Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (November 29, 1690 – March 16, 1747) was a German Prince of the House of Ascania, and the father of Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia.
He was a ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dornburg. From 1742, he was a ruler of the entire Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. He was also a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall.
Life
Christian August was the third son of Prince Johann Ludwig I of Anhalt-Dornburg and Christine Eleonore of Zeutsch (1666–1699) who was of an old Thuringian noble family. The circumstances of their courtship are not known. However, it is certain that it was not a political marriage, since it was morganatic.
However, despite the children of Prince Johann Ludwig and Christine Eleonore being a morganatic marriage where their children would not inherit their father’s titles, a family compact was submitted to the Emperor Leopold I for confirmation in 1689.
Prince Johann Ludwig obtained from Emperor Leopold the insertion of a clause protecting the rights of his morganatic children as born of a legitimate and lawful marriage.
In 1693 Prince Charles Friedrich, the younger son of Johann Ludwig’s eldest brother, died, leaving only one sibling, the later Prince Johann August; Johann Ludwig’s next two older brothers were either unmarried or without male heirs, which made the possibility that the Zerbst inheritance would pass to his line more likely.
Consequently, he took further steps to insure the succession for his children, and on January 7, 1698 secured an Imperial Decree making the children of his marriage Princes and Princesses of Anhalt. Indeed, they were considered dynastic, and at the death without heirs of Prince Johann August in 1742, the surviving sons of Prince Johann Ludwig succeeded him.
After the death of his father in 1704, Prince Christian August inherited Anhalt-Dornburg jointly with his brothers Prince Johann Ludwig II, Prince Johann August (died 1709), Christian Ludwig (died 1710) and Johann Friedrich (died 1742).
After possibly six months as a captain in the regiment guard in 1708, on February 11, 1709 he joined the Regiment on foot in Anhalt-Zerbst (No. 8) which later changed its name to the Grenadier’s Regiment King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. It was stationed in Stettin.
In 1711, Christian August was awarded the Order De la Générosité, later renamed in Pour le Mérite, and on March 1, 1713 was elevated to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After he took part in several military campaigns during the Spanish War of Succession and in the Netherlands, in 1714 Christian August was appointed Chief of the Regiment; two years later, on January 4, 1716 he was named colonel and on August 14, 1721 became major-general.
On January 22, 1729 he became commander of Stettin, after having been chosen there on May 24, 1725 as a knight of Order of the Black Eagle. Christian August was designated on May 28, 1732 lieutenant-general and on April 8, 1741 infantry general. On June 5, of that year he was designated Governor of Stettin. On May 16, 1742 King Friedrich II of Prussia awarded him the highest military dignity, the rank of Generalfeldmarschall.
Generalfeldmarschall translates into the rank of General Field Marshal, which was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Habsburg monarchy, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, the rank Field Marshal was used.
Six months later, the death of his cousin John Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, without any issue made him and his older and only surviving brother, Prince Johann Ludwig II, the heirs of Anhalt-Zerbst as co-rulers. Christian August remained in Stettin and his brother took full charge of the government, but he died only four years later, unmarried and childless. For this reason, Christian August had to leave Stettin and return to Zerbst, but he only reigned four months until his own death.
Marriage and issue
On November 8, 1727 in Vechelde, Christian August married Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712 – 1760), daughter of Prince Christian August of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and sister of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden. They had five children:
1. Sophie Auguste Fredericka (1729 – 1796), who later became Catherine II the Great, Empress of Russia. Wife of Emperor Peter III of Russia.
2. Wilhelm Christian Friedrich (1730 – 1742).
3. Friedrich August (1734 – 1793). last ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst.
4. Auguste Christine Charlotte (1736 – 1736).
5. Elisabeth Ulrike (1742 – 1745).
Prince Friedrich August of Anhalt-Zerbst married twice but both unions were childless. On his death the line of Anhalt-Zerbst became extinct and the succession to the principality was disputed between the other branches of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Dessau; finally, in 1796 Anhalt-Zerbst was divided and ceased to exist.