Anhalt-Dessau had been divided in 1632, but was quickly reunited; and in 1693 it came under the rule of Leopold I. (see ANHALT-DESSAU, LEOPOLD I., PRINCE OF), the famous soldier who was generally known as the “Old Dessauer.”  The sons of Leopold’s eldest son were excluded from the succession on account of the marriage of their father being morganatic, and the principality passed in 1747 to his second son, Leopold II.  The unrest of 1848 spread to Dessau, and led to the interference of the Prussians and to the establishment of the new constitution in 1859.  Leopold IV., who reigned from 1817 to 1871, had the satisfaction in 1863 of reuniting the whole of Anhalt under his rule.  He took the title of duke of Anhalt, summoned one Landtag for the whole of the duchy, and in 1866 fought for Prussia against Austria.  Subsequently a quarrel over the possession of the ducal estates between the duke and the Landtag broke the peace of the duchy, but this was settled in 1872.  In 1871 Anhalt became a state of the German Empire.  Leopold IV. was followed by his son Frederick I., and on the death of this prince in 1904 his son Frederick II. became duke of Anhalt.

AUTHORITIES.—­F.  Knoke, Anhaltische Geschichte (Dessau, 1893); G. Krause, Urkunden, Aktenstucke und Briefe zur Geschichte der anhaltischen Lande und ihrer Fuersten unter dem Drucke des 30 jahrigen Krieges (Leipzig, 1861-1866); O. von Heinemann, Codex diplomaticus Anhaltinus (Dessau, 1867-1883); Siebigk, Das Herzogthum Anhalt historisch, geographisch und statistisch dargestellt (Dessau, 1867).

ANHALT-DESSAU, LEOPOLD I., PRINCE OF (1676-1747), called the “Old Dessauer” (Alter Dessauer), general field marshal in the Prussian army, was the only surviving son of John George II., prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and was born on the 3rd of July 1676 at Dessau.  From his earliest youth he was devoted to the profession of arms, for which he educated himself physically and mentally.  He became colonel of a Prussian regiment in 1693, and in the same year his father’s death placed him at the head of his own principality; thereafter, during the whole of his long life, he performed the duties of a sovereign prince and a Prussian officer.  His first campaign was that of 1695 in the Netherlands, in which he was present at the siege of Namur.  He remained in the field to the end of the war of 1697, the affairs of the principality being managed chiefly by his mother, Princess Henriette Catherine of Orange.  In 1698 he married Anna Luise Foese, an apothecary’s daughter of Dessau, in spite of his mother’s long and earnest opposition, and subsequently he procured for her the rank of a princess from the emperor (1701).  Their married life was long and happy, and the princess acquired an influence over the stern nature of her husband which she never ceased to exert on behalf of his subjects, and after the death of Leopold’s mother she performed the duties of regent when he was absent on campaign.