Friedrich II. (Baden, Grand Duke)

Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden

Friedrich II. (Full name Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leopold August, called Fritz ) (born July 9, 1857 in Karlsruhe , † August 9, 1928 in Badenweiler ) was the last Grand Duke of Baden from 1907 to 1918 .

Life

Youth and education

Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden

The son of Grand Duke Friedrich I and Luise of Prussia was initially taught by a private teacher without having any contact with people of the same age. To make this contact possible for him, he was taught at the Grand Ducal Friedrichs-Gymnasium Karlsruhe with eleven classmates from the educated middle class. Friedrich, however, was shy and poor in contact and also little interested in the subject matter that was to be taught to him. Although he was temporarily in danger of being transferred, he graduated from high school in 1875 and then entered military service as a lieutenant in the 1st Baden Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 109 in Karlsruhe. Since this unit was part of the Prussian army , Friedrich's grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm I , who was also King of Prussia, came to Karlsruhe to join the army.

After 1875 trips to Rome and Sicily had made, he began studying the state and law and history at the University of Heidelberg . He then studied at the University of Bonn , where he was a fellow student of his two years younger cousin Prince Wilhelm , who later became Emperor Wilhelm II. From 1878 to 1879, Friedrich then studied in Freiburg . As in his school career, Friedrich showed little interest in the university either. Basically, he did not study like his fellow classmates, but only attended lectures. As heir to the throne, he should gain as many experiences as possible, including at university, without attaining a regular university degree. As a student, Friedrich became a member of the Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg , Borussia Bonn , Suevia Heidelberg and the connection between Rupertia and Heidelberg.

Member of the Baden Estates Assembly

As Prince of the House of Baden, Friedrich was a member of the First Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly from 1875 to 1906 , but only attended the meetings personally in 1875/76 and 1903 to 1906.

Military career

Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich as a staff officer with the star of the House Order of Loyalty

In October 1880 Friedrich joined the 1st Guards Regiment on foot in Potsdam as a soldier in the Prussian Army . After his marriage in 1885, he was transferred to the 5th Baden Infantry Regiment No. 113 in Freiburg im Breisgau in the Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich Barracks , later named after him, then served in Berlin from 1891 to 1893, and then again in Freiburg until 1897 to be used. In 1897 he was appointed commanding general of the VIII Army Corps in Koblenz by Kaiser Wilhelm II , where he was garrison until 1901 . In Koblenz, among other things, Paul von Hindenburg was Chief of Staff under the command of Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich. In 1902 he resigned from the army because as Hereditary Grand Duke he was supposed to support the aged Grand Duke in Karlsruhe and Kaiser Wilhelm II had refused his request to take over command of the XIV Army Corps , which was stationed in Baden, for official reasons. After retiring from active service in the army, Friedrich was promoted to Colonel General and Field Marshal General. For health reasons, he was no longer able to take up service during the First World War.

Friedrich held the following ranks during his military career:

• 1875: Second Lieutenant
• 1881: Prime Lieutenant
• 1882: captain
• 1884: Major
• 1889: Colonel
• 1891: Major General
• 1893: Lieutenant General
• 1897: General of the Infantry
• 1905: Colonel General with the rank of General Field Marshal

He stood à la suite of the 1st Guards Regiment on foot and the 1st Guards Uhlan Regiment in Potsdam and the Imperial 1st Sea Battalion in Kiel.

marriage

Friedrich married Princess Hilda of Nassau on September 20, 1885 . The wedding took place at Hohenburg Castle near Lenggries , owned by the Nassau family. Hilda was the youngest daughter of Duke Adolf von Nassau , whose duchy had been annexed by Prussia in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War. The marriage of Adolf's daughter as a member of the Hohenzollern family was also one of the reasons why Berlin received no objection when he became Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 1890 . The marriage of Friedrich and Hilda remained childless, and because of their shyness, both could never achieve the popularity of Grand Duke Friedrich I and Grand Duchess Luise. On August 8, 1927, the two adopted Berthold , the son of Max von Baden . The reason for this was the fact that the house assets would otherwise have passed to the Republic of Baden after his death in accordance with the severance payment agreement of May 7, 1919 , because they could only be inherited in the marital male line of the grand ducal house.

