Monarch Profile: King Augustus III of Poland

The history of the last of the Polish monarchs is generally a tragic one and the reign of Augustus III, the penultimate King of Poland, was an example of this. He, like others of this period, often comes under considerable criticism and yet, there should be room to have some sympathy for these monarchs in the last years of life of the old Kingdom of Poland. They were given a heavy responsibility, ruling a fractious country with no defensible borders surrounded by three powerful monarchies, Romanov Russia, Hohenzollern Prussia and Habsburg Austria, which all sought the elimination of Poland as an unnecessary complication to their ambitions. Yet, the Polish kings were given no tools with which to deal with this dangerous state of affairs, occupying a position in which they had no incentive to make long-term plans since the kings of Poland were elected and someone of another house would likely succeed them, their powers were curtailed and their populace was extremely divided.

The position of the Polish monarchs, at this late stage, was not entirely dissimilar from that of the Roman Pontiffs prior to the unification of Italy. They could, at times, achieve a degree of national unity in pursuit of a common goal, but there were always nobles who were willing to align themselves with the Austrians, Prussians or Russians in order to further their own aims and thus undercut the cohesion of the country overall. The kings themselves, because their position was so insecure, were also invariably forced in this period to align themselves with foreign powers, again, rather like the Roman Pontiffs shifted back and forth in alliances with the French or Germans in order to maintain their position and block the moves of other competing states. King Augustus III of Poland was no different, he too had to have foreign support and, like others, found this foreign support to quite often be as unpleasant as it was necessary.

Augustus III was born on October 17, 1696 in Dresden in the Electorate of Saxony, a member of the House of Wettin which once reigned over many countries and still reigns today over Belgium, the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth Realms. His father was Augustus II, nicknamed “Augustus the Strong” who is today most remembered for his huge number of illegitimate children, some putting the number of his offspring in the hundreds. Augustus III, however, was his only legitimate son and would, like his father, one day become Prince-Elector of Saxony, Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He was brought up for this purpose and, as his father had done earlier, this required his conversion to Catholicism in 1712. The Electors of Saxony had been Protestants all the way back to the days of Martin Luther and this caused considerable outrage among the Saxon aristocracy as well as an effort by Prussia and Hanover (whose Elector was also the British monarch) to deprive Saxony of its leadership of the Protestant caucus in the Reichstag (the princely upper house of the Imperial Diet or parliament of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) but the Prussians and Hanoverians were unsuccessful.

In 1733 King Augustus II died and Augustus III succeeded his father as Prince-Elector of Saxony (as Friedrich Augustus II). His election as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania was expected but not a forgone conclusion. For that, he would require foreign support. The Russians backed Augustus III as King of Poland, which was not too surprising but the Austrians did as well. Of course, the German Reic
h (HRE) as a whole did as well, which was also not surprising, favoring a German monarch on the Polish throne but the specific backing of the Austrians, which is to say the House of Habsburg, was a matter of political bargaining. The Habsburgs were anxious to secure their own position which was endangered by the fact that the last Emperor had only a daughter, Maria Theresa, to succeed him and tried everything from backroom deals to outright bribery to gain support for his “Pragmatic Sanction” by which the German princes pledged to support Maria Theresa.

The danger, of course, was that the German lands would fall into the same pattern of civil war and dynastic infighting which later befell Spain during the Carlist Wars in a similar situation. Augustus III agreed to support the Pragmatic Sanction and thus won the support of Emperor Charles VI for his election to the Polish throne. Likewise, his promise to support the Russian claim to Courland by the Empress Anna, ensured that he had Russian support for his election as well. It also helped that he had, in 1719, married Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, daughter of Emperor Joseph I which also helped win over the Habsburgs. On October 5, 1733 the Polish electors gathered and Augustus III was elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. However, he was still faced with a problem as there was already a King of Poland to deal with and a Polish one at that in the person of Stanislaw Leszczynski (King Stanislaus I). He had widespread support in Poland and had fought Augustus II for control of the country. When Augustus II died, he returned with French support to reassert his rule. The Russians and Austrians feared an alliance between the French, Poles and Swedes and so backed Augustus III against him.

