Carl von Plotho

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Carl Johann Joachim Friedrich Edler Herr and Freiherr von Plotho (born April 25, 1780 in Löwen , Brieg district , Lower Silesia ; † December 10, 1820 ) was a royal Prussian lieutenant colonel of the infantry as well as a military historian and writer .

Life

Plotho came from the magdeburgisch -niederschlesischen family branch of the house " Räckendorf - Codlewe - Zerben " and was the son of Christian Friedrich Werner Noble Lord and Baron of Plotho , squire to Räckendorf, and Charlotte von Platen made by blades.

He was an officer in the “von Alvensleben” infantry regiment in Glatz , but said goodbye in 1802 and married for the first time. After his divorce, he joined in 1804 in St. Petersburg Grenadier regiment in Russian service. In the course of the Fourth Coalition War (1806-1807) he moved to the Prussians in 1806 and was appointed adjutant to Grand Duke Constantine (1779-1839) at the Russian headquarters as a royal Prussian officer . Soon he became a staff captain and received on February 25, 1807 from the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. for his participation in the battle of Prussian Eylau the military order " Pour le Mérite ". The accompanying letter to Cavalry General Levin August von Bennigsen (1745–1826) in Memel ( Lithuania ) read: “To the lieutenant v. P., whom you particularly recommended to me, I grant for his good behavior on both the gene. v. Ostermann-Tolstoy , as well as in various affairs, which he has attended, the order plm. "

In 1808 Plotho became a real captain or premier-captain ( captain ) and company commander in the newly formed body infantry regiment. That same year he married for the second time. In 1811 he again resigned from the army and received the degree of major. In 1812 he was re-employed as a district brigadier in the gendarmerie, but was soon assigned to the king's headquarters , where he took part in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. Appointed rank major in Potsdam in 1814 and promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1816, he died in 1820.

Plotho's first marriage was Johanna Elisabeth von Nimpsch in 1802 , but he divorced her again in 1804. In his second marriage he married on September 30, 1808 in Riga ( Latvia , Baltic States ) Dorothea Elisabeth Assmann (* Gut AHOF in Riga). Both marriages remained childless.

Works

In his military-historical works, which are still often cited by historians today, Plotho dealt primarily with detailed depictions of war and the Russian military of his time.

Especially in his four-part main work "The War in Germany and France in the Years 1813-1815" he described the wars of liberation from a military point of view in great detail, so that the daily troop movements can be traced. Its enclosures contain valuable family history material, but also information about formation history . Since the last printed ranking of the Prussian army was published as early as 1806, the work also provides information about the new officer corps that was created by the army reform (introduction of the Krümpersystem and the establishment of the Landwehr by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ). This makes Plotho's supplements an important source on the composition of the officer corps of the Wars of Liberation, especially since the supplements also name ranks and functions from the group of subaltern officers .

  • About the formation, the progress and the present constitution of the Russian army, but especially of the infantry . Berlin 1811, e-book, ISBN 978-3-941919-21-1 , Verlag Becker, Potsdam 2009
  • Diary during the war between Russia and Prussia on the one hand and France on the other hand in the years 1806 and 1807. With 2 illuminated plans . Berlin 1811 - The diary describes u. a. the battles of Pultusk , Eylau , Heilsberg and Friedberg and the Peace of Tilsit (July 9, 1807). - Table of contents with list of attachments
  • The Cossacks, or their history from their origins to the present, with a description of their constitution and their place of residence . Berlin 1811
  • The war in Germany and France in the years 1813–1814 , 4 volumes, of which in detail
    • Volume 1: Period from January 1, 1813 to August 10, 1813 , with 26 supplements. Berlin 1817 - digitized
    • Volume 2: Period from August 10th to the end of December 1813 , with 29 supplements. Berlin 1817 - digitized
    • Volume 3: Period from January 1814 to the Peace of Paris , with 25 supplements and a plan by Wittenberg. Berlin 1817 - digitized reproduction of the text , digitized
    • Volume 4: The war of allied Europe against France in 1815 . Berlin 1818 - digitized

Orders and decorations

literature

  • Erich-Christoph Freiherr v. Plotho: knights, canons and colonels. Family chronicle of the noble lords and barons v. Plotho . CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 2006, ISBN 978-3-7980-0579-2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Plotho, Carl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Plotho, Carl Edler Herr and Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant colonel of the infantry as well as military historian and writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Leuven , District of Brieg , Lower Silesia
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1820