Die Protestantische Union

Protestantische Union, Die (also Union von Auhausen or Deutsche Union), was formed in May 1608 in Auhausen upon the initiative of Christian I, Fürst von Anhalt (1568-1630) after an attack by Protestants on Roman Catholics in Donauwörth (1607) had led to the occupation of this city by Maximilian I of Bavaria. The purpose of the Union was to defend Protestant, especially Calvinist, interests against the Habsburg dynasty. Its members were the Protestant states of the Rhineland, among them the Duchy of Württemberg and the Margravate of Baden, and the free cities of Strasburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm (1609), as well as the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Landgravate of Hesse (1610). The Union was headed by the Elector Palatine Friedrich V, and Christian of Anhalt and the Margrave of Baden-Durlach were its generals. In 1612 it made an alliance with England and was dissolved in 1621, having failed effectively to rival the Catholic League (see Katholische Liga).