Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
Encyclopedia
Frederick Augustus I ' onMouseout='HidePop("83032")' href="/topics/Dresden">Dresden
, 23 December 1750 – d. Dresden
, 5 May 1827) was King of Saxony
(1805–1827) from the House of Wettin. He was also Elector Frederick Augustus III (Friedrich August III.) of Saxony
(1763–1806) and Duke Frederick Augustus I of Warsaw
(1807–1813). The Augustusplatz
in Leipzig
is named after him.
, and Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria
, Princess of Bavaria. Because he was underage at the time of the death of his father in 1763, his mother served as Regent
until 1768. His uncle Prince Franz Xavier
functioned as his representative.
Leopold II
and King Friedrich Wilhelm II
of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle
that was intended partly to offer support for the French monarchy in the face of revolutionary agitation in France. The Declaration of Pillnitz
warned of the possibility of military action against the French revolutionary government, a provocation that provided it with grounds to declare war on Austria in April 1792. Frederick Augustus himself did not sign the Declaration.
Saxony wanted nothing to do with the defensive alliance against France formed between Austria and Prussia. Nonetheless, a proclamation of the Reichstag
of the Holy Roman Empire
issued in March 1793 obligated Frederick Augustus to take part. There was great concern in Saxony in April 1795 when Prussia suddenly concluded a separate peace with France in order to facilitate the partition of Poland. Saxony dropped out of the coalition against France in August 1796 after France had advanced east into the German lands and additional conditions for the Holy Roman Empire to conclude a separate peace were agreed to.
Both the peace agreement with France and Saxony's participation in the Congress of Rastatt
in 1797 served to demonstrate Frederick Augustus’ loyalty to the conventional constitutional principles of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress of Rastatt was supposed to authorize the surrender of left bank areas of the Rhine to France in return for compensation for the rulers who were relinquishing their territories. Saxony refused to agree to territorial adjustments that were designed to benefit Bavaria, Prussia, Württemberg, and Baden at the Congress of Rastatt and in 1803 at the issuance of the Final Report of the Empire Delegation [the law of the Holy Roman Empire that laid out the new order of the Empire].
, which led to the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. With respect to the Prussian idea of a north German empire, within which Saxony was supposed to be raised to a kingdom, he appeared reserved. However, when Napoleon advanced as far as Thuringia after September 1806 in response to the Berlin Ultimatum, which demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the left bank of the Rhine, Frederick Augustus joined with Prussia. At the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt
in 1806 the Prussian – Saxon troops suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Napoleon. Separated from Prussia, whose state and army leadership withdrew headlong to the east, left without any information concerning Prussian intentions, and with Napoleon’s troops about to occupy Saxony, Frederick Augustus had to conclude peace. On 11 December 1806 in Poznan
a treaty was signed by authorized representatives of both sides. Saxony was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine and had to surrender areas of Thuringia to the recently organized Kingdom of Westphalia
. As compensation, Saxony was given the area around Cottbus
and was raised to the status of a kingdom alongside the Confederation states of Bavaria and Württemberg
.
Frederick Augustus was proclaimed king of Saxony on 20 December 1806. After the Treaty of Tilsit
, which Frederick William III of Prussia
and Czar Alexander I of Russia
concluded with Napoleon in July 1807, Frederick Augustus was also named duke of Warsaw. Although he had rejected the offer of the kingdom of Poland in 1795 by the lower House of the Polish Parliament, he could not refuse a Polish title a second time.
The Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw
, which Napoleon dictated to Saxony, joined the Duchy of Warsaw hereditarily to the Royal House of Saxony in Article V, which was linked to the Polish Constitution of 1791. Geopolitically the Duchy of Warsaw comprised the areas of the 2nd and 3rd Prussian partitions
(1795), with the exception of Danzig (Gdańsk)
, which was made into the Free City of Danzig
under joint French and Saxon "protection", and the district around Białystok, which was given to Russia. The area of Prussian control was made up of territory from the former Prussian provinces of New East Prussia
, Southern Prussia, New Silesia
, and West Prussia
. In addition, the new state was given the area along the Noteć river and the "Land of Chełmno
".
