, issue = Frederick Augustus II
Duke Georg Ludwig , house =

House of Holstein-Gottorp Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schlesw ...

, father =

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, mother =

Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym (german: Prinzessin Ida von Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym; 10 March 1804 – 31 March 1828) was a princess of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym by birth as a daughter of Victor II, Prince of Anha ...

, birth_date = , birth_place =

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

, death_date = (aged 72) , death_place =

Rastede Rastede (Low German: ''Raastäe/Raas'') is a municipality in the Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km north of Oldenburg. It is the site of the Schloss Rastede. The Rastede railway station is loc ...

, place of burial= Ducal Mausoleum, Gertrudenfriedhof, Oldenburg , religion =

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Peter II (german: Nikolaus Friedrich Peter) (8 July 1827 – 13 June 1900) was the reigning

Grand Duke Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

from 1853 to 1900. He claimed hereditary parts of

Duchy of Holstein The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had his ...

after the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

in 1864. After signing a treaty on 23 February 1867 in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, he renounced his claims. In return, he received the district of

Ahrensbök Ahrensbök (Holsatian: ''Ahrensböök'') is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km northwest of Lübeck, and 45 km southeast of Kiel. History Ahrensbök came in ...

, the Prussian parts of the former Principality of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

other than the village of Travenhorst, and was given a million taler as compensation from Prussia. Thus the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg gained access to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

Birth and family

Duke Nikolaus Friedrich ''Peter'' was the only son of Augustus, Grand Duke of Oldenburg by his second wife

. He was born on 8 July 1827 in Oldenburg.

Early life

In his youth, he served as a General of Cavalry in the Prussian army. He also served as General of Infantry in the Hanoverian army.

Marriage

On 10 February 1852, Peter married Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. She was the fourth daughter of

Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg Joseph Georg Friedrich Ernst Karl, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (27 August 1789, in Hildburghausen – 25 November 1868, in Altenburg), was a Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. Biography He was the second but first surviving son of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildb ...

and Amelia of Württemberg, and was a sister of Queen Marie of Hanover and

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia (born Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, 8 July 1830 – 6 July 1911) was the fifth daughter of Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Duchess Amelia of Württemberg. She is an ancestress of the British, ...

. They had two sons, Frederick Augustus (born in 1852) and George (born in 1855). Peter II may have had an illegitimate son, Peter Altmann (Rastede 1857-Brighton 1934), married and had issue.

Reign

He succeeded his father as Grand Duke in 1853. Peter ruled over a population of roughly 800,000. Peter's family had ties to the Russian imperial family (both were descendants of

Christian Albrecht of Holstein-Gottorp Christian Albert (, Gottorp – , Gottorp) was a duke of Holstein-Gottorp and bishop of Lübeck. Biography Christian Albert was a son of Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and his wife Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxony. He became duk ...

), so that he sided with Russia against Austria during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

. During the

First Schleswig-Holstein War The First Schleswig War (german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig, ...

, he laid claim to part of the territories seized by Prussia, but in 1866 ceded his claim to the duchies. The following year, he created a military compact with Prussia, in which his troops were incorporated into the corps of

Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1896, his wife Elisabeth died. She died a year after their daughter-in-law Elisabeth Anna. After he suffered from heart trouble resulting from overwork, Peter's physicians recommended he have a long trip abroad. He died the following year, on 13 June 1900 at his summer residence in

. He was succeeded as Grand Duke by his eldest son, Frederick Augustus.

Honours

Ancestry and descent

Ancestry

Issue

References

{{Authority control 1827 births 1900 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) Grand Dukes of Oldenburg Burials at the Ducal Mausoleum, Gertrudenfriedhof (Oldenburg) Generals of Cavalry (Prussia) Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary 19th-century art collectors German art collectors German Lutherans