Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia
Prince August Ferdinand of Prussia was a Prussian prince and general, as well as Herrenmeister of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John. He belonged to the House of Hohenzollern, was the youngest son of Frederick William I of Prussia by his wife Queen Sophia Dorothea, he was the youngest child of King Frederick William I of Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. He was a younger brother of King Frederick the Great, Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, Wilhelmine Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. At the age of 5, he joined the Infantry regiment „Kronprinz“. In 1740, his brother named him commander of Infantry regiment Nr 34. In 1756, he became Major General and accompanied his brother the King on his campaigns in Saxony and Silesia, he fought in the Battle of Leuthen. But in 1758, bad health forced him to leave the army. On September 12, 1763, Ferdinand was elected as Master of the Knights of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John, a post he held until 1812.
Ferdinand is remembered for having the Schloss Bellevue in the Berliner Tiergarten built. He married his niece, Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, on 27 September 1755, she was a daughter of his older sister Sophia Dorothea and her husband Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Despite this family tie, she was only eight years younger than he, due to the significant age difference between him and his sister, they had seven children: Princess Friederike Elisabeth Dorothea Henriette Amalie Prince Friedrich Heinrich Emil Karl Princess Friederike Luise, married to Prince Antoni Radziwiłł. Had issue. Prince Friedrich Christian Heinrich Ludwig Prince Louis Ferdinand, killed in the Battle of Saalfeld. No issue. Prince Friedrich Paul Heinrich August Prince Augustus, never married. Augustus died in Berlin on 2 May 1813, as the last surviving grandchild of George I of Great Britain. Elisabeth Louise would die seven years on 10 February 1820. Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage: August Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen".
Retrieved 16 December 2009. Family Tree at the Wayback Machine
Berlin
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London; the city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, contiguous with its capital, Potsdam; the two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree and Dahme rivers. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, gardens, rivers and lakes; the city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany. Berlin is a world city of culture, politics and science, its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a complex public transportation network; the metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries include IT, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology and electronics.
Berlin is home to world-renowned universities, orchestras and entertainment venues, is host to many sporting events. Its Zoological Garden is one of the most popular worldwide. With the world's oldest large-scale movie studio complex, Berlin is an popular location for international film productions; the city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Since the 2000s Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene. Berlin lies in northeastern Germany, east of the River Saale, that once constituted, together with the River Elbe, the eastern border of the Frankish Realm. While the Frankish Realm was inhabited by Germanic tribes like the Franks and the Saxons, the regions east of the border rivers were inhabited by Slavic tribes; this is why most of the villages in northeastern Germany bear Slavic-derived names. Typical Germanised place name suffixes of Slavic origin are -ow, -itz, -vitz, -witz, -itzsch and -in, prefixes are Windisch and Wendisch.
The name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. Since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city, it is therefore a canting arm. Of Berlin's twelve boroughs, five bear a Slavic-derived name: Pankow, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick and Spandau. Of its ninety-six neighborhoods, twenty-two bear a Slavic-derived name: Altglienicke, Alt-Treptow, Buch, Gatow, Kladow, Köpenick, Lankwitz, Lübars, Marzahn, Prenzlauer Berg, Schmöckwitz, Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow, Steglitz and Zehlendorf; the neighborhood of Moabit bears a French-derived name, Französisch Buchholz is named after the Huguenots. The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden beam dated from 1192, remnants of a house foundation dated to 1174, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte; the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century.
Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244. 1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated. In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. During the 15th century, his successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, subsequent members of the Hohenzol
Anna Amalia, Abbess of Quedlinburg
Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia was Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg. She was one of ten surviving children of King Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. Born in Berlin, she was eleven years younger than her brother, the future Frederick II, would have been seven years old when he made his abortive attempt to run away from home after being humiliated by his father. Both children were musically inclined, but for Anna Amalia formal musical instruction was only possible after the death of her music-hating father. Music was her secret consolation against his cruelty to her. Anna Amalia learned to play the harpsichord and violin, receiving her first lessons from her brother, which her more civilized mother encouraged, she was contemplated as a bride for the crown prince of Sweden along with her sister Louisa Ulrika, as her brother warned that Louisa Ülrika was too ambitious to be a good queen in a monarchy without power, as Sweden was during the Age of Liberty. Her brother, King Frederick, said that Louisa Ulrika was "arrogant, temperamental and an intriguer", that they should not let themselves be fooled by her friendliness towards them, while Anna Amalia was mild and "more suitable".
