biography
| name: |
Frederick William (of Brandenburg),
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known as the Great Elector
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1620–88)
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| biography:
| Elector of Brandenburg (1640–88), born near Berlin, Germany. On his accession, he found the state exhausted by the Thirty Years' War. He therefore made a treaty of neutrality with the Swedes, regulated the finances, sought to re-people the deserted towns, and reorganized the army and administrative system of the Hohenzollern state. He recovered some territory and gained East Pomerania by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), retrieving the sovereignty of Prussia from Poland (1657). His reforms laid the foundation of future Prussian greatness. |
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