Prussia. At the time of Kaiser Frederick’s death, Prussia was the most militarized nation in the world, with one soldier for every 29 subjects. His father, a despot, deemed his son “effeminate, devoid of any masculine inclination, incapable of riding or shooting, and, what’s more, unkempt with long, untidy hair that he wore curled like an idiot.” When he tried to escape, he was captured and imprisoned by his father in Kustrin for two years. His accomplice, Hans Hermann von Katte, was beheaded in front of Frederick’s cell, and his corpse was left to rot in front of the crown prince’s cell for weeks.
