August Karl von Goeben

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August Karl von Goeben

August Karl Friedrich Christian von Goeben (born December 10, 1816 in Stade , † November 13, 1880 in Koblenz ) was a Prussian infantry general .

Life

Birthplace in Stade

family

August Karl von Goeben came from a family belonging to the ancient nobility of the Duchy of Bremen . He was a son of Wilhelm von Goeben (1791–1872) and his wife Johanna Friederike Wilhelmine, née Kuckuck-Walden (1792–1832), a daughter of Major General Augustin Kuckuck-Walden (1767–1841). Goeben's father had fought with the King's German Legion in Spain , was Major a. D. and director of the widows' fund for the court and civil service in Hanover. His younger brother Wilhelm (1818–1902) was also a Prussian infantry general.

Goeben married Marianne Amalie Johanna von Frese, born in 1817 , on October 10, 1845 in Ovelgönne . The marriage remained childless. On November 12, 1871, when Goeben was at the height of his success after his victory in the Franco-German War , his wife died after several months of illness.

Military career

Goeben attended school in Stade and from 1826 in Celle . He joined the 24th Infantry Regiment of the Prussian Army in Neuruppin as a musketeer on November 3, 1833 . Here he was promoted to second lieutenant on February 15, 1835 , but took his leave in March of the following year. Under adventurous circumstances, he moved across the Pyrenees to Spain disguised as a Basque shepherd and presented himself in Villafranca at the headquarters of the Spanish pretender Don Carlos (V) . On June 1, 1836 Goeben was employed as a lieutenant in the Carlist army and took part in five campaigns in the First Carlist War until 1840 . He was wounded several times in the process, spent many months in captivity in the Cristine , from which he escaped, and finally rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel . He received the Knight's Cross of the Order de San Fernando and the Order de Isabel la Católica for his achievements . After the end of the war and the collapse of the last Carlist resistance, Goeben reached France via Barcelona after an odyssey of several months and returned to Germany on foot and penniless in the autumn of 1841.

On February 26, 1842, he was again employed as a second lieutenant in Prussian services, he was assigned to the 8th Infantry Regiment and at the same time assigned to the Great General Staff in Berlin. He was transferred here on April 1, 1843. In 1849 Goeben took part in the Baden campaign in the General Staff of the Prince of Prussia, where he was involved in many skirmishes and the enclosure of Rastatt . After a year of service with the 16th Infantry Regiment , Goeben was reassigned to the General Staff as a major in 1850 . Further steps in his military career led him in 1855 as lieutenant colonel and chief of the general staff to the staff of the IV Army Corps in Magdeburg and in 1858 in the same position to the staff of the VIII Army Corps . In November of the same year Goeben was promoted to colonel . In 1860 Goeben took part in the Spanish campaign against Morocco as a representative of the Prussian general staff as a military observer . In the German-Danish War of 1864 he commanded the 26th Infantry Brigade from Münster near Düppel and Alsen .

In 1865 Goeben was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed commander of the 13th division . During the German War of 1866 Goeben took part in the fighting between Prussia and the German states allied with Austria. He initially operated in his home town of Hanover and then fought a series of battles almost independently in the Main Campaign , in particular at Dermbach , Kissingen , Laufach , Aschaffenburg , Tauberbischofsheim , Gerchsheim and Würzburg .

In the war against France he led the 8th Army Corps as commanding general from July 18, 1870 . On July 26th he was promoted to general of the infantry. He took part in the battles of Spichern , Colombey and Gravelotte and then in the enclosure of Metz . After the surrender of Metz, he went to northern France under the command of Edwin von Manteuffel and fought the battles at Amiens , the Hallue and Bapaume . After Manteuffel had been appointed to lead the Southern Army , Goeben took over command of the 1st Army on January 9, 1871 . On January 19, 1871, he defeated the French Northern Army under Faidherbe near Saint-Quentin .

After the dissolution of the 1st Army on June 6, 1871, Goeben was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for the victory of St. Quentin . He was appointed chief of the 2nd Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 28 . In addition to many other honors, he received a national endowment of 200,000 thalers from French reparations for his services in this war . In 1875 he was awarded the Black Eagle Order. In January 1878 Wilhelm I sent him again to Spain, where he met the emperor at the wedding of King Alfonso XIII. represented.

From 1871 August von Goeben was in command of the VIII Army Corps in Koblenz. After he had submitted a resignation request for health reasons in December 1879, which was not accepted, he died in this position and was buried on November 17, 1880 in Koblenz.

Honors

General graves at the main cemetery in Koblenz , the memorial stone for von Goeben on the far left
Goeben monument in Koblenz around 1900

It was named after Goeben:

Works

  • Four years in Spain. The Carlist, their uprising, their struggle and their downfall. Hahn, Hanover 1841. Google Bavarian State Library
  • Travel and camp letters from Spain and the Spanish Army in Morocco. Hahn, Hanover 1863, digitized
  • The meeting near Kissingen on July 10, 1866. G. Otto, Darmstadt 1868. Google
  • The battle near Dermbach on July 4, 1866. Eduard Zernin, Darmstadt & Leipzig 1870., digitized

literature

Web links

Commons : August Karl von Goeben  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Goeben, August Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goeben, August Karl Friedrich Christian von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Stade
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1880
Place of death Koblenz