Ferdinand Friedrich (Duke of Anhalt-Kothen)

Ferdinand is the second son of Prince Friedrich Erdman of Anhalt-Kothen-Plesssky and Countess Louise Ferdinand Stolberg-Wernigerode . In 1786, he joined the Prussian army, where he rose to the rank of major general and distinguished himself in the Rhine campaigns of 1792-94.

After the death of his father in 1797, Ferdinand lived in Ples, in the inherited estate estates in Upper Silesia, and traveled, in 1806 he again went to serve in the Prussian army. After the battle of Jena and Auerstedt, he fought his way through Zedenik with his regiment through the enemy line, but was forced to retreat to Bohemia to surrender weapons to the Austrians. Soon after, he quit and after a trip to Holland and France, he lived in Ples. During the Liberation Wars of 1813, he commanded the Silesian militia.

The first marriage of Ferdinand with Louise Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Bek ended in the death of his wife. In 1816, he entered into a second marriage with Julia Brandenburg , the daughter of Frederick William II in his morganatic marriage with Sofia von Dengoff .

In 1818, after the death of his nephew, the young Duke Ludwig August of Anhalt-Kötensky , Ferdinand became ruler of Anhalt-Köthen , leaving the possession of Ples to his brother Henry .

As a result of the victory of Prussia, Anhalt was almost completely surrounded by Prussia, which led to customs conflicts, which Ferdinand declared at the union level in 1821. Only in 1828 was an agreement reached between Prussia, Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Dessau . During these years, Ferdinand tried to develop an export port in Nienburg , trying to bypass Prussian customs by water.

During a trip to Paris in 1825, Ferdinand, together with his second wife Julia, converted to Catholicism . His unsuccessful aspirations to introduce Catholicism in his principality and to give the Protestant church a hierarchical character caused general discontent.

Ferdinand Friedrich left a mark in history with his many years of support for homeopathy . He provided shelter to Samuel Hahnemann in 1821, appointing him his life physician. Hahnemann with his large family lived in Kothen for 14 years, here his most important works appeared. He then married his French patient and went to Paris.

Ferdinand's interests in agriculture focused primarily on sheep farming , and wool was an important export commodity for Anhalt-Köthen. In Grimschleben near Nienburg, court architect Gottfried Bandhauer built a classic-style shepherd. Insufficient meadow areas in Anhalt prompted Ferdinand to establish the Askania-Nova sheep breeding colony, “New Askania”, which has been preserved under this name to this day and is now a conservation area, in 1828 in the Crimean steppes in southern Ukraine .

Ferdinand Friedrich died childless and was buried in the tomb of St. Mary's Church. His widow moved to Vienna , and his brother Heinrich became the ruler of Anhalt-Köthen.

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• Hermann Wäschke . Anhaltische Geschichte. - 3 Bde. - Köthen: Schulze, 1912–13.
• NDB 2, 517 und 5, 558.
• Gankevich V. Yu. The Reigning Duke Ferdinand Friedrich Anhalt-Keten-Plessky - Heir to the Colony of Askaniya-Nova // Uchenye Zapiski Tavricheskogo National University im. V.I. Vernadsky. Series "Historical Sciences". Volume 24 (63). No. 2, special issue “History of Ukraine”. - S. 31-45. - ISSN 1606-3715.
• Gankevich V. Yu. The inflow of Anhalt-Russian dynastic sounds in the history of Ukraine (up to 800 riches of Anhalt power) // Uchenye zapiski Tavricheskogo National University im. V.I. Vernadsky. Series "Historical Sciences". - 2012 .-- 25 (64). - No. 2 .-- S. 86-95. (ISSN 1606-3715) http://archive.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/soc_gum/UZTNU_istor/2012_2/files/Gankevich.pdf (link not available)