Frederick William II (redirected from Frederick William II of Prussia)

Frederick William II, 1744–97, king of Prussia (1786–97), nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great). He had the power but lacked the ability of his distinguished predecessors. He joined the European coalition in support of Louis XVI and fought in the early campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars. Financial difficulties and the revolt (1794) in Poland against the Prussian and Russian occupiers of that country following the second partition of Poland (see Poland, partitions of) led Frederick William II to make a separate peace with the French at Basel (1795). Frederick William's extravagance left a ruined exchequer. He was a patron of the arts and an amateur cellist; Mozart dedicated three string quartets to him. His son, Frederick William III, succeeded him.

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Frederick William II

 German Friedrich Wilhelm

(born Sept. 25, 1744, Berlin, Prussia—died Nov. 16, 1797, Berlin) King of Prussia from 1786. He succeeded his uncle Frederick II. Prussia expanded under his rule, adding territories it gained in the second (1793) and third (1795) partitions of Poland and acquiring additional German lands. He entered into an Austro-Prussian alliance, chiefly in opposition to the French Revolution, but signed a separate treaty with France and withdrew from the alliance in 1795 after defeat in the French Revolutionary Wars. Cultural activities, especially music, flourished in his reign; both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven visited the king and dedicated music to him.