Friedrich Karl of Hesse
Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin Landgrave of Hesse (born May 1, 1868 at Gut Panker ( Holstein ); † May 28, 1940 in Kassel ) was elected King of Finland on October 9, 1918 , but did not accept the election and renounced on May 14 December 1918 to the Finnish crown. Fredrik Kaarle ( Fredrik Karl in Swedish ) had been proposed as the regent name . The name Väinö I. mentioned in some sources goes back to a gloss by the Finnish humorist Väinö Nuorteva .
Life
Friedrich Karl was a son of the titular Landgrave Friedrich Wilhelm of Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim and his wife Anna of Prussia . Formally he would have been heir to the throne of the Electorate of Hesse . This was, however, after the German war of 1866 Prussia annexed been. In 1891 Friedrich Karl was involved in the Kotze affair . In 1893 he married Margarethe von Prussia (1872–1954), the youngest daughter of Emperor Friedrich III. As a result, he became brother-in-law of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. From 1888 he was a corps bow bearer of Suevia Freiburg .
King of Finland
After the October Revolution , Finland, which had previously been a Russian Grand Duchy , declared its independence on December 6, 1917 . This was recognized on January 4, 1918 by the ruling Bolsheviks under Lenin . Lenin had already signaled his approval shortly before, during his exile in Finland.
After the Finnish civil war , a violent dispute broke out over the future form of government in Finland. Finally, on October 9, 1918, parliament - to the exclusion of the Social Democrats - elected Friedrich Karl as king. At that time, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was serving as imperial administrator . The legitimacy of the election was based on the Swedish constitution of King Gustav III. from 1772, on the basis of which the Russian tsars had ruled as grand dukes of Finland. However, at the time of the king's election, it was disputed whether such a process was legitimate on the basis of this constitution. The relevant paragraphs regulated the electoral procedure in the event that the king died without leaving a legally capable successor, but did not provide for any explicit regulation in the event that the death of the ruler (in this case Tsar Nicholas II) also did the monarchy fell.
Strengthened the links to which the election of a German Prince German Reich , which Finland and in particular its anti-Bolshevik forces during the Finnish civil war through arms sales and invasion by taking Helsinki had supported. The development of Finland into a German protectorate was within the realm of the possible. Similar developments took place in the Baltic States with the election of a German prince as King Mindaugas II of Lithuania and the establishment of a German-dominated United Baltic Duchy consisting of Estonia and Latvia .
Friedrich Karl did not finally accept the election; to a request from Finland, he responded with a letter in which he politely asked for a delay until a final decision was reached. The defeat of Germany in World War I and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II after the November Revolution made a German prince no longer appear opportune on the Finnish throne, and Great Britain and France increased their pressure on Finland to refrain from the plan for a monarchy. Friedrich Karl had to react to this changed situation by abdicating the throne on December 14, 1918. At the same time, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud resigned from the office of imperial administrator, and Gustaf Mannerheim became his successor. Mannerheim, who was a general in the army of the Russian tsar until 1917 , made the U-turn from monarchy to republic in 1918/19 as imperial administrator. From 1944 to 1946 he was to be its president himself.
Later years
After his visually impaired brother Alexander Friedrich (1863-1945) resigned, Friedrich Karl became head of the House of Hessen-Kassel in 1925 . He died in Kassel in 1940 at the age of 72 from the long-term effects of an injury from the First World War and was buried in the chapel of Kronberg Castle in the Taunus.
progeny
There were two pairs of twins among the six children. The two eldest sons died in the First, the youngest in the Second World War.
- Friedrich Wilhelm (1893–1916), killed in Romania
- Maximilian (1894–1914), killed in Belgium
- Philipp (1896–1980)
- Wolfgang (1896–1989)
- Richard (1901-1969)
- Christoph (1901–1943), killed in Italy
ancestors
| Pedigree of Friedrich Karl of Hesse (1868–1940) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great grandparents |
Prince |
Prince |
King Friedrich Wilhelm III. (Prussia) (1770–1840) |
Grand Duke Karl Friedrich (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach) (1783–1853) |
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| Grandparents |
Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen -Kassel (1787–1867) |
Prince Carl of Prussia (1801–1883) |
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| parents |
Landgrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel (1820–1884) |
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|
Landgrave Friedrich Karl of Hesse (1868–1940) |
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literature
- Anders Huldén: Finland's German King Adventure 1918. Reinbek 1997. Published by: German-Finnish Society e. V. and published by: Traute Warnke Verlag, ISBN 3-9801591-9-1 .
- Rainer von Hessen: King in the "Land of Serious Eyes". The Finnish offer to the throne to Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse in the summer of 1918. In: Bernd Heidenreich u. a. (Ed.): Crowns, Wars, Arts. The House of Hesse in the 19th and 20th centuries. Frankfurt 2009, pp. 190-204.
- Manfred Menger: The failure of Duke Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg's ambitions for the Finnish royal throne in 1918 . In: Finland Studies III. Volume 3. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 113.
- Jonathan Petropoulos: Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-19-979607-6 .
Web links
- Hessen, Friedrich Karl Landgrave of. Hessian biography. (As of November 28, 2019). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marjaliisa Hentilä, Seppo Hentilä: The German Finland 1918 . Scoventa Verlag , Bad Vilbel 2018, ISBN 978-3-942073-48-6 , pp. 320-332 (454 pages).
- ^ Letter from Friedrich Karl to the Finnish ambassador in Edvard Hjelt. In: histdoc.net . December 14, 1918, accessed September 1, 2019 (Finnish).
- ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 36/445
- ↑ Protocol to inform Friedrich Karl about the decision of the Finnish parliament on the election of a king. In: histdoc.net . November 4, 1918, Retrieved September 1, 2019 (Finnish).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Friedrich |
Head of the House of Hessen-Kassel 1925–1940 |
Philip |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hessen, Friedrich Karl von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Väinö I .; Hessen, Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin von; Fredrik Kaarle |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prince and Landgrave of Hesse and King of Finland for two months |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1868 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Panker |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 1940 |
| Place of death | kassel |