Albrecht von Roon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albrecht von Roon
Signature Albrecht von Roon.PNG

Albrecht Theodor Emil von Roon , from 1871 Count von Roon (born April 30, 1803 in Pleushagen near Kolberg , † February 23, 1879 in Berlin ), was a Prussian field marshal . As Minister of War he played a major role in Prussia's success in the German Wars of Unification . He is one of the most important army reformers of his time.

Life

Otto von Bismarck , Albrecht von Roon, Helmuth von Moltke (from left to right), photomontage 1863
Krobnitz Castle , Roon's retirement home

Albrecht von Roon was the son of Heinrich Friedrich von Roon (born October 17, 1768 in Berlin, † October 15, 1808 in Pleushagen), a Prussian second lieutenant a. D. , ducal Brunswick Chamberlain and Herr auf Pleushagen, and his wife Johanna Constantia Ulrike Albertine, née von Borke , widowed Schmiedeseck (born August 1773 in Schwochow; † October 4, 1823 in Friedensburg ).

Roon lived after the death of his father since 1811 in Szczecin , entered the 1816 military school of the Prussian army in Kulm and 1819 in the main military academy in Berlin. From January 9, 1821, he was a second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry Regiment . From 1824 to 1827 he attended the General War School in Berlin and university events by the geographer Carl Ritter and the historian Friedrich von Raumer . In 1833 he worked as a geographer for the topographical office of the Great General Staff , which he joined in 1836 with the rank of captain . In the same year he married Anna Rogge, the older sister of Bernhard Rogge . His work, published as a student of Ritter, had the reputation of being standard works . From 1846 to 1848 Roon taught Prince Friedrich Karl and accompanied him during his studies in Bonn and on several trips to Germany, France and Italy.

In the summer of 1849 Roon served in Cologne as Chief of the General Staff of the 15th Division under Lieutenant General Moritz von Hirschfeld . When he took over the leadership of the first of the two army corps set up by Prussia to suppress the revolution in the Palatinate and Baden , Roon remained on his staff. During the campaign he made the acquaintance of the Supreme Command Prince of Prussia , to whose ideal circle he belonged from now on. Roon was used in changing positions in the general staff and in the troop service. In 1851 he was promoted to colonel , in 1856 he was appointed major general and in 1858 commander of the 14th division , always associated with transfers to various regions of the Prussian monarchy.

At the suggestion of the Prince of Prussia, Roon, withdrawn in Kolberg , wrote a memorandum in the summer of 1858 on questions of the modernization of the Prussian war system. It fell out in the spirit of Otto von Bismarck and the prince in the looming Prussian constitutional conflict . After the beginning of his reign , the Prince of Prussia appointed Roon to the Commission for the Reorganization of the Army in 1859, named him Minister of War in December 1859 and, after his accession to the throne as Wilhelm I, in 1861 as Minister of the Navy . As a non-attached member of the Prussian House of Representatives , to which he belonged from 1859 to 1860 and from 1863 to 1870, Roon defended the army reform against the majority in an uncompromising and rhetorical manner.

When Wilhelm wanted to give up in the battle for army reform, Roon sent Bismarck a memorable telegram on September 18, 1862 with the sentence: “Periculum in mora. Dépêchez-vous! ”(“ Imminent danger! Hurry up! ”). The telegram caused Bismarck to return from his post in Paris ambassador to Berlin, where the king appointed him prime minister.

At Bismarck's side, Roon then carried out the modernization of the army against a strong liberal opposition . In the German public, Roon's reputation rose like Bismarck's and Helmuth von Moltke's , when successes in the solution of the German question through blood and iron had become noticeable in the wars against Denmark and Austria since 1864 . The Prussian Landtag granted them endowments . After the Battle of Königgrätz , Roon was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle .

The king elevated Roon to the rank of Count on June 16, 1871 for his services to the victorious Wars of Unification and appointed him as a lifelong member of the manor house in 1872 . The Reichstag , whose predecessor, the North German Reichstag , Roon was a member of the conservative parliamentary group for the constituency of Teltow - Beeskow - Storkow until 1868, awarded him a grant of 300,000 thalers.

