Perhaps there was never a more severe or pitiful childhood than that experienced by Frederick the Great of Prussia. Throughout his youth, Frederick lived in constant terror of his father the king who always carried a stick and in drunken, brutal fits of anger that verged on madness, beat his children mercilessly. This half mad king had two great aims; one was to keep his treasury full, and the other to have a whole regiment of men over six feet tall. Frederick who later became one of the greatest kings in Europe, was only 14 years old the first time he tried to escape from his father's tyranny...