Winston Churchill, who like FDR governed in effect as an enlightened despot.
The remainder of this essay will consider instances of enlightened despotism, from the classic 18th-century examples of Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, to the enlightened quasi-despotism of FDR in the 20th century. Some consideration will then be given to the core problem of enlightened despotism, that of succession. No broad theory of enlightened despotism can be attempted within the narrow confines of this essay, but some attempt may be made to outline its basic principles, and demonstrate that it is a valid alternative that should not be dismissed out of hand.
In the early 18th century, Prussia appeared to be something of a historical accident. Cobbled together out of several fragments of the medieval Holy Roman Empire, it had a good army, built up by King Frederick William, but it had neither readily defensible borders nor any particular national reason for being. While it is true that nationalism in the sense of a formal ideology still lay in the future, most of the European Great Powers, such as France and Britain, corresponded to distinct, long-established geographical and cultural entities. Even the Austrian Empire, though lacking these characteristics, had at least a long and distinguished history and tradition behind it. In contrast, one dynastic mishap o
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