August von Kanitz

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August Wilhelm Karl Graf von Kanitz (born October 29, 1783 in Podangen ; † May 22, 1852 in Potsdam ) was a Prussian lieutenant general and from April 26 to June 16, 1848 Minister of War in the (March) government Camphausen - Hansemann .

Life

origin

August came from the Prussian line of the noble family of Kanitz . He was the third of five sons of Carl Wilhelm Alexander von Kanitz (1745-1824), who was raised to the Prussian count status on June 5, 1798, gentleman on Podangen, Maulfritzen, Wickerau, Paulken, Carneyen, Wilknitt , Lichtenfeld, Arnau , Pluttwinnen and Mednicken , and his wife Sophia Louise Antoinette, née von Massow (1752–1805).

Military career

Kanitz joined the Prussian Army's "Graf Kunheim" infantry regiment in mid-May 1798 as a private corporal and became an ensign a year later . On June 20, 1801, he was promoted to second lieutenant . In 1806 Kanitz took part in the battles near Auerstedt and Lübeck . After the defeat and collapse of the Prussian State, Kanitz was initially made inactive and only hired on November 18, 1809 in the Guards Regiment on foot . In 1810 he was promoted to prime lieutenant and in 1811 to staff captain. In 1812 he was awarded the order Pour le Mérite . In the years 1813/14 he took part in the Wars of Liberation . He was wounded in the battle of Großgörschen on May 2, 1813. In 1813 he was promoted to major . Two years later, Kanitz was employed as a wing adjutant to King Friedrich Wilhelm III. seconded and promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1819 . On April 6, 1822, he took over the 9th Infantry Regiment stationed in Stettin , while maintaining his function as the King's wing adjudicator . In 1825 he was promoted to colonel . From 1832 Kanitz was in command of the 1st Landwehr Brigade, from 1840 of the 1st Division in Koenigsberg and from December 2, 1841 to April 12, 1848 of the 15th Division in Cologne. At the same time he was made interim city commandant of Cologne. In 1843 he was promoted to lieutenant general on April 5, 1848, interim commanding general of the VIII Army Corps .

On April 27, 1848 Kanitz received the office of Minister of War. Originally had Ludolf Camphausen in 1848 in the formation of the Prussian Ministry in March for the position of Minister of War as a successor to the short incumbent Karl von Reyher Although the as liberal force Colonel Hans Adolf Erdmann von Auerswald provided. In the trial of strength for the right to have a say in military matters, however, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV refused to give his consent and instead pushed through his candidate August Graf von Kanitz, with whom he had been friends since the 1830s. "The State Ministry has neither the order nor the commission from me," the king had previously written angry with Camphausen. When the Camphausen-Hansemann Ministry failed following the Berlin armory storm of June 14, 1848, Camphausen and several other cabinet members, including Kanitz, resigned. After his resignation on June 16, 1848, the latter was replaced on June 25, 1848 by General Ludwig Roth von Schreckenstein , who, however, resigned in September 1848 with the entire Auerswald successor ministry.

Kanitz was a Freemason and belonged to the Great National Mother Lodge “To the Three Worlds” in Berlin.

Fort No. 10 of the Königsberg fortress ring built at the end of the 19th century was named "Kanitz" in memory of the Minister of War.

family

Kanitz had been married to Luise Countess von der Schulenburg from the Beetzendorf house (1799-1830) since November 11, 1816 . The marriage had seven children, including:

  • Maria Anna (1817–1889) ⚭ 1845 Iwan Heinrich Maximilian von Scherer-Scherburg († 1848)
  • Clara (1819–1862) ⚭ Wilhelm Hoffmann (1806–1873), Protestant theologian
  • Mathilde (1821-1890) ⚭ September 11, 1838 Friedrich von Friesen (1796–1871)
  • Rudolf (1822–1902), Prussian major general
  • Rosalie (* 1824), lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Prussia
  • Agnes (* 1826) ⚭ 1851 Konrad Karl Finck von Finckenstein (1820–1900) on Schönberg

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Institute for German Nobility Research
  2. ^ Klaus Herdepe : The Prussian Constitutional Question 1848. Neuried 2002. P. 101.
  3. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm IV .: Correspondence with Ludolf Camphausen, ed. U.erl.v. Erich Brandenburg, Berlin 1906, p. 47; see. also Jürgen Hofmann : The Camphausen-Hansemann Ministry. Academy Publishing House. Berlin 1981. p. 114.
  4. ^ Institute for German Nobility Research
  5. ↑ scopeArchiv - list of results. Retrieved February 28, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kanitz, August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kanitz, August Wilhelm Karl Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Lieutenant General, Minister of War
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH Podiums
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1852
Place of death Potsdam