Editing Ludwig I of Bavaria (section)

==Crown prince==
Born in the [[Hôtel des Deux-Ponts|Zweibrücker Hof]] in [[Strasbourg|Straßburg]] as ''Ludwig Karl August von Pfalz-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken'', he was the son of [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria|Count Palatine Maximilian Joseph of Zweibrücken]] (later [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria]]) by his first wife [[Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt]]. At the time of his birth, his father was an officer in the [[French Army]] stationed at [[Strasbourg]]. Ludwig was the godson and [[namesake]] of [[Louis XVI of France]]. 
[[File:Portrait of Ludwig, Crown Prince of Bavaria.png|thumb|left|''[[Portrait of Ludwig, Crown Prince of Bavaria|Portrait of Crown Prince Ludwig]]'' by [[Angelica Kauffman]], 1807]]
On  1 April 1795 his father succeeded Ludwig's uncle, [[Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken|Charles II]], as duke of [[Palatine Zweibrücken|Zweibrücken]], and on  16 February 1799 became [[prince-elector|Elector]] of Bavaria and [[Electoral Palatinate|Count Palatine of the Rhine]], the Arch-Steward of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Empire]], and [[Berg (state)|Duke of Berg]] on the extinction of the [[Palatinate-Sulzbach|Sulzbach]] line with the death of the elector [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Charles Theodore]]. His father assumed the title of [[King of Bavaria]] on  1 January 1806.

Starting in 1803 Ludwig studied in [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|Landshut]] where he was taught by [[Johann Michael Sailer]] and in [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]]. On 12 October 1810 he married [[Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen]] (1792–1854), the daughter of [[Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen]]. The wedding was the occasion of the first-ever [[Oktoberfest]].

Ludwig strongly rejected the alliance of his father with [[Napoleon I of France]] but in spite of his anti-French politics the crown prince had to join the emperor's wars with allied Bavarian troops in 1806. As commander of the 1st Bavarian Division in VII Corps, he served under [[Marshal of France|Marshal]] [[François Joseph Lefebvre]] in 1809.<ref>Bowden, Scotty & Tarbox, Charlie. ''Armies on the Danube 1809''. Arlington, Texas: Empire Games Press, 1980. 61.</ref> He led his division in action at the [[Battle of Abensberg]] on 20 April.<ref>[[Francis Loraine Petre|Petre, F. Loraine]]. ''Napoleon and the Archduke Charles''. New York: Hippocrene Books, (1909) 1976. 134.</ref>

With the [[Treaty of Ried]] of 8 October 1813 Bavaria left the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] and agreed to join the [[Sixth Coalition]] against Napoleon in exchange for a guarantee of her continued sovereign and independent status. On 14 October, Bavaria made a formal declaration of war against [[First French Empire|Napoleonic France]]. The treaty was passionately backed by Crown Prince Ludwig and by [[Karl Philipp von Wrede|Marshal von Wrede]].

Already at the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]], Ludwig advocated a German national policy. Until 1816 the crown prince served as governor-general of the [[Duchy of Salzburg]], whose cession to Austria he strongly opposed. His second son [[Otto of Greece|Otto]], the later King of Greece, was born there. Between 1816 and 1825, he spent his years in [[Würzburg]]. He also made numerous trips to Italy and stayed often in the {{ill|Villa Malta (Pincio hill)|lt=Villa Malta|de|Villa Malta (Pincio)}} in Rome, which he later also bought (1827). Ludwig supported generously as a [[Philhellene]] the [[Greek War of Independence]], in which he provided a loan of 1.5&nbsp;million florins from his private funds.

In 1817 Ludwig was also involved in the fall of Prime Minister [[Maximilian von Montgelas|Count Max Josef von Montgelas]] whose policies he had opposed. He succeeded his father on the throne in 1825.