But the Swedish representatives preferred Louisa Ulrika. Anna Amalia became the Abbess of Quedlinburg in 1755, she chose to spend most of her time in Berlin, where she devoted herself to music, became known as a musical patron and composer. As a composer she achieved a modest amount of fame and is most known for her smaller chamber works, which included trios, cantatas and fugues. In 1758, Anna Amalia began a serious study of musical theory and composition, engaging as her tutor Johann Philipp Kirnberger, a student of Johann Sebastian Bach, she composed chamber music, such as flute sonatas. More favorably disposed toward religious music than her brother, she set the text of Ramler's Passion cantata Der Tod Jesu to music; this was her favorite among her compositions. Only a few of her works have survived, she may have destroyed many of her compositions, as she described herself as being "timorous and self-critical." However, more compositions by her may soon surface as a result of the discovery in 2000 of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin music archives in Kiev, a library, lost since World War II.
Anna Amalia was a collector of music, preserving over 600 volumes of works by notables such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Georg Philipp Telemann, Karl Heinrich Graun and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, among others. Her works of curation alone represent a significant contribution to Western culture, her library was split between East Germany and West Germany after World War II. The two collections were re-united after the German reunification in 1990; this treasury, of about 2,000 volumes, is today housed at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Erwin und Elmire. 1776. Overture. 2.'Geängstet'. 3.'Liebes Kind, was hast du wieder'. 4.'Was sind all die Seligkeiten'. 5.'Ihr solltet geniessen'. 6.'Erwin, o schau'. 7.'Da hätt' ich eine niedliche Kleine'. 8.'Da kommt sie geschlichen'. 9.'Hin ist hin'. 10.'Ein Veilchen auf der Wiese stand'. 11. Ich muss ihn sehen'. 12'Ein Schauspiel für Götter. Act II: 13. Entre Acte. 14'Ihr verblühet, süsse Rosen'. 15.'Inneres Wühlen'. 16.'Auf dem Land und in der Stadt'. 17.'Sie scheinen zu spielen'.
18.'Sein ganzes Herz dahinzugeben'. 19.'Mit vollen Atemzügen'. 20'Sieh mich, wie ich bin'. 21.'Ha, sie liebt mich!' 22.'Er ist nicht weit'. 23.' Vergib mir die Eile'. Singers: Olympia, Bernardo, Erwin. Orchestra: 2fl, 2ob, 2hn, bn, cembalo. 75 mins. Concerto fur Cembalo und Orchester, G major 1. Allegro, G major. 2. Andantino, C major. 3. Allegro, G major. 13 mins 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 bn, cembalo This is a chamber concerto, which could be played with a single person per part. The solo part is well integrated into the whole, the music has an effervescent bounce; the slow movement is orchestral and the finale is something of a Minuet with a Trio featuring wind solos. Published by Edition Tonger, Koln - Rodenkirchen, Germany Divertimento pour Pianoforte, Viola et Violoncello, c1780 1. Adagio, B flat. 2 Allegro, B flat. 10 mins The origins of the Divertimento are not known, but the combination of formality and warmth at the outset suggests at least an element in common with Mozart. This is the first chamber work featuring a clarinet.
After the tutti opening phrase, the instruments are allowed a degree of individual freedom, the viola leads, the clarinet answers, the piano rounds off. This music is elegant and charming and engaging; the Ambache Ensemble, gave the UK premiere in 1995. Published by Ambache Editions, Amadeus Verlag, & Doblinger Music Publishers Sonata in F for Flute & continuo. 18th & 19th century songs'Inspired by Goethe'.
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global conflict fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa and the Philippines; the conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the Swedish Empire on the other. Meanwhile, in India, some regional polities within the fragmented Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, tried to crush a British attempt to conquer Bengal; the war's extent has led some historians to describe it as World War Zero, similar in scale to other world wars. Although Anglo-French skirmishes over their American colonies had begun with what became the French and Indian War in 1754, the large-scale conflict that drew in most of the European powers was centered on Austria's desire to recover Silesia from the Prussians. Seeing the opportunity to curtail Britain's and Prussia's ever-growing might and Austria put aside their ancient rivalry to form a grand coalition of their own, bringing most of the other European powers to their side.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned itself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. However, French efforts ended in failure when the Anglo-Prussian coalition prevailed, Britain's rise as among the world's predominant powers destroyed France's supremacy in Europe, thus altering the European balance of power. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America. Hostilities were heightened when a British unit led by a 22 year old Lt. Colonel George Washington ambushed a small French force at the Battle of Jumonville Glen on 28 May 1754; the conflict exploded across the colonial boundaries and extended to the seizure of hundreds of French merchant ships at sea. Meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers "switched partners". Realising that war was imminent, Prussia pre-emptively struck Saxony and overran it.