Altogether, the Duchy had an initial area of around 104,000 km², with a population of approximately 2,600,000. The bulk of its inhabitants were Poles.
In 1809, Austria was successfully defeated by Polish–Saxon troops after it attempted to take possession of the Duchy and for its part had to cede to the Duchy of Warsaw Polish regions absorbed up to 1795, among them the old Polish royal city of Kraków
. In July 1812 Frederick Augustus ratified a proclamation of the Polish Parliament that restored the Kingdom of Poland. Napoleon lodged a protest against this action.
, Saxony found itself in a more difficult situation than many other warring states. The country was still solidly in Napoleon’s grip and at the same time had become the central arena of the war. In the autumn of 1813 at the start of the Battle of Leipzig
(Battle of Nations) the local population of Saxony, which tallied about 2 million, saw almost a million soldiers brought to its territories. Napoleon openly threatened to consider Saxony as enemy territory and treat it accordingly should Frederick Augustus change sides. Frederick Augustus’ room for maneuver was consequently greatly limited. He did not want to put the country’s well-being into play frivolously. At the same time, he still remembered vividly the way in which Prussia had simply abandoned him in 1806.
In this difficult situation the King attempted to enter cautiously into an alliance with the Sixth Coalition
in 1813 without risking a public break with Napoleon and a declaration of war. As the Prussian and Russian troops entered Saxony in the spring, the King first moved to the south in order to avoid a direct encounter and pursued an alliance with Austria secretly from Regensburg. The Saxon-Austrian Pact was concluded on 20 April and the King made the Prussian and Russian allies aware of it at the same time. Napoleon, from whom Frederick Augustus was not able to keep the diplomatic maneuvers concealed, summoned the King urgently to Saxony after he had defeated the Prussian-Russian troops at Lützen
on 2 May. Frederick Augustus decided to comply with the ultimatum presented to him. With no prospect of concrete assistance from Austria, and in view of the defeat of the Prussian – Russian coalition, which now sent peace signals to France, he felt he had no choice.
Frederick Augustus’ decision brought the country scarcely any relief. Napoleon, angered at the near defection of the King and at the same time dependent upon the full mobilization of all available forces against the Coalition troops, harshly demanded the full resources of Saxony. In addition, the country suffered under the changing fortunes of war and associated movements and quartering. At the end of August the Allies failed again to defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden
. Meanwhile Saxony became the principal arena of war and Dresden the mid-point of the French army movements. Not until 9 September in Teplice
(in the present-day Czech Republic
) did Austria conclude its alliance with Prussia and Russia. As Napoleon’s troops in Saxony formed up for the retreat before the expanded coalition, the first defectors from the Saxon army to the allies came in September.
Frederick Augustus was mistrustful of Prussia in view of the experiences of the spring and arguably disappointed as well by Austria's decision not to join the Coalition immediately, especially while the country was exposed as before to French domination. Thus he chose not to break with Napoleon. At the Battle of Leipzig
[Battle of Nations] the Saxon as well as the Polish troops fought on the side of Napoleon. In view of the apparent defeat of the French, even larger Saxon troop formations went over to the Coalition during the battle, whereas the Polish troops were largely annihilated.
in 1814 and 1815, Frederick Augustus' position was doomed by his country's difficult geographic position, the changing fortunes of war, a lack of assistance from Austria, and his own hesitant attitude. The Prussian-Russian alliance had never had an honorable intention in bringing Saxony into the anti-Napoleon alliance in the first place. Even before Prussia declared war on France on 17 March 1813, it had agreed to an alliance with Russia to the detriment of Saxony and Poland at Kalisz on 22 February: the Duchy of Poland would predominantly come under Russian rule, whereas Prussia would be compensated for relinquished Polish territories with the annexation of Saxon territory. Prussia’s appetite for the economically and culturally more developed territories of Saxony originated in the old dream of annexation that Frederick II
had developed in his political testament of 1752 and had already tried to realize in the Seven Years' War
. It did not originate from any necessity to overcome Napoleonic rule in central Europe.
After the Battle of Leipzig the Prussian-Russian alliance showed no interest in an alliance with the Saxon king in the wider struggle against Napoleon irrespective of offers of support from Frederick Augustus. Rather, the King was taken into captivity to Friedrichsfelde
near Berlin and placed under Russian-Prussian custody in the name of a “General Government of High Allied Powers.”
