biography
| name: |
Frederick William III (of Prussia)
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1770–1840)
|
| biography:
| King of Prussia (1797–1840), the son of Frederick William II (1744–97), born in Potsdam, EC Germany. At first cautiously neutral towards Napoleon's conquests, he eventually declared war (1806) and was severely defeated at Jena and Auerstadt, with the loss of all territory W of the Elbe. To further Prussia's recovery, he sanctioned the reforms of Hardenburg and Stein, and the military reorganization of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, sharing in the decisive victory of Leipzig with Alexander I (1813). By the Treaty of Vienna (1815) he recovered his possessions, and thereafter tended to support the forces of conservatism. |
|
|
