit wishes and to rely solely on his own judgment. He wasn't the only one finding himself in this position. The Prince of Bevern in Breslau, Schmettau in Dresden and Finck at Maxen had all, by following the King's orders against their better knowledge, experienced a fiacso. They were all punished with disgrace, with a casheering.
(
mildred_of_midgard: What the verb tense doesn't make it clear here is that all of these were in AW's future, so this is a commentary on Fritz's leadership style, not a list of examples that AW would have had in mind. AW was one of the first victims of Fritz's scapegoating during the Seven Years' War.)Theodor Fontane, in "Wanderungen in der Mark Brandenburg", quotes an eyewitness on the actual brotherly showdown:
Prince August Wilhelm had been given the command of those troops who were to withdraw to Lausitz; Winterfeldt was added to him. Things went badly and when the two brothers finally met again, the terrible scene took place, which Count Schwerin, the adjutant of Winterfeldt, described in the following words.
»A circle was formed n which the prince and all his generals stood. It was not the king who entered the circle, but Winterfeldt instead of his. On behalf of the king, he had to say: "They all deserved to be put in front of a war tribunal, where they could not escape being condemned to lose their heads; however, the king did not want to push it so far, because in the general he did not forget his brother." The king stood not far from the circle," continues Count Schwerin, "and listened to whether Winterfeldt also strictly used the expressions commanded of him. Winterfeldt did it, but with shudders, and he could see the impression of his words immediately, for the prince immediately stepped out of the circle and rode, without speaking to the king, to Bautzen.«
A stunned AW writes Fritz the following letter from Bautzen, dated July 30th 1757, proving that he, too, wasn't without the Hohenzollern temper:
My dearest brother,
The letters you wrote to me, and the reception you gave me yesterday, prove to me only too much that I have lost all honor and reputation in your mind. This saddens me, saddens me, but does not bring me down, having no reproach to make. I am fundamentally convinced that I did not act by whim, that I did not follow the advice of people unable to give good ones, but I did what I thought was for the good of the military. All your generals will do me this justice.
I realize that it would be useless to ask you to have my conduct examined by a tribunal. It would be a grace that you would give me; so I have to give up the hope for it.
My health being greatly disturbed by fatigue, but even more by grief, I stayed in town to try to restore it.
I asked the Duke of Bevern to report to you on the army; he can tell you everything.
Be persuaded, my very dear brother, that, independently of the undeserved misfortunes which overwhelm me, I will never cease in my life to be devoted to the State, and that, as a good citizen, I shall be glad to learn about the happy success of your exploits. I have the honor to be, etc.
Fritz writes back the same day:
You have put my affairs in a desperate situation by your bad behavior; it is not my enemies who will make me lose, but the wrong actions you have taken. My generals are inexcusable, either for having advised you badly, or for having allowed you to make such bad decisions. Your ears are only accustomed to the language of flatterers; Daun didn't flatter you, and you see the aftermath. IN this sad situation it only remains for me to take the most desperate actions. I will fight, and we will all be massacred, if we cannot succeed. I am not accusing your heart, but your inability and your lack of judgment to take the best advantage. I‘m telling you the truth. Who has only one moment to live, has nothing to hide. I wish you more happiness than I had.
Fritz had forbidden contact between AW and Heinrich (or anyone else) at this point. Heinrich ignored this and went to Bautzen along with his Ajudant Henckel through whose war diary we know about this. On this occason, AW showed him all the letters Fritz had written him before and after and gave him a thorough description of the campaign. Heinrich agreed with AW that the King blaming Wilhelm exlusively for the botched withdrawal was not justified. He also supported AW's decision to go to Dresden when he saw how much weight his brother had lost and how miserable he looked.
