August the Strong, also Frederick August I of Saxony and August II of Poland (German August II. Der Starke; Polish August II Mocny; May 12, 1670, Dresden - February 1, 1733, Warsaw) - Elector of Saxony from May 7, 1694, King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania from September 15, 1697 (proclaimed king on June 17, 1697) to February 16, 1704 (the first time, in fact, until September 24, 1706) and from August 8, 1709 (the second time).
For his physical strength, he was nicknamed the Strong (German August der Starke), and also received the nicknames: Saxon Hercules, and the Iron Hand.
After the death of his August father in 1691, the young prince went to Vienna, where he became friends with the Roman king Joseph I. This circumstance later had a significant impact on the policy of the Polish Monarch. With the death of his older brother, John George IV (1694), Prince Augustus inherited the throne of Saxony and the title of Elector.
As the youngest son, Augustus did not have the right to rule the elector. During the carnival season in Venice, Johann George IV contracted smallpox, and without leaving a will, died on April 27, 1694. Thus, Augustus became the Elector of Saxony under the name Frederick Augustus I. He took command of the united Austrian-Saxon army sent to Hungary against the Turks. However, after the Battle of Olasz (1696), August resigned from the leadership of the army and returned to Vienna, where he had a plan to acquire the Polish throne, which was vacant after the death of King Jan Sobieski. With the help of his agents, who did not spare the gold coin, the elector managed to eliminate the candidacy of his rival, the French prince Conti, and even more. In order to destroy the last obstacle to his election, Augustus Friedrich in the city of Baden, near Vienna, received the Holy Sacrament of Holy Baptism according to the Catholic rite.
On September 15 (28), 1697, the ceremonial Sacrament of the Coronation of the 27-year-old King August II took place in Krakow, then the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. It is known that this election cost the Monarch dearly: up to 10 million gold guilders was spent on bribing Polish magnates known for their greed and venality. To obtain this amount, Augustus Friedrich even had to sell and mortgage part of his hereditary lands.
Saxony soon felt the burden of the new crown of its Sovereign. Upon accession to the throne, King August II undertook to return to Poland the provinces she had ceded to the Swedes. But the Polish magnates did not want war, and in order to fulfill his promise, the king had to fight the war with the help of the Saxon troops and with the funds of his own country.
King Augustus Frederick II entered into a military and political alliance with Denmark and the young Tsar of Russia Peter I Alekseevich.
August pursued an inconsistent policy. Tied by a military alliance with Peter I, he, however, repeatedly entered into secret agreements with his opponent Charles XII. When Peter I forced Augustus to fulfill his allied obligations, the Polish army under the command of the latter was defeated by the Swedes, and August himself was forced to abdicate in favor of Stanislav Leszczynski. The head of the Russian detachment sent to the aid of August II, Johann Reingold von Patkul (1660–1707), was handed over to the Swedes.
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After the conclusion of peace, Elector August II, under an assumed name, took part in the campaign of the Austrian generalissimo of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736) against the French (1708), but upon learning of the catastrophic defeat of Charles XII at Poltava, the Monarch declared the Altranstadt treaty invalid and again united with the Sovereign Peter I Alekseevich in the fight against Sweden. Thus began a new war with the Swedes, which flared up with particular force upon the return of King Charles XII from Turkey. Only the absurd, but long-awaited for Europe, the death of the Swedish Emperor in 1718 under Friedrichshall put an end to the bloody twenty-year war.
Later, not without the help of Peter, he returned to the throne, however, he continued his previous policy: being formally an ally of Russia, he entered into secret alliances directed against her. During his reign, he brought the gentry Václav Budko closer to him, who was actually the head of the secret service under the king.
In 1719, an armistice was concluded with the Swedes, which later turned into a final peace in 1722. Sovereign August II was recognized as the Polish king, but a confederation was formed against the Saxon troops, headed by Stanislav Ledokhovsky. The Saxon troops had to withdraw. Finally, with the mediation of Russia in 1716, the so-called Warsaw Pact took place between King August II and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a result of which the Saxon troops had to clear Poland. However, if at first King Augustus II did not manage to subjugate the Poles by force of arms, then later he attracted the attention of his subjects with the splendor and splendor of his Court, the entire burden of the maintenance of which fell on the unfortunate Saxony, ruined by him.
The king and cavalier of the Russian Empire August II died on February 1 (14), 1733 in Warsaw at the age of 63. The sovereign's ashes were solemnly buried in Krakow.
King August II was the last crowned representative of Poland awarded with the order in the reign of Tsar Peter I Alekseevich.
Evgeny Baida
