Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you the first FtG mini-boss: Salvador Dali… *Mega Man 2 Level Intro / Boss Reveal Fanfare*
Why Dali? Perhaps because I looked at Geoff’s innocent, hopeful face and couldn’t deny him his dream of entire panels swarming with clock-stomached alligators…. Perhaps because the Dali Lobby finally “got to us”, cajoling us to cash in on our respectability before having actually attained it… or perhaps, just perhaps, the reason will be revealed to The Patient in due course…
We also have a Mailing List now, to keep people reminded about the release of new episodes, and also to inform The Public about upcoming Frederick-related events. To join the hallowed ranks of The Anointed, stop by the About page and click as directed!
Well, I was going to use this space to say a few words in defense of The Enlightenment, but, on reflection, I won’t.
– DvL
I would have said, “Shitting on Prussia,” but I guess that is just me. Less alliterative, true, but perhaps more direct.
http://www.ftg-comic.com/2007/02/01/index.php
Episode 6 is online. Frederick tries on a hat! Louis XIV cameos as an
inaccurate doodle in a pink shirt! Birds are not to be trusted!
Oh, Silesia.
One of Frederick’s first acts upon becoming King in 1740 was to invade the Austrian province of Silesia, pretty much without any legal authority or rightful claim whatsoever. Part of it was his desire to cut a dashing figure on the international stage, part was his conception of the Romance of Battle (of which he quickly became disillusioned).
Mostly, I think it was Revenge. The Hapsburgs, rulers of Austria and virtually hereditary Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, had spent a century raising the act of pooping on Prussia into a fine art. They carrot-and-sticked the hell out of Frederick’s father, borrowing his troops on promises of land grants that never came through, and then, on top of that, infiltrated his inner circle of friends with Austrian spies. Those spies, it turned out, were instrumental in preventing Frederick’s marriage to an English princess, forcing him to settle for a dull-wit favored by the Austrian house. All of this put together pissed Frederick off rather very much, and so when he got his chance, he took his army, stole Austria’s best land, and then kicked them in the junk every time they tried to get back up.
Oh, Silesia.
– DvL