| Karl Anton | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Karl Anton in 1858 | |||||
| Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | |||||
| Reign | 27 August 1848 – 7 December 1849 | ||||
| Predecessor | Karl | ||||
| Successor | Annexed by Prussia | ||||
| Prince of Hohenzollern | |||||
| Tenure | 3 September 1869 – 2 June 1885 | ||||
| Successor | Leopold | ||||
| Minister President of Prussia | |||||
| Tenure | 6 November 1858 – 12 March 1862 | ||||
| Predecessor | Otto Theodor von Manteuffel | ||||
| Successor | Adolf of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen | ||||
| Born | (1811-09-07)7 September 1811 Krauchenwies,Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | ||||
| Died | 2 June 1885(1885-06-02) (aged 73) Sigmaringen,German Empire | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern Stephanie, Queen of Portugal Carol I, King of Romania Prince Anton Prince Frederick Princess Marie, Countess of Flanders | ||||
| |||||
| House | Hohenzollern | ||||
| Father | Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | ||||
| Mother | Marie Antoinette Murat | ||||
Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (German:Karl Anton Joachim Zephyrinus Friedrich Meinrad Fürst von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; 7 September 1811 – 2 June 1885) was the last reigning prince ofHohenzollern-Sigmaringen before the territory was annexed by theKingdom of Prussia in 1849. Afterwards, he continued to be titular prince of his house and – with the death of the last prince ofHohenzollern-Hechingen in 1869 – of the entireSwabian branch of theHouse of Hohenzollern. He served asMinister President of Prussia from 1858 to 1862, the only Hohenzollern prince to hold that post. His second son,Karl, becameking of Romania. The offer of the throne of Spain to his eldest son,Leopold, was one of the causes of theFranco-Prussian War, which led to theunification of Germany and the creation of theGerman Empire.
Karl Anton was born atKrauchenwies Castle inSigmaringen, the second child ofKarl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1785–1853) and the French princessMarie Antoinette Murat (1793–1847). Karl Anton studied law in Geneva, at theUniversities of Tübingen andGöttingen, and at theHumboldt University of Berlin. After finishing school he was active in the Estates Assembly (a form of parliament) and in the administration of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.[1]
On 31 October 1834 he marriedPrincess Josephine of Baden (21 October 1813 – 19 June 1900), daughter ofGrand Duke Carl of Baden. They had six children:
.jpg)
On 27 August 1848, in the face of the events surrounding theGerman revolutions of 1848–1849, Prince Karl resigned in favor of his son, Karl Anton, who originally intended to renounce the sovereign rights of the state. He negotiated with theprovisional government (Provisorische Zentralgewalt) of theFrankfurt Parliament, but the negotiations did not lead to any results. Within the principality, the revolutionary movement became increasingly radicalized, leading to a dispute with the estates over the princely domains that forced Karl Anton to temporarily leave Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.[1]
In the spring of 1849, the situation in Sigmaringen again came to a head. Prince Karl Anton had to consent to the newFrankfurt Constitution that attempted to set up a German constitutional monarchy underKing Frederick Wilhelm IV of Prussia. On 3 June a people's assembly was held calling for the unification of the military and the citizen army, the free election of officers, and the transfer of the princely domains to the state. At Karl Anton's request, Prussian troops entered Sigmaringen and all of Hohenzollern on 3 August.
Beginning in the spring of 1848, Karl Anton conducted secret negotiations with Frederick William IV on the annexation of the principality to theKingdom of Prussia.[2] On 7 December 1849, Prince Karl Anton signed the state treaty with Prussia,[1] and the solemn handover of the principality took place on 6 April 1850.