King Augustus III was crowned in Krakow early in 1734 but, though he had basically won the War of the Polish Succession by 1736, still had to deal with pro-Stanislaus insurgents until 1738. Obviously, all of this made Poland a rather unattractive place to King Augustus III and it is estimated that he spent no more than about three years of his entire reign actually in the country. The local government was usually deadlocked by feuding between the Czartoryski and Potocki families and the King delegated most of his duties to his viceroy in Poland, Heinrich von Bruehl. However, unlike many other monarchs, King Augustus III was true to his word in agreeing to the Pragmatic Sanction with the House of Habsburg and when Maria Theresa came to the throne of the Habsburg lands, he backed her in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742 (King George’s War in America) though Poland was not heavily involved. He also remained loyal to the Austrian Empress in the Seven Years’ War of 1756 (the French & Indian War in America) though, again, Poland was not heavily involved.

In his personal life, no one could accuse King Augustus III of not doing his duty to secure the succession, at least in Saxony, as he and his wife produced sixteen children which included daughters who would be married to the future King of Spain, Dauphin of France and Elector of Bavaria. However, on the whole, history has not been kind to King Augustus III and not always fairly so. His reign over Poland is usually described as one of an absent monarch who impoverished the country in order to enrich Saxony and who was far too deferential to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Not all of the accusations against Augustus are unfounded, Poland certainly had happier periods in her history, but the factions in Poland who opposed him often smeared his reputation with falsehoods or exaggerations. A notably example being the oft-repeated story that the King could not speak Polish which is certainly untrue. We know for a fact that the King could speak Polish, as well as French, Latin and possibly Russian along with, obviously, German.

King Augustus III was noted in his own time for making Polish food popular in German and then wider parts of Europe, for introducing coffee to Poland and for furthering education of the Polish elite by bringing them to Saxony to attend university there. Unfortunately, (as a matter of opinion) this resulted in a whole crop of powerful, young Poles soaking up the latest fashionable trends of the so-called “Enlightenment” which they eagerly brought back to Poland with them when they returned. He was also a noted patron of the arts, nonetheless, his reign saw an increase in civil unrest within Poland and increased the trend of Poland, with its many feuding factions, being ever more at the mercy of Austria, Prussia and Russia. King Augustus III died in Dresden at the age of 66 on October 15, 1763, leaving behind a still fractured Kingdom of Poland which was not long to survive.

Soldier of Monarchy: Hermann-Maurice, Comte de Saxe

In the annals of the military history of the Kingdom of France (which is impressive despite what detractors say), one name that stands out is that of Hermann-Maurice, Comte de Saxe. Not only was he a brilliantly successful battlefield commander and quite possibly the greatest soldier of his time, he was easily one of the most influential war captains in the history of the world. King Frederick the Great and, later, Napoleon Bonaparte both learned a great deal from the example and the writings of the famous Maurice de Saxe. Born at Goslar, Lower Saxony, in Germany on October 28, 1696 he was the illegitimate son of Augustus II, aka “Augustus the Strong” who was King of Poland and Elector of Saxony by one of his mistresses, Countess Maria Aurora of Koenigsmarck. After only two years he was sent to live with his father in Warsaw, Poland but the tumultuous state of affairs that prevailed in the old Kingdom of Poland meant that he spent most of his childhood elsewhere. His lack of parental supervision also meant that he grew up to be a very independent and self-reliant young man.

Before he was even a teenager he already began gaining first-hand experience at the art of war and that at the hands of one of the greatest captains of all time, Prince Eugene of Savoy. Along with the Prince and his Austrian Imperial forces, Maurice de Saxe participated in numerous successful campaigns, battles and sieges. He threw himself into the occupation of professional soldier and was so fearless that the Prince of Savoy had to remind him that being brave was not to be confused with being reckless. As he served with the Allied forces in the War of the Spanish Succession, with the Saxon military contingent, he was able to see the leadership style and learn first hand from two of the greatest that ever lived, his own commander Prince Eugene of Savoy and the commander of the British forces, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, a thoroughly despicable man but quite possibly the greatest English general in history.

