Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden
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Louis William, Margrave of Baden, born April 8, 1655 in Paris and died January 4, 1707 at his unfinished palace in Rastatt. He was the margrave of Baden-Baden in Germany and chief commander of the imperial army.
Louis William was a son of Prince Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden (23 September 1625 – 4 November 1669) and Princess Louise Christine of Savoy-Carignan (1 August 1627 – 7 July 1689). His father was elder son of Margrave William of Baden-Baden and died before the death of his father. His mother's brother was Eugène-Maurice of Savoy-Carignano, the father of Eugene of Savoy.
Louis was called the Türkenlouis or shield of the empire. The Turks called him the red king because his red uniform jacket made him very visible on the battlefield. He was a defender of Europe against the Turks, as was his better-known first cousin, Prince Eugene of Savoy. Louis was a military commander in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1689 he was made chief commander of the imperial army in Hungary, where he scored a resounding victory against the Ottomans at Slankamen in 1691. Shortly afterward he was sent to head the army of the Rhine in the War of the Grand Alliance.
He later led the imperial army in the War of the Spanish Succession where he captured Landau in September 1702, but soon had to withdraw across the Rhine and was defeated by the French under Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars at Friedlingen. In 1704 however, he participated in the succesfull German campaign of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Schellenberg and besieged and conquered Ingolstadt and Landau, thus drawing Bavarian troops away from the decisive Battle of Blenheim.
He was the husband of Princess Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg. They had the following children:
- Leopold Wilhelm Günsburg, (1694 – 1695 in Günsburg)
- Karl Josef, (1697 in Augsburg – 1703 in Schlackenwerth)
- Margrave Ludwig Georg Simpert, (7 June 1702 in Ettlingen – 22. October 1761 in Rastatt)
- Wilhelm Georg Simbert, (1703 in Aschaffenburg – 1709 in Baden-Baden)
- Margrave August Georg Simpert, (14 January 1706 – 21. October 1771 in Rastatt)
- Charlotte, (1696 Günsburg – 1700)
- Wilhelmine, (* 1700 in Schlackenwerth – 1702 in Schlackenwerth)
- Luise, (1701 in Nürnberg – 1707)
- Auguste Marie Johanna, (10. November 1704 in Aschaffenburg – 8. August 1726 in Paris)
