Albert (Saxony)
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Albert von Sachsen (born April 23, 1828 in Dresden , † June 19, 1902 in Sibyllenort ), full name Friedrich August Albert Anton Ferdinand Joseph Karl Maria Baptist Nepomuk Wilhelm Xaver Georg Fidelis, Duke of Saxony , from the house of the Albertine Wettins was from King of Saxony until his death in 1873 .
Life
Albert was the second child and first son of Johann von Sachsen and his wife Amalie Auguste von Bayern . Even as a child he showed great interest in the military and was trained in all branches of service. Friedrich Albert von Langenn was responsible for his education . After passing his school-leaving examination in 1845, Albert attended the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn , where he met Friedrich von Baden and studied law and political science.
Early military career
On April 28, 1843, Prince Albert entered the active military service of the Saxon Army as a Junker in the Leib-Infanterie-Regiment . With his military companion Major von Linsingen he moved into the infantry barracks in Neustadt and received his patent as a lieutenant on October 24th . On March 13, 1845 he was promoted to first lieutenant , and from the end of November 1847 he moved to Bonn to study. After his return, he first served in the 4th company of the foot artillery regiment from April 1848, then the 7th and 9th companies were entrusted to him. He spent the Schleswig-Holstein War of 1849 with the artillery, where he was assigned Rittmeister Adolf Senfft von Pilsach as adjutant. He took part as a captain in the war against Denmark and distinguished himself on April 13, 1849 when he first attacked the Düppeler Schanzen . Prince Albert, who left the theater of war on July 15, reached Berlin on July 18, and a few days later was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry by the King in Pillnitz and the Order of Pour le by the King of Prussia Mérite excellent. On July 19, 1849, he was promoted to major and on September 27, he was appointed commander of the 4th Battalion of the 1st Infantry Brigade and thus commander of the Bautzen garrison . On May 16, 1850, his royal uncle Friedrich August II granted him the license to lieutenant colonel and on August 11 he was appointed colonel and commander of the light infantry brigade in Leipzig . Prince Albert was placed at the head of the 3rd Brigade on December 21, 1851 and promoted to major general on October 10, 1851 . On October 21, 1852, in place of Lieutenant General von Rockhausen was appointed commander of the 1st Infantry Division and promoted to Lieutenant General.
Crown Prince of Saxony, participated in the war in 1866 and 1870/71
With the death of King Friedrich August II. In 1854, Albert received the status of Crown Prince and became increasingly politically active. In addition to his chairmanship of the State Council, Albert also helped draft new bills. In 1866, Crown Prince Albert was given the task of mobilizing the Saxon army by his father. Albert led the Saxon troops against Prussia in the German War and fought at Münchengrätz and Gitschin , among others . In the decisive battle of Königgrätz , the Saxons under Crown Prince Albert moved to the heights at Problus and thus covered the left wing of the Austrian Northern Army under Feldzeugmeister Benedek against the action of the Prussian Elbarmee under General Herwarth von Bittenfeld. After the defeat on Austria's side, Saxony joined the North German Confederation in 1866 . Crown Prince Albert took command of the XII. (I. Royal Saxon) Army Corps , as which the Saxon army was integrated into the new federal army.
In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, the corps initially belonged to the 2nd Army and distinguished itself on the 16th and 18th. August 1870 in the battle of Gravelotte ( "Bataille de Saint-Privat" ). On August 19, the Maas Army (4th Army) was formed and Albert took over command. On August 30, 1870, he was victorious in the battle at Beaumont . The newly formed Meuse Army defeated the French Army of Patrice de Mac-Mahons together with the 3rd Army, which also included Emperor Napoleon III. found on September 1, 1870 at the Battle of Sedan . With the capitulation of the French troops and the capture of the French emperor on September 2nd, this battle was decisive for the outcome of the war. Albert was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross in Compiègne on March 22, 1871. After his return home, on June 16, he was appointed General Inspector of the First Army Inspection , to which the I , II and X Army Corps were subordinate. On July 11, 1871, when he entered Dresden, Wilhelm I appointed him the first non-Prussian field marshal .
