Leopold II | |
Succession: | Prince of Anhalt-Dessau |
Reign: | 1747–1751 |
Predecessor: | Leopold I |
Successor: | Leopold III |
House: | Ascania |
Full Name: | Leopold Maximilian |
Father: | Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau |
Mother: | Anna Louise Föhse |
Spouse: | Gisela Agnes of Anhalt-Köthen |
Issue: | Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau Louise Agnes, Freifrau von Loën Henrietta Catherine Agnes of Anhalt-Dessau Marie Leopoldine, Countess of Lippe-Detmold John George Casimire, Countess of Lippe-Detmold Albert |
Birth Place: | Dessau |
Death Place: | Dessau |
Leopold II Maximilian, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (25 December 1700 – 16 December 1751), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1747 to 1751; he also was a Prussian general.
Leopold was born at Dessau as the second son of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his morganatic wife Anna Louise Föhse.
At only nine years of age, he accompanied his father on his military duties for the Prussian army. In 1715 he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel-in-Chief of the Infantry Regiment No. 27 of Stendal. In 1733 he led the Prussian forces stationed in the city of Mühlhausen in Thuringia during the First Silesian War.
The death in 1737 of his elder brother, the Hereditary Prince William Gustav, made Leopold the new heir of Dessau. The late prince was already married and had nine children, but his wife was of non-noble birth; for this reason, the issue of the marriage was barred from succession. After the death of his father in 1747, Leopold inherited Anhalt-Dessau.
Leopold was one of the best subordinate generals who served under Frederick the Great of Prussia. He distinguished himself in the capture of Glogau in 1741 and at the battles of Mollwitz, Chotusitz (where he was made Generalfeldmarschall on the field of battle), Hohenfriedberg, and Soor.
He died at Dessau in 1751. In 1752 Frederick the Great named a newly founded village Leopoldshagen (est. 1748) in his honour.
In Bernburg on 25 May 1737 Leopold married Gisela Agnes (b. Köthen, 21 September 1722 – d. Dessau, 20 April 1751), daughter of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. They had seven children: