Facsimiles of thirty one excellent and accurately coloured plates of the uniforms of different Prussian regiments under Frederick the Great by wood engraver Eduard Kretzschmar (1807-1858) and illustrator Adolf von Menzel (1815-1905).

Upon ascending to the Prussian throne in 1740, Frederick the Great attacked and annexed the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. He became an influential military theorist whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics.

His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Silesian wars, his reorganisation of the Prussian Army, the First Partition of Poland, and his patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment. Frederick was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia, declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Polish Prussia from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great and was nicknamed 'Old Fritz'.