Maximilian II of Bavaria

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Maximilian II
King of Bavaria

Reign	March 28, 1848 - March 10, 1864
Born	November 28, 1811
Died	March 10, 1864
	Munich
Predecessor	Ludwig I
Successor	Ludwig II
Consort	Marie of Prussia
Issue	Ludwig II, Otto I
Royal House	Wittelsbach
Father	Ludwig I
Mother	Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Maximilian II of Bavaria (November 28, 1811 – March 10, 1864) was king of Bavaria from 1848 until 1864. He was son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

[edit] Crown Prince

After studying at Göttingen and Berlin and travelling in Germany, Italy and Greece, he was introduced by his father into the council of state (1836). From the first he showed a studious disposition, declaring on one occasion that had he not been born in a royal cradle his choice would have been to become a professor. As crown prince, in the chateau of Hohenschwangau near Füssen, which he had rebuilt with excellent taste, he gathered about him an intimate society of artists and men of learning and devoted his time to scientific and historical study.

[edit] King

When the abdication of Ludwig I (March 28, 1848) called him suddenly to the throne, his choice of ministers promised a liberal regime.

The progress of the revolution, however, gave him pause. He strenuously opposed the unionist plans of the Frankfurt Parliament, refused to recognize the imperial constitution devised by it, and assisted Austria in restoring the federal diet and in carrying out the federal execution in Hesse and Holstein. Although, however, from 1850 onwards his government tended in the direction of absolutism, he refused to become the tool of the clerical reaction, and even incurred the bitter criticism of the Ultramontanes by inviting a number of celebrated men of learning and science (e.g. Geibel, Liebig and Sybel) to Munich, regardless of their religious views. Finally, in 1859, he dismissed the reactionary ministry of Ludwig Karl Heinrich von der Pfordten, and met the wishes of his people for a moderate constitutional government.

In his German policy he was guided by the desire to maintain the union of the princes, and hoped to attain this as against the perilous rivalry of Austria and Prussia by the creation of a league of the "middle" and small states - the so-called Trias. In 1863, however, seeing what he thought to be a better way, he supported the project of reform proposed by Austria at the Furstentag of Frankfurt. The failure of this proposal, and the attitude of Austria towards the Confederation and in the Schleswig-Holstein question, undeceived him; but before he could deal with the new situation created by the outbreak of the war with Denmark he died suddenly at Munich, on March 10, 1864. He is buried in the Theatinerkirche in Munich.

Maximilian was a man of amiable qualities and of intellectual attainments far above the average, but as a king he was hampered by constant ill health, which compelled him to be often abroad, and when at home to live much in the country. By his wife, Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig, daughter of Prince William of Prussia, whom he married in 1842, he had two sons, Ludwig II of Bavaria and Otto of Bavaria, both of whom lost their reason.