August the strong

During the reign of August the Strong, Saxony experienced a cultural peak. Pompous self-dramatization was his most important instrument to enforce and preserve his claim to power, thereby following in the footsteps of his idol Ludwig the XIV and just like him, he became the example of an absolutist ruler. But this came at a price. The ambitious plans and projects of the Saxon monarch overburden the country. After the baroque fireworks of the Augustinian era, the economically exhausted and militarily beaten Saxony disappears from the European political landscape in the mid 18th century.