>Frederick had despised Polish people since his youth, and numerous statements are known in which he expressed anti-Polish prejudice,[79] calling Polish society "stupid" and stating that "all these people with surnames ending with -ski, deserve only contempt"[80] He passionately hated everything associated with Poland, while justifying his hatred with ideas of Enlightenment.[81] He described Poles as "slovenly Polish trash".[82][83]
>Frederick undertook the conquest of Polish territory as an enlightened and civilizing mission, particularly given his negative perceptions about Poland and the traditions of its ruling elite, all of which merely provided a convenient path for the "sanguine ameliorism" of the Enlightenment and heightened assurance in the "distinctive merits of the 'Prussian way'".[84][85] He prepared the ground for the partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1752 at the latest, hoping to gain territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg and East Prussian provinces.[86] Frederick was himself partly responsible for the weakness of the Polish government, having inflated its currency with Polish coin dies obtained during the conquest of Saxony in 1756. The profits exceeded twice the peacetime national budget of Prussia.[87] He opposed attempts of political reform in Poland, and his troops bombarded customs ports on the Vistula, thwarting Polish efforts to create a modern fiscal system.[88] As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that the country would be well-served by annexing Polish Prussia in order to join the separated territories of the Kingdom of Prussia.[89]
What the fuck was his problem?
Michael Wright
>Frederick invited German immigrants to the province[97] also hoping they would displace the Poles.[98]
>Frederick himself tried further propaganda justifying the Partition, portraying the acquired provinces as underdeveloped and improved by Prussian rule. According to Karin Friedrich these claims were accepted for a long time in German historiography and sometimes still reflected in modern works.[99][verification needed]. Frederick however did not justify his conquests on ethnic basis, unlike later, nationalist, 19th-century German historians.[100] Dismissive of contemporary German culture, Frederick was instead pursuing an imperialist policy, acting on the security interests of his state.[100] Frederick II settled 300,000 colonists on territories he had conquered, and enforced Germanization.[101]
>After the first partition Frederick engaged in plunder of Polish property, confiscating Polish estates and monasteries to support German colonization, and in 1786 he ordered forced buy-outs of Polish holdings.[102] The new strict tax system and bureaucracy was particularly disliked among Polish population, as was the compulsory military service in the army, which didn't exist previously in Poland.[103] Frederick abolished the gentry's freedom from taxation and restricted its power.[104] Royal estates formerly belonging to the Polish Crown were redistributed to German landowners reinforcing Germanization.[105] Both Protestant and Roman Catholic teachers (mostly Jesuits) taught in West Prussia, and teachers and administrators were encouraged to be able to speak both German and Polish.[97][verification needed] Economic exploitation of Poland, especially by Prussia and Austria, followed the territorial seizures.
Mason Harris
>Frederick wrote that Poland had "the worst government in Europe with the exception of Turkey".[96] After a prolonged visit to West Prussia in 1773, Frederick informed Voltaire of his findings and accomplishments: "I have abolished serfdom, reformed the savage laws, opened a canal which joins up all the main rivers; I have rebuilt those villages razed to the ground after the plague in 1709 (32,599 people in and around Danzig perished);[108][better source needed] I have drained the marshes and established a police force where none existed. . . it is not reasonable that the country which produced Copernicus should be allowed to moulder in the barbarism that results from tyranny. Those hitherto in power have destroyed the schools, thinking that the uneducated people are easily oppressed. These provinces cannot be compared with any European country--the only parallel would be Canada."[109] But in a letter to Henry, Frederick admitted that the Polish provinces were in good state:
Lucas Smith
I think a pole stole his lover.
It's a wild guess but one could be THIS butthurt about a someone only due to one reason.
Robert Garcia
But he seems fucking OBSESSED.
Like seriously, if the polacks were such subhumans then why did he feel threatened and inferior?
Ethan Johnson
I mean you would hate cockroaches too if they kept crawling around and shitting your house
Carter Gutierrez
Those "cockroaches" were more advanced than his his "house" see
Nathan Lopez
Well, that was my wild guess that he was really salty about getting cucked.
Jaxon Garcia
Ironically many East Prussian Germans have -ski surnames.
Pic related, WW2 German flying ace
Hudson Green
Your quote says poland was a shithole and frederick rebuilt it, I dont know what point youre trying to make
Sebastian Davis
>But in a letter to Henry, Frederick admitted that the Polish provinces were in good state: Did you even read to the end? He literally lied out of his ass for some reason.
