Leopold II. Maximilian (Anhalt-Dessau)

Prince Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau (1745)

. Leopold II Maximilian, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (* 25. December 1700 in Dessau , † 16th December 1751 ibid) was reigning Prince of Anhalt-Dessau of the House of Ascania and also a Prussian general.

Life

Leopold was a son of Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau (1676–1747) from his marriage to Anna Luise Föhse (1677–1745). He accompanied his father, Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, who was not yet nine years old, with his military duties in the Prussian army. In 1715, as a lieutenant colonel , he was appointed chief of the newly established regiment no. 27 on foot in Stendal . In 1724 he became a knight of the Black Eagle Order .

In 1733 he led the execution troops against Mühlhausen in Thuringia , was involved in the campaign on the Rhine in the War of the Polish Succession , during the First Silesian War in the Prussian service he conquered Glogau by surprise, Breslau by cunning and had the second command after King Friedrich II at Chotusitz .

Appointed Field Marshal General on the battlefield , he entered government after his father's death († April 7, 1747) and was also his successor as chief of the Anhalt on foot regiment . His older brother Wilhelm Gustav had died ten years before his father and his children from unequal marriage were excluded from the succession in Anhalt-Dessau. He tried to reduce the high national debt he found by restricting the court keeping. In 1749 he founded the Leopolddankstiftung to support poor men. He had Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff start the construction of the Dessau Palace , but died in 1751 after only four years in government.

Friedrich II named a place founded in 1748, Leopoldshagen in Western Pomerania, after him.

Marriage and offspring

. Leopold II married on May 25, 1737 Bernburg with Gisela Agnes (1722-1751), daughter of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen , with whom he had the following children:

• Leopold III. Friedrich Franz (1740–1817), Prince of Anhalt-Dessau ⚭ 1767 Princess Luise Henriette of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1750–1811)
• Luise (1742–1743)
• Henriette Katharina Agnes (1744–1799) ⚭ 1779 Baron Johann Jost von Loën (1737–1803)
• Johann Georg (1748–1811) Prussian general
• Maria Leopoldine (1746–1769) ⚭ 1765 Prince Simon August zur Lippe-Detmold (1727–1782)
• Kasimire (1749–1778) ⚭ 1769 Prince Simon August zur Lippe-Detmold (1727–1782)
• Albert Friedrich (1750–1811) ⚭ 1774 Countess Henriette zur Lippe-Weissenfeld (1753–1795)

literature

• Ferdinand Siebigk:  Leopold Maximilian, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, pp. 352-356.

Web links

Commons : Leopold II. Maximilian (Anhalt-Dessau)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Correspondence and other documents from Leopold II. Maximilian von Anhalt-Dessau in the State Archives Saxony-Anhalt, Dessau department

predecessor	Office	successor
Leopold I.	Prince of Anhalt-Dessau 1747–1751	Leopold III.