John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
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John George II (German: Johann Georg II.; 17 November 1627 – 7 August 1693) was a Prince of Anhalt-Dessau from the House of Ascania. A member of the Fruchtbringenden Gesellschaft, he also served as a field marshal of Brandenburg-Prussia. He was the father of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau.
[edit] Life
John George was born in Dessau as the son of Prince John Casimir and Princess Agnes of Hesse-Kassel. In 1659 he married Henriette Katharina, daughter of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, and became a brother-in-law of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.
After the death of John Casimir on 15 July 1660, John George took over the governance of Anhalt-Dessau. He also inherited his family's claim on Aschersleben, which had been controlled by Brandenburg-Prussia since 1648.
John George entered the military of Brandenburg; Frederick William named him a Generalfeldmarschall in 1670. After France invaded Frederick William's Duchy of Cleves, John George negotiated a treaty in Vienna in June 1672 between Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Frederick William, by which each pledged to provide 12,000 troops to uphold the borders of the Peace of Westphalia in the face of French aggression. John George was chosen to lead the largely unsuccessful campaign, which led Georg von Derfflinger to temporarily resign in protest.
While campaigning against the French over Alsace in 1674, most of Frederick William's army went into winter quarters in Franconian Schweinfurt. As viceroy (Statthalter), John George commanded the troops remaining in Brandenburg. King Louis XIV of France convinced King Charles XI of Sweden to invade Brandenburg; after dispersing John George's small force, the Swedish troops went into winter quarters as well. The Prince of Dessau took part in Frederick William's retaliatory campaign in 1675, which resulted in the Battle of Fehrbellin.
In 1683 John George travelled to Passau ostensibly to discuss with the emperor Brandenburg's involvement in the Ottoman wars, although his main aim was to advise against another French war. The prince reaffirmed Brandenburg's alliance with Austria.
John George died in Berlin and was succeeded by his son Leopold I, a Prussian general known as "the Old Dessauer".
[edit] Children
- Amalie Ludovika (born and died 1660)
- Henriette Amalie (born and died 1662)
- Friedrich Kasimir (1663-1665)
- Elisabeth Albertine (1665-1706) - married Heinrich von Sachsen-Weißenfels-Barby (1657-1728)
- Henriette Amalie (1666-1726) - married Heinrich Casimir II von Nassau-Dietz (1657-1696)
- Luise Sofie (1667-1678)
- Marie Eleonore (1671-1756) - married Prinz Jerzy Radziwiłł (died 1689)
- Henriette Agnes (1674-1729)
- Leopold I (1676-1747)
- Johanna Charlotte (1682-1750) - married Margrave Philip William of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1669–1711)
[edit] References
This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of 3 December 2007.
- Citino, Robert M. (2005). The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich. University Press of Kansas, 428. ISBN 0-7006-1410-9.
- Clark, Christopher (2006). Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600–1947. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard, 776. ISBN 067402385-4.