The forceful manner of Prussian minister Baron von Stein, not the government administered by Russian Prince Repnin until November 1814 or the subsequent Prussian occupying force that lasted to June 1815, were responsible for the low morale in Saxony at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In contrast to the representatives of France, Frederick Augustus was denied participation at the Congress of Vienna as punishment for his supposed role as the quasi- deputy of his former ally Napoleon. Certainly nothing other than the intention of Prussia and Russia to carry out the annexation plans agreed to in Kalisz was responsible for this treatment of the Saxon king. That Saxony was not completely abandoned can be attributed to the fear of Austria and France of an overly-strengthened Prussia. Because the Saxon question threatened to break up the Congress, the allies finally agreed to divide Saxony (7 January 1815) with the mediation of the Czar.
Places and areas that had been connected to the Saxon landscape for hundreds of years became completely foreign, absorbed in part into artificially created administrative regions. Examples include Wittenberg
, the old capital of the Saxon Elector State during the Holy Roman Empire, and seat of the National University made famous by Martin Luther
and Melanchthon (which was already done away with in 1817 by means of a merger with the Prussian University of Halle), and Torgau
, birthplace and place of residence of the Elector Frederick the Wise, which was incorporated into one of the new hybrids created by Prussia under the name Province of Saxony
. Lower Lusatia
, which like Upper Lusatia
had preserved its constitutional autonomy under Saxon rule, was incorporated into the Province of Brandenburg
and ceased to exist as a state. Upper Lusatia was arbitrarily divided: the area assigned to Prussia, including Görlitz
, was added to the Province of Silesia
; these areas also lost their constitutional autonomy.
On 22 May 1815 Frederick Augustus abdicated as ruler of the Duchy of Warsaw, whose territory was annexed mainly to Russia, but also partly to Prussia and Austria. In the area assigned to Russia, a Kingdom of Poland
was created to join in a hereditary union with the Czars. The old royal city of Kraków no longer belonged to the new kingdom, and became a separate republic. The internal autonomy that it enjoyed at first was abolished in 1831 after the Polish Uprising
.
, where the majority of the regiments of the Saxon Army had been stationed since the beginning of 1815, there was a revolt at the end of April. At the behest of the Prussian king, Blücher
was to discharge the soldiers who came from the annexed territories, but Frederick Augustus’ men had not yet made their departure, and the Saxon soldiers rioted over it. Blücher had to flee the city and was able to put down the revolt only by calling up additional Prussian troops.
Public opinion in Saxony lay decisively on Frederick Augustus’ side at the time of his return. There was a feeling that Prussian policies were too ruthless both against the country and the king. The avarice of special interests in Berlin came across all too clearly as the rewards of the War of Liberation were distributed.
Frederick Augustus was entombed in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Dresden.
on 17 January 1769 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
on 29 January 1769 (in person), Frederick Augustus married the Countess Palatine (Pfalzgräfin) Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. During their marriage, Amalia gave birth to four children, but only one daughter survived to adulthood:
Without surviving male issue, Frederick Augustus was succeeded as King of Saxony by his younger brother Anton.
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, 23 December 1750 – d. Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, 5 May 1827) was King of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
(1805–1827) from the House of Wettin. He was also Elector Frederick Augustus III (Friedrich August III.) of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
(1763–1806) and Duke Frederick Augustus I of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
(1807–1813). The Augustusplatz
Augustusplatz
The Augustusplatz is a square located at the east end of the city centre of Leipzig. It is the city's largest square and one of the largest squares in Germany...
in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
is named after him.
Family Background
He was the second (but eldest surviving) son of Frederick Christian, Elector of SaxonyFrederick Christian, Elector of Saxony
Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony was the Prince-Elector of Saxony for less than three months in 1763...
, and Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria
Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria
Maria Antonia, Princess of Bavaria , Electress of Saxony, was a German composer, singer, harpsichordist and patron, known particularly for her operas Il trionfo della fedeltà and Talestri, regina delle amazoni . She was also the Regent of Saxony in 1763-1768...
