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King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Maria Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Octoberfest, Princess, Revolution of 1848
Ludwig I (August 25, 1786 – February 29, 1868) was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.
Crown Prince
Born in the Zweibrücker Hof in Straßburg as Prince Ludwig Karl August of Pfalz-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken, he was the son of Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of Zweibrücken (later King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria) by his first wife Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt, the fourth daughter and ninth child of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt (second son of Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.
At the time of his birth, Prince Ludwig’s father was an officer in the French army stationed at Strasbourg. He was the godson and namesake of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.
On April 1, 1795 his father succeeded Ludwig’s uncle, Charles II, as Duke of Zweibrücken, and on February 16, 1799 became Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Arch-Steward of the Empire, and Duke of Berg on the extinction of the Sulzbach line with the death of the Prince-Elector Charles Theodore. His father assumed the title of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria on January 1, 1806.
As Crown Prince, Ludwig married on October 12, 1854, Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (8 July 1792 – 26 October 1854; a daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen and Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, eldest daughter of Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
In 1809, Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen was on the list of possible brides for Napoleon. The wedding between her and Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria was the occasion of the first ever Oktoberfest.
When Ludwig was Crown Prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. As king Ludwig I of Bavaria, he encouraged Bavaria’s industrialization, initiating the Ludwig Canal between the rivers Main and the Danube. In 1835, the first German railway was constructed in his domain, between the cities of Fürth and Nuremberg, with his Bavaria joining the Zollverein economic union in 1834.
After the July Revolution of 1830 in France, Ludwig’s previous liberal policy became increasingly repressive; in 1844, Ludwig was confronted during the Beer riots in Bavaria.
During the revolutions of 1848 the King faced increasing protests and demonstrations by the students and the middle classes. The king had ordered to close the university in February, and on March 4, a large crowd assaulted the Armory to storm the Munich Residenz.
Ludwig’s brother Prince Charles managed to appease the protesters, but the royal family and the Cabinet now turned against Ludwig. He had to sign the so-called “March Proclamation” with substantial concessions. On March 16, 1848 it was followed by renewed unrest because Lola Montez had returned to Munich after a short exile.
Ludwig had to let her be searched by the police on March 17, which was the worst humiliation for him.
Not willing to rule as a constitutional monarch, Ludwig abdicated on March 20, 1848 in favour of his eldest son, Maximilian. He became King Maximilian II of Bavaria.
Ludwig lived for another twenty years after his abdication and remained influential. An admirer of ancient Greece and the Italian Renaissance, Ludwig patronized the arts and commissioned several neoclassical buildings, especially in Munich. He was an avid collector of arts, amassing paintings from the Early German and Early Dutch periods as well as Graeco-Roman sculptures.
All living legitimate agnatic members of the House of Wittelsbach descend from him.