The son of King
Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick William was born in
Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786, when his father ascended the throne.
As a child, Frederick William's father (under the influence of his mistress,
Wilhelmine Enke, Countess of Lichtenau) had Frederick William handed over to tutors, as was quite normal for the period. He spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans
von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich. They thus grew up partly with the Count's son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s. Frederick William was happy at Paretz, and for this reason in 1795 he bought it from his boyhood friend and turned it into an important royal country retreat. He was a melancholy boy, but he grew up
pious and honest. His tutors included the dramatist Johan Engel.
As a
soldier he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his
lieutenancy in
1784, became a
colonel in
1790, and took part in the campaigns against
France of
1792-1794. On
December 24, 1793, Frederick William married
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a princess noted for her beauty.
He succeeded the throne on
16 November 1797 and at once gave earnest of his good intentions by cutting down the expenses of the royal establishment, dismissing his father's ministers, and reforming the most oppressive abuses of the late reign. Unfortunately, however, he had all the Hohenzollern tenacity of personal power without the Hohenzollern genius for using it. Too distrustful to delegate his responsibility to his ministers, he was too infirm of will to strike out and follow a consistent course for himself. At first he and his advisors attempted to pursue a policy of neutrality in the
Napoleonic Wars. Although they succeeded in keeping out of the
Third Coalition in
1805, Napoleon's provocations ultimately forced Frederick William into war in October
1806. On
October 14, 1806, at the
Battle of Jena-Auerstädt, the French defeated the Prussian army led by Frederick William, and the Prussian army collapsed. The royal family fled to
Memel, East Prussia, where they fell on the mercy of Emperor
Alexander I of Russia (who, rumour has it, had fallen in love with Queen Louise).
Alexander, too, suffered defeat at the hands of the French, and at
Tilsit on the
Niemen France made peace with Russia and Prussia. Napoleon dealt with Prussia very harshly, despite the pregnant Queen's personal interview with the French emperor. Prussia lost all its Polish territories, as well as all territory west of the
Elbe, and had to finance a large indemnity and to pay for French troops to occupy key strong points within the Kingdom.
Although the ineffectual King himself seemed resigned to Prussia's fate, various reforming ministers, such as
Baron vom Stein, Prince
von Hardenberg, Scharnhorst, and Count
Gneisenau, set about reforming Prussia's administration and military, with the encouragement of the Queen (who died, greatly mourned, in
1810).
In
1813, following Napoleon's defeat in
Russia, Frederick William turned against France and signed an alliance with Russia at
Kalitsch, although he had to flee
Berlin, still under French occupation. Prussian troops played a key part in the victories of the allies in
1813 and
1814, and the King himself travelled with the main army of
Prince Schwarzenberg, along with Alexander of Russia and
Francis of Austria.
At the
Congress of Vienna, Frederick William's ministers succeeded in securing important territorial increases for Prussia, although they failed to obtain the annexation of all of
Saxony, as they had wished. Following the war, Frederick William turned towards political reaction, abandoning the promises he had made in 1813 to supply Prussia with a constitution.
He died on
June 7, 1840. His eldest son,
Frederick William IV, succeeded him.
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