Augustus The StrongA riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of eighteenth century Poland and Saxony, and his catastrophic reign Both King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, Augustus is one of the great what ifs of the 18th century. He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion. Alas, there was no opportunity Augustus did not waste and no