Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst

Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (11 January 1653 – 10 December 1714) was a German prince of the House of Ascania.

He was born in Zerbst, the fourth (but second surviving) son of John VI, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, by his wife Sophie Auguste, daughter of Frederick III, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp.

After the death of his father in 1667, Anthony Günther received the castle of Mühlingen. The During his minority, his mother the Dowager Princess Sophie Auguste acted as regent.

In 1669 he and his older brother Karl William started their Grand Tour and visited Holland, England, France, and Italy; they only returned to Zerbst in 1672. Soon afterwards he began his military career and fought in Italy against France under the command of Johann Karl, Palatine Count of Birkenfeld, and was present at the sieges of Oudenaarde, Grave (1674) and Philippsburg (1676). After the Treaty of Nijmegen he stayed in Italy until 1681, when he returned to Zerbst. One year later he travelled again, this time to Denmark, Sweden, Courland, and Poland. Under the command of the Elector John George III of Saxony, he fought in the Battle of Vienna (1683).

In 1689 the war against King Louis XIV of France was renewed; he moved with the Brandenburg troops outside Bonn, where he distinguished himself in battle; for this, the Elector Frederick III (later King Frederick I of Prussia) called him Obersten ("The Highest"). Anthony Günther marched in 1690 with the Brandenburg troops to Brabant and became Commandant of Ath. In 1692 he fought in the Battle of Steenkerque, where he received five shots in his left arm. Hardly recovered from his wounds, he got another shot in Landau, once again in the arm. Now in charge of a battalion, King William III of England in 1694 appointed him Commander-in-Chief of a brigade of 9 battalions and in 1695 handed him over the governorship of Ath, whose fortress he had surrendered, however, after a brave defense, to Catinat.

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