In the years after his victories, Frederick the Great enters a quieter but no less revealing phase of rule: a halcyon peace shadowed by future war, court intrigue, and the hard work of rebuilding Prussia. Carlyle follows the king from his 1746 journey to Pyrmont and his practical efforts to restore ruined towns and villages to the larger drama of a ruler determined to replace chaos with order, justice, and lasting strength. Beneath the calm, Europe watches, diplomats scheme, and the Third Silesian War already looms. This volume traces Frederick's most enduring peacetime achievements: the reform of Prussian law under Cocceji, economic and domestic renewal, and the symbolic retreat of Sans-Souci as a place of reflection and restraint. Yet the brightest and bitterest episode is the Voltaire affair, a courtly tragedy of wit, vanity, scandal, and disappointed idealism that exposes the tensions between genius and power. Carlyle closes by enlarging Frederick's significance beyond conquest, presenting him as the instrument through which Prussia—and Germany itself—begins to emerge as a coherent national force. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.