Christopher Duffy on Frederick II of Prussia:

In 1768 Frederick raised the peace establishment to 161,000 troops, and the annexation of West Prussia in 1772 made it possible for him to increase this figure to some 190,000, which made the Prussian army the third largest in Europe after Austria (297,000) and Russia (224,000). The character of the army had by then undergone a profound change, which was the consequence of the strictness, amounting almost to contempt and hatred, which Frederick displayed towards his officers and men. Frederick believed that only harsh measures were capable of restoring discipline, and Curt Jany detects the work­ing of the Seven Years War on the king's character: 'His judgments of men became harder and more bitter, and their inner qualities became of less interest to him' (Jany, 1903, 9). The army which had been destroyed in the war was effectively the one he had inherited from his father. The army of Frederick the Great, properly speaking, came into existence only from 1763, and it was to be inferior in almost every respect to its predecessor.  (emphasis added, Kurtz.)