Theophil spokesman for Bernegg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chief of Staff Colonel von Sprecher

Theophil Andreas Luzius spokesman von Bernegg (born April 27, 1850 in Maienfeld , † December 6, 1927 in Walenstadt , authorized to reside in Maienfeld, Küblis , Davos and Chur ) was a Swiss officer and chief of staff of the Swiss Army .

Life

Spokesman yard in Maienfeld

Theophil Sprecher was born in 1850 as the son of Landammann Anton Herkules Sprecher von Bernegg . After high school in Basel and Schiers , he began to study agriculture and forestry at the Tharandt Forestry University , then political science at the University of Leipzig , but dropped out after the death of his father and devoted himself to the management of his family's estates in Maienfeld .

In 1871 he was elected to the local council of Maienfeld and in 1877 he was city president. The spokesman was on the board of directors of the United Swiss Railways (VSB), member of the Grand Council of Graubünden and, in 1881 , member of the board of directors of the Bank for Graubünden. In 1882 he was elected as Landammann of the Maienfeld district and a member (later president) of the Unterlandquart District Court . Spokesman also became a member and then President of the Board of Directors of the Rhaetian Railway and a member of the Cantonal Court of Graubünden. Together with the Catholic corps commander Friedrich Brügger , Spokesman was the reorganizer of the Bündner Tagblatt in 1895 and the leading head of the Graubünden Conservative Democratic Party, which was initially non-denominational.

His military career was also remarkable, as he became a captain in the General Staff in 1880 , Chief of Staff of the 8th Division in 1886 and Colonel in the General Staff in 1891 . . After that, Chief of Staff of the IV Army Corps and 1897 commander of the infantry - brigade 16. This was followed in 1901 the office of Oberstdivisionär and commander of the Gotthard fortifications , 1902 commander of the VIII Division and in 1905 head of the General Staff Department, while retaining the command of the Eighth Division... In this office he realized the military organization (MO) in 1907. Speaker designed the fortification of Switzerland. Spokesman considered the canton of Graubünden to be sufficiently fortified because of the mountains. However, it was precisely there that he identified the greatest need for action in the logistics infrastructure. His answer was to support the Rhaetian Railway , which connects the canton's 150 valleys . In 1909 he was also chief of the General Staff Department and, as Colonel Corps Commander, the commander of the IV Army Corps . In 1912 he implemented the new troop order (TO) of the Swiss Army.

At the outbreak of the First World War , Theophil Sprecher was actually intended to be a general , but in the course of an intrigue-laden general election in favor of Ulrich Wille, he renounced the general title and took over the position of Chief of Staff within the army command . According to Weltwoche of May 28, 1987, a letter from Willes found in 1987 to his wife from November 1914, in which he accused Spokesman of wanting to go to war against France on the side of Germany - which Wille calls an "immature idea" rejected. That would have been Switzerland's first offensive war since the Battle of Marignano in 1515 (and the breach of the “perpetual” neutrality that followed).

From 1919, after resigning from the army, he campaigned for the preservation of integral armed neutrality and against Switzerland joining the League of Nations .

literature

Web links

Commons : Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bernegg, Theophil spokesman for
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bernegg, Theophil Andreas Luzius spokesman for (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss officer and Chief of Staff of the Swiss Army
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Maienfeld
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1927
Place of death Walenstadt