Maurice de Saxe was a quick study, bold and ambitious. He rose rapidly in rank by his own merit, becoming a colonel at seventeen. Ironically enough, the enemy he most often faced was the French, though he also served against the Swedes in the north, at that time serving under the command of another illustrious historical figure; Czar Peter the Great of Russia. When not fighting battles, he also became quite notorious for his womanizing, drinking and rather “colorful” private life. In 1713 he married but spent the fortune of his wife on a string of mistresses and ended by persuading his father to purchase him a commission with a German regiment serving in the French army. A common practice at the time, this was done and in France Maurice de Saxe showed such a talent at training his men, particularly in musketry tactics, that he was soon promoted to brigadier general.
His greatest trial, in personal if not military terms, came soon after when the death of his father sparked the War of the Polish Succession. Loyal to his employer, the King of France, Maurice de Saxe was compelled to face both his own brother, Frederick Augustus II, and his old mentor Prince Eugene of Savoy as Saxony and Austria were on the other side in this conflict.

The young Maurice was able to prove that he had learned his lessons well and he won a string of solid victories. In 1734 he gained his greatest fame to date by his action in covering the siege of Philippsburg. His success on the battlefield more than warranted his rise to lieutenant general by the time the war was over but he was also helped by the fact that King Louis XV had taken notice of him and, even more to the point, he was good friends with the King’s mistress Madame de Pompadour who could be counted on to always speak up in his favor. However, no one should think for a moment that he owed his rising status to his connections at court. His brilliant military leadership was proven time and time again.

In 1740, with the start of the War of Austrian Succession, he first commanded an unofficial “army”, a group of French volunteers fighting for Bavaria. He planned the campaign and led the attack that succeeded in capturing the historic city of Prague and later, when France officially joined the war in 1744, he was sent to Flanders to command the royal army with the rank of Marshal of France. This was a critical period for it would see Maurice de Saxe and his French army triumph over enemies that outmatched his in every way, in training, experience and in numbers. The only thing France had which the others could not match was the mind of Maurice de Saxe himself and he ultimately prevailed over the combined armies of Austria, the Netherlands and Great Britain.

One of his greatest moments of triumph came on April 25, 1745 at the siege of Tournai which clearly demonstrated his remarkable leadership. An allied relief column was approaching and Maurice de Saxe took a portion of his troops and deployed them on carefully chosen high ground at Fontenoy to block this column. This, they successfully accomplished, using a powerful combination of musketry and artillery fire that inflicted very heavy losses on the allied forces. Still, by sheer weight of numbers, it looked as though they would break through the French defensive lines. At that point, Maurice de Saxe, who had been confined to a litter due to a bad case of dropsy, rose up to rally the French troops, inspiring them by his personal example, to beat back the enemy in fierce fighting. Fontenoy would go down as one of the greatest victories Maurice de Saxe ever achieved and he followed it up by capturing Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Mons and Namur, cutting a swathe across Belgium and becoming only the third general in French history to be awarded the rank of Marshal-General of France. Unrelenting, de Saxe pushed on into the Netherlands and in the last year of the war won another victory at Lauffeld and captured Maastricht on May 7, 1748.

Once the peace was negotiated, Maurice de Saxe was easily the most prominent military commander in France and widely considered one of the best in the world. In thanks, the King gave him a chateaux, to which he retired but he kept his old German regiment camped on his estate where he continued to refine his training and tactics with them. Sadly, he also continued his very dissolute private life with a succession of mistresses and wild parties. When the famous marshal dropped dead on November 30, 1750 some said he had been killed in a duel while others, more credibly, said it had been after over exerting himself while “interviewing” a group of eight young actresses. Talent and good character certainly do not always travel hand-in-hand. Nonetheless, it would not be for his debauchery that Maurice de Saxe would be best known but for his matchless skill as a military commander, influencing the art of war for ages to come and influencing generations of the great captains of history.