The result caused uproar across Europe. Because of Austria's alliance with France to recapture Silesia, lost in the War of the Austrian Succession, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the imperial diet, which declared war on Prussia on 17 January 1757, most of the states of the empire joined Austria's cause; the Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states. Sweden, seeking to regain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when all the major powers of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France and together they launched an utterly unsuccessful invasion of Portugal in 1762; the Russian Empire was aligned with Austria, fearing Prussia's ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Many middle and small powers in Europe, as in the previous wars, tried to steer clear away from the escalating conflict though they had interests in the conflict or with the belligerents.
Denmark–Norway, for instance, was close to being dragged into the war on France's side when Peter III became Russian emperor and switched sides. The Dutch Republic, a long-time British ally, kept its neutrality intact, fearing the odds against Britain and Prussia fighting the great powers of Europe, tried to prevent Britain's domination in India. Naples-Sicily, Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, declined to join the coalition under fear of British naval power; the taxation needed for war caused the Russian people considerable hardship, being added to the taxation of salt and alcohol begun by Empress Elizabeth in 1759 to complete her addition to the Winter Palace. Like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia; the war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony and Prussia, in 1763. The war was successful for Great Britain, which gained the bulk of New France in North America, Spanish Florida, some individual Caribbean islands in the West Indies, the colony of Senegal on the West African coast, superiority over the French trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent.
The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement. In Europe, the war began disastrously for Prussia, but with a combination of good luck and successful strategy, King Frederick the Great managed to retrieve the Prussian position and retain the status quo ante bellum. Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia, its military prowess was noted by the other powers; the involvement of Portugal and Sweden did not return them to their former status as great powers. France was deprived of many of it
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a German dynasty of former princes, electors and emperors of Hohenzollern, Prussia, the German Empire, Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle; the first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch; the Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, ruled Romania from 1866 to 1947. Members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525; the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia. The Kingdom of Prussia was created in 1701 leading to the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871, with the Hohenzollerns as hereditary German Emperors and Kings of Prussia.
Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution. The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German monarchy. Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia is the current head of the royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the head of the princely Swabian line. Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, its capital was Hechingen. The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps; the Hohenzollern Castle lies on an 855 meters high mountain called Hohenzollern. It still belongs to the family today; the dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, Burkhard I, Count of Zollern was born before 1025 and died in 1061. In 1095 Count Adalbert of Zollern founded the Benedictine monastery of Alpirsbach, situated in the Black Forest; the Zollerns received the comital title from Emperor Henry V in 1111.
As loyal vassals of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to enlarge their territory. Count Frederick III accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa against Henry the Lion in 1180, through his marriage was granted the Burgraviate of Nuremberg by Emperor Henry VI in 1192. In about 1185 he married the daughter of Conrad II, Burgrave of Nuremberg. After the death of Conrad II who left no male heirs, Frederick III was granted Nuremberg as Burgrave Frederick I. In 1218 the burgraviate passed to Frederick's elder son Conrad I, he thereby became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch, which acquired the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1415; until 1061: Burkhard I before 1125: Frederick I between ca. 1125 and 1142: Frederick II, eldest son of Frederick I between ca. 1143 and 1150–1155: Burkhard II, 2nd oldest son of Frederick I between ca. 1150–1155 and 1160: Gotfried of Zimmern, 4th oldest son of Frederick I before 1171 – c. 1200: Frederick III/I After Frederick's death, his sons partitioned the family lands between themselves: Conrad I received the county of Zollern and exchanged it for the burgraviate of Nuremberg with his younger brother Frederick IV in 1218, thereby founding the Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern.
Members of the Franconian line became the Brandenburg-Prussia branch. The Franconian line converted to Protestantism. Frederick IV received the burgraviate of Nuremberg in 1200 from his father and exchanged it for the county of Zollern in 1218 with his brother, thereby founding the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern; the Swabian line remains Catholic. The senior Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg; the family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage and the purchase of surrounding lands. In the first phase, the family added to their lands, at first with many small acquisitions in the Franconian region of Germany: Ansbach in 1331 Kulmbach in 1340In the second phase, the family expanded their lands further with large acquisitions in the Brandenburg and Prussian regions of Germany and current Poland: Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1417 Duchy of Prussia in 1618These acquisitions transformed the Franconian Hohenzollerns from a minor German princely family into one of the most important dynasties in Europe.
