Berlin.
City Palace.
After the Silesian War ended, William III moved here to live. Perhaps Sanssouci Palace always reminded him of his father's decadence and depravity in his later years, as well as that bitch Wilhelmina.
In the hall, Scharnhorst, wearing the newly-awarded Blue Max Medal, was presenting his military reform ideas to William III—it was precisely because he had, in the Silesian War, used "universal conscription" to urgently mobilize forty thousand troops for Prussia, securing the Glogau Defense Line, that he received this highest honor of the Prussian military establishment. Well, the famous Iron Cross Medal would not appear for nearly another twenty years.
"Your Majesty, there is much from France that we should seriously learn from," said Scharnhorst, "for example, allowing commoners to be promoted to officers, and subjecting noble officers to rigorous evaluation. This relates to the military academy I mentioned to you before…"
