principality · Germany and Central Europe
Principality of Anhalt-Dessau
Origins
Anhalt-Dessau was created in the 1603 partition of Anhalt, with Prince John George I receiving Dessau on the Mulde near its junction with the Elbe. The line was Calvinist and closely tied to the Electorate of Brandenburg by marriage.
Rule and society
Leopold I, the Old Dessauer, was a Prussian field marshal who introduced the iron ramrod and cadenced marching. His grandson Leopold III Friedrich Franz was a model Enlightenment ruler who laid out the landscape gardens of Wörlitz, built schools and founded the Philanthropinum, a progressive school, in 1774. The principality became a duchy in 1807.
Decline and legacy
Anhalt-Dessau inherited Anhalt-Köthen in 1847 and Anhalt-Bernburg in 1863, after which Duke Leopold IV Friedrich ruled a united Duchy of Anhalt from Dessau. The Garden Realm is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Principality of Anhalt-Dessau was part of Holy Roman Empire1603 CE – 1806 CE
- Principality of Anhalt-Dessau was part of German Confederation1815 CE – 1863 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Principality of Anhalt-Dessau. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-anhalt-dessau
- MLA
- “Principality of Anhalt-Dessau.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-anhalt-dessau. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Principality of Anhalt-Dessau.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-anhalt-dessau.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Principality of Anhalt-Dessau’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-anhalt-dessau (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