The alliance between Brandenburg and France endures…
November 1685 CE
The alliance between Brandenburg and France endures as long as Freidrich Wilhelm believes that Louis XIV will help him gain possession of western Pomerania.
When he realizes that this hope is vain, the Elector changes political partners for the last time in 1685.
The Elector's disillusionment with Louis XIV coincides with the assumption by William of Orange (later King William III of Great Britain) of his historical role as founder of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV.
Impressed that William is a prince of Orange and his own nephew, the Elector concludes a defense pact with the Netherlands in 1685.
He draws still closer to William's side with the issuance of the Edict of Potsdam on November 8, 1685, in which he grants asylum to all Huguenots expelled from France by Louis XIV after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Thus the Great Elector, at the end of his life, has returned to the political ties of his early years.
The Edict gives French Huguenots safe passage to Berlin, offers them tax-free status for ten years, and allows them to hold French-language church services.