Albrecht König von Württemberg (born Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph von Württemberg) is the 5th and current King of Württemberg, succeeding his relative Wilhelm II of Württemberg on 2 October 1921. Current head of the House of Württemberg and an influential general in the Imperial German Army, Albrecht is the son of Duke Philipp von Württemberg (1838-1917) and a distant relative of Vytautas II of Lithuania (born Karl Gero von Urach).
History[]
Early Life[]
Albrecht was born on 23 December 1865 in the Austrian capital of Vienna to Philipp, Duke of Württemberg, and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. Philipp belonged to the fifth branch of the House of Württemberg and otherwise would not have come to rule the Kingdom of Württemberg had King Karl's father not died in 1891 without an heir, thus making Philipp's father, Wilhelm II, King of Württemberg. However, Philipp died in 1917, finally making Albrecht heir apparent to the Kingdom.
Weltkrieg[]
When the Weltkrieg broke out in 1914, Albrecht, a noble, and thus, an officer, was the general in command of the German 4th Army. On 21-23 August of that year, Albrecht and Crown Prince Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, in command of the German 5th Army, defeated the French 3rd and 4th Armies at the Battle of the Ardennes when he encountered and caught them off guard and then drove them out of the forest. Albrecht led the German 4th Army again at the Battles of the Marne, and again at Yser. However, it was Albrecht's leadership of all German forces at the Second Battle of Ypres that earned him his first Pour le Mérite in 1915. Later that year, in August, he was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall, and honor not even Erich Ludendorff or Erich von Falkenhayn received.
In August of 1917, Army Group Albrecht was created and its namesake charged with its command. Albrecht, the Crown Prince of Württemberg, a realm that had not won much glory since the days of Napoleon, had now become overall commander of the southern portion of the Western Front. The later half of the war was very good for Albrecht. When the Russians capitulated to the German Empire in 1918, the Allies panicked and launched a massive spring offensive along the entire line to break through and overtake the German lines before tens of thousands of fresh and battle hardened German troops could arrive and turn the tables. Albrecht's leadership and combat experience had, since 1917, seen his repeated success on the field and this time the Allies, mostly the French in his own sphere of command, were driven back with thousands of causalities. It was conduct of the defensive and German counteroffensives of that spring that prompted Kaiser Wilhelm II's summoning of Albrecht, now one of the most renowned generals in the Imperial Army, to Berlin to receive the Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves. While there, he was also tasked with helping in the planning of what would become the Great Spring Offensive of 1919 with such names as Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorf.