August III

August III, King of Poland and, as Friedrich August II, Kurfürst von Sachsen (Dresden, 1696-1763, Dresden), was elected in 1733 king of Poland. He was the only legitimate son of Augustus the Strong (see August II). Married to a daughter of the Emperor Joseph I, he had, like his father, become a Roman Catholic. In the Polish War of Succession (1733-5) he was successful against his rival claimant Stanislas Leszczyński. In the Austrian War of Succession (see Österreichischer Erbfolgekrieg) and in the first Silesian Wars (see Schlesische Kriege) he supported Austria against Prussia without profiting by it, having to capitulate soon after the opening of the Seven Years War (see Siebenjähriger Krieg). As Saxony was occupied by Friedrich II of Prussia, the luckless Augustus fled to Poland.