Frederick the Great

I
To His Generals Before Invading Silesia*
(1740)

* Delivered on December 11, 1740, the year in which he became king, and only a day or two before he marched into Silesia, "The king assembled his chief generals," says Carlyle, "all things ready out in the Frankfort-Crossen region yonder." Reprinted from Carlyle’s "Frederick the Great," by permission of Chapman&Hall, the English publishers.