Meanwhile, their youngest brother, Ferdinand, wrote this to Heinrich's wife Mina:
July 31st 1757: The situation of my brother August Wilhelm causes unspeakable sadness to me. You know how much I love him, and you will easily deduce how much I am affected by the misfortune that still ies ahead for him. I know that he got blamed entirely for the disaster at Lausitz. I know one will go as far as destroy his reputation. If the public one day learns which kind of orders he's received, it would understand that he simply was following them, and that he's not to blame. My heart is bleeding when I think of it, and I sense that this affair will have the most evil consequences. I've just learned that my brother August Wilhelm has arrived in Dresden. You'll understand what this means. I don't dare to say anything further.
Ferdinand and AW were both far closer to Mina than Heinrich ever managed to be, and as all of the Heinrich/AW correspondance has been lost, AW's letters to her are an important source as to his immediate reaction to events:
AW to Mina, August 1st 1757: You will be surprised, dear sister-in-law, to find me here. (In Dresden.) (...) As things stand now, one wants to blame me for everything. One writes honor-destroying letters to me, glowers at me at the first encounter and gives me and all the generals under my command the compliment that by law, we'd all have deserved to lose our head. Following this, I've left the army, went to Bautzen and wrote. I got a despicable letter in reply. (...) My one consolation is that all the generals have been fair to me; they had tears in their eyes when I left and agreed with my behavior. My brother Heinrich has done something which I won't be able to thank him enough for for as long as I shall live. He has refused the command of the army I had left; for he did not want to build his glory on my downfall. (AW's command after Heinrich's refusal went to Ferd(inand) the brother of EC. I will never forget this.
AW to Mina, 13th August 1757: Our great man is so enthralled with himself, doesn't ask anyone for advice, acts hastily in his rashness, and in his temper he doesn't believe true reports. If luck turns against him, he pulls out of the game and blames the innocent. That's why he wants the public to blame Moritz for the loss of the battle (of Kolin) and me for the misfortune of Zittau. Anyone who can leave this galley is in luck. The danger of losing life and health, arms and legs, that's nothing; any soldier is threatened by this in any war. But losing honor and reputation, that's too much, and in no army in the world a commander is threatened by this without being guilty. Anyone who is guilty should be punished by the laws of war. Forgive me rambling, but anyone whose heart is full will spill over in words.
In Dresden, things didn't get better for AW. The full enormity of what had happened began to set in. Fever, insomnia, throwing up, and increasing desperation ensued. Renewed petitions for either an audience with the King or a commission to investigate his decisions - which he was still believing would exonorate him - got this withering reply from Big Bro:
I do not reply to your letter, my dear Brother, because your head is spinning, and I believe that you wrote it in a delirium of hot fever. I am your faithful brother and servant
Federic
At which point AW asked for permission to return to Berlin. This was about the worst thing he could have done. Writes Fritz:
What, you want to flee, while we fight to keep the state for you and your family? You want to set an example to cowards of the army, who may say: We are only asking for what the Prince of Prussia has obtained? Blush to the bottom of your soul the proposals you make to me; you speak of your honor: it lay in leading the army well and not to lose four battaillons, your magazine and your baggage in one stroke. I willl not entrust you another commando again for as long as I live. (...) But you may remain with the army I lead without your honor being impuned by this. You can, of course, do whatever you want, but you must know that I will deny you as my brother and family if you don't follow the demands of honor, the only one fitting for a Crown Prince!
AW's reply, Dresden 29. August: „My very dear Brother. I am so convinced of my incapacity and of the uselessness of which I could be in the army, since it has pleased you to repeat my faults to me, that I will take good care not to bother you there. However, I cannot deny that it is a very great sorrow to me that my care and my application have been in vain, and that I see myself at my age a useless member of the State, having no other resource than to spend my life in retirement. Notwithstanding this I assure you that, although you condemned me, without hearing me and that you attributed to me perhaps more fault than I deserve, that I will always take part in all that can contribute to the accomplishment of your wishes. I have the honor to be with the deepest respect, my very dear brother, your very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother
Guillaume.
By now, the fraternal rage had become solidified ice:
My dear brother. It is better to be a useless member in an army than a harmful member. You will do what you want, I don't meddle in your business anymore; but it would be better for you to be in my army, as you have always been there, than to stay in Dresden.