What was it that made Maurice de Saxe so successful? He was an innovative thinker, though not so much in what he fought with but how he used the resources available. He was extremely adept at integrating the use of cavalry, infantry and artillery to best effect and was a master of maneuver. The careful attention he gave to training paid huge dividends in this area as he was able to adeptly move his forces around the battlefield, bringing reinforcements in at the right place at the right time so that he was able, on numerous occasions, to defeat forces far superior to his own. Furthermore, he had a leadership style that galvanized his soldiers. He was able to keep up their morale, inspire them to acts of bravery and determined resistance. His men admired him and his presence on the field at a particular place often proved instrumental in winning a victory. He also displayed an uncanny ability to evaluate his enemies, get inside their heads and so, despite his reputation for recklessness as a youth, was able to give battle on terms most favorable to his own army. He knew how to use his artillery to best effect and came up with a very well balanced combination of cannon, cavalry and infantry to bring about the best results.

Few would dispute that Maurice de Saxe was the most capable battlefield commander of the mid-Eighteenth Century and yet, through his writings, his influence was to be felt for many, many years to come. His book, “My Thoughts”, written in 1732, was considered the definitive work on how to train, organize and prepare an army for war. Of course, not all of his ideas held up in the long-term such as the attention he gave to weapons such as the plug-bayonet, which would soon be replaced by the more practical socket-bayonet and the pike which would be discarded altogether very quickly in the age of the musket. Still, his emphasis on close cooperation between the three main branches of the army, were well in advance of their time and would make his book ‘required reading’ for French officers under Napoleon. Alongside Napoleon and Jomini, Maurice de Saxe remains today one of the most influential military thinkers in the French history of warfare.

Monarch Profile: Emperor Otto the Great

After the fall of the (western) Roman Empire, Europe descended into what is known as “the Dark Ages” when civilization, as everyone then knew it, broke down. Yet, for all of the Germanic tribal wars and Viking raids, progress was constantly being made to rebuild civilization and so the Dark Ages could also be called “the Recovery”. Latin civilization had been crushed by German invaders but those Germans who had once been dismissed as barbarians were increasingly looked to as a source of strength and thus of order. A great deal of order was restored to the chaos by the conquering armies of Charlemagne who established an empire stretching across modern day west-central Europe. He was a key figure in the recovery but after his death the empire he had forged began to fall apart, the largest parts dividing into what has since become France and Germany. After Charlemagne, the next great German monarch who would take up the cause of recovery was Kaiser Otto I, later known as Otto the Great, a towering figure in German history. That is significant for, if the French and Germans still argue today about which of them Charlemagne belonged to, there was no doubt about Emperor Otto. He was German and could be seen as something of a “founding father” for the German nation.

Otto was born on November 23, 912 to Duke Henry the Fowler of Saxony by his second wife Matilda of Westphalia. He grew up in the rough and tumble world of the small states ruled by the German nobility, fighting for power in the collapsing former empire of Charlemagne while also still fighting foreign powers on their frontiers. Whereas the Romans had once fought German barbarians, the Germans were now fighting new invaders they deemed barbarians such as the Slavs and Magyars to the east. In due course, Saxony became the most powerful of the German states and Prince Otto gained experience fighting the Slavs as well as an illegitimate son born of a Slavic noblewoman his knights had captured (this son would one day become the Archbishop of Mainz). As his father was making good progress in uniting the Germans under his rule, he sought an alliance with the distant cousins of his people in Saxon England and so married Otto to Princess Eadgyth, half-sister of King Aethelstan of England, in 930. Henry put all his hopes for the future on Otto, breaking with German tradition by naming him sole heir to his throne and, as it turned out, those hopes were not misplaced. He would prove a formidable monarch.

In 936, Henry the Fowler died and the Saxon nobles elected Otto, then 24, King of Germany. He was, of course, also Duke of Saxony by inheritance and, thanks to the efforts of his father, ruled in fact or at least in name over all the German people. Otto was also a great admirer of Charlemagne and demonstrated this from the very beginning. With the last heirs of the Frankish emperor having died out some years before, the new King of Germany sought to present himself as the successor of Charlemagne, the most successful and powerful figure in western history since the fall of Rome. Otto had many admirable qualities and all would be needed as he faced hostile Slavs to the northeast, Magyars to the east and rebellious nobles within his own domain. He immediately set to work with policies to centralize power in Germany. He forced the nobles to swear a personal oath of loyalty to him as king, placed churchmen in important positions to lessen the influence of the nobility and took other actions to ensure that he would be master and not only the first among equals as had previously been the case. He was mostly successful and his reign would set the pattern for subsequent German history in domestic as well as foreign policy for while he was reducing the power of the barons in the Kingdom of Germany, a call for help came from a damsel in distress in Italy.

