Tim Blanning, Frederick the Great: King of Prussia (New York: Random House, 2016), 688 pp., $35.00. NAPOLEON SWIFTLY conquered Prussia in October 1806, inflicting crushing defeats at Jena and ...

Frederick the Great is one of history's most famous and adept military commanders. He's not Napoleon, but pretty damn close. The 18th-century Prussian king is credited with transforming a ...

Son of an abusive father, Frederick II blossomed when he took the throne. He attracted the great thinkers of Europe to his court while establishing Prussia as a dominant military power.