Prince Leopold of Bavaria

Infobox_Prince| name = Prince Leopold of Bavaria


caption =
consort =Archduchess Gisela of Austria
issue =Princess Elisabeth
Princess Auguste
Prince Georg
Prince Konrad
royal house =House of Wittelsbach
father =Luitpold of Bavaria
mother =Archduchess Augusta of Austria
date of birth =birth date|1846|2|9|mf=y
place of birth =Munich, Bavaria
date of death =death date and age|1930|9|28|1846|2|9|mf=y
place of death =Munich, Bavaria
buried =Colombarium in the St.Michaelskirche, Munich |

Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf, Prinz von Bayern (February 9, 1846 - September 28, 1930) was born in Munich, the son of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria (1821-1912) and his wife Archduchess Augusta of Austria (1825-1864). He was a Field Marshal ("Generalfeldmarschall") who commanded German and Austro-Hungarian forces on the Eastern Front in World War I.

Biography

Prince Leopold entered the Bavarian Army at the age of 15, and received his patent as a lieutenant dated November 28, 1861. [Bavarian War Ministry, "Militär-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern", 1914] He saw first combat during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, where he commanded an artillery battery at Kissingen and Rossbrunn.

In 1870, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, sent Leopold to the battlefields of France, where the Bavarian Army was fighting alongside the Prussian Army in the Franco-Prussian War. He served with the 3rd Bavarian Artillery Regiment and saw action at Sedan and Beauvert. He was promoted to major in December 1870. [Bavarian War Ministry, "Militär-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern", 1914] For his bravery against the enemy he received both the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Classes, the Bavarian Military Merit Order Knight 1st Class, the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, Bavaria's highest military decoration, and decorations from several other German states.

In the post-war years, Prince Leopold spent most of his time travelling, visiting Africa, Asia and countries of Europe. He was married on April 20, 1873 at Vienna to his second cousin Archduchess Gisela of Austria, daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and the Empress Elisabeth. He remained in the Bavarian army and was finally promoted to the rank of field marshal ("Generalfeldmarschall") on January 1, 1905. [Bavarian War Ministry, "Militär-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern", 1914] He retired from active duty in 1913.

Prince Leopold's retirement, however, did not last long. On April 16, 1915, he was re-activated and given command of the German 9th Army, replacing General August von Mackensen. Leopold quickly proved himself an able commander as he took Warsaw on 4 August 1915. Following this success, he was put in command of Army Group Prince Leopold of Bavaria ("Heeresgruppe Prinz Leopold von Bayern"), which was a combined German/Austro-Hungarian force in the central sector of the Eastern Front. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph on August 5, 1915, the prestigious "Pour le Mérite", Prussia's highest military decoration, on August 9, 1915 and the oak leaves to the Pour le Mérite on July 25, 1917. On August 29, 1916, after the brutal summer campaigns succeeded in reversing the Brusilov Offensive against the Austrians, Leopold became the Supreme Commander of the German forces on the Eastern front ("Oberbefehlshaber Ost"), succeeding Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Leopold held this post for the rest of the war. On March 4, 1918, Leopold received yet another high honor, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, awarded only five times during World War I.

Prince Leopold retired again in 1918 after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had ended the war on the Eastern Front. This treaty was highly favorable to Germany, and Leopold ended his career with success. He died on September 28, 1930 in Munich and is buried in the Colombarium in the Michaelskirche in Munich .

Military ranks

*Sekondlieutenant: November 28, 1861
*Premierlieutenant: June 5, 1864
*Hauptmann: April 28, 1867
*Major: December 11, 1870
*Oberstlieutenant: March 27, 1871
*Oberst: February 18, 1873
*Generalmajor: November 1, 1875
*Generalleutnant: June 16, 1881
*General der Kavallerie: March 2, 1887
*Generaloberst: February 9, 1896
*Generalfeldmarschall: January 1, 1905

Family

Prince Leopold and his wife Gisela had four children:
* Princess Elisabeth Marie of Bavaria (1874-1957), who married Otto Ludwig Philipp Graf von Seefried auf Buttenheim
* Princess Auguste Maria of Bavaria (1875-1964), who married Archduke Joseph August of Austria
* Prince Georg of Bavaria (1880-1943)
* Prince Konrad of Bavaria (1883-1969)

Greek succession

Leopold is also, according to the provisions of 1843 Greek Constitution, the heir of the deposed King Otto of Greece. Due to the renunciation by his elder brother Ludwig of all his rights to the Greek succession and since the Greek Constitution forbade the sovereign to be ruler of another country (Ludwig became King of Bavaria), Leopold technically succeeded upon their father's death to the rights of the deposed Otto I, King of Greece. At Leopold's death his rights were inherited by his son Georg.

