Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels

Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (Weissenfels, 4 September 1685 – Leipzig, 16 May 1746), was the last duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and a member of the House of Wettin. He was also a commander in the Saxon army.

Johann Adolf was the youngest of the eleven children of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg. His mother died five months after his birth, on 22 January 1686.

In the War of the Polish Succession, Johann Adolf led Saxon troops into Poland (October 1733). For the next three years, the Saxon army remained mainly in southern Poland, until the coronation of the Elector Frederick August II of Saxony as King of Poland after the defeat of Stanisław Leszczyński, the rival candidate for the Polish throne. That same year, Johann Adolf inherited Saxe-Weissenfels when his brother Christian died without children.

During the Second Silesian War, Prussian troops crossed the Saxon border, and Saxony and Austria agreed to proceed together against Prussia. Saxon troops planned to cut off the Prussians in northern Silesia, while Austrian troops would advance from the south. But in June 1745, they were defeated at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg. Johann Adolf planned a new offensive campaign in September 1745, but he changed his mind two weeks later. Because of this, he was replaced as commander-in-chief by Count Frederick August Rutowski, an illegitimate half-brother of the King-Elector.

After the Battle of Kesselsdorf, the Elector removed his half-brother Rutowski as commander-in-chief and reinstated Johann Adolf, who began his duties as commander on 1 December 1745. Additionally, he was appointed chief of the Saxon government during the absence of the Elector and the Minister Heinrich of Brühl.

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