, Princess of Bavaria. Because he was underage at the time of the death of his father in 1763, his mother served as Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
until 1768. His uncle Prince Franz Xavier
Franz Xavier of Saxony
Franz Xavier of Saxony , was a German prince and member of the House of Wettin.He was the fourth but second surviving son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Josepha of Austria.-Regent of Saxony:His older brother, the Elector Frederick Christian, died on 17 December...
functioned as his representative.
Renunciation of the Polish Throne
In 1765 Prince Franz Xavier ceded the Polish throne to Stanisław August Poniatowski on behalf of the underage Elector. Frederick Augustus was named successor to Stanislaw, however, when a Polish Constitution was ratified by the lower House (Sejm) of the Polish Parliament. At the same time, the head of the Saxon Royal House was established as heir to the Polish throne (Article VII of the Polish Constitution). Frederick Augustus declined to accept the crown upon Stanislaw's death in 1798, because he feared becoming entangled in disputes with Austria, Prussia and Russia, who had begun to partition Poland in 1772. As a matter of fact, a full partition of Poland among the neighboring powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia had already taken place by 1795.Foreign policy up to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
In August of 1791, Frederick Augustus arranged a meeting with Holy Roman EmperorHoly Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
and King Friedrich Wilhelm II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle
Pillnitz Castle
Pillnitz Castle is a restored Baroque castle at the eastern end of the city of Dresden in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the bank of the River Elbe in the former village of Pillnitz...
that was intended partly to offer support for the French monarchy in the face of revolutionary agitation in France. The Declaration of Pillnitz
Declaration of Pillnitz
The Declaration of Pillnitz was a statement issued on 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia...
warned of the possibility of military action against the French revolutionary government, a provocation that provided it with grounds to declare war on Austria in April 1792. Frederick Augustus himself did not sign the Declaration.
Saxony wanted nothing to do with the defensive alliance against France formed between Austria and Prussia. Nonetheless, a proclamation of the Reichstag
Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...
of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
issued in March 1793 obligated Frederick Augustus to take part. There was great concern in Saxony in April 1795 when Prussia suddenly concluded a separate peace with France in order to facilitate the partition of Poland. Saxony dropped out of the coalition against France in August 1796 after France had advanced east into the German lands and additional conditions for the Holy Roman Empire to conclude a separate peace were agreed to.
Both the peace agreement with France and Saxony's participation in the Congress of Rastatt
Second Congress of Rastatt
The Second Congress of Rastatt, which was opened in December 1797, was intended to rearrange the map of Germany by providing compensation for those princes whose lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France....
in 1797 served to demonstrate Frederick Augustus’ loyalty to the conventional constitutional principles of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress of Rastatt was supposed to authorize the surrender of left bank areas of the Rhine to France in return for compensation for the rulers who were relinquishing their territories. Saxony refused to agree to territorial adjustments that were designed to benefit Bavaria, Prussia, Württemberg, and Baden at the Congress of Rastatt and in 1803 at the issuance of the Final Report of the Empire Delegation [the law of the Holy Roman Empire that laid out the new order of the Empire].
Foreign policy until the peace with Napoleon
Frederick Augustus also did not participate in the creation of the Confederation of the RhineConfederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the...
, which led to the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. With respect to the Prussian idea of a north German empire, within which Saxony was supposed to be raised to a kingdom, he appeared reserved. However, when Napoleon advanced as far as Thuringia after September 1806 in response to the Berlin Ultimatum, which demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the left bank of the Rhine, Frederick Augustus joined with Prussia. At the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
in 1806 the Prussian – Saxon troops suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Napoleon. Separated from Prussia, whose state and army leadership withdrew headlong to the east, left without any information concerning Prussian intentions, and with Napoleon’s troops about to occupy Saxony, Frederick Augustus had to conclude peace. On 11 December 1806 in Poznan
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
a treaty was signed by authorized representatives of both sides. Saxony was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine and had to surrender areas of Thuringia to the recently organized Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
. As compensation, Saxony was given the area around Cottbus
Cottbus
Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of , its population was .- History :...
and was raised to the status of a kingdom alongside the Confederation states of Bavaria and Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
.
