Frederick the Great turned a music-loving prince into one of Europe's most feared kings

historyWikipedia1740–1786 · Prussia

Frederick the Great turned a music-loving prince into one of Europe's most feared kings

the gist

Frederick II ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. As a young man he was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which caused friction with his strict father. After becoming king, he seized the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742 and went on to win fame as a military commander. He also modernised the bureaucracy, widened religious tolerance, and supported the arts and Enlightenment thinkers, while helping turn Prussia into a major European power.

so what

Frederick shaped how Europe understood the relationship between warfare, the state and enlightened rule. His seizure of Silesia and the First Partition of Poland helped make Prussia a rival to the Habsburg monarchy and set the path toward a unified Germany. His reputation was later reshaped by 19th-century admirers and by the Nazis, so historians now debate what he really stood for.

fun fact

Frederick the Great was a skilled flautist who composed music for the flute.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