Brandenburg-Schwedt his dominions and furnishing his castle in a Baroque style at great expense. His younger brother Albert Frederick (1672–1731) became a general lieutenant and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John; the third-born, Charles Philip (1673–1695) likewise became an officer and shortly before his death secretly married the Piemontese noblewoman Caterina di Balbiano, who called herself "Madame de Brandebourg" as a widow. The youngest of Dorothea's sons was Margrave Christian Ludwig (1677–1734), officer and administrator of Halberstadt, the honoree of Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos". The brisk building activity was continued by Philipp William's son and successor, Margrave Frederick William (1700-1771).
Brandenburg-Prussia broke out, with Brandenburg-Prussia involved as an ally of the Dutch Republic. This alliance was based on a treaty of 1669, and resulted in French occupation of Brandenburg-Prussian Cleves. In June 1673, Frederick William abandoned the Dutch alliance and concluded a subsidy treaty with France, who in return withdrew from Cleves. When the Holy Roman Empire declared war on France, a so-called "Reichskrieg", Brandenburg-Prussia again changed sides and joined the imperial forces. France pressured her ally Sweden to relieve her by attacking Brandenburg-Prussia from the north. Charles XI of Sweden, dependent on French subsidies, reluctantly occupied the Brandenburgian Uckermark in