1192–1200/1204: Frederick I 1204–1218: Frederick II 1218–1261/1262: Conrad I/III 1262–1297: Frederick III, son of 1297–1300: John I, son of 1300–1332: Frederick IV, brother of 1332–1357: John II, son of 1357–1397: Frederick V, son ofAt Frederick V's death on 21 January 1398, his lands were partitioned between his two sons: 1397–1420: John III/I 1397–1427: Frederick VI/I/I, After John III/I's death on 11 June 1420, the margraviates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach were reunited under Frederick VI/I/I. He ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398. From 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. From 1411 Frederick VI became governor of Brandenburg and Elector and M
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem Der Messias. One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outside of French models. Klopstock was born at the eldest son of a lawyer. Both in his birthplace and on the estate of Friedeburg on the Saale, which his father rented, he spent a happy childhood. Having been given more attention to his physical than to his mental development, he grew up strong and healthy and was considered an excellent horseman. In his thirteenth year, he returned to Quedlinburg and attended the gymnasium there, in 1739 went on to the famous classical school named Schulpforta. Here he soon became adept in Greek and Latin versification, wrote some meritorious idylls and odes in German, his original intention of making Henry the Fowler the hero of an epic was abandoned in favor of a religious epic, under the influence of Milton's Paradise Lost, with which he became acquainted through Bodmer's translation.
While still at school, he had drafted the plan of Der Messias on which most of his fame rests. On 21 September 1745 he delivered, on quitting school, a remarkable "departing oration" on epic poetry—Abschiedsrede über die epische Poesie, kultur- und literargeschichtlich erläutert—and next proceeded to Jena as a student of theology, where he drew up in prose the first three cantos of the Messias. Finding life at that university not to his liking, he transferred in the spring of 1746 to Leipzig, where he joined a circle of young men of letters who contributed to the Bremer Beiträge. In this periodical the first three cantos of Der Messias were published anonymously in hexameter verse in 1748. A new era in German literature had commenced, the identity of the author soon became known. In Leipzig he wrote a number of odes, the best known of, An meine Freunde, afterwards recast as Wingolf, he left the university in 1748 and became a private tutor in the family of a relative at Langensalza, where unrequited love for a cousin disturbed his peace of mind.
For that reason he gladly accepted in 1750 an invitation from Bodmer, the translator of Paradise Lost, to visit him in Zürich, where Klopstock was treated with every kindness and respect and recovered his spirits. Bodmer, was disappointed to find in the young poet of the Messias a man of strong worldly interests, a coolness sprang up between the two men. At this juncture Klopstock received from Frederick V of Denmark, on the recommendation of his minister Count von Bernstorff, an invitation to settle in Copenhagen with an annuity of 400 thalers, in the hope that he would complete Der Messias there; the offer was accepted. On his way to the Danish capital, Klopstock met in Hamburg the woman who in 1754 became his wife, Margareta Möller, the "Cidli" of his odes, she was an enthusiastic admirer of his poetry. His happiness was short, his grief at her loss finds pathetic expression in the fifteenth canto of the Messias. The poet subsequently published his wife's writings, Hinterlassene Werke von Margareta Klopstock, which give evidence of a tender and religious spirit.
See Memoirs of Frederick and Margaret Klopstock and her correspondence with Samuel Richardson, published 1818. Klopstock now relapsed into melancholy, he continued to live and work in Copenhagen and next, following Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg, turned his attention to northern mythology, which in his view should replace classical subjects in a new school of German poetry. In 1770, when King Christian VII dismissed Count Bernstorff from office, he retired with the latter to Hamburg but retained his pension, together with the rank of councillor of legation. In 1773 were published the last five cantos of the Messias. In the following year he published a scheme for the regeneration of German letters, Die Gelehrtenrepublik. In 1775 he traveled south, making the acquaintance of Goethe on the way, spent a year at the court of the Margrave of Baden at Karlsruhe. Thence, in 1776, with the title of Hofrath and a pension from the Margrave, which he retained along with that from the king of Denmark, he returned to Hamburg where he spent the remainder of his life.
His latter years he passed, as had always been his inclination, in retirement, only relieved by socializing with his most intimate friends, occupied in philological studies and taking scant interest in the new developments in German literature. However, he was enthusiastic about the American War of the French Revolution; the French Republic sent him a diploma of honorary citizenship. At the age of 67 he undertook a second marriage, to Johanna Elisabeth von Winthem, a widow and a niece of his late wife, who for many years had been one of his most intimate friends, he died in Hamburg on 14 March 1803, mourned throughout Germany, was buried with great ceremony next to his first wife in the churchyard of the village of Ottensen. The Messias follows from the aspirations to become an epic poet, which Klopstock nurtured in his early years; the leitmotif of the work is the Redemption, given an epic treatment. He resorted to Christian mythology in trying to circumscribe the subject-matter within the dogmas of the Church.
