Accession of Frederick William III
- When
- 1797
- Where
- Prussian throne
- Episodes
- 1
Frederick William III, son of Frederick William II, succeeded to the Prussian throne on 16 November 1797, beginning a reign that lasted until his death in 1840 and encompassed the Napoleonic era.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. Frederick William was born in Potsdam on 3 August 1770, the son of Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. Trained as a Prussian prince, he held successive commissions and served in the campaigns against France of 1792–1794 before his accession.
Accession. Frederick William succeeded to the throne on 16 November 1797, becoming King of Prussia. His accession did not alter his domestic habits: he continued living a civil life with his family at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, a marriage described as problem-free even after he became king.
Reign Context. His reign spanned the Napoleonic Wars, during which Prussia entered war in October 1806, suffered collapse at Jena-Auerstädt, and later allied with Russia at Kalisz in 1813. At the Congress of Vienna his ministers secured significant territorial increases for Prussia.
People involved
- Frederick William III · King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840
- Frederick William II · Father of Frederick William III and preceding King of Prussia
- Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt · Mother of Frederick William III
Sources
- Frederick William III Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-24
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.