The Duke of Marlborough in the Writings of Frederick the Great

Abstract

The Duke of Marlborough was Britain’s most celebrated soldier of the early eighteenth century and deeply connected to the wider European continent. However, the writings of Frederick the Great of Prussia highlight how Marlborough’s memory has been neglected outside the Anglophone world. Frederick certainly respected Marlborough in general terms. However, the Prussian king almost completely ignored the details of Marlborough’s military campaigns and portrayed him as being as much a politician as a soldier. This reflected a wider divergence in military literature following the War of the Spanish Succession, as Anglophone authors lionised Marlborough while continental Europeans focused on other figures.