Reign

20 gold marks from 1911 with the portrait of Friedrich II.

Friedrich had already taken over the reign from November 1881 to October 1882 because his father was seriously ill with typhus . He took over the government after the death of Frederick I on September 28, 1907. In essence, he continued his liberal policies. During his reign, the Mannheim University of Commerce was founded, from which the University of Mannheim emerged (1908) and the extension of the gallery wing of the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (1909), which his father had planned and which was dedicated to the work of Hans Thoma .

His governments were led by the ministers of state Alexander von Dusch (1905–1917) and Heinrich von Bodman (1917–1918). After Bodman's resignation, the last government of Frederick II was formed on November 10, 1918 under the Social Democrat Anton Geiß , without the Grand Duke participating in its appointment. After shootings broke out in front of the palace in Karlsruhe, Friedrich initially retired to Zwingenberg Palace . On November 22, 1918, he signed the certificate at Langenstein Castle near Eigeltingen in Hegau, with which he renounced the Baden throne.

Langenstein Castle

Last years

After his resignation from the throne, Friedrich II lived with Hilda at Langenstein Castle as a guest of Count Robert Douglas (1880–1955) and moved to Freiburg in 1920. In the following years he almost went blind and at most traveled to Baden or Badenweiler for cures .

He is buried in the grand ducal grave chapel in the pheasant garden in Karlsruhe.

Order and Order

Frederick was Knight of the Black Eagle , of Andrew's Order , Annunziaten the Order , St. Hubert Order , Elephant Order and Seraphinenordens .

As Grand Duke he was Grand Master of the Baden Order ( House Order of Loyalty , Military Karl Friedrich Order of Merit , Order of Berthold the First and Order of the Zähringer Lion ).

Naming

The former Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich barracks in Koblenz was named after Friedrich II .

genealogy

See also : Stammliste des Haus Baden

literature

• Wilhelm Ilgenstein, Anna Ilgenstein-Katterfeld : Friedrich I and Friedrich II, the last Grand Dukes of Baden: a memorial book for the 25th anniversary of Friedrich II Müller's death , Karlsruhe 1954.
• Lothar Machtan : Prince Max von Baden: The last chancellor of the emperor. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-42407-0 .
• Leonhard Müller: Friedrich II. As Hereditary Grand Duke of Baden (1857–1907). New sources in the General State Archives Karlsruhe. In: ZGORh 145, 1997, p. 323.
• Leonhard Müller: Friedrich II. Grand Duke of Baden. 1857-1928. In: Gerhard Thaddey / Joachim Fischer (ed.): Lebensbilder aus Baden-Württemberg, 20, 2001, pp. [341] –366.
• Uwe A. Oster: The Grand Dukes of Baden (1806-1918). , Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7917-2084-5 .

Web links

Commons : Friedrich II.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden in the Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
• museum-digital: World War I medal with portrait of Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden, 1915
• Speeches by Friedrich II. In the Baden state parliament in the digital collections of the Baden state library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ludwig Bauer, Bernhard Gißler: The members of the First Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly from 1819–1912. 5th edition. Fidelitas, Karlsruhe 1913, pp. 44-62.
2. ↑ wiki-de.genealogy.net
3. ↑ Lothar Machtan: Prince Max von Baden: The last chancellor of the emperor. Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-42407-0 , p. 167.
4. ↑ Lothar Machtan, op. Cit., Pp. 513-514.

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich I.	Grand Duke of Baden 1907–1918	––
Friedrich I.	Head of the House of Baden 1907–1928	Berthold