On January 1, 1873, Wilhelm I. Roon appointed Prussian Prime Minister and appointed him General Field Marshal . However, as a result of Roon's overburdening in the office of the Prussian Prime Minister during the Kulturkampf, which was also evident for health reasons , the hoped-for discharge from Bismarck as Reich Chancellor did not come about . On November 9, 1873, Wilhelm I awarded him the diamonds for the Order of the Black Eagle for the repeatedly requested farewell .

In 1868 Roon acquired Gütergotz Palace near Potsdam , beautified it and laid out the park again. After leaving, he sold the property and retired to Neuhof Castle near Coburg in Franconia . On September 6, 1873, he bought the Krobnitz Castle in Lower Silesia . There, not far from Görlitz , Roon spent the last years of his life and found his final resting place in the family crypt.

family

Albrecht von Roon came from the Calvinist family de Ron or van Ron (also Deron or de Rhon / Rhoon or de Rohn), who emigrated from Wallonia to the imperial city of Frankfurt am Main in the middle of the 16th century for religious reasons , where the Members of the family settled as merchants, later also as civil servants and officers in Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder) . The progenitor in Frankfurt am Main was Isaak de Ron (documented 1589– † 1603), who was a son of the dyer Blaise de Ron, who recorded 1559, and the son-in-law of the silk dyer Adrian Lernou. His son was Isaak de Ron, 1620 son-in-law of Johann Ploiart, grocer , then host to the white swan, father of the Frankfurt banker Johann Martin de Rhon (1645–1722), whose son of the same name was married to Reneé Susanne d'Orville . Roon's grandfather Johann Noah de Ron (1732-1820) was a businessman; first in Frankfurt am Main, then in Berlin.

Roon married Anna Rogge (1818–1885) on September 2, 1836 in Groß Tinz near Liegnitz. She was the daughter of the Prussian military pastor Wilhelm Rogge (1790–1870) and his wife Auguste Wolfram. His brother-in-law Bernhard Rogge (1831-1919) was court preacher and in 1906 became an honorary citizen of Potsdam. Roon had the following children:

  • Waldemar (1837–1919), Prussian Lieutenant General ⚭ Magdalene von Blanckenburg (1845–1915), daughter of Moritz von Blanckenburg (1815–1888)
  • Bernhard (1838–1870), Prussian captain, died on September 3, 1870 in the La Moncelle military hospital after being wounded at the Battle of Sedan
  • Arnold (1840–1906), Prussian general of the infantry ⚭ Helene von Langenbeck (1848–1907), daughter of Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810–1887)
  • Elisabeth (1842–1908) ⚭ Heinrich von Brauchitsch (1831–1916)
  • Hedwig (1843–1927) ⚭ Eugen von Wißmann (1841–1912), Prussian Rittmeister
  • Wilhelm (1844–1890) ⚭ Emmy (Wally) Karoline Helene Amalie von Zeschau (* 1857), daughter of Hugo Balthasar von Zeschau (* 1826)
  • Joshua (1852-1859)

Albrecht von Roon is through his great-granddaughter Benita von Roon (1922-2010), a great-great-grandfather of the German-Turkish journalist and author Hasan Cobanli .

coat of arms

The coat of arms of those of Roon is recorded in the aristocratic lexicon of the Prussian monarchy of 1856: it is covered with a heart shield, inside a bear covered by a bar ; the main shield is split and divided right, above a crowned lion , left two into Andrew's Cross Asked geastete tree trunks.

