Albrecht von Stosch

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Albrecht von Stosch

Albrecht von Stosch (born April 20, 1818 in Koblenz , † February 29, 1896 in Mittelheim ) was a royal Prussian infantry general and admiral . From 1872 to 1883 he was the first head of the newly established Imperial Admiralty .

Life

Villa Stosch in Mittelheim

Stosch owned a winery in Mittelheim (Rheingau) and was a member of the Prussian mansion from 1872 until his death . In 1888 he became a member of the Leopoldina .

family

Albrecht came from a branch of the old Silesian noble family Stosch . He was the son of the future Prussian lieutenant general Ferdinand von Stosch (1784-1857) and his wife Karoline, divorced Kräwel, née Woltersdorf (1785-1848).

Albrecht von Stosch married Rosalie Ulrich (1822–1902) on October 18, 1845 in Koblenz. She was the daughter of the Prussian Secret Medical Councilor Dr. med. August Leopold Ulrich and Auguste Hoffmann. The following children were born from the marriage:

  • Albrecht von Stosch (1847-1852)
  • Otto von Stosch (1849–1897), Prussian major a. D.
⚭ April 28, 1873 (divorced September 20, 1884) Elisabeth Madelung (1853–1908)
⚭ September 28, 1886 Helene Bräuer (1864–1901)
  • Max von Stosch (1852-1853)
  • Luise von Stosch (1854–1927) ⚭ May 6, 1874 in Berlin with Georg von Hollen (1845–1900), German Vice Admiral
  • Ulrich von Stosch (1858–1928), retired Prussian captain. D. ⚭ 1897 Margarethe Steffen (1873–1949), great-granddaughter of Alexander Mendelssohn

Military career

From September 1829 Stosch attended the cadet schools in Potsdam and Berlin . On August 12, 1835, he was transferred to the 29th Infantry Regiment of the Prussian Army as a second lieutenant . From 1839 to 1842 he graduated from the General War School . From 1844 to 1847 he was in the topographical department of the General Staff and then held other staff posts. In 1856 he became a major and in 1861 a colonel and chief of staff of the IV Army Corps .

During the mobilization on the occasion of the German War , he was appointed senior quartermaster of the 2nd Army and shortly afterwards promoted to major general on June 15, 1866 . Stosch took part in the battles at Nachod and Königgrätz and received the order Pour le Mérite on September 20, 1866 . Until 1870 he was director of the military economics department in the war ministry . Promoted to lieutenant general on July 26, 1870 , Stosch took part as general director of the army during the war against France in the battles at Gravelotte , Sedan , Loigny and Poupry , Orléans and the siege of Paris . His achievements were u. a. honored by the award of both classes of the Iron Cross . After the end of the war, from July 10, 1871, he was chief of the general staff in the occupying army in France . For his services in this war he received a grant of 100,000 thalers.

In January 1872, Stosch was appointed head of the Imperial Admiralty with the character of a Minister of State with no portfolio. In 1875 he became general of the infantry and admiral. He was a friend of the "99-day emperor" Friedrich III. and as an old liberal, an opponent of Bismarck's domestic policy , which is why he was put up for disposition on March 20, 1883 because of differences of opinion with the statutory pension .

Work in the fleet

Stosch devoted great energy to creating scientific institutes (the Seewarte , the hydrographic bureau and the naval academy ), to considerably enlarge the Imperial Navy , to enable the ships to be built in local shipyards and to transfer the strict discipline of the Prussian land army to the navy . The latter endeavor, however, met with resistance from the older naval officers. Stosch was also made responsible for the misfortune of SMS Großer Kurfürst , especially since he eagerly defended Admiral Batsch . He received his departure on March 20, 1883 at his request.

A covered corvette of the Imperial Navy launched by AG Vulcan in Stettin in 1877 was named SMS Stosch in his honor .

Quote

Grand Admiral von Tirpitz served in the Prussian Navy as a lieutenant on the gunboat Blitz in 1871 . Von Tirpitz acknowledges the truthfulness of Stosch's statements and, as evidence, tells of an encounter with this high-ranking superior in the Wilhelmshaven basin in the winter of 1870 : "As a personality, Stosch was as sharp as chopped iron." He had an inspection of the warship with the "Schnauzer" finished: "From the commander to the last cabin boy, pure water soup."

Orders and decorations

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Albrecht von Stosch
  2. ↑ von Tirpitz, p. 14 and p. 18


personal data
SURNAME Stosch, Albrecht von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Minister of State (1872–1883) and first head of the German Admiralty
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Koblenz
DATE OF DEATH February 29, 1896
Place of death Mittelheim