Ludwig of Württemberg

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Ludwig of Württemberg, around 1800

Ludwig ( Louis ) Friedrich Alexander von Württemberg (born August 30, 1756 in Treptow an der Rega ; † September 20, 1817 in Kirchheim unter Teck ) was a Prince of Württemberg and a Prussian field marshal .

origin

Ludwig was the second son of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg and his wife Friederike Dorothea Sophia von Brandenburg-Schwedt , eldest daughter of Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg-Schwedt and Sophie Dorothea Marie von Prussia , a sister of the Prussian King Friedrich II.

Life

Duke Ludwig of Württemberg

On June 18, 1775, he entered Prussian service as a lieutenant colonel . On October 25, 1776 he came to the "Möllendorff" infantry regiment (No. 39) , and on April 13, 1778, he became its commander . He took part in the battles near Georgenthal and Brüx in the War of the Bavarian Succession . On June 17, 1779 he was promoted to colonel . On March 16, 1782 he took over the cuirassier regiment "Mauschwitz" (No. 5) as head of the regiment and was promoted to major general on September 25, 1782 . In March 1790 the Polish-Prussian alliance against Russia was concluded. Ludwig was considered a possible future heir to the throne for the Polish crown. In 1790 he was allowed to enter the Polish service and became lieutenant general and governor of Warsaw. On August 11, 1790 he also became a Prussian lieutenant general.

At the beginning of the Russo-Polish War in 1792, Poland's ally, the Kingdom of Prussia , unilaterally left the anti-Russia defensive alliance of 1790 when Russian troops marched into Poland. Ludwig, who had been loaned to Poland as commander of the Lithuanian troops, was the brother-in-law of the Russian crown prince Paul , who married his sister Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg in 1776 . Ludwig pretended to be sick and refused to fight the Russian troops ; thus he contributed not insignificantly to the Polish defeat in the battle of Mir near Nowogródek on June 10th. Because of this betrayal , his Polish wife divorced him when it became public. From then on, he was considered a traitor by anti-Russian circles in Poland.

He also took part in the First Coalition War against France. On June 24, 1796 he became governor of Ansbach and Bayreuth. His promotion to general of the cavalry took place on May 24, 1798. Ludwig received his departure due to illness on March 22, 1800 with the character of a field marshal.

As early as June 1, 1786, he was invested as a knight of the Order of St. John .

Ludwig, called Louis , was in enormous debt all his life, as he lived far beyond his means and also had to bear extremely high divorce costs. Thanks to the good relations with the Russian imperial family - his sister was the Russian Tsarina Maria Feodorovna - he served in the Russian army and as governor of Riga . In 1807 he moved to Württemberg with his family. King Friedrich I of Württemberg gave his unloved younger brother command of the "Guard and House Troops", his "Maison du roi". The royal court changed between Stuttgart and the summer residence Ludwigsburg . A suitable palace was available for Louis and his family in both cities. From 1811, the family was assigned Kirchheim Castle as their place of residence.

family

Maria Anna Czartoryska was married to the duke between 1784 and 1793. The marriage ended in divorce.

On October 28, 1784, Ludwig married the Polish princess Maria Anna Czartoryska (1768–1854), second daughter of Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and Izabela Czartoryska , née. Countess of Flemming . From the unhappy marriage, which was divorced in 1793, there was only one son, Adam (1792-1847), who remained with the father after the divorce and later became a Russian lieutenant general.

His second marriage was on January 28, 1797, in the Hermitage in Bayreuth, with Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (1780-1857), the youngest daughter of Prince Karl Christian of Nassau-Weilburg and Wilhelmina Karolina of Orange-Nassau , Princess of Orange. The marriage had five children:

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Priesdorff, (lit.).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Royal Württemberg Court and State Manual , 1815, p. 7.

literature
personal data
SURNAME Ludwig of Württemberg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Louis of Württemberg; Ludwig Friedrich Alexander of Württemberg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Württemberg, Field Marshal General
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1756
PLACE OF BIRTH Treptow
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1817
Place of death Kirchheim unter Teck