After abdicating as sovereign in favor of Prussia, Karl Anton became commander of the14th Division of thePrussian Army on 15 April 1852. He lived with his family inJägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf.[2] On 22 March 1853 he was promoted to lieutenant general. At the beginning of theCrimean War, he was sent as an envoy to Paris to try to prevent the anti-Russian coalition that France and Great Britain ultimately formed.[1]
._From_the_lithograph_by_Friedrich_Jentzen%2c_about_1840.jpg)
Karl Anton had good relations withPrince Wilhelm of Prussia. After Wilhelm assumed the regency on 5 November 1858, he entrusted Karl Anton with office ofMinister President of Prussia and asked him to submit his proposal for building a ministry. The appointment made him head of the government during the "New Era", a period of attempted reform following the conservative reaction against the 1848 revolutions.[1]
Politically Karl Anton was close to the moderate liberalism of theWochenblatt Party, an association of Prussian liberal-conservative politicians led byAugust von Bethmann-Hollweg. In domestic politics, Karl Anton attempted to implement liberal reforms and initially cooperated with the liberals who were in the majority in thePrussian House of Representatives. In theconflict over military reform that pitted King Wilhelm I against the parliament, Karl Anton supported the King and the plans of Minister of WarAlbrecht von Roon, but he also advocated a greater opening of an officer's career to the middle classes. In foreign policy, he supported the liberal reform plans that had the goal of unifying the German states. The European crisis resulting from theSecond Italian War of Independence caused his plans for German policy to fail.[1]
Between 22 November 1858 and 28 June 1860, Karl Anton served as commanding general of theVII Army Corps; on 31 May 1859 he attained the rank of general of infantry.[2]
The parliamentary election of 1861 ended with the victory of theGerman Progress Party, which rejected Roon's military plans. As a result, Karl Anton lost political support in the chamber. Within thecabinet, he had difficulty asserting himself between the liberal members aroundAugust von der Heydt and the conservatives around Roon. His time as Minister President ended on 12 March 1862.
After leaving the Prussian government, Karl Anton largely resigned from active politics and focused on his role as head of the Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family, a position that was accentuated by the extinction of theHohenzollern-Hechingen line in 1869. In 1866 his sonKarl was elected Prince of Romania.[2] When in February 1870 his other sonLeopold was offered the Spanish throne, German ChancellorOtto von Bismarck urged Karl Anton to accept the offer, which he did after a period of hesitation. In view of his kinship with the French houses of Murat and Bonaparte, the approval of the French emperorNapoleon III seemed possible. When the candidacy threatened to ignite a European crisis, Karl Anton withdrew his son's name on 12 July 1870, but it was not enough to prevent theFranco-Prussian War of 1870/71. TheEms Dispatch, which incited France to declare war on Prussia, was issued one day later. During the war, Karl Anton did not hold a frontline command. He was military governor of theRhine Province and theProvince of Westphalia, with the rank of commanding general.[1]
In 1871 Sigmaringen again became Karl Anton's permanent residence. He and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1884 with a thirteen-course meal. The prince was an avid hunter and a collector of art, books and guns, as well as an enthusiastic amateur antiquarian who offered guided tours of his collections and art treasures inSigmaringen Castle. He spent the last years of his life burdened by a paralysis of the legs.
Karl Anton died on 2 June 1885.
Hohenzollern: Joint Founder of thePrincely House Order of Hohenzollern,5 December 1841
Ascanian duchies:Grand Cross of Albert the Bear,17 April 1860[4]
Baden:[5]
Kingdom of Bavaria:Knight of St. Hubert,1858[6]
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order,May 1835[7]
Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,25 December 1868[8]
Oldenburg:Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown,18 September 1861[9]
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,1 March 1858[10]
Kingdom of Saxony:Knight of the Rue Crown
Württemberg:[11]
Kingdom of Prussia:
Austrian Empire:
Belgium: Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold (military),30 June 1869[14]
Empire of Brazil:Grand Cross of the Southern Cross
French Empire: Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour,28 June 1860[15]
Kingdom of Greece:Grand Cross of the Redeemer
Monaco:Grand Cross of St. Charles,26 September 1882[16]
Kingdom of Portugal:Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword
United Principalities of Romania:
Russian Empire:
Spain: Grand Cross of theOrder of Charles III, with Collar,8 February 1882[17]
Sweden-Norway:Knight of the Seraphim,24 February 1864[18]| Ancestors of Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern (born 1811) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern (born 1811) Cadet branch of theHouse of Hohenzollern Born: 7 September 1811 Died: 2 June 1885 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 27 August 1848 – 7 December 1849 | Principality annexed by theKingdom of Prussia |
| German nobility | ||
| Preceded by Himself (Principality annexed by theKingdom of Prussia) | Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 7 December 1849 – 2 June 1885 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Himself, after the extinction of theHechingen Branch of theHouse of Hohenzollern | Prince of Hohenzollern 3 September 1869 – 2 June 1885 | |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Prussia 6 November 1858 – 12 March 1862 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
