Friedrich August III of Saxony (23 December 1750-5 May 1827) was the ruler of Saxony as Elector from 1763 to 1806 and as King from 1806 to 1827, succeeding Friedrich Christian of Saxony and preceding Maria Antonia of Bavaria. He also served as the only Duke of Warsaw from 9 June 1807 to 22 May 1815.
Biography[]
The son of Friedrich Christian of Saxony, Friedrich became elector at the age of thirteen in 1763. In 1793 he joined the First Coalition due to obligations for the Austrian Empire and Prussia. Friedrich August was offered the Polish throne after the death of Stanislaw II of Poland in 1798, but declined; he did not want to get caught up in more trouble with Prussia and Austria.
Friedrich August found himself against Prussia in 1805 at the start of the Napoleonic Wars, with Prussian troops annexing Saxony & Thuringia to prevent a French takeover. Friedrich August III refused to join the French Confederation of the Rhine, a German puppet state of Emperor Napoleon, and fought under Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt in 1806. After the defeat of Prussia in the battle, the storming of Berlin, and the French invasion of Dresden, he was forced to accept defeat.
He was made a French vassal and parts of his land given to the Duchy of Westphalia, and more troubles occurred when over one million foreigners invaded his lands in 1813, culminating in the Battle of Dresden and the Battle of Leipzig. The defeat of the French at Leipzig convinced Friedrich August III to join the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon, and he assisted in the invasion of France in 1814.
In 1815 he was forced to give up the title of Prince of Warsaw due to insistence of the Russian Empire as well as Prussia and Austria. In July 1815, upon his return, Friedrich's return was greeted enthusiastically. A genuine parliament, which the people wanted, was not emplaced however, and Friedrich did little to change the Saxon government. By the time he had died Saxony was still confined to Thuringia.
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