Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A farkon 1670s, Frederick William ya goyi bayan ƙoƙarin Imperial don dawo da Alsace da kuma magance fadada Louis XIV na Faransa. Sojojin Sweden sun mamaye Brandenburg a shekara ta 1674 yayin da yawancin sojojin zaɓaɓɓu ke cikin zangon hunturu na Franconia. A shekara ta 1675 Frederick William ya ja sojojinsa zuwa arewa kuma ya kewaye sojojin Wrangel. Mai zaben ya sami nasararsa mafi girma a yakin Fehrbellin
; kodayake ƙaramin yaƙi ne, ya kawo daraja ga Sojojin Brandenburg-Prussian kuma ya ba Frederick William laƙabin "Babban Zaɓi". Bayan Sweden ta mamaye Prussia a ƙarshen 1678, sojojin Frederick William sun kori 'yan mamaye na Sweden a lokacin "Babban Sleigh Drive" na 1678 <unk> 79; Thomas Carlyle ya kwatanta koma bayan Yaren mutanen Sweden a lokacin hunturu da na Napoleon daga Moscow.