Brotherly Conduct III: The Aftermath
At this point, news of the disaster had started to spread out far and wide. Lehndorff even hears about it in Berlin from the Danish ambassador. Ulrike in Sweden has heard about it. And of course, it also spreads to Bayreuth, where Wilhelmine writes to both brothers, trying her best to mediate.
Wilhelmine to AW, 24th August 1757: Your information makes me desperate. But three things may comfort you. Firstly, your experience is still completely unknown. Secondly, the reports to Berlin which the King has written himself name you as the liberator of the garnison of Zittau. And finally, you haven't done anything without asking for advice first. That you are mortified by what happened is only natural. But given the misery all of you are in, you must forget all of this and do everything for a reconciliation. You have no idea what an evil effect the enstrangement between the two of will have. I could tell you things in this regard which would greatly surprise you. But most of all, don't confide into many people, dear brother. They do you ill service, some out of foolishness, some out of recklessness, some out of selfishness. I speak with comlete frankness and with the sincerity I owe to you, and which you have demanded from me.
Ulrike to AW, September 13th 1757: Your letter from August 13th has touched me deeply. I'm deeply affected by anything concerning you, and sincerely share your grief. May heaven grant me the ability to lighten it somehow! Tell me frankly whether I can be of service to you. I can't hide from you that there is much talk about this affair, but you don't get blamed. This would be a natural cause to write to the King about what kind of rumors are making the rounds regarding this quarrel. One would have to declare them as evidently false, and make some pretty strong remarks, in order to pave the way to reconciliation. But I won't do anyting without your wish so I don't make things even worse. God give you patience and the ability not to give into your distress! You mean too much for me not to do all I can for you.
Wihlelmine to AW, September 29th 1757: Despite being half dead, dear brother, I get up to write you. I hope you've received the letter I'd previously written. Oh, dear brother, how miserable we all are! (..) But you don't know how your indifference comes across in a time where we all need to help and comfort each other, instead of remaining hurt. Dear God, please show in this time of misfortune your kindness of heart with which you've always won the devotion of anyone who knows you. Please, consider, it is your brother, your blood and more against whom you feel such bitterness. Forget what has happened! I am convinced that he will do the same. Oh, if you'd know how much honor you would win with such a high minded behavior, how much it would touch him in these difficult times! Forgive me for talking to you in this way. I'd give my life to see you all reconciled again. And I probably will have only a short span left to live. I shall use this little time to act and figure out anything that could help all of you. My fate will be that of my family, if death won't cut my thread of life off sooner. Be convinced that I do love you tenderly and sincerely, that I do you the justice you deserve, and that I would do the impossible to make you happy. Please remain alive, restore your health, which does worry me alot, and forgive my eagerness and the loyalty in which I may talk too frankly.
Wilhelmine to AW, November 19th 1757: Only yesterday, your letter has arrived, which has made me infinitely happy, for I take it as a proof for your recovery. You do me justice by counting on my friendship. Be convinced no one shares your joys and grievances more sincerely than I. (...) Allow me to talk openly about your current situation, as a true friend and tenderly loving sister. I won't speak about the quarrell with the King. His first bouts of anger were too violent. The letters which you have forwarded to me bear witness to this, and I am convinced that he has repented his behaviour too late. But what I have to tell you now isn't about him. I will only talk about what affects you, personally, as a loving sister. You say you want to give up your regiments and withdraw into private life. The first may work, but regarding the second, I must tell you something which you have to see as the greatest effort my love for you produces, for I say it only with the greatest reluctance. If we were at peace, your decision could not be faulted. But in times of war, when the entire state is overwhelmed with enemies and close to its downfall, your reputation would be endangered if you as the successor to the throne would settle down in Berlin and would only observe the miseries of a country which you should defend. Will not this behavior hurt your fame and enstrange the hearts of your future subjects from you? Your quarrel with the King is well known, but not its cause. The letters which you received are surely hidden by silence. Consider how your plan will come across to the public. I can only repeat, dear brother: the best which you could do for your restoration is to write to the King and ask to join the war as a simple volunteer. If he declines this, no one can blame you. If he allows it, no one can accuse you of having shirked your duty. Your argument cuts me to the heart; and in any quarrel, someone has to make the first step. But as things are now, I don't hope for a reconciliation. I am convinced, though, that he would be happy about such a turn of events, and sooner or later, everything would get into balance again. This is my sincere conviction; you may follow her, if you wish.