Carson Reed
That was his propaganda. It literally says "he admitted provinces were in good shape"
>Prussia annexed 20,000 square miles (52,000 km2) and 600,000 inhabitants, the least of the partitioning powers.[95] However, Prussia's Polish territory was also the best-developed economically
Juan Hill
Looks like henry is a liar then
Brody Sanders
Not to mention the black death mostly avoided Poland so with a little historical knowledge, he was pulling that out of his ass too.
Ian Fisher
Looks like you have absolutely no historical knowledge about anything, just like your beloved Friedrich. pretty much
Caleb Harris
>not including the rest of the quote
>But in a letter to Henry, Frederick admitted that the Polish provinces were in good state:
>It is a very good and advantageous acquisition, both from a financial and a political point of view. In order to excite less jealousy I tell everyone that on my travels I have seen just sand, pine trees, heath land and Jews. Despite that there is a lot of work to be done; there is no order, and no planning and the towns are in a lamentable condition."[110]
Xavier Williams
to play devil's advocate, he crashed polish economy, bombed polish trade.
how could they care for it?
Jackson Martin
Why they would care for it is a better question
Angel Gonzalez
>shit up Polish economy >eat up their clay >it's still richer than your country Fredrick II the Cuck.
Joshua Powell
Maybe because despite the memes PLC was the most advanced state in their time? Even a Prussian admitted it in his book about Poland.
Maybe because it was Polish land that made Prussia first league player?
Xavier Mitchell
Frederick the Pathetic
Jacob Gonzalez
If poland was so great how did they let themselves get conquered and subjugated by others?
Michael Sullivan
British plot
Khmelnytsky Uprising was actually plotted years before it happened by Brandenburgian elector and British embassy. Big catholic state in the middle of Europe was a threat to global Protestant revolution.
Levi Fisher
He was just a sperg who hated poles for absolutely no reason despite them being more developed than his country to a degree.
Daniel Baker
Liberum Veto.
Read about it, it's literally everything wrong with modern liberalism 101. >1 guy has the right to scream I DO NOT PERMIT! in the parliment >the whole resolution is thrown into the fucking bin Now think of the many ways this can go wrong for a country.
Henry Hall
Nothing, Poland was a spook. He was simply claiming his property
Logan Watson
...
Noah Wood
s-stop it
s-stop it NOW!
Aiden Campbell
>What the fuck was his problem?
Nothing, he just viewed Poland the same way the British and French viewed Native Americans, negros and other underdeveloped folk. There's nothing extraordinary about these quotes.
Josiah Cruz
>underdeveloped But that was the opposite case.
Brayden Gonzalez
Sure thing
Angel Johnson
s-sure thing XD
MUH PRUSSIA THE BEST STATE IN ERUPE #1
FRIEDRICH SAVE US #!
btw. Prussia was a Polish created fief of the dead Teutonic Order that got brutally raped by Poles and wiped out from existence.
Nolan Lewis
>Prussia annexed 20,000 square miles (52,000 km2) and 600,000 inhabitants, the least of the partitioning powers.[95] However, Prussia's Polish territory was also the best-developed economically
Brody Harris
>Why should subhumans have that clay when i could own it?
Matthew Walker
You seem to be pretty upset
Poland being underdeveloped and generally in a really shitty was a common opinion at that time, Immanuel Kant said the same
The Teutonic order still exists btw. The secular state of Prussia was created by its elites (which was a polish fief but factually independent)
Liam Walker
>Immanuel Kant said the same He wasn't paid off by Russia at all.
Grayson Howard
Oh, I'm sorry by Prussia.
Voltaire was paid by Russian Tsar.
Levi Gray
>Prussia's Polish territory was also the best-developed economically Compared to the other parts of Poland, yes
Daniel Nguyen
>The Teutonic order still exists btw. Numerous Teutonic Orders exist, all with very, very tenuous claims on the name.
Jackson Murphy
I don't know why the Prussians would bother paying money to make Kant make some statements during his lectures (that is where he made his few remarks on Poland) It's not exactly a big audience for propaganda purposes. Presumably, Kant wasn't even that anti-polish, in his work on the eternal peace he implicitly disapproved of the partition more or less.
Benjamin Richardson
>Immanuel Kant said the same Fuck would he know, he never left [spoiler]kaliningrad[/spoiler]