Prince Maximilian of Baden
Encyclopedia
Maximilian of Baden (10 July 1867 – 6 November 1929) was a German prince and politician. He was heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden
and in 1918 briefly served as chancellor of Germany, overseeing the transformation into a parliamentary system.
, Maximilian was the son of Prince Wilhelm of Baden
, third son of Leopold
, grand duke of Baden, and Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg
, a niece of Alexander II
, Czar of Russia
.
He was named after his maternal grandfather, Maximilian Jevgenevich de Beauharnais
, duke of Leuchtenberg
, and bore a resemblance to his cousin, Napoleon III, emperor of the French
.
Following the death of his father in 1897, he was heir to the grand-ducal throne of his cousin Frederick II
.
in the last days of the war. Although he had serious reservations about the way the German General Staff
wanted to conduct negotiations, he accepted the charge, and appointed a government that for the first time included representatives of the Social Democrats
, Friedrich Ebert
and Philipp Scheidemann
.
The government's efforts to secure an armistice were interrupted by the outbreak of revolution in Germany in early November. Maximilian urged Emperor William II to abdicate. Despite similar advice by Paul von Hindenburg
and Wilhelm Groener
of the General Staff, the Emperor considered abdication only as Emperor, not as King of Prussia. On 9 November 1918, Maximilian went ahead and announced the abdication anyway, and then resigned in favor of Friedrich Ebert.
of Baden, spent the rest of his life in retirement. In 1928, following the death of Grand Duke Frederick II, he became head of the House of Baden. He died at Salem the following year.
, eldest daughter of Ernest Augustus II, crown prince of Hanover
and Thyra, princess of Denmark. The couple had two children:
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
and in 1918 briefly served as chancellor of Germany, overseeing the transformation into a parliamentary system.
Life
Born in Baden-BadenBaden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
, Maximilian was the son of Prince Wilhelm of Baden
Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1829–1897)
Prince Louis William Augustus of Baden was a Prussian general and politician. He was the father of Prince Maximilian of Baden, the last Minister President of the Kingdom of Prussia and last Chancellor of the German Empire...
, third son of Leopold
Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden succeeded in 1830 as the fourth Grand Duke of Baden....
, grand duke of Baden, and Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, also known as Princess Maria Romanovskya, Maria, Princess Romanovskaja, or Marie Maximiliane was the eldest daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.-Family and early...
, a niece of Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, Czar of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
He was named after his maternal grandfather, Maximilian Jevgenevich de Beauharnais
Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais , 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, 3rd Prince of Venice Prince des Français and Hereditary Prince of the Kingdom of Italy and claimant to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of...
, duke of Leuchtenberg
Duke of Leuchtenberg
Duke of Leuchtenberg was a title created by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria and awarded to his son Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus. Little is known about this title until its re-creation by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria on 14 November 1817 and awarded to his son-in-law Eugène de Beauharnais...
, and bore a resemblance to his cousin, Napoleon III, emperor of the French
Emperor of the French
The Emperor of the French was the title used by the Bonaparte Dynasty starting when Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 02 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, in Paris with the Crown of...
.
Following the death of his father in 1897, he was heir to the grand-ducal throne of his cousin Frederick II
Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden
Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden was the last Grand Duke of Baden.-Life:He became Grand Duke on 28 September 1907, after the death of his father Frederick I...
.
Chancellor
Noted as a liberal before and during the First World War, he was appointed Chancellor of Germany in October 1918 in order to negotiate an armistice with the AlliesAllies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
in the last days of the war. Although he had serious reservations about the way the German General Staff
German General Staff
The German General Staff was an institution whose rise and development gave the German armed forces a decided advantage over its adversaries. The Staff amounted to its best "weapon" for nearly a century and a half....
wanted to conduct negotiations, he accepted the charge, and appointed a government that for the first time included representatives of the Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .When Ebert was elected as the leader of the SPD after the death of August Bebel, the party members of the SPD were deeply divided because of the party's support for World War I. Ebert supported the Burgfrieden and...
and Philipp Scheidemann
Philipp Scheidemann
Philipp Scheidemann was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the second Chancellor of the Weimar Republic....
.
The government's efforts to secure an armistice were interrupted by the outbreak of revolution in Germany in early November. Maximilian urged Emperor William II to abdicate. Despite similar advice by Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
and Wilhelm Groener
Wilhelm Groener
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener was a German soldier and politician.-Biography:He was born in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg, the son of a regimental paymaster. He entered the Württemberg Army in 1884, and attended the War Academy from 1893 to 1897, whereupon he was appointed to the General...
of the General Staff, the Emperor considered abdication only as Emperor, not as King of Prussia. On 9 November 1918, Maximilian went ahead and announced the abdication anyway, and then resigned in favor of Friedrich Ebert.
Later life
Prince Maximilian, MargraveMargrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
of Baden, spent the rest of his life in retirement. In 1928, following the death of Grand Duke Frederick II, he became head of the House of Baden. He died at Salem the following year.
Children
Maximilian was married to Marie LouisePrincess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland
Princess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland , Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, eldest daughter of Ernest Augustus II, crown prince of Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and Thyra, princess of Denmark. The couple had two children:
- Marie AlexandraPrincess Marie Alexandra of BadenPrincess Marie Alexandra of Baden was a Princess and Landgravine of Hesse and wife of the designated Crown Prince of Finland.-Family:...
(1 August 1902 - 29 January 1944), who married WolfgangPrince Wolfgang of HessePrince and Landgrave Wolfgang of Hesse-Kassel , was the designated Hereditary Prince of the monarchy of Finland , and as such, already called the Crown Prince of Finland officially until 14 December 1918, and also afterwards...
, landgraveLandgraveLandgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
of Hesse-KasselHesse-KasselThe Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
and a son of Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse-Kassel, designated King of FinlandMonarchy of FinlandThe nation of Finland has never been an independent sovereign monarchy: no attempt to establish one was crowned with success. When it finally became established as a modern independent nation-state, it was— despite a very brief flirtation with monarchy—in the form of a republic.-Early...
, and MargaretPrincess Margaret of PrussiaPrincess Margaret of Prussia was a daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal. She married Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse. In 1926 they became Landgrave and Landgravine of Hesse...
, princess of PrussiaHouse of HohenzollernThe House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
. Marie Alexandra was killed in a bombing of FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
by the Allies of World War IIAllies of World War IIThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. They had no children. - Berthold (24 February 1906 - 27 October 1963), who married Theodora, daughter of AndrewPrince Andrew of Greece and DenmarkPrince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark.He began military training at an early age, and was...
, prince of GreeceGreek Royal FamilyThe Greek Royal Family was a branch of the House of Glücksburg that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its first monarch was George I. He and his successors styled themselves "Kings of the Hellenes"...
and Denmark and AlicePrincess Alice of BattenbergPrincess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II....
, princess of Battenberg. Prince Berthold was the brother-in-law of Philip, duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
.
Ancestry
External links
- A Page About Max von Baden (in German)