Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen (1769-1830)

Frederick Ferdinand (born 25 June 1769 at Pless; died 23 August 1830 at Köthen) was a prince of the House of Ascania, ruler of Anhalt-Pless from 1797 and, from 1818, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen. In Prussian service he became a general officer and held field, regimental, and provincial appointments during and after the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with his active campaigning concentrated in the First Coalition period and the Prussian collapse and retreat of 1806.

He was the son of Frederick Erdmann, Prince of Anhalt-Pless, and Countess Louise Ferdinande of Stolberg-Wernigerode. In September 1786 he entered the Prussian Army, commissioned as a supernumerary second lieutenant in the Garde zu Fuss Nr. 15. On 19 March 1788 he was promoted to Stkpt in the IR von Kalckstein Nr. 28. On 29 May 1792 he was promoted Kapt and Kiech in the Füs-Bn von Forcade Nr. 10, and thereafter received promotion to Maj (year not securely specified in the available record).

With Prussia at war against Revolutionary France, he served in the operations of 1793–1795 and is recorded in a series of specific actions: Hochheim (where he was wounded and noted for distinguished conduct), Limbach, Tann, Steinberg, Husenberg, Türkheim, Obernheim, Neustadt, and Kirrweiler. He was also present at the siege of Verdun. In the same period he was shot through the hip and badly wounded at Lautern, and he was hospitalized in Frankfurt from 17 July to 15 September 1794. On 6 January 1793 he received the Pour le Mérite. On 6 March 1795 he was appointed Chef of Füs Bn von Martini Nr. 10.

After the First Coalition campaigning, he continued to combine military advancement with dynastic responsibilities. On 12 September 1797 he was appointed brigadier of the Ober-Schlesische Füs-Bde, and on 12 December 1797 he succeeded to rule in Anhalt-Pless. On 7 July 1798 he was awarded the Roter Adlerorden (RAO), and on 17 May 1800 he was promoted to Obstlt. His career took an unusual turn in that he transferred from infantry to cavalry: on 8 May 1802, at his own request, he became commander of the 2. Bataillon of HusR von Schimmelpfennig Nr. 6. In August 1802 he was sent to the Troppau area in connection with mustering of an Austrian hussar regiment and also to take cures at Teplitz and Warmbrunn. On 26 May 1803 he was promoted to Obst.

In the final pre-war year he took leave for travel: on 13 April 1805 he received six months’ leave to travel in the Ukraine. He returned to his cavalry appointment, and in October 1805 he was named commander of HusR von Schimmelpfennig Nr. 6. While in Bucharest in December 1805, an earlier wound in his foot reopened, a recurring health problem that would later affect his employability for field command.

During the 1806 campaign against Napoleon, he fought at Jena and at Sömmerda commanding his regiment. In the chaotic retreat that followed, he is specifically recorded for action at Zehdenick on 26 October 1806, where he broke through French opposition (noted in connection with General Lasalle’s light cavalry), crossed the Oder, and gathered stragglers from multiple cavalry regiments; by November he was able to rejoin the king with more than 3,000 men assembled. He then organized a corps intended to relieve the besieged fortress of Breslau, but the attempt failed when the garrison did not support the attack; he withdrew south via Schweidnitz to Neisse.

On 21 November 1806 he was promoted to Generalmajor and appointed Governor General of Silesia and the Grafschaft Glatz, placing him in a major provincial defense and administration role during Prussia’s crisis. On 25 January 1807 he was appointed Chef of HusR Nr. 6. On 13 March 1807 he joined King Friedrich Wilhelm III at Memel. His Prussian service ended shortly thereafter: on 16 October 1808 he resigned his commission and went to Vienna with the intention of entering Austrian service, but no Austrian appointment resulted. He returned to his own affairs in Anhalt-Pless.

When Prussia re-entered the struggle in 1813, he again contributed to the war effort, though not in the manner he sought. In February 1813 he raised and equipped a squadron of cavalry and presented it to the king of Prussia, requesting a field command; the request was refused on grounds of poor health. Instead he was appointed commanding officer of the Silesian Landsturm, a role consistent with his earlier Silesian responsibilities and his physical limitations.

His later life combined honorary-military distinctions with dynastic elevation. On 30 March 1818 he received the Hausorden Albrechts des Bären (HOSA) and on the same date was appointed Chef of the 1. (Oppeln) Landwehr-Regiment. On 16 December 1818 he succeeded to the title Duke of Anhalt-Köthen. On 23 March 1819 he was awarded the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse. In his final year he received a high dynastic order: on 22 May 1830 he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece. He died at Köthen on 23 August 1830, after which the succession in Anhalt-Köthen passed to his brother Henry.