Monday, March 2, 2015
Monarch Profile: King Ludwig II of Bavaria
In fact, Ludwig and his father may have been more alike than most people think. King Maximilian II had an interest in architecture as well, was also a great patron of the arts (particularly literature) and, as monarch, Ludwig II would carry on with essentially the same policies as his father, especially in regards to foreign affairs. Rather, tensions between father and son seemed to be something of a family tradition. The first Ludwig and Maximilian II did not get along terribly well and so it is not very surprising that he and his son were not very close either. Too much shouldn’t be made of such a thing as it was hardly unique to Bavaria and as cool as fathers and sons could be to each other, things certainly never degenerated to the point they did in places like Britain or Prussia with fathers having their sons arrested! As he grew into adolescence, Prince Ludwig came to have a fascination with ancient German history and mythology, stories of chivalry and knighthood and developed very close friendships with Prince Paul of Thurn und Taxis and his cousin Princess Elizabeth (future Empress of Austria).
It would take time, of course, but it would make Bavaria stand out and it may have, at least in part, been influenced by the international situation in the German-speaking community. When Ludwig II came to the throne the Second Schleswig War had already started and the rivalry between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire for German leadership was becoming heated. Ludwig II was the son of a Prussian mother but his national policy was one of alliance with Austria and he had family ties with the House of Hapsburg as well. The artistic endeavors of the king might have served to raise the status of Bavaria in the midst of this rivalry as well as reminding both sides of their shared German heritage through such works as the King’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, many of whose works focused on Germanic-Norse mythology and folklore. It would also be untrue to say that Ludwig II cared nothing for his people, something often suggested by his shunning of large crowds and public events of royal pageantry. The King disliked such mob events but frequently traveled around his kingdom, talking individually to ordinary Bavarians on their farms and in small villages. He would listen to them, hear their stories and often, to their joyful surprise, would send generous gifts to them later. Despite all the rumors about the King, he always remained very popular.
The Kingdom of Bavaria was forced to pay an indemnity to Prussia and was, from that point, effectively dependent on Prussia. It had little choice to fall in and go to war with the French Second Empire alongside Prussia and the other German states in 1870. After the French were soundly defeated, Bavaria, having joined the North German Confederation, was to be the second most significant member state of the new German Empire that Bismarck was forming under Prussian King Wilhelm I (Ludwig II’s uncle). The King endorsed the idea of a united Germany but objected to the way it was done and boycotted the official proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Kaiser. Ludwig II gave his rather grudging consent to the union after the reception of a large payment from Bismarck which the King was sorely in need of because of his strained financial situation due to his lavish building programs and patronages. However, one blatant fact that is often overlooked in the King’s objections to how unification came was that it resulted in Bavaria being given a great deal more autonomy than other states. The Kingdom of Prussia was naturally going to be the leader of the new empire but the Kingdom of Bavaria was certainly “number two” in the hierarchy of Germany. If King Ludwig II had taken a different tone, this might not have been the case at all.
The issue of his drifting away from reality is often tied to what is the most often cited “evidence” for his insanity which was the vast sums of money he spent building palaces, castles and theaters. He certainly built a great many and had plans to do even more. Suggestions that he wished to form a secret order of royalists and dreamed of taking over the Canary Islands may have been just a bit on the eccentric side but I am the last person who could criticize him for that. In terms of his spending on so many palaces, it is important to remember that while he did spend himself into enormous debt on these magnificent architectural works of art, it was *his* debt and not that of the Bavarian government. He was not using tax money taken from ordinary Bavarian farmers to pay for these things but was strictly doing it all from his own personal fortune. He also had some odd habits to be sure but so do many other people and there really is nothing concrete that can be pointed to as proof that he was out of touch with reality.
It was a very troubling time for Bavaria and crowds of peasants and ordinary townsfolk had to be dispersed by the police when they rallied in favor of their King. The ministers tried to enlist the support of Bismarck in Berlin, but the “Iron Chancellor” wanted no part of it and refused to get involved. In the early hours of June 12, 1886 Ludwig II was taken into custody and placed under house arrest. The next day he went for a walk with a doctor of his and the two were later found dead in a nearby lake. The official cause of death was suicide by drowning but the autopsy clearly showed that he had not drowned. How exactly the King met his end may never be determined for certain, instead, it remains one last mystery in the life of a very mysterious sort of monarch. He was succeeded by his brother Otto, who was in turn declared unfit to rule on grounds of insanity and so Prince Luitpold went on being King of Bavaria in all but name until his death in 1912 when all pretense was dropped and his son was declared King Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria to date. On the whole, Bavaria did not suffer because of any of this and the country prospered during the regency, undergoing what many have called something of a “golden age” which is certainly preferable to the alternative and shows that Prince Luitpold was an able man even if some never forgave him for his part in deposing his nephew.