  • Coats of arms of reformed Frankfurt merchant families, moved around the middle of the 16th century: 3rd coat of arms: de Ron (later von Roon)

  • Old coat of arms of those of Roon

  • Improved coat of arms , awarded to Albrecht von Roon in 1871 with the Prussian count status

Honors

Roon memorial by Harro Magnussen at the Großer Stern in Berlin

Wilhelm I decorated Roon with the Pour le Mérite on October 28, 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War . In addition to the increase in status in 1871, he awarded him the highest Prussian medals: in addition to the Black Eagle Order (1866) with the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order with oak leaves and swords and with swords on the ring . Roon wore medals from numerous German and European states, including the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (1864).

In his capacity as King of Prussia, Wilhelm II named the Fusilier Regiment "Graf Roon" (East Prussian) No. 33 in 1889 , whose boss Roon had been since April 23, 1864. In addition, the large cruiser SMS Roon launched in 1903 and, associated with it, the Roon class were named after him.

The German fraternity honored him in 1902 by the sculptor Selmar Werner in the fraternity monument in Eisenach with a statue.

In 1902, the city ​​of Görlitz had a statue of Roons erected in the Hall of Fame by the sculptor Harro Magnussen (removed in 1945 by Polish soldiers when they took possession of the building east of the Neisse).

In Berlin there is a Roon memorial on the northwestern edge of the Großer Stern in the Großer Tiergarten . Originally built by Harro Magnussen in 1904 on the northern edge of Königsplatz , Albert Speer moved it to its present location in 1938–1939, along with the monuments to Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltkes and the Victory Column . The bronze sculpture shows Roon standing upright in uniform with his coat lowered and the pimple bonnet removed .

An island in the Svalbard -Archipel is Roonøyane, a glacier Roonbreen.

There are streets named after Roon in numerous German cities. The Cologne synagogue is located on Roonstrasse in Cologne.

Works

  • Basics of geography, ethnology and national studies. 1832, 1839–1844 expanded to 3 volumes
  • The beginnings of geography, ethnology and national studies. Berlin 1834.
  • Military country description of Europe. Berlin 1837. (published as a military country description of Europe )
  • The Iberian Peninsula. 1837.
  • The theater of war between the Ebro and the Pyrenees. Berlin 1839.

literature

Web links

Commons : Albrecht von Roon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff: Soldatisches Führertum. Volume 7, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1939], DNB 367632829 , p. 223, no. 2267.
  2. ^ Albrecht von Roon at geneanet.org
  3. ↑ Bernhard Mann (arrangement) with the assistance of Martin Doerry , Cornelia Rauh , Thomas Kühne : Biographisches Handbuch für das Prussische Abrafenhaus 1867–1918 (= handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 3). Droste, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-7700-5146-7 , p. 327.
  4. ↑ Gütergotz Castle in the Duncker Collection : www.zlb.de - Digital Collection ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 343 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zlb.de
  5. ↑ At Neuhof Palace there is currently a social therapeutic facility for addicts, see www.schlossneuhof.de - History ( Memento from December 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Find a piece of Prussia in Saxony ( memento from January 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 8, 2012
  7. ↑ Alexander Dietz : Frankfurter Handelsgeschichte , Volume 2, Frankfurt am Main 1921, p. 20.
  8. ^ Rainer Paetau:  Roon, Albrecht von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 30-32 ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ "The Rogge Family", from the memories of Johannes Dittrich
  10. ↑ Friedrich Wilhelm von Varchmin: Walhalla: Germany's victims from the campaigns of 1870 and 1871. p.297 memorial
  11. ↑ Hasan Cobanli, Stephan Reichenberger: The half moon , 2016, glossary of persons
  12. ^ Leopold von Ledebur : Adelslexicon der Prussischen Monarchy , Volume 2, L – S, Berlin 1856, p. 309.
  13. ↑ https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/liste_karte_datenbank/de/denkmaldatenbank/daobj.php?obj_dok_nr=09050419,T
  14. ↑ Roonøyane . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  15. ↑ Roonbreen . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
personal data
SURNAME Roon, Albrecht von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roon, Albrecht Theodor Emil Graf von (full name with title)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer, most recently field marshal and minister
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Pleushagen , Principality District
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1879
Place of death Berlin