37. From Soldier to Farmer to Soldier
Blucher retired to the countryside and took up farming. He was good enough at it to gain financial independence. However, after the heated passion of the lunatic moment that led him to resign from the Prussian Army had passed, Blucher had second thoughts about what he had done. He pined for his days as a soldier, and sought to rejoin his regiment.
Unfortunately for him, King Frederick the Great had a long memory, and knew how to hold a grudge. The Prussian monarch did not forget Blucher’s rude resignation, and did not forgive. He blocked Blucher from rejoining his military – a ban that remained in place for the next fifteen years. It was only a year after Frederick the Great died in 1786, that Blucher was allowed to rejoin his regiment, the Red Hussars, as a major.