Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse

Ludwig III. of Hesse and by Rhine ( born June 9, 1806 Darmstadt, † June 13, 1877 in Seeheim ) was 1848-1877 Grand Duke of Hesse.

Origin and childhood

Ludwig was the eldest son of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and by Rhine from his marriage to Princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788-1836), daughter of the Hereditary Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden. The Hereditary Grand Duke was raised together with his younger brother, Charles; He received military training and studied for two years at the University of Leipzig. From the year 1827 took Ludwig educational trips to France, England, Austria, Italy and Belgium.

Policy

As open-minded assessed as his father, Louis was hope of liberalism during the March Revolution. He was appointed on 5 March 1848, co-ruler in Hesse after his father had de facto abdicated. After his father's death a short time later he dismissed Karl du Thil, Heinrich von Gagern appointed prime minister and confirmed the " March demands ". The government, he left largely to his ministers. In his views, he was conservative, but realistic enough to realize his dreams of absolutism primarily in historical studies and the maintenance of traditional cultural goods. He tended - strictly attentive to the sovereignty of his country - in principle rather than to the Empire of Austria to the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1850, the Hessian federal policy was directed appropriately between the reactionary Prime Minister Reinhard Carl Friedrich von Dalwigk. After the defeat of 1866, the separation of Upper Hesse was only through intervention on the part of the Czar Alexander II, brother of the Grand Duke, prevent threatened with an invasion in East Prussia. However, the Grand Duchy with the province of Upper Hesse had to join the North German Confederation, what it - quite against the intentions of Louis III. - In a significant way tied to Prussia. Hesse -Homburg, the Hessian hinterland, Roedelheim and Konigsberg ( Biebertal ), however, were lost to Prussia. As a small compensation, the Grand Duchy, the Board received ( Bad ) Nauheim and Rumpenheim that had belonged to the now defunct Electorate of Hesse.

At the imperial proclamation in Versailles on 18 January 1871, he took no part. At the instigation of Bismarck, the Grand Duke Dalwigk had finally released in 1871 after the occupation of France in the Franco-German war the Prussians documents had fallen into the hands, which proved that Dalwigk with Napoleon III. had conspired against Prussia.

After his second ( morganatic ) Marriage in 1868, Ludwig III moved. from the public life, and the designated successor Ludwig ( IV ) largely adopted the necessary tasks and shops.

Family

Ludwig married on December 26, 1833 in Munich Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria ( 1813-1862 ), a daughter of the Bavarian king Ludwig I. The marriage remained childless.

After the death of his first wife, Louis married on June 20, 1868 morganatic in Darmstadt ballet dancer Anna Magdalena Appel, which was levied on the occasion of the marriage to the " free woman of high places". With his second wife he lived a very secluded life in the country seat lock Braunshardt that. For the brother of Louis IX had been built.