But nothing less than accepting complete blame on AW's part would do, and AW keeps insisting on his innocence. Meanwhile, the French army has reached Thuringia and Fritz has to do something to stop them from uniting with the Austrian army, so he leaves part of the army to cover Silesia and marches with the other part to Leipzig. Despite his bad state, AW goes to Leipzig as well in the hope to finally getting a chance to speak with Fritz. Fritz still won't see him. Heinrich does see him and is shocked by Wilhelm's physical state as well as the mental one. He urges Fritz - who thinks that AW is faking - to send his chief physician Cothenius. At first, Fritz refuses. Whereupon Heinrich writes to Bayreuth and describes AW's illness to Wilhelmine. She writes to Fritz, Heinrich pleads again, and Fritz does agree to let Cothenius see AW. But despite all his siblings begging him to visit his brother, he still refuses to do so.
By now, it's November, and Fritz wins, triumphantly and against all odds, the battle of Roßbach. (See this eaerlier post.) When AW writes to him again because of this, he replies:
My dear brother. I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of congratulations which you have kindly paid me on the occasion of the success of the last battle, and am convinced of the sincerity of your feelings. Do not complain about me, and remember that it is only your extraordinary and, so to speak, reckless behavior that has spoiled everything. I would have liked for your own reputation that, even if you had no command in the army, you would have been at least present at the above battle to share the glory instead of sitting around uselessly.
AW must have forwarded this letter (or a copy) to Wilhelmine, for on December 14th 1757 she wrote:
My valet says he's found you well. I thus hope your current sickness is only political in nature. As he said, he's found you alone with your books. Your letter has touched me deeply. Honestly, I can't reply to you. When I wrote to you, I hadn't known the latest letters which you have received. But what you say about hatred, I can swear to you on my life to be wrong. You are mistaken. I can prove the opposite to you by letters I have received; in them, he shows himself extremely distressed at your indifference.
Heinrich, who had participated in the battle - and was wounded, resulting in fever, so has to recover -, returns to Leipzig and spends the next three week with AW. This will be the last time he sees his brother alive. At the end of the three weeks and Heinrich's return to the army, Fritz permits Wilhelm to go to Berlin, while Heinrich gets entrusted with the supreme command of the Prussian army in Saxony.
From Berlin, AW writes to Fritz on January 5th 1758: My dear Brother. You have assured me that my military lack of competence would be the obstacle that will forever prevent you from entrusting me with the least thing, so I believe, my dear brother, that you will not disapprove that I put the care of everything which concerns my regiments, in the hands of those who command them. Be convinced that I regret my uselessness in the only profession that remains for princes to distinguish themselves! In the unfortunate case that I find myself, I [have] no other choice but to avoid being dependent on you and being in the army. The misfortune which made me lose your esteem, will never erase the attachment that I have devoted to you, and the respectful feelings with which I have the honor to be, my very dear brother, the very humble, very obedient, very faithful servant and brother Guillaume.
What he hears as a reply is: My dear brother. I received the letter you sent me from the 5th of this month. You must not be very astonished that you do not have my esteem, because the conduct which you held for some time must deprive you of it by necessity, as it deprives you of the esteem of all reasonable people. The role which you play at present in the public can only be very detrimental to you and your reputation. I am all the more angry because I fear that you will make everything worse for yourself in the world around there. I am your good brother
Federic.
Meanwhile, Wilhelmine still tries her best to mediate. On January 5th 1758 she writes to AW: I was full of joy to receive your dear letter today. I understand your current situation has to be very embarrassing to you. I don't want to touch this chord anymore, otherwise you might scold me as biased and partial, and regard me as stubborn. Still, I wish you'd find means and ways to make peace. If you could bring yourself to return to the army, I am utterl convinced that you would receive satisfaction sooner or later. But your behavior is believed to be defiance and indifference. As a monarch, he demands the first step from the other party. Please put yourself in his shoes. He regards himself as the injured party.