Decorations and honors

Bavaria

* House Order of St. Hubertus
* House Order of St. Georg, Grand Prior of the order
* Military Order of Max Joseph, Knight's Cross (1871) and Grand Cross (1915)
* Military Merit Order, Grand Cross with Swords
* St. George Medal
* Ludwig Order, Honor Cross
* Jubilee Medal with Crown
* 1866 Army Commemorative Cross

Prussia

* Order of the Black Eagle
* Order of the Red Eagle, Grand Cross with Swords
* Pour le Mérite with oakleaves
* 1914 Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
* 1870 Iron Cross 1st Class
* 1870 Iron Cross 2nd Class
* Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Grand Commander
* 1870-71 Commemorative Medal for Combatants
* Centenary Medal
* Officers' Long Service Cross

Other German states

* Anhalt: Order of Albert the Bear, Grand Cross
* Baden: House Order of Fidelity
* Baden: Order of Berthold the First, Grand Cross
* Bremen: Hanseatic Cross
* Brunswick: House Order of Henry the Lion, Grand Cross
* Brunswick: War Merit Cross
* Hamburg: Hanseatic Cross
* Hesse-Darmstadt: Ludewig Order
* Hesse-Darmstadt: Military Merit Cross 1870/71
* Hohenzollern: Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, Honor Cross 1st Class
* Lippe-Detmold: War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds
* Lippe-Detmold: War Merit Cross
* Lübeck: Hanseatic Cross
* Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz: House Order of the Wendish Crown, Grand Cross with Crown
* Mecklenburg-Schwerin: 1870 Military Merit Cross
* Saxony: Order of the Rue Crown
* Saxony: Military Order of St. Henry, Commander 1st Class
* Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: House Order of Vigilance or the White Falcon, Grand Cross
* Duchies of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen: Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order, Grand Cross
* Schaumburg-Lippe: 1870 Military Merit Medal
* Württemberg: Order of the Württemberg Crown, Grand Cross

Other countries

* Austria-Hungary: Order of the Golden Fleece
* Austria-Hungary: Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, Grand Cross
* Austria-Hungary: Military Merit Cross, 1st Class with War Decoration
* Austria-Hungary: Large Military Merit Medal
* Austria-Hungary: Red Cross Decoration 1st Class with War Decoration
* Austria-Hungary: 1898 Franz Joseph I Jubilee Medal
* Austria-Hungary: 1908 Franz Joseph I Jubilee Cross in Gold
* Austria-Hungary: 1908 Franz Joseph I Military Jubilee Cross
* Belgium: Order of Leopold I, Grand Cross
* Great Britain: Royal Victorian Order, Grand Cross
* Italy: Order of the Annunziata
* Luxembourg: Order of the Golden Lion
* Montenegro: Order of Danilo, Grand Cross
* Ottoman Empire: Imtiaz Medal in Gold with Swords
* Ottoman Empire: Nishan-i Iftikhar
* Ottoman Empire: Turkish War Medal (so-called "Gallipoli Star")
* Portugal: Order of the Tower and Sword, Grand Cross
* Romania: Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Cross
* Serbia: Order of the White Eagle, Grand Cross
* Serbia: Order of Takovo, Grand Cross
* Spain: Order of Charles III, Grand Cross

The orders above which were from Allied nations were awarded prior to World War I. [Decorations as of 1914 from the Bavarian War Ministry, "Militär-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern", 1914. World War I decorations from award rolls, Erhard Roth, "Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Königreichs Bayern im Ersten Weltkrieg", 1997 (ISBN 3-932543-19-X), and Ferry W. von Péter, "Verleihungen nichtbayerischer Orden und Ehrenzeichen an bayerischer Militärangehörige 1914-1918", 2001 (ISBN 3-932543-25-0)]

Further reading

*"Leopold Prinz von Bayern 1846-1930: aus den Lebenserinnerungen", edited by Hans-Michael Körner and Ingrid Körner. Regensburg: F. Pustet, 1983.
*Wolbe, Eugen. "Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Leopold von Bayern: ein Lebensbild". Leipzig: R.F. Koehler, 1920.

Notes