Born in
Dresden, Augustus was the only legitimate son of
Augustus II the Strong, Imperial
Prince-Elector of Saxony and
King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, by his wife,
Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. He was groomed to succeed his father as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and thus in
1721 converted to
Catholicism.
After his father's death, he inherited Saxony and was elected
King of Poland with the support of
Russian and
Austrian military forces in the
War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738).
As King, August III was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish-Lithuanian dominion, focussing on interests like hunting, opera, and collecting paintings (see
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister). During his 30-year reign, he spent less than a total of three years in Poland, where the struggle between the
Czartoryski and the
Potocki paralysed the
Sejm (
Liberum Veto), fostering internal political anarchy and further weakening the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. August delegated most of his powers and responsibilities to
Heinrich, Count von Brühl, who became quasi-
dictator of Poland.
The thirty years of August III's reign saw the
Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763), and neighboring
Prussia, Austria, and
Russia refined their plans to
partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth among them.
His eldest surviving son,
Frederick Christian, eventually succeeded his father as
Elector of Saxony, but not as King of Poland.
It was
Stanisław August Poniatowski who was elected King of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after a coup d'état by the Czartoryski
Familia — supported by Russian troops — on
September 7, 1764.
He died in Dresden.
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