The lovely, young Queen Adelaide of Burgundy or St Adelaide of Italy as she is known today, had been left a widow at only 19 and was being pressured to marry Berengar of Ivrea (King Berengar II of Italy), an ambitious man who wanted her lands for himself. She was taken captive for a time but escaped, managed to find refuge and sent a plea to King Otto of Germany for help in 951. It must have reminded the German monarch of the call for help from Pope Leo to Charlemagne but, in any event, it was an opportunity Otto would not pass up. He readied his army and was soon marching at the head of a column of German knights into northern Italy. Faced with such a fearsome sight, Berengar decided young Adelaide was not worth it after all and fled the scene without fighting a single battle. Like the storybook white knight riding to the rescue, Otto saved the lovely Adelaide and married her himself (his Anglo-Saxon bride had died about five years earlier). It could not have worked out any better as Otto had enhanced his reputation, extended his power and obtained a very pious and devoted wife with whom he would have a very happy marriage.

Domestic bliss could not deter Otto from his duty though and there were still plenty of challenges for him to deal with, one of the most pressing being the Magyars. These are the people of what is now Hungary but in those days they had yet to find religion and were pagan plunderers of lands as far west as Spain. It was on August 8, 955 that the Magyars attacked Augsberg. Bishop Ulrich organized the local populace to defend the city walls and they fought desperately, holding off the fierce Magyars until nightfall but exhausting themselves in the process. No one expected the city to hold out another day. Bishop Ulrich prayed that the Blessed Virgin would deliver them and his prayers were answered. When word reached the Magyar camp that King Otto and his German knights were marching to relieve Augsberg they hastily packed up and rode away. However, the Magyars were no cowards and a fight was still to be had. It came two days later at the Battle of Lechfeld when, after morning mass, King Otto led his troops into battle beneath a banner bearing the image of St Michael the Archangel. However, the fight did not go well. His troops began to break as the hard-hitting Magyar warriors attacked and counter-attacked. When another group of Magyars managed to outflank the Germans and circle around, coming in from behind, all seemed lost. To the surprise of his men, Otto ordered his son Conrad to lead the charge against these forces. It was surprising because Conrad, Otto’s son by his first wife, had previously led a rebellion against his father but, nonetheless, Otto trusted him. It proved to be the right move as Conrad led his men in a desperate charge that smashed the Magyars back, turned the tide and won the battle for the Germans.

In the wake of this victory, being King of Germany seemed insufficient to Otto’s bloodied but triumphant knights and they began hailing him as “Kaiser”. There was certainly no other single monarch in western Christendom to match him and later in 962 the Pope crowned Otto emperor of a restored Holy Roman Empire, which is to say what became known as the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” or First German Reich. Otto’s dream of emulating Charlemagne had come to full fruition with that coronation; he finally held the highest (secular) throne in Christendom. The Franks had had their hour of glory, now it was the turn of the Germans. Otto I was the sole master of the German people, had a firm hold on all his lands as well as the added prestige of the imperial title; he seemed to have reached his zenith. In those troubled times though, the work of any monarch was never done and soon Kaiser Otto had to lead his men to war again when his domains came under attack by the Slavs. He gathered his forces and marched off to meet them, the two sides coming together in Mecklenburg. Having fought so many enemies over the years, Otto was not eager for blood and sent the Slavic leader a proposal for peace and friendship but this was rejected. There would have to be a fight.

Emperor Otto decided on a bold move. The Slavs were confident that they would surely win the next day’s battle but Otto would not give them the chance. During the night, he took his knights across the Recknitz River that separated the two armies and as the morning dawned, launched a surprise attack that totally crushed the Slavic forces. Germany was saved, another pagan enemy had been defeated and another victory was added to the laurels of Emperor Otto. When not making war, Otto also continued his work consolidating his power over the German lands, encouraging art and learning as well as sending out missionaries to the surrounding pagan nations. After a reign of much success in domestic affairs and many victories on the battlefield Emperor Otto died on May 7, 973. Power passed without opposition into the hands of his 17-year old son Otto II. His dynasty would continue to hold power as kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors until 1024. Throughout the long history of the First Reich, a similar pattern would be followed. There would be decentralization of power, a growth in the power of local rulers and then a particularly strong-willed emperor would appear on the stage, unite the states under his leadership, centralize power, make war against the French in the west, Saracens in the south or the Slavs in the east, fight to subdue Italy and then, with his passing, the pattern would repeat.