Elevation to Saxon-Polish ruler
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
, which Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
and Czar Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
concluded with Napoleon in July 1807, Frederick Augustus was also named duke of Warsaw. Although he had rejected the offer of the kingdom of Poland in 1795 by the lower House of the Polish Parliament, he could not refuse a Polish title a second time.
The Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw
Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw
Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw was passed by Napoleon on 22 July 1807 in Dresden. Together with the Napoleonic code it was a significant reform of the Polish law and government in the new Duchy of Warsaw. The constitution provided for a bicameral Sejm and for a Council of Ministers...
, which Napoleon dictated to Saxony, joined the Duchy of Warsaw hereditarily to the Royal House of Saxony in Article V, which was linked to the Polish Constitution of 1791. Geopolitically the Duchy of Warsaw comprised the areas of the 2nd and 3rd Prussian partitions
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
(1795), with the exception of Danzig (Gdańsk)
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, which was made into the Free City of Danzig
Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)
The Free City of Danzig, sometimes referred to as the Republic of Danzig, was a semi-independent state established by Napoleon on September 9, 1807, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars following the capture of the city in the siege of Danzig in May...
under joint French and Saxon "protection", and the district around Białystok, which was given to Russia. The area of Prussian control was made up of territory from the former Prussian provinces of New East Prussia
New East Prussia
New East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 to 1807. It was created out of territory annexed in the Third Partition of Poland and included parts of Masovia and Podlaskie...
, Southern Prussia, New Silesia
New Silesia
New Silesia was a small province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 to 1807, created after the Third Partition of Poland. It was located northwest of Kraków and southeast of Częstochowa, in the lands that had been part of the Silesian Duchy of Siewierz and the adjacent Polish historical province...
, and West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
. In addition, the new state was given the area along the Noteć river and the "Land of Chełmno
Chełmno Land
Chełmno land or Chełmno region is a historical region of Poland, located in central Poland, bounded by the Vistula and Drwęca rivers....
".
Altogether, the Duchy had an initial area of around 104,000 km², with a population of approximately 2,600,000. The bulk of its inhabitants were Poles.
In 1809, Austria was successfully defeated by Polish–Saxon troops after it attempted to take possession of the Duchy and for its part had to cede to the Duchy of Warsaw Polish regions absorbed up to 1795, among them the old Polish royal city of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. In July 1812 Frederick Augustus ratified a proclamation of the Polish Parliament that restored the Kingdom of Poland. Napoleon lodged a protest against this action.
Events during the War of Liberation
In 1813 during the War of LiberationWar of liberation
A War of liberation is a conflict which is primarily intended to bring freedom or independence to a nation or group. Examples might include a war to overthrow a colonial power, or to remove a dictator from power. Such wars are often unconventional...
, Saxony found itself in a more difficult situation than many other warring states. The country was still solidly in Napoleon’s grip and at the same time had become the central arena of the war. In the autumn of 1813 at the start of the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
(Battle of Nations) the local population of Saxony, which tallied about 2 million, saw almost a million soldiers brought to its territories. Napoleon openly threatened to consider Saxony as enemy territory and treat it accordingly should Frederick Augustus change sides. Frederick Augustus’ room for maneuver was consequently greatly limited. He did not want to put the country’s well-being into play frivolously. At the same time, he still remembered vividly the way in which Prussia had simply abandoned him in 1806.
In this difficult situation the King attempted to enter cautiously into an alliance with the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
in 1813 without risking a public break with Napoleon and a declaration of war. As the Prussian and Russian troops entered Saxony in the spring, the King first moved to the south in order to avoid a direct encounter and pursued an alliance with Austria secretly from Regensburg. The Saxon-Austrian Pact was concluded on 20 April and the King made the Prussian and Russian allies aware of it at the same time. Napoleon, from whom Frederick Augustus was not able to keep the diplomatic maneuvers concealed, summoned the King urgently to Saxony after he had defeated the Prussian-Russian troops at Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1813)
In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...
on 2 May. Frederick Augustus decided to comply with the ultimatum presented to him. With no prospect of concrete assistance from Austria, and in view of the defeat of the Prussian – Russian coalition, which now sent peace signals to France, he felt he had no choice.
