Frederick William I (1688-1740) was king of Prussia from 1713 to 1740. He inherited a state whose resources were meager and turned it into a leading German power.

The son of the elector Frederick III of Brandenburg and of Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, Frederick William I was born in Berlin on Aug. 15, 1688. In 1701 his father was named king of Prussia by Emperor Charles VI. Raised at a court which strove to achieve a cultivation and a level of material display rather beyond it means, Frederick William refused to participate in the elegant life around him and spent his leisure time hunting and drinking vast quantities of beer. When he came to the throne after his father's death in 1713, he moved his household into a handful of rooms in the corner of the palace; he turned the rest of the huge structure over to the use of various ministries and transformed...