Emperor Otto the Great fully deserves his lofty position in the history of the German-speaking people. He was one of the “great” emperors of the Saxon line, no others matching him until his descendent St Henry II before the next great emperor emerged in the person of Frederick Barbarossa of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Yet, western civilization as a whole owes him a debt as well for he had an impact beyond the boundaries of Germany. The law and order he established provided the peace and stability necessary for the building of strong, central core for the forces of Christendom and those whom he met as enemies would later become allies. After their defeat at his hands, the Magyars retreated east and settled in what is now Hungary, establishing that kingdom and becoming Christian with the rise of their great patron saint King Stephen (who married a German princess). The Slavs, likewise, over a longer period of time, would also embrace Christianity in their turn. As the darkness of the Dark Ages receded and was replaced by the growing light and civilization of the Middle Ages, a key figure in making it all possible was Kaiser Otto. Everyone remembers Charlemagne, and rightly so, as the man who brought order out of chaos, the monarch who presided over the return to the ideal of “empire” in the west and, as such, one of the key figures in the establishment of Christendom. All of that is true but it is just as true that it did not long survive him. It was Kaiser Otto the Great who ensured that, under new leadership and largely focused on a new people, the legacy of Charlemagne would carry on into the future.

MM Mini View: The Kings of Saxony

King Friedrich August I: Born in 1750, son of Elector Friedrich Christian and he succeeded as Elector of Saxony in 1763 with his mother acting as regent for him. Early on he was made heir to the throne of Poland but refused to accept the crown for fear of incurring the wrath of Austria, Prussia and Russia. He held back from taking action against the French revolutionaries and was very conservative in terms of the place of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire, however, the advance of the French under Napoleon pushed him into an alliance against them with Prussia. Napoleon defeated them handily and Friedrich August was forced to make peace with France. He lost territory but saw his country raised to the status of a kingdom and he became the first King of Saxony in 1806. The following year he became Duke of Warsaw after the French, Prussians and Russians agreed on the status of what was left of Poland. In 1812 he tried to restore the Kingdom of Poland but was met with opposition from every other major power. He angered Napoleon by reaching out to the allies and was forced to pay a heavy price for it but he remained on the side of France, despite this, he was able to retain his Saxon crown though Warsaw was annexed by Russia. He died in 1827 beloved by the Saxon people.

King Anton: Anton succeeded his brother as King of Saxony in 1827. In 1781 he married the unwilling Princess Caroline of Savoy (daughter of King Victor Amadeus III) but she died the following year and in 1787 he married Archduchess Maria Theresa, daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. None of their children survived to adulthood. The ruin of the Napoleonic Wars in Saxony was left to King Anton to deal with and this caused some resentment against him, particularly since he had been given no training to rule as he was the third son and never expected to take the throne. He was 71 when he became King and tried to simply hold things together as he found them. In 1830 the revolution in France sparked uprisings in Saxony which King Anton had to deal with, making changes in the government and in 1831 enacting a new constitution which put limitations on the monarchy and replaced the estates of the feudal era with a bicameral representative legislature. After 1833 Saxony entered the Zollverein which caused an upsurge in trade and improved the economy. King Anton thus went out on a rather high note, reigning over a relatively happy and prosperous kingdom.

King Friedrich August II: Succeeding his uncle, Friedrich August II became King of Saxony in 1836. He came to the throne with a background of experience as co-regent and a reputation for reform, having earlier been at the front of granting local governments autonomy for the Saxon cities and abolishing hereditary servitude, effectively ending feudalism in Saxony. He preferred to reign rather than rule but would use his authority to intervene when necessary. Married twice, first to the daughter of Emperor Franz I of Austria and later to a Bavarian princess, he never had any children. His instincts were liberal but he was a man of common sense. He reformed the law and when the revolutions of 1848 began to spread, he appointed liberal officials and repealed laws which restricted press and speech freedoms as well as allowing for more democracy. This was very popular but proved to be a mistake and the King realized this and changed course. He closed down the parliament and prepared for a siege in the “Saxon Bastille”, Koenigstein Fortress near Dresden. His troops, aided by the Prussians, were quickly able to suppress the disorder and restore royal rule throughout Saxony. The King died in 1854 in Austria, the victim of a tragic accident.

