The Life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria
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Corination
On March 10, 1864, Maximilian II passed away after suffering from a severe illness. That same day Ludwig was crowned king of Bavaria. Being eighteen years old when he took the throne, Ludwig lacked political experience. He later admitted that he was not ready to be king in 1873 when he stated, “I became king much too early, I had not learned enough. I had made such a good beginning … with the learning of state laws. Suddenly I was snatched away from my books and set on the throne. Well, I am still trying to learn …” (“King Ludwig II of Bavaria”).
Image Taken From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_II_of_Bavaria#/media/File:Ludwig_II_Bavarya-GHP-447796.jpg
Austro-Prussian War
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Throughout his reign, Ludwig avoided as much political matters as possible. In fact, there were only two times when Ludwig was politically engaged. His first major political encounter was in 1866 during the Austro-Prussian War. When Prussia’s attacked Denmark it threatened Bavaria’s independence. Though Ludwig had no desire to enter the war, he did not want to lose independence. Therefore Ludwig allied with Austria and ordered the mobilization of the Bavarian military on May 10, 1866. Prussia won the war and on August 23, 1866, the Peace of Prague, which forced Bavaria to become an ally of Prussia, was signed. For the next few years, Ludwig was able to stay out of political affairs.
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Bavaria Allies With Prussia
In 1870, however, he had to reenter the political realm due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussia War. At first Ludwig attempted to avoid war by escaping to one of his castles in the mountains. It was not long before government officials discover Ludwig’s location and confronted him. The Cabinet Secretary was sent to discuss entering the war with he king. Ludwig responded to him by pleading, “Is there no way, no possibility of avoiding the war.?” (Blunt 114) The following day Ludwig reluctantly ordered the mobilization of his troops in the language of the country he was attacking, France. He ordered, “J’ordonne la mobilization. informez en le ministre de la guerre.”, which translates to “I order mobilization, inform the minister of war.”(Blunt 126). Due to the Treaty of Prague, Ludwig’s forces had to enter on Prussia’s side. In late August of 1870 Ludwig was in Munich when he received word that the germans were victorious at Sedan and that the war was over. Ludwig came to appreciate Bavaria’s alliance with Prussia but at the same time he knew that it would lead to Bavaria losing some independence.
The Writing of Kaiserbrief
Subsequent to the war, Prussia wanted to establish an united Germany. To achieve this, Prussia needed a letter of consent from Ludwig. On November 30, 1870, a man named Graf Holstein arrived at Ludwig’s castle to ask Ludwig to write the letter. Ludwig was uncertain whether or not to agree with the Prussian King, who was Ludwig’s uncle, becoming emperor of Germany. Originally, Ludwig wanted Bavaria and Prussia to jointly reign Germany. With so many mixed emotions, he put off writing the letter as long as he could. Yet Ludwig could not delay making a decision because Holstein had to return to Versailles with Ludwig’s response that night. After a long day of contemplation, Ludwig wrote the letter, known as Kaiserbrief, stating that he supported King Wilhelm of Prussia to be emperor of Germany. Bavaria would no longer be an independent kingdom but rather a state of Germany. Ludwig, unhappy with losing independence, refused to go to Wilhelm’s coronation on January 10, 1871. Even though Ludwig did not attend the coronation, Bismarck admitted that without Ludwig’s letter, the unification of Germany would not have occurred. After his involvement in the two wars, Ludwig returned to his old ways of having little interest in political matters. Now the king finally returned to his true passions of art and architecture.
