Albert of Saxony
Albert of Saxony was a better general than most kings and a better king than most generals, and the Prussians who beat him in 1866 said so. As crown prince he commanded the Saxon army that retreated into Bohemia that June and fought at Gitschin and Koniggratz on the Austrian side, and its conduct in defeat earned him a reputation the victors were the first to acknowledge. Four years later he commanded the same army as the Twelfth Corps of the North German forces against France. At Gravelotte-Saint-Privat on 18 August 1870 the Saxons took Saint-Privat, the position on which the whole battle turned, and Albert was given the newly formed Army of the Meuse, which marched north to trap Napoleon III's army at Sedan. He was made a field marshal in 1871 and inspector general of the army in the years after, and Moltke's regard for him was genuine. He became king in October 1873 and reigned for twenty-nine years of peace and money. Saxony's industry doubled and doubled again, Leipzig became the centre of the German book trade and Dresden of its fine porcelain and photographic industry, and the factory towns voted Social Democrat in growing numbers. His answer, in 1896, was a three-class franchise for the Landtag on the Prussian model, which cut the socialists out of the state parliament and did nothing at all about the Reichstag. He was married to Carola of Vasa, granddaughter of a deposed king of Sweden, and had no children. He died at Sibyllenort in Silesia in June 1902 and was succeeded by his brother George. The Albertstadt in Dresden, the largest garrison complex in Germany when it was built, carries his name.
- Lived: 1828 CE – 1902 CE
- Nationality: Saxon
- Roles: head_of_state, monarch