King of Saxony
After the death of his father on October 29, 1873, Albert became King of Saxony. He continued the classification of Saxony in the German Empire led by Prussia . Central aspects of his peace-keeping policy were foreign policy reconciliation with Prussia and the maintenance of the federal order in the German Reich.
In terms of domestic policy, King Albert sought to reorganize the state administration. His reign included, among other things, the improvement of poor relief and a comprehensive reform of the tax system in 1878 and in 1887 the transfer of the Saxon state coin from Dresden to Muldenhütten .
In 1879 he inaugurated the new building of the prince's school Sankt Afra in Meißen , on September 24, 1891 the new building of the prince's school St. Augustin in Grimma .
With the new electoral law of 1896, Albert introduced three-class voting rights .
marriage
Albert von Sachsen married Carola von Wasa-Holstein-Gottorp in Dresden on June 18, 1853 , the only daughter of Prince Gustav von Wasa and Princess Luise von Baden . Carola founded the Albertverein named after her husband in 1867 , which was dedicated to voluntary nursing and opened the Carolahaus in 1878 . For the 25th anniversary of the association, King Albert donated the Carola Medal for helpful charity in 1892 .
King Albert's marriage to Carola remained childless. After his death in 1902, his younger brother Georg became the new King of Saxony.
Honors
The earliest known honor is the naming of the observation tower on the Collmberg near Oschatz after the then Prince Albert. The tower was built in 1853 and inaugurated in 1854. In 1877 King Albert inaugurated a Dresden suburb , the Albertstadt . At that time it was the largest contiguous barracks in Germany.
In addition to the former garrison suburb , other buildings and places in Dresden are named after him to this day, such as the Albert Bridge , the Alberthafen , the Albertplatz and the Albertstrasse as well as the Albertinum . On the occasion of King Albert's 70th birthday and his 25th anniversary in government, the city of Dresden also donated the Albertpark in 1898 , which belongs to the Neustadt district as part of the Dresden Heath . The King Albert monument (equestrian statue) erected posthumously on the Schloßplatz in 1906 was melted down after the Second World War. Its base is now back in its original location and has been carrying the Rietschel sculpture of Friedrich August I , the first king of Saxony , since 2008 .
In Leipzig, the king was also honored in several ways:
The Krystallpalast was expanded from 1886/1887 according to plans by the architect Arwed Roßbach : The "Alberthalle" - named after the Saxon king - was built, a dome structure with a span of 46 meters. The Alberthalle enabled circus, theater, concert and variety performances with 3,000 to 3,500 spectators each.
The new building of the university library opened in 1891 was named Bibliotheca Albertina and the university building erected from 1894 to 1896 the name Albertinum , the latter was blown up in 1968 together with the St. Pauli University Church at the instigation of the SED for ideological reasons to make room for a new, socialist university . 1894 was the first description in the scientific pennant carrier ( Pteridophorba Albertine ) in honor of King Albert the epithet Albertine awarded. In the same year, his wife received a comparable honor: the Carola bird of paradise was named after her. As in Dresden, Leipzig also gave a park its name on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the king's throne in 1898. Today the King Albert Park is part of the Clara Zetkin Park. The König-Albert-Gymnasium , named after him in 1900 , fell victim to the bombing raids on the city in 1943.
- Other honors (selection)
- SMS King Albert
- King Albert Museum (Chemnitz)
- King Albert Museum (Zwickau)
- several King Albert Towers
- King Albert Monument (equestrian statue) in Aue (removed after 1945)
- King Albert monument on the Windberg near Freital
- King Albert monument on the market in Radeberg (melted down in 1940)
- Albertsbahn AG with its eponymous route from Dresden to Tharandt
- King Albert Fountain in Plauen
- König-Albert-Stift in Plauen (today vocational high school and medical vocational school)
- Albertbad in Bad Elster
- Albertsberg district of Auerbach / Vogtl.