King Johann: Succeeding his brother as monarch in 1854, King Johann proved to be a very practical and capable ruler. He also secured the succession, marrying the daughter of King Maximilian of Bavaria and fathering six children by her. Development and economic progress were greatly encouraged by King Johann through his introduction of free trade, commercial ties with France and Italy and a major expansion of railroads and other upgrades to the Saxon infrastructure. When German unification was gaining popularity, he remained attached to Austria and favored the “Greater Germany” model that would have included German-Austria. In 1866 King Johann took Saxony to war against Prussia alongside the Austrians but met with a crushing defeat. This was a bitter blow to him and in the aftermath the Kingdom of Saxony was obliged to join the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation. He sent Saxon troops to fight alongside the Prussians in the war against France and subsequently saw Saxony join in the restored (second) German Empire. King Johann died only a short time later.

King Albert: Eldest son of King Johann, King Albert succeeded to the Saxon throne on the death of his father in 1873. An accomplished soldier, Albert had led the Saxon army in the wars against Denmark, Prussia and France in the build-up to the unification of Germany. These were all victories save for the war against Prussia (alongside Austria) but even then, Prince Albert and his Saxon troops acquitted themselves bravely. He supported the alliance with Prussia and fought just as well alongside them against the French as he had previously fought against them in Bohemia. His leadership was often pivotal in achieving victory for the German forces. He became Inspector-General of the Army and a General Field Marshal. As King he was diligent in maintaining law and order, upholding the constitution and in so doing let his subjects get about their business. He stuck to what he knew best which was the army and he was very helpful in establishing the Imperial German Army after unification. Still, he reformed the tax system, enacted measures to care for the poor and presided over another modest expansion of democracy. In 1853 he had married the daughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden (who converted to Catholicism because of the marriage) but the couple never had any children.

King Georg: Succeeding his elder brother in 1902, King Georg had the shortest reign of any Saxon monarch. In 1859 he was married to the daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal by whom he had eight children. He served under his brother in the Saxon army during the wars with Prussia and France, rising to the rank of Field Marshal. His most controversial act during his short time as monarch arose over clashes with his daughter-in-law Crown Princess Luise of Tuscany. She did not follow court protocol and her personality clashed with that of the King who imagined her being guilty of all sorts of offenses. In 1902 King Georg threatened to put her in an asylum and she fled Saxony, after which the King simply decreed her to be divorced from her son. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (her relative) did not recognize the divorce and it was quite an astounding thing in such a staunch Catholic Royal Family. King Georg died the following year in 1904 at the age of 72.

King Friedrich August III: The last King of Saxony had a reputation rather different from that of his father, being known as an affable and often humorous monarch. He did keep with family tradition in having a very respectable military career, rising to General of the Infantry and command of the Saxon Corps before he came to the throne in 1904. As King he was given the further ranks of Colonel General and finally Field Marshal. He was an avid hunter, promoted industry in Saxony and was known for his frank and friendly manner, whether dealing with fellow monarchs or common people. Because of this, he was extremely popular and was seen as a father figure by his subjects. In 1909 he enacted a plural voting system by which those who contribute the most to the country received additional votes as a way of guarding against an electorate voting themselves the property of others. When World War I broke out he transferred his authority over the Saxon army to the Minister of War and had hopes of making territorial gains in Courland on the Baltic, which, of course, did not happen. When revolution broke out in 1918 he refused to set the army on the people but agreed to abdicate, telling them in so many words that they were on their own now. He retired to private life and died in 1932 after suffering a stroke.

Favorite Royal Images: Little Luxembourger

HRH Princess Sophie of Luxembourg, daughter of Grand Duke William IV, she later married Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony.

MM Video: Saxon Monarchs