In early December 1780, William brought a group of people from the Kingdom of Prussia to Warsaw. As far as William knew, Queen Catherine II had already arrived in Warsaw before. Now only Joseph II has arrived, but it is said that tomorrow
Will also arrive.
William settled in a manor outside Warsaw. William would not live in Warsaw. One reason is that Warsaw is also the home of Catherine II. Who knew that woman Catherine II would
She won't go crazy. You have to know that she even killed her husband for power.
The second one, everyone knows. In 1772, Russia, Prussia, and Austria jointly carved up Poland. Some Polish patriots were strongly dissatisfied with this. William did not want to risk his own life to try those Polish patriots.
courage.
But not long after William arrived, Catherine II's messenger arrived. He conveyed Catherine II's invitation to William. Catherine II invited William to attend a ceremony held in Warsaw.
Welcome banquet.
After thinking for a while, William decided to attend the banquet after weighing the pros and cons, but Rocks proposed that the Prussian guards could be allowed to carry weapons to protect William from attending the banquet, and at the same time, the Prussian army could be allowed to approach the walls of Warsaw. This request was expressed by the messenger
After turning around Catherine II, I got her reply.
Catherine II agreed that William would bring no more than 200 armed guards into Warsaw. At the same time, in order to prevent Polish patriots from plotting murder during the banquet, Catherine II allowed Prussia to station an army on the outskirts of Warsaw.
An armed force of more than two thousand people.
That night, William took Christine and a group of entourage into Warsaw.
Warsaw is pronounced Warsaw in Polish. This name commemorates the brave spirit of a pair of lovers named Warsi and Warsaw, who overcame many obstacles and finally became husband and wife.
In 1596, the then King of Poland, Zygmunt Vasa III, moved the royal family and the central government from Krakow to Warsaw, which was then designated as the capital. In a war from 1655 to 1657, Warsaw was severely damaged.
In the following centuries, it was occupied and ruled by foreigners many times.
Today's Warsaw is under the actual control of Russia. The nominal Polish King August was completely ignored by the Russians. After Poland was divided among the three countries of Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1772, this king was completely tragic. Russia was nominally the king of Poland.
The purpose of sending an army to Warsaw was to help Poland train its armed forces, but the Russians were not so kind. After the Russian army stationed in Poland, all internal and external affairs of Poland were under the control of the Russians.
Therefore, in Warsaw, today's Polish officials are more likely to lick the toes of the Russian Empress and ignore the orders of the real King of Poland.
When William entered Warsaw, King Augustus of Poland personally greeted him at the city gate. This king was about fifty years old, and the traces of time on his face were particularly obvious.
The first impression August gave to William was that of kindness. Yes, the first impression of August, whose family and country had a tragic fate, was that of kindness. Seeing August William was like seeing a person.
Just like the hard-working farmer grandfather.
William's first impression on August was completely opposite. He was young. The King of Prussia was really too young. Although due to the special physique of the traveler, William looked like he was fourteen or fifteen years old in appearance.
, but it cannot cover up the childish feeling in him.
August waited until William approached, then stepped forward and gave William a hug very enthusiastically. After telling his followers not to be nervous, William also smiled and hugged the Polish king.
"You must be King William of Prussia. I didn't expect you to be so young. From you, I can see God's favor for your Hohenzollern family," August said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, you have praised me very much. I am very ashamed of your praise. I think having a king like you is God's favor for the Polish people," William praised with a smile.
After William finished speaking, Augustus smiled even more cheerfully. He motioned to William to follow him into the city and then walk into the city first.
In order to welcome William's arrival, the residents of Warsaw were kicked out by the Polish nobles in the city in the afternoon. William walked on the street, looking at the naked Warsaw people on both sides, shivering in the cold wind, and stood up for them.
Feel very sad.
Faced with the threat of the three major powers of Prussia, Austria and Russia, Poland's prospect can only be divided up. Although many Polish people do not want their homeland to be divided by invaders, weak countries are destined to be the desktop of the strong.
food on the table.
Seeing these poor Polish people, what William thought about was not whether he should pity them, because in the eyes of these people, William was also an invader and an enemy who destroyed their homeland. What William thought about was how to make the Prussians capable in the future.
Avoid this situation from happening.
After a while, William arrived at the Polish Palace under the leadership of August. Standing at the entrance of the palace to greet William was the Russian Crown Prince, Paul I Petrovich, the son of Empress Catherine II.
Looking at this Paul I, even though William was used to seeing celebrities of this era, he was still full of curiosity about this legendary Paul.
In Russian history, Paul I was a tragic figure. He repeated the fate of his father, Peter III, and finally died in a palace conspiracy. Very little information about Paul I has been circulated, and later generations have unfairly evaluated him.
Judging from historical records, Paul I was not as insane and eccentric as his contemporaries described him to be, but an honest, strict, and orderly monarch. However, due to the limitations of the times in which he lived, his own decision-making errors and personal politics
Lack of wisdom leads to ultimate tragedy.
According to William's later Baidu, he learned that Catherine II was quite dissatisfied with her son, because Paul I looked too much like Peter III, and was simply a copy of Peter III. Every time he saw Paul,
It was as if Ekaterina was seeing her husband who had been overthrown by her, and Paul often reminded Ekaterina of the unpleasant times she spent with Peter.
In addition, the legitimacy of Yekaterina's own regime was problematic. The forces opposed to her had been calling for giving up the throne to Paul, resulting in an invisible competition between Yekaterina and her son. The shadow of this competition lasted until Yekaterina
Katerina did not leave before her death. Catherine single-handedly raised her eldest grandson Alexander. She repeatedly planned to bypass Paul and let Alexander succeed directly. She even brought this plan to the Privy Council for discussion, but was rejected by most ministers.
After some objections, he gave up.
PS: Please give me some help. Collections and recommendations are a bit pitiful. Let’s work hard and move forward together. By the way, some book friends have created a BA "Rebirth of Frederick William III" in BAIDUTIEBA. Everyone is welcome to be a guest.