Augustus I. (as king, II.) Frederick, sur-named the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, second son of the elector John George III., born in Dresden, May 12, 1670, died in Warsaw, Feb. 1, 1733. After a careful education he visited all the countries and courts of Europe, Rome alone excepted. During these journeys he began the collection of pictures and other objects of art composing the gallery in Dresden, which, increased by his son, became one of the most celebrated in Europe. After the death of his father in 1691, and of his elder brother, John George IV., in 1694, he became sovereign of Saxony; and after the death of John Sobieski, king of Poland, in 1696, he was elected as his successor by the nobility of that country. To obtain this election he changed his religion from Protestantism to Catholicism. To restore to Poland some provinces wrested by Sweden, Augustus attacked Charles XII. jointly with Denmark and with Peter the Great of Russia; but after a long struggle, in which both Poland and Saxony suffered terribly, he was obliged at the bidding of Charles XII. to give up the royal crown, which the victor gave to Stanislas Leszczynski (July 12, 1704), and to give his own consent formally to this act, in the peace of Altranstadt (Sept. 24, 1706). When Charles was defeated at Poltava, July 8, 1709, Augustus renewed his alliance with Peter the Great, broke the peace with Sweden, entered Poland with an army, expelled Leszczynski, and recovered the crown.

His reign was one of great luxury and splendor, his court a scene of uninterrupted festivity, with artists, adventurers, alchemists, and numberless beautiful women, one of whom, the celebrated Countess Konigsmark, was by Augustus the mother of that Maurice so celebrated at the court of Versailles and in the history of France under the name of Marshal Saxe. Augustus was elegant, affable, and of extraordinary bodily strength, but without any trait of real excellence. He impoverished Saxony and corrupted Poland. - Augustus II. (III.) Frederick, son of the preceding, born in 1696, died Oct. 5, 1763. He succeeded his father in both Saxony and Poland, in the first by inheritance, in the second by election, though he was opposed by Stanislas Leszczynski, whose claims were supported by Louis XV. and a portion of the Polish nobles. Augustus continued the gorgeous reign of his father, his greatest passion being hunting and festivities. His reign over Poland was quiet, but in every respect demoralizing. Count Bruhl, his favorite, ruled in the sovereign's name.

Augustus, being married to an Austrian princess, had no other policy than subserviency to Austria, and he became entangled in the wars against Frederick the Great of Prussia. In 1742 he concluded an alliance offensive and defensive with Maria Theresa, and promised afterward to bring into the field 50,000 men. This army, united with the Austrians, was beaten at the battle of Hohenfriedberg in Silesia, June 4, 1745, when Frederick invaded Saxony and entered Dresden, while Augustus fled to Poland, which was at peace with Prussia. By a treaty concluded at the close of the same year he was restored to his electorate. In the seven years' war, however, Augustus, as elector of Saxony, again participated on the side of Austria. At the beginning his Saxon army was compelled to surrender to Frederick (October, 1756), and he himself fled to Warsaw, persisting in his alliance with Austria, and resided there until the pacification by the treaty of Hubertsburg (1763), when he returned to Dresden.