"Why," you will reply to me, "doesn't he let my conduct be examined by a war tribunal then?" "Should I," he would answer, "expose my brother and successor in this way? Such a procedure wreck terrible havoc. I have contented myself with confronting him with his mistakes, though this I did harshly, but among ourselves, and regarded the public, I have preserved his honor. Why does he cause things which should remain secret to become public through his own subsequent behavior? I shall never give anything when pressured: for I must retain my authority."
This is how the King thinks. He knows you too well to despise you. I repeat: if the affair happened again and he'd act in cold blood, he would surely express himself more thoughtfully. But what has happened has happened; there is no remedy for the past, just, maybe, for the future. I assure you, people talk about your adventure. In vain I swear that you're just ill; one doesn't believe me. Currently, the winter quarters serve as an excuse. But if this is over, I fear you will wrong yourself if you don't find means and ways for a reconciliaton. I speak as a sister and true friend. Your well being, your happiness are as close to my heart as my own. But as much as your situation distresses me, I can look at it more coldbloodedly than you can, and I assure you, I am not the only one feeling this way. If you could hear what people say you'd see many feel similarly. Frankness is an important part of friendship, and I owe you both. I am not lecturing you; I don't reject your point of view, I try to do it justice, and will gladly use any insight of yours you care to tell me. But when grief attacks the mind, one often can't judge freely. I feel your entire distress and suffer with you. Measured ambition is the inspiration of virtue. Yours is laudable; it has to move you to action. Your philosophy must guide you to self discipline. Dear brother, I demand much of you. But I know what you are capable of, because I know your heart.
AW, who's recovered (or so it seems) from his illness, now takes Wilhelmine's advice about and requestions the permission to rejoin the army as a simple volunteer to prove he's not deserting the fatherland in the hour of need. Brother Ferdinand is horrified and protests a crown prince of Prussia can't do that:
The whole army knows you and knows about your bravery, which you have proved wherever you were commanded to. Everyone knows you were forced to leave the army. Every officer has understood that you want to return to the army if only it could be done honorably. Everyone misses you.
"Doing so honorably" after the public disgrace would of course mean an equally public restitution. No dice. Lehndorff, who spends a lot of the January and February with AW in Berlin, notes down this:
He had thought of joining our army in Swedish-Pomerania commanded by General Dohna as a simple volunteer. The King has learned of this plan and forbade it via General Finck. (...) I was worried because the Russians had taken possession of (Eastern) Prussia - where Steinort, aka the Lehndorff family seat and the Lehndorff-owned agrarian estates are, which means he's currently without an income beyond what EC pays him - and because I thought about my impending marriage with Fräulein von Häseler. When I talked with him about this, he said: "You are right, my dear Lehndorff, to consider founding a household which will protect you from many ills. I'm thinking about your happiness now, and once I get a hold of a Taler, I'll share it with you. But I don't promise anything if I ever get to be King, because then the Devil takes hold of one. (This last sentence is written by Lehndorff in German, not French (the language he writes his journal in, as 1907! editor notes and as one can tell by the sudden Rokoko spelling, which means AW said it in German.)
By the end of February, AW's sickness returns, fever, aches, shortness of breath. And this time, it doesn't leave again. When he goes to Oranienburg on April 29th, he knows he won't come back. There, he gets a letter from Ulrike:
Ulrike to AW, April 1758: It deeply distresses me that this argument continues. God knows how much I love and esteem you, and how gladly I would sacrifice any of my life's conveniences for you. But I fear the public will not judge your inaction well at a time when glory calls all heroes to action, and when possibly even the King himself wishes that you could forget the past. There is nothing shameful or low about giving in to one's King and lord. Blood and friendship are good advocates with a brother. He is energetic, rash, and the distress he's had heighten his impulsiveness even more. You know, this is our family flaw, but your heart and his are worth each other's. Often the heart proves to be a lie what we might have said in our first rashness. God knows only tender friendship lets me talk like this, and that I am acting on my own here! I'd give my life for your happiness and would find no comfort if you were to take what I have to say ill.