Frederick Augustus’ decision brought the country scarcely any relief. Napoleon, angered at the near defection of the King and at the same time dependent upon the full mobilization of all available forces against the Coalition troops, harshly demanded the full resources of Saxony. In addition, the country suffered under the changing fortunes of war and associated movements and quartering. At the end of August the Allies failed again to defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden
Battle of Dresden
The Battle of Dresden was fought on 26–27 August 1813 around Dresden, Germany, resulting in a French victory under Napoleon I against forces of the Sixth Coalition of Austrians, Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Schwartzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory was not as complete as it could...
. Meanwhile Saxony became the principal arena of war and Dresden the mid-point of the French army movements. Not until 9 September in Teplice
Teplice
Teplice , Teplice-Šanov until 1948 is a town in the Czech Republic, the capital of the Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is the state's second largest spa town ....
(in the present-day Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
) did Austria conclude its alliance with Prussia and Russia. As Napoleon’s troops in Saxony formed up for the retreat before the expanded coalition, the first defectors from the Saxon army to the allies came in September.
Frederick Augustus was mistrustful of Prussia in view of the experiences of the spring and arguably disappointed as well by Austria's decision not to join the Coalition immediately, especially while the country was exposed as before to French domination. Thus he chose not to break with Napoleon. At the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
[Battle of Nations] the Saxon as well as the Polish troops fought on the side of Napoleon. In view of the apparent defeat of the French, even larger Saxon troop formations went over to the Coalition during the battle, whereas the Polish troops were largely annihilated.
Settlement of Saxon affairs at the Congress of Vienna
At the deliberations of the Congress of ViennaCongress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1814 and 1815, Frederick Augustus' position was doomed by his country's difficult geographic position, the changing fortunes of war, a lack of assistance from Austria, and his own hesitant attitude. The Prussian-Russian alliance had never had an honorable intention in bringing Saxony into the anti-Napoleon alliance in the first place. Even before Prussia declared war on France on 17 March 1813, it had agreed to an alliance with Russia to the detriment of Saxony and Poland at Kalisz on 22 February: the Duchy of Poland would predominantly come under Russian rule, whereas Prussia would be compensated for relinquished Polish territories with the annexation of Saxon territory. Prussia’s appetite for the economically and culturally more developed territories of Saxony originated in the old dream of annexation that Frederick II
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
had developed in his political testament of 1752 and had already tried to realize in the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. It did not originate from any necessity to overcome Napoleonic rule in central Europe.
After the Battle of Leipzig the Prussian-Russian alliance showed no interest in an alliance with the Saxon king in the wider struggle against Napoleon irrespective of offers of support from Frederick Augustus. Rather, the King was taken into captivity to Friedrichsfelde
Friedrichsfelde
Friedrichsfelde is a German locality within the borough of Lichtenberg, Berlin.-History:The locality was first mentioned in a document of 1265 with the name of Rosenfelde. In 1699 it was renamed Friedrichsfelde after the Prince-Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg...
near Berlin and placed under Russian-Prussian custody in the name of a “General Government of High Allied Powers.”
The forceful manner of Prussian minister Baron von Stein, not the government administered by Russian Prince Repnin until November 1814 or the subsequent Prussian occupying force that lasted to June 1815, were responsible for the low morale in Saxony at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In contrast to the representatives of France, Frederick Augustus was denied participation at the Congress of Vienna as punishment for his supposed role as the quasi- deputy of his former ally Napoleon. Certainly nothing other than the intention of Prussia and Russia to carry out the annexation plans agreed to in Kalisz was responsible for this treatment of the Saxon king. That Saxony was not completely abandoned can be attributed to the fear of Austria and France of an overly-strengthened Prussia. Because the Saxon question threatened to break up the Congress, the allies finally agreed to divide Saxony (7 January 1815) with the mediation of the Czar.
