July 10, 2010
<Back to Index>
 
Prince Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm 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 also a first cousin twice removed of Napoleon III, with whom he shared a striking resemblance. He was married to Princess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland, eldest daughter of Ernst Augustus II of Hanover and Thyra of Denmark. In 1918 he served as the 8th Chancellor of Germany.

Maximilian was born in Baden-Baden. He received his first name from his late maternal grandfather, Maximilian Jevgenevich de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg. Max's mother was from Russia (St.Petersburg), princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, herself a niece of Tsar Alexander II

Noted as a liberal before and during the First World War, he 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, Margrave of Baden, spent the rest of his life in retirement. He died at Salem in 1929, having become the head of the House of Baden upon the death of his first cousin, the former Grand Duke, Frederick II.
He and Maria Luise were parents to two children.