Prince Maximilian of Baden (Max von Baden) (10 July 1867 – 6 November 1929) was the cousin and heir of Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden (being the eldest son of his uncle Prince Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden), and succeeded Frederick as head of the Grand Ducal House in 1928. He was married to Princess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland, eldest daughter of Ernst Augustus II of Hanover. In 1918 he served as the 8th Chancellor of Germany.

Career

Noted as a liberal before and during the First World War, Maximilian was appointed Chancellor of Germany in October 1918 in order to negotiate an armistice with the allies in the last days of the war. Although he had serious reservations about the way the German General Staff wanted to conduct negotiations, he accepted the charge, and appointed a government that for the first time included representatives of the Social Democrats, Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann.

The government's efforts to secure an armistice were interrupted by the outbreak of revolution in Germany in the first days of November. Maximilian, realizing that the Kaiser would not be able to retain his throne, urged him to abdicate in time to save the monarchy itself, but the Kaiser refused to agree, even though Paul von Hindenburg and Wilhelm Groener of the General Staff urged the same course of action.

Then Maximilian announced the abdication without the Kaiser's consent, and resigned in favour of Ebert on 9 November 1918. This was immediately followed by the proclamation of the German Republic.

Prince Maximilian spent the rest of his life in retirement.

Children

He and Maria Luise were parents to two children:

• Princess Marie Alexandra of Baden (August 1, 1902 - January 29, 1944). Married Wolfgang Moritz of Hesse-Cassel, a son of Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Margarete of Prussia. Marie Alexandra was killed in a bombing of Frankfurt by the Allies of World War II.

• Prince Berthold, Margrave of Baden (February 24, 1906 - October 27, 1963). Married Theodora, Princess of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Berthold was the brother-in-law of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

References

• My Syllabus of Errors, by O.C. Hiss. Berlin: Potsdam Press, 1990.

External links

• A Page About Max von Baden (in German)

1867 births | 1929 deaths | Chancellors of Germany | German Empire | German World War I people | German nobility | House of Baden | Princes

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