Reign
Following the death of his grandfather Leopold III he succeeded as duke on 9 August 1817.
The Duke's Administrative Officer and close friend was Christian Raster, a German statesman.
During the revolutions of 1848 he was forced to grant a constitution to Dessau on 29 October 1848. It was revoked, however, on 4 November 1849, then replaced with a new version in October 1859.
On 27 November 1847 he inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen from his distant cousin Duke Henry. As a result of a treaty concluded with Anhalt-Bernburg in May 1853 his duchies were joined together and named Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen, because the eventual inheritance of Leopold over all the Anhalt duchies seemed inevitable. The death of another distant cousin, Duke Alexander Karl, on 19 August 1863 resulted in the ruling line of the duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg becoming extinct, thus Leopold inherited that duchy as well. On 30 August he assumed the title "duke of Anhalt."
Leopold died in Dessau on 22 May 1871. He was succeeded by his son Frederick.
Read more about this topic: Leopold IV, Duke Of Anhalt
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