Acceptance of the post-war order of the Congress of Vienna
Frederick Augustus delayed his agreement to the division of his country after he was released from a Prussian prison in February 1815. Since the King had no choice, he finally gave in, and on 18 May consented to the peace treaty laid before him by Prussia and Russia. With the signing of the treaty on 21 May 1815, 57% of Saxon territory and 42% of the Saxon population was turned over to Prussia.Places and areas that had been connected to the Saxon landscape for hundreds of years became completely foreign, absorbed in part into artificially created administrative regions. Examples include Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
, the old capital of the Saxon Elector State during the Holy Roman Empire, and seat of the National University made famous by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
and Melanchthon (which was already done away with in 1817 by means of a merger with the Prussian University of Halle), and Torgau
Torgau
Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
, birthplace and place of residence of the Elector Frederick the Wise, which was incorporated into one of the new hybrids created by Prussia under the name Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
. Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia is a historical region stretching from the southeast of the Brandenburg state of Germany to the southwest of the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Important towns beside the historic capital Lübben include Calau, Cottbus, Guben , Luckau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg and Żary...
, which like Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia is a region a biggest part of which belongs to Saxony, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz , in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz...
had preserved its constitutional autonomy under Saxon rule, was incorporated into the Province of Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
and ceased to exist as a state. Upper Lusatia was arbitrarily divided: the area assigned to Prussia, including Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
, was added to the Province of Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
; these areas also lost their constitutional autonomy.
On 22 May 1815 Frederick Augustus abdicated as ruler of the Duchy of Warsaw, whose territory was annexed mainly to Russia, but also partly to Prussia and Austria. In the area assigned to Russia, a Kingdom of Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
was created to join in a hereditary union with the Czars. The old royal city of Kraków no longer belonged to the new kingdom, and became a separate republic. The internal autonomy that it enjoyed at first was abolished in 1831 after the Polish Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
.
Standing among the Saxon people upon his return
When Frederick returned home to Saxony in July 1815 he was greeted enthusiastically throughout the land. Numerous expressions of loyalty also reached the king from the ceded territories, where the populace regarded the new rulers coolly; shortly thereafter the notion of being “mandatory-Prussian” began to circulate. In LiègeLiège (province)
Liège is the easternmost province of Belgium and belongs to the Walloon Region. It is an area of French and German ethnicity. It borders on the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and in Belgium the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant , and those of Flemish Brabant and Limburg . Its...
, where the majority of the regiments of the Saxon Army had been stationed since the beginning of 1815, there was a revolt at the end of April. At the behest of the Prussian king, Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
was to discharge the soldiers who came from the annexed territories, but Frederick Augustus’ men had not yet made their departure, and the Saxon soldiers rioted over it. Blücher had to flee the city and was able to put down the revolt only by calling up additional Prussian troops.
Public opinion in Saxony lay decisively on Frederick Augustus’ side at the time of his return. There was a feeling that Prussian policies were too ruthless both against the country and the king. The avarice of special interests in Berlin came across all too clearly as the rewards of the War of Liberation were distributed.
Final years
The last twelve years of Frederick Augustus’ government passed largely quietly. The conservative character of the king, which in foreign policy up to 1806 had manifested itself in unconditional loyalty to Saxon interests, hardened even more after the experience of Napoleonic hegemony. With respect to political reform the King achieved little. Until his death in 1827, little was altered in the constitutional regulation of the Saxon state. To be sure, the king failed to do so out of respect for the rights of the remaining Lusatian upper classes. Just as little came of the desire of many people to transform the existing political system to accommodate a genuine parliament. There was scarcely any lessening of admiration for the old king who had overseen the destiny of Saxony for more than half a century. During his lifetime he gained the name “The Just.” Resentment over the delayed economic and social rebuilding of the country was to be felt by his brother, King Anton.Frederick Augustus was entombed in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Dresden.
Marriage and issue
In MannheimMannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
on 17 January 1769 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
on 29 January 1769 (in person), Frederick Augustus married the Countess Palatine (Pfalzgräfin) Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. During their marriage, Amalia gave birth to four children, but only one daughter survived to adulthood:
- Stillborn child (1771).
- Stillborn child (1775).
- Maria Augusta Nepomucena Antonia Franziska Xaveria AloysiaMaria Auguste of SaxonyMaria Augusta Nepomucena Antonia Francisca Xaveria Aloysia of Saxony of the House of Wettin was the daughter of Frederick Augustus I of Saxony and Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld....
(b. Dresden, 21 June 1782 – d. Dresden, 14 March 1863). - Stillborn child (1797).
Without surviving male issue, Frederick Augustus was succeeded as King of Saxony by his younger brother Anton.