AW to Mina, Oranienburg, May 1758 (he's now dying, with just a few more weeks to live): My sister Ulrike who doesn't know my cause very well, or the character of the one whom I am dealing with, has sent me a long letter. She says that my reputation will suffer through my inaction and that I should forget the impulsivities of a brother who loves me. I know she means well. (...) But if I am inactive, it is not through my fault; gods be my witness. I can't possible humiliate myself so much that I forget what I owe to myself. This isn't an argument between brothers, nor is it a family matter. I have no claims on the King, but I don't wish anything more than never to see him again. (...) As long as he lives, I have no honor, no distinction and no opportunity to restore my reputation. Forgive my ramblings about my affairs.
He tries to distract himself via the continued restoration of Oranienburg, but by the end of May, he can't get out of bed again. Amalie has visited intermittently; on May 27th, she doesn't return to Berlin again as earlier, but orders every doctor she knows to come from Berlin. On June 12th, AW dies, at 35 years of age.
And now, as an encore, the full length letter from Fritz to Heinrich about this, to complete why I see all of this - not just the public disgrace, but the year long aftermath, up to said letter - as the radioactive core of Heinrich's feelings for his oldest brother.
I received very sad and unfortunate news from Berlin: the death of my brother, which I had never expected. I am all the more afflicted by it, since I have always loved him dearly, and since I had to deal with all the sorrows he caused me as a result of his weakness to follow bad advice, and as an effect of his temper, of which he was not always the master. Reflecting on his good heart and his other good qualities, I endured with gentleness many things in his conduct, which were very irregular, and by which he failed in what he owed me. I know the tenderness you had for him; I hope that, after having given friendship and nature the first ventings of your pain, you will make all the efforts of which a strong soul is capable, not to erase from your memory a brother whose imprint must without cease live in your heart and mine, but to moderate the excess of an affliction which could be fatal to you. Think, please, that in less than a year I have lost a mother whom I adored and a brother whom I have always dearly loved; in the critical situation in which I find myself, do not cause me new afflictions by the harm that grief could do you, and use your reason and philosophy as the only remedies to make the evils bearable to us. Think of the state and our homeland, which would perhaps be exposed to the greatest misfortunes, if, in the course of this terrible war, our nephews fell under guardianship; finally think that all men are mortal, and that our most tender bonds, our strongest attachments, do not guarantee us of the common law which is imposed on our species, and that, after all, our life is so short, that it does not even leave us time to grieve, and that, while weeping for others, we can believe without being mistaken that in a little time we will wept for, too. Finally, my dear brother, I neither want nor can elaborate on the sad subject of this letter; I fear for you, I wish you long life and good health, and I wish at the same time that the multitude of your occupations and the glory which you will acquire serve you to distract you from objects which can only pierce your heart, grieve you and bring you down, being with perfect tenderness and esteem, etc.
Addendum:
The Gospel According To Fritz
So, I checked de Catt's memoirs again because I recalled the passages about AW's death as being basically the bizarro land version, even before I read the introduction to de Catt's diary which points out that the memoirs point blank invent Fritz calling de Catt to him as soon as a relation has died. In the case of AW, in the diary de Catt only talks about him four days after the news have arrived. Equally questionable is the pasage where Fritz asks de Catt what he's heard about the fraternal argument, and de Catt replies with an only slight paraphrasing of a pamphlet making the rounds at the time - i.e. presumably older de Catt looked up said pamphlet to give his readers an exposition. And lastly, AW's private secretary years later became de Catt's brother-in-law, so the fact that in the memoirs this same man is named by Fritz as one of the only two non-evil advisors of AW when the diary contains nothing of the sort also throws a less than stellar light on the reliability of de Catt's rendition of what Fritz has to say. Not to mention that de Catt is writing the memoirs at a time when AW's son is on the throne. Still, with all these caveats in mind, what Fritz according to de Catt does say about his fallout with AW is so bizarre and out there that it almost sounds like the real deal again. I.e. it sounds like a man feeling guilty and absolutely incapable of admitting, even to himself, that he is, in fact, guilty, so he's rewriting reality on such a massive scale not seen since FW declared his killing Katte an act of mercy.
