Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau - Early Life

Early Life

Leopold was born at Dessau.

After having lost both parents in 1751 (his mother on 20 April and his father on 16 December), the eleven-year-old Leopold inherited Anhalt-Dessau under the regency of his uncle, Prince Dietrich.

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, Leopold joined the Prussian army. After the Battle of KolĂ­n (18 June 1757), he was impressed so negatively by the spectacle of warfare that he resigned from the army and declared the neutrality of Anhalt-Dessau.

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