Prince Leopold of Bavaria
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Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf, Prinz von Bayern (9 February 1846 - 28 September 1930) was born in Munich, the son of Luitpold of Bavaria (1821 - 1912) and his wife Augusta of Tuscany (1825 - 1864).
On 20 April 1873 at Vienna he married Archduchess Gisela of Austria, daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and the Empress Sissi.
Leopold entered military at the age of 16. He saw first combat during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, where he commanded an artillery battery at Kissingen and Rossbrunn. In 1870, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, sent Leopold to the battlefields of France, (Bavaria was an ally of Prussia), where he saw action at Sedan and Beauvert. For his bravery against the enemy the Prince received both the Iron Cross I and II class and the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maximilian-Joseph, the highest Bavarian military decoration. In the post-war years, Prince Leopold spent most of his time travelling, visiting Africa, Asia and countries of Europe. He remained in the Bavarian army and was finally promoted to the rank of field marshal (generalfeldmarschall) on 1 January 1905. He retired from active duty in 1913. However, his retirement did not last long. On 16 April 1915 , Prince Leopold of Bavaria was re-activated and was given command of the German 9th Army, replacing General August von Mackensen. Leopold quickly proved himself an able commander as he took Warsaw on 4 August 1915. Following this success, the Prince was put in command of Army Group Leopold, which was a combined German-Austro force in the central sector of the Eastern Front. In 1916, after the brutal summer campaigns succeeded in reversing the Brusilov Offensive against the Austrians, Prince Leopold became the Supreme Commander of the German forces on the Eastern front, replacing Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Leopold held this post for the rest of the War.
Prince Leopold of Bavaria retired again in 1918 after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had ended the war on the Eastern Front. This treaty was highly favorable to Germany, and Leopold ended his career with success. He was awarded the prestigious Pour le Merite on 9 August 1915 and Oakleaves on 25 July 1917. He died in Munich in 1930.
[edit] Family
Leopold married Archduchess Gisela of Austria and they had four children:
- Princess Elisabeth Marie of Bavaria (1874-1957), who married Otto Ludwig Philipp Graf von Seefried auf Buttenheim
- Princess Auguste Maria of Bavaria (1875-1964), who married Joseph August, Archduke of Austria
- Prince Georg of Bavaria (1880-1943)
- Prince Konrad of Bavaria (1883-1969)
Due to renunciation of his elder brother Louis of all his rights to Greek succession, Leopold technically succeeded upon their father' death in rights of the deposed Otto I, King of the Hellenes. This, a dead letter anyway, was in turn succeeded by his son George in 1930.
