In the aftermath of his Silesian triumph, Frederick turns from conquest to consolidation, trying to secure peace while Europe sinks deeper into war. Carlyle follows him through the hard practical work of fixing Silesia's borders, strengthening its administration, and turning it into a thoroughly Prussian province, richer in revenue, population, and usefulness than it had been under Austria. Frederick emerges as a ruler of clear judgment and necessity, not plunder, balancing reform, army-building, law, memoir, and the beginnings of Sans-Souci with a genuine devotion to peace. Yet the continent will not settle. His mediation through the Reich, the Swabian Circles, and diplomatic maneuvering repeatedly fail, while coalition warfare on the Rhine exposes the fatal paralysis of divided command. Stair urges action, the Austrians demand caution, and the Pragmatic Army is trapped at Aschaffenburg as Noailles tightens the noose, leading toward Dettingen and the larger confusion of war. Amid this turmoil, Frederick opens Berlin's grand opera house, visits Aachen, receives Voltaire and other familiar figures, and handles Catholic affairs with firmness and tolerance. Practical, cultured, wary, and unsentimental, he rules as a prince prepared for conflict even while striving for peace. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.