Frederick the Great See Frederick II Frederick the Winter King See Frederick V
Frederick William German Friedrich Wilhelm known as the Great Elector (b. Feb. 16, 1620, Colin, near Berlin—d. May 9, 1688, Potsdam) Elector of Brandenburg (1640-88) who restored the Hohenzol- lern dominions after the Thirty Years' War. At his accession to the elec¬ torship, Brandenburg was ravaged by war and occupied by foreign troops. He cautiously maintained neutrality between the warring Swedes and Habsburgs, started to build a standing army, and added to his territories with the Peace of Westphalia (1648). In the First Northern War (1655— 60) he gained sovereignty over the duchy of Prussia. In the complex power struggles in Europe starting in 1661, he shifted allegiance by always join¬ ing with the weaker party, hoping to maintain the balance of power. He issued the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, granting asylum to Huguenots expelled from France. When he died, he left a centralized political admin¬ istration, sound finances, and an efficient army, laying the foundation for the future Prussian monarchy.
Frederick William I German Friedrich Wilhelm (b. Aug. 15, 1688, Berlin—d. May 31, 1740, Potsdam, Prussia) King of Prussia (1713— 40). The son of Frederick I, he received valuable military experience in the War of the Spanish Succession. Realizing that Prussia’s military and finan¬ cial weakness made it dependent on the relations between the great pow¬ ers, he built up an army that became a strong military presence on the Continent, instituted economic and financial reforms, centralized his administration, encouraged industry and manufacture, mandated compul¬ sory primary education (1717), and freed the serfs on his own domains (1719). He was succeeded by his son, Frederick II.
Frederick William II German Friedrich Wilhelm (b. Sept. 25, 1744, Berlin, Prussia—d. Nov. 16, 1797, Berlin) King of Prussia from 1786. He succeeded his uncle Frederick II. Prussia expanded under his rule, adding territories it gained in the second (1793) and third (1795) parti¬ tions of Poland and acquiring additional German lands. He entered into an Austro-Prussian alliance, chiefly in opposition to the French Revolu¬ tion, but signed a separate treaty with France and withdrew from the alli¬ ance in 1795 after defeat in the French Revolutionary Wars. Cultural activities, especially music, flourished in his reign; both Wolfgang Ama¬ deus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven visited the king and dedicated music to him.
Frederick William III German Friedrich Wilhelm (b. Aug. 3, 1770, Potsdam, Prussia—d. June 7, 1840, Berlin) King of Prussia (1797— 1840). The son of Frederick William II, he pursued a policy of neutrality in the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, which accelerated the decline of Prussia’s prestige. Prussia joined the third coalition against France in 1806 and suffered crushing defeat at the Battles of Jena and Auerstedt. Defeat convinced the king of the need to make decisive changes. He allowed Prussian statesmen such as Karl August, prince von Hardenberg, and Karl, imperial baron vom Stein, to make domestic reforms, though the state remained absolutist. The Congress of Vienna confirmed Prussia’s acqui¬ sition of Westphalia and much of Saxony, but the last 25 years of the king’s reign brought a downward trend in Prussia’s fortunes.
Frederick William IV German Friedrich Wilhelm (b. Oct. 15, 1795, Colin, near Berlin, Prussia—d. Jan. 2, 1861, Potsdam) King of Prussia (1840-61). The son of Frederick William III, he was a disciple of the German Romantic movement and an artistic dilettante, but his con¬ servative policies helped spark the Revolutions of 1848, in opposition. In 1849 he refused the imperial crown offered by the Frankfurt National Assembly. His subsequent efforts to create a German union under Prussian leadership were thwarted by Austria (see Punctation of OlmOtz). A stroke left him paralyzed in 1857, and his brother, the future William I, became regent in 1858.
Fredericksburg, Battle of (Dec. 13,1862) Engagement of the Ameri¬ can Civil War fought at Fredericksburg, Va., that resulted in a decisive victory for the Confederate forces. Over 120,000 Union troops under Ambrose E. Burnside were met at Fredericksburg by an entrenched Con¬ federate force of 78,000 under Robert E. Lee. The Union attack failed, resulting in more than 12,500 casualties compared to 5,000 for the Con¬ federates. Burnside was relieved of his command, and the victory restored Confederate morale lost after the defeat in the Battle of Antietam.
Fredericton City (pop., 2001: 47,560), capital of New Brunswick, Canada Located on the St. John River and originally the site of a French fort (1692), Fredericton was laid out as the provincial capital in 1785. Across the river, the village of St. Anne’s Point had been settled by the French c. 1740. After 1825 Fredericton became a British garrison town, and its reconstructed military compound is a federal historic site. Now primarily an administrative and educational centre, it is the seat of the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. It is the shop¬ ping and distribution centre for central New Brunswick.
free association See association
Free Democratic Party (FDP) German centrist political party that advocates individualism and free economic competition. It was formed in 1948 by liberal delegates in the U.S., British, and French zones of occu¬ pation. Though relatively small, the party has made and broken govern¬ ments by forming coalitions with larger parties, including the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party.
free energy Measure of the total combined energies within a system, derived from heats of transformation, disorder, and other forms of inter¬ nal energy (e.g., electrostatic charges). A system will change spontane-
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708 I free-enterprise system ► freedom of speech
ously to achieve a lower total free energy. Thus, free energy is the driving force toward equilibrium conditions. The change in free energy between an initial and a final state is useful in evaluating certain thermodynamic processes and can be used to judge whether transformations will occur spontaneously. There are two forms of free energy, with different defini¬ tions and applications: the Helmholtz (see Hermann von Helmholtz) free energy, sometimes called the work function, and the Gibbs (see J. Wil¬ lard Gibbs) free energy.
free-enterprise system See capitalism
free fall In mechanics, the state of a body that moves freely in any man¬ ner in the presence of gravity. The planets are in free fall in the gravita¬ tional field of the Sun. A body in free fall follows an orbit such that the sum of gravitational and inertial forces equals zero. See also gravitation; Newton's laws of motion.
Free French French movement to continue warfare against Germany after France’s 1940 defeat in World War li. Led by Charles de Gaulle in exile in London, the Free French Forces gained power in 1942 with the growing underground Resistance movement in France and the defection of many Vichy France troops stationed in North Africa. After a power struggle with Henri Honore Giraud, commander in chief of French forces in North Africa, de Gaulle succeeded by 1944 in controlling the entire French war effort. The 300,000 Free French forces took part in the Allied invasions of southern France and Normandy (see Normandy Campaign) and were the first Allied troops to liberate Paris.
free-market economy See capitalism
free radical or radical Molecule containing at least one unpaired electron. Most molecules contain even numbers of electrons, and their covalent bonds normally consist of shared electron pairs. Cleavage of such bonds produces two separate free radicals, each with an unpaired electron (in addition to any paired electrons). They may be electrically charged or neutral and are highly reactive and usually short-lived. They combine with one another or with atoms that have unpaired electrons. In reactions with intact molecules, they abstract a part to complete their own electronic structure, generating new radicals that go on to react with other molecules. Such chain reactions are particularly important in decomposition of sub¬ stances at high temperatures and in polymerization. In the human body, oxidized (see oxidation-reduction) free radicals can damage tissues. Anti¬ oxidant nutrients (e.g., vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium) may reduce these effects. Heat, ultraviolet radiation, and ionizing radiation (see radiation injury) all generate free radicals. They are magnetic, so their properties can be studied with such techniques as magnetic susceptibility and elec¬ tron paramagnetic resonance measurements.