INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

I n t roduc t ion to t h e E ng l i s h E di t iongeorge washington, the pathbreaking first American president, has notably been called "the indispensable man." There are good reasons for this high esteem.Without Washington, the Continental Army would not have been able to defeat the mighty British forces in the Revolutionary War.And in the volatile early days of the republic, no other political leader of the newly founded United States would have been able to hold the highest office as firmly and resolutely as he did.On the other hand, indispensability is not the same as incomparability.Indeed, outstanding individuals ought to be compared with other remarkable and great figures, as this undertaking promises new and inter est ing insights.Accordingly, the "indispensable" Washington has been aptly studied in the light of several of his "founding brothers," such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, who also played a unique part in the creation of the United States.But has the great American general and statesman ever been compared in a similar fashion to a European military and political leader of his day and age?Until very recently, not at all; only in 2025, with the appearance of an exhibition companion volume entitled The Two Georges (edited by Susan Reyburn and Zach Klitzman)-a collection of essays dedicated to Washington and King George III of England-did the situation somewhat change.Still, no monographic treatment has appeared.Yet one of Washington's European contemporaries stands out as an ideal candidate for a full comparative biography: the Prus sian monarch Frederick II.For his part, Frederick II (legendarily called Frederick "the Great"), king of Prus sia and elector of Brandenburg, has been repeatedly styled by his most impor tant biographers and interpreters as one of the most in ter est ing, challenging, controversial, and eminent characters of European history.Cambridge historians such as Tim Blanning and Christopher Clark, French authorities like Pierre Gaxotte and Jean-Paul Bled, and German scholars of the rank of Johannes Kunisch and Jürgen Luh have all emphasized the enormous