Tim Blanning's Biography of Augustus the Strong: Saxon Sun King

British historian Tim Blanning's biography "August der Starke: Sachsens Sonnenkönig" examines the life of Augustus the Strong (1670–1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Blanning portrays Augustus as a profligate hedonist and a failed military commander, but also as a significant patron of the arts who transformed Dresden into a cultural capital. The book details Augustus's Grand Tour, his imitation of Louis XIV, and his role in the Great Northern War (1700–1721), which devastated Poland. Blanning argues that Augustus's architectural legacy—the Zwinger, the Green Vault, and Dresden's baroque splendor—benefited the city economically, similar to Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein. The biography also addresses Augustus's legendary promiscuity, noting that claims of 354 children are exaggerated; Blanning states he fathered only eight. Augustus died of diabetes. The book critiques Poland's weak state, with a budget 1/36 of France's and Danzig's budget twenty times larger than the Polish state's. Blanning's work is praised for its nuanced view of a contradictory figure, though it lacks detail on daily life and underplays the horrors of war.