Frederick Augustus I

Frederick Augustus I, called The Just (1750-1827), first king of Saxony (1806-27), and, as Frederick Augustus III, elector of Saxony (1763-1806), born in Dresden. He aided Frederick II, the Great, king of Prussia, against Austria in 1778-79 during the bloodless War of the Bavarian Succession. Attempting to establish his neutrality, Frederick Augustus declined the Polish throne in 1791 but cooperated with the other European powers in their wars with revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Following Napoleon's victory at Jena in 1806, Frederick Augustus made peace with France. Under terms of the treaty, signed at Posen (now Poznań, Poland), Frederick Augustus became king of Saxony and joined the French-sponsored Confederation of the Rhine. His alliance with Napoleon, to which he adhered to the end, proved costly to him. The Congress of Vienna, meeting in 1814-15 after the Napoleonic Wars, awarded the northern portion of his kingdom to Prussia. In 1815, Frederick Augustus led Saxony into the newly formed German Confederation, and Saxony was then largely eclipsed by Prussia. Frederick Augustus was succeeded as king by his brother Anthony.