General de Brigade

[Gentleman Johnny]

Gentlemen;
Every year I remark to my wife that she shares a birthday with Frederick the Great; although not the same year .
Every year she is equally uninspired by this information.
She is not averse to History as such and were it William Blake or Virginia Wolfe or Bjorn/Benny from Abba she would instantly understand the import.
What can I say this year (tomorrow - Jan 24th) to attempt to impart the significance of this date?
Please advise.
GJ

[Chris Ginn]

Unfortunately, I agree with your wife. He was a horrible little man with some quite disturbing character defects, although to be fair they were not terribly unusual in his era.

However, I do sympathise slightly, my partner can't understand why I need more more Austrian/Kries Cuirassiers and Infantry to cut down or shoot those horrible little Prussians even faster.

Maybe you should buy her a Biography of Marie Teresa, a much more sympathetic character from the female point of veiw, to give her some understanding of what you are talking about.

It's called the strategy of the indirect approach!
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Chris G

[RAMCSEARCH]

What about a fun day out, take her shopping in "olde worlde nantwiche" and act surprised along the lines of...

"Well I never dearest, how fortuitous tis the Holly Holy Day".

The sealed knot re-enactment of the battle of nantwich , down by the river 2pm, near welsh row. March to the sound of the guns, and luckily saturday 24.1.09 this year !

Chatwins for the olde pie shoppe

http://www.visitcheshire.com/site/events/holly-holy-day-the-battle-of-nantwich-p27361
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Simon W

[Gentleman Johnny]

Thank you Chris; I tried telling her that FtG was "a horrible little man with some quite disturbing character defects" and as this fitted so well with pictures of the old fellow, I think she may now have grasped what he was about... however; I suspect there may be a slight Austrian bias in your interpretation... ?
Simon: Too late to take advantage of your pointer this year but I should be able to remember when it is next year - being so close to FtG's birthday...
GJ

[Chris Ginn]

'Slight', i would put it slightly stronger than that.

I am reading Duffy's new volume on the Seven years war at present, which is written from the Austrian point of view. (By Force of Arms)

The more I read, the more I come to the conclusion, that Federicks reputation is based more on the mistakes of the Austrians than his own genius. Every Time they beat him, they let him recover.
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Chris G