Says Fritz, according to Henri de Catt:
"At this news, seeing that all was lost for us, I could not contain myself. I wrote a furious letter, it is true, in this first moment of anger which made me see all my contriving at the point of dissolution. I used expressions which were too strong, I confess again, and I was sorry on that account as soon as my blood began to cool a little; but, my dear sir, put yourself for a moment in my place. Was it not cruel to see my brother, his family, the country and myself the victim of dangerous consels, because of his inclination to listen for preference to what pleased him in those incosiderate counsels given by persons who preferred their own interests to him, to mine and to the country's. My brother left for Dresden and quit the army. Doubtless, in the crisis in which I was, he would have come back to me, if certain rogues whom I know only too well had not stirred up the fire, and had not repeated to him every day that he could not remain int eh army with honor, nor forgive me the manner in which I had written to him: is not all this abominable? How they continued to embitter him during his stay at Oranienburg! A part of the horrible things vomited out against me has come back to me. I really pitied my dear brother for listening with so much complacency to this devilish race." (Here de Catt adds a footnote that the King named some names which he, of course, is too discreet to.) "If he had known it as I knew it, he would have repulsed it with horror. Ah, my friend, how unfortunate princes are, when they will only have near them people who flatter them(...)! If my brother had only had around him his aide-de-camp Hagen, his secretary Hainchelin, and another couple of such upright souls, his life at Oranienburg would have been calmer, and his heart more disposed to come back to mine. I am certain of what I state, for his heart was goodness, uprightness and charity itself. My knowledge of this made still more heartrending for me the bitterness against me which had been instilled into him. Hasty as I am, if we had been left to ourselves, we should have very soon forgotten our reciprocal wrongs."
If this isn't WTF!!! (given what actually happened, as documented not least by Fritz' own letters) enough, some time and a march later de Catt has him monologing thusly:
"My friend, the death of my brother is constantly on my mind. I busy myself in vain; his image is ever present in my soul, nad makes hell in it. I regret his kind heart, his true attachment to the country and to me, and his end, my dear sir, in the prime of life! If only diabolical creatures had not embittered him against me, if he had not been so easily persuaded and had not listened to so many treacherous speeches, if he had opened his heart to me, who knows but what he might yet be living, and if he had died, as everything dies, I should at least have the pleasant satisfaction of knowing that he had nothing against me, and he himself would not have carried off to the tomb ideas that were perhaps disagreeable. My friend, my friend, those people who sow disunion in families, whoever they may be, are to be condemned! They are monsters who should be choked. The hatred they cause between relations whom everything tends to bring together are, unfortunately, the most stubborn and violent hatred of all."
(And then he tops even this by telling de Catt that he totally would have abdicated in AW's favour post war and retired to be a philosopher full time.)
Now, aside from the handy "evil advisors" trope - which btw the rest of the gang wasn't immune to, either, only in reverse; Heinrich firmly cast Winterfeldt in the role of evil advisor, only to Fritz, not AW, for example, not that this made him excuse Fritz - the complete reality reverse here makes this actually into a confession, if you go by the law of projection. It was, of course, Fritz, who had hardened his heart, who refused to listen, who didn't open his heart to his brother, who wasn't sorry once his blood cooled down but kept on and on and on with bile. And if people who cause hate between relations are to be condemned, well, that's him. A part of him had to know that he was speaking his own judgment even while busily rewriting reality into something more acceptable for himself and de Catt. And since this is, even in de Catt's rendering, somewhat later, he has sent his first letter to Heinrich and got an icy reply back. Now AW might have forgiven him, had he lived, but he knew damn well Heinrich never would. No evil advisors necessary.