Milton's Paradise Lost was one of the models Klopstock had in mind in giving form to his poem. The poem took twenty-five ye
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and a military leader. His titles are shortened to Duke of Brunswick in English-language sources, he succeeded his father as sovereign prince of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, one of the princely states of the Holy Roman Empire. The duke was a cultured and benevolent despot in the model of Frederick the Great, was married to Princess Augusta, a sister of George III of Great Britain, he was a recognized master of 18th century warfare, serving as a Field Marshal in the Prussian Army. During the Napoleonic Wars, he was mortally wounded by a musket ball at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806. Charles William Ferdinand was born in the town of Wolfenbüttel on 9 October 1735 in Wolfenbüttel Castle, he was the first-born son of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Philippine Charlotte. His father Charles I was the ruling prince of the small state of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, one of the imperial states of the Holy Roman Empire.
Philippine Charlotte was the favourite daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia and sister of Frederick II of Prussia. As the heir apparent of a sovereign prince, Charles William Ferdinand received the title of Hereditary Prince, he received an unusually thorough education, overseen by his mother. In his youth he travelled in the Netherlands and various parts of Germany. In 1753 his father moved the capital of the principality back to Brunswick, the state's largest city; the royal family moved into the newly built Brunswick Palace. Charles William Ferdinand entered the military, serving during the Seven Years' War of 1756-63, he joined the allied north-German forces of the Hanoverian Army of Observation, whose task was to protect Hanover and the surrounding states from invasion by the French. The force was commanded by the Anglo-Hanoverian Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. At the Battle of Hastenbeck Charles William Ferdinand led a charge at the head of an infantry brigade, an action which gained him some renown.
The subsequent French Invasion of Hanover and Convention of Klosterzeven of 1757 temporarily knocked Hanover out of the war. Cumberland was recalled to Britain and the remaining allied north-German forces were placed under the command of Ferdinand of Brunswick, brother of Charles I, who persuaded his nephew Charles William Ferdinand to renew his military service as a general officer. Charles William Ferdinand was part of the allied Anglo-German force at the Battle of Minden, the Battle of Warburg. Both were decisive victories over the French, during which he proved himself an excellent subordinate commander, he continued to serve in the army commanded by his uncle for the remainder of the war, successful for the north German forces. The hereditary prince's reputation improved throughout, he became an acknowledged master of irregular warfare. Peace was restored in 1763; the royal houses of the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had traditionally married within the family, to avoid further division of their family lands under Salic law.
By the time, Brunswick-Lüneburg had consolidated back into two states, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The electorate was ruled by the Hanoverian branch of the family in personal union with the Kingdom of Great Britain, it was therefore arranged for Charles William Ferdinand to marry a British-Hanoverian princess: Princess Augusta of Great Britain, daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales and his wife, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, sister of the reigning King George III. In 1764, shortly after the Seven Years' War had ended, he travelled to London to marry Princess Augusta, he received a rapturous welcome from the British people, thanks to his service with allied British troops during the war. The Parliament of Great Britain showed its gratitude by voting him a lump sum of £80,000 and an annual income of £3,000 as a wedding gift; however George III was less welcoming, sought to express his displeasure through numerous small insults e.g. by lodging the prince at Somerset House, instead of one of the royal palaces.
This served to exacerbate the enthusiasm of the public when the prince was suspected of turning his back on the unpopular monarch whilst attending an opera. Charles William Ferdinand defied royal displeasure by meeting William Pitt the Elder and the other leaders of the parliamentary opposition; the wedding was completed, but as a result of these machinations the prince remained in Britain for only thirteen days. Over the next few years the couple embarked on a wide-ranging tour of Europe, visiting many of the major states. In 1766 they went to France, where they were received by both his allies and recent battlefield enemies with respect. In Paris he made the acquaintance of Marmontel; the couple next proceeded to Switzerland. The longest stop on their travels was Rome, where they remained for a long time exploring the antiquities of the city under the guidance of Johann Winckelmann. During their travels the couple met Pietro Nardini and in 1767 the prince had his portrait painted by Pompeo Batoni.
After a visit to Naples they returned to Pari
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