- Albert Park in Freiberg
- Albertplatz in Radebeul
- Albertplatz in Schöneck / Vogtl.
- Albertstein in Radebeul - Wahnsdorf
- Albertstrasse in Siebenlehn
- King Albert relief on the Lauenturm in Bautzen
- King Albert statue in the courtyard of the St. Augustin grammar school in Grimma
- König-Albert-Werk (1898–1930; originally in Lichtentanne , now part of Zwickau )
ancestors
literature
- Konrad Sturmhoefel : King Albert of Saxony. A picture of life. Voigtländer, Leipzig 1898.
- Georg von Schimpff: King Albert: Fifty Years Soldier. Baensch, Dresden 1893.
- Joseph Kürschner (Ed.): King Albert and Sachsenland. A commemorative publication on the 70th birthday and 25th anniversary of the reign of the monarch. Schwarz, Berlin 1898.
- The memory of King Albert of Saxony. v. Zahn & Jaensch, Dresden 1902.
- Ernst von Körner: King Albert of Saxony. The soldier and general. Oestergaard, Berlin-Schöneberg 1936.
- Bernd Rüdiger : True stories about King Albert. Tauchaer Verlag. Taucha 1994.
- Bernhard Schwertfeger: Albert, King of Saxony. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 131 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Albert Herzog zu Sachsen: The Wettins in life pictures. Styria publishing house. Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-222-12301-2 .
- Thomas Eugen Scheerer (ed.): Albert von Sachsen. Crown prince, soldier, king. (= Collecting, researching, preserving, exhibiting. 4). Military History Museum, Dresden 2002.
- Working group of Saxon military history (ed.): Sibyllenort and King Albert of Saxony. Special issue on the 100th anniversary of King Albert's death. Saxon Military History Working Group, Dresden 2003.
Web links
- Literature by and about Albert in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Albert in the German Digital Library
- Literature by and about Albert in the Saxon Bibliography
- King Albert as a politician with special consideration of social and economic policy Lecture by Albert Prince of Saxony Duke of Saxony and Elmira Princess of Saxony Duchess of Saxony
Individual evidence
- ↑ NDB, p. 131.
- ↑ a b c Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon. Volume 1, Leipzig 1905, p. 267.
- ↑ The Meuse Army was made up of the Guard , IV and XII. Army Corps and the 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions .
- ↑ Ansgar Reiß (Ed.), Ulrich Herr, Jens Nguyen: The German Generals as well as War Ministries and General Staffs from 1871 to 1914. Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt, Volume 10, Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-902526-60- 1 , p. 226 f.
- ^ See Albert Prince of Saxony: King Albert as a politician .
- ↑ Horst-Peter Wolff (Ed.): Biographical lexicon for care history . Volume 2. Urban & Fischer, Jena 2001, p. 118.
- ↑ Frank Hörügel: The Collm Towers . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , Muldental edition, January 16, 2017, p. 27.
- ^ Friedrich Kummer (Ed.): Guide through Dresden and the Elbe area . Publishing house of the Association for the Promotion of Dresden and Tourism, Dresden 1910, p. 71.
- ^ Thomas Topfstedt: The structural development of the University of Leipzig from 1946 to 1989 . In: Miehaela Marek and Thomas Topfstedt (eds.): History of the University of Leipzig 1409-2009. tape 5 , History of the Leipzig University built in an urban context. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2009, p. 441-515, here: p. 479 ff .
- ↑ König-Albert-Stift
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Johann |
King of Saxony 1873–1902 |
George |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Albert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wettin, Friedrich August Albert Anton Ferdinand Joseph Karl Maria Baptist Nepomuk Wilhelm Xaver Georg Fidelis von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Saxony |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 23, 1828 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 19, 1902 |
| Place of death | Sibyllenort |