Curt von Maltzahn

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Curt von Maltzahn (born November 1, 1849 in Küstrin , † January 1, 1930 in Pöcking ) was a German vice admiral , naval war strategist and military historian . Since May 7, 1875 he was allowed to use the title of baron .

origin

His parents were the MP Gustav Robert von Maltzahn (* October 20, 1807; † August 13, 1882) and his wife Marie Karoline Wilhelmine von Werder (* December 25, 1815; † April 20, 1876),

Career

On April 21, 1866 he joined the Prussian Navy and sailed on the sailing frigate SMS Gefion (trips to the West Indies , among others ), SMS Niobe , SMS Thetis and on the corvettes SMS Medusa and SMS Arcona . On August 1, 1869, he came to the Kiel Naval School for a one-year training course . After that, watch officer on the Aviso SMS Grille , he was the sub-lieutenant on 21 September 1871, the officer's commission .

From April to December 1871 he was a company officer in the main division of the Baltic Fleet. After ten months with the ship trunk SMS Friedrich Carl and on the Radaviso SMS Pommerania , he became a company officer of the 2nd Sailor Division . After having served as a watch officer on the tank frigate Friedrich Carl since October 1, 1872 , he joined the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven as an adjutant on June 1, 1874 for two years . From May 18, 1876 he went to sea again, on the artillery training ship SMS Renown and the smooth deck covette SMS Augusta (trips to East Asia , Australia and the South Seas ). Promoted to lieutenant captain in June 1878 , at the end of October 1878 he was ordered to serve as a company commander in the Second Sailor Division for six months. After five months as a watch officer on the SMS Prussia , he came to the 1st Coetus at the (old) naval academy and school (Kiel) on October 1, 1879 . In the same year he married Rose von Spies , the daughter of a landowner, in Oliva near Danzig . The II. And the III. Coetus followed in 1881 and 1882 after serving on board as a watch officer on the Prussia and as a battery officer on the armored frigate SMS Kronprinz .

In 1883 he led the landing corps to take possession of German South West Africa .

After four months with the II. Sailor Division and two years as an artillery officer on the corvette SMS Leipzig , he was transferred to the Imperial Admiralty for five years on October 23, 1884 . Promoted to Korvettenkapitän on March 19, 1885 , he served four and a half years in the Hydrographic Office , as Head of Department in the Military Department and as head of the Central Department (1887-1889). For a short time he was also first officer on SMS Württemberg (1886) and commander of SMS Musquito (1889).

After a year as commander of the ship's boy department , he was on April 9, 1890 commander of a training ship serving Cross chose Vette SMS Mermaid . Promoted to sea captain on September 21, 1891 , he was placed at the disposal of the chief of the Baltic naval station on October 1, 1891 . In 1892/93 he was commander of the 1st Sailors Division and chief of staff at the North Sea Naval Station .

On October 16, 1893, he became the commandant of Württemberg . Two years later he was appointed to teach naval tactics and naval war history at the (new) naval academy in Kiel . At the same time he was in 1898 five months in command of the training ship SMS Stosch and in the late summer of 1899 short-term staff officer in the training fleet .

On February 6, 1900 he was appointed director of the Naval Academy attached to the Kiel Naval School and promoted to rear admiral on March 15, 1900 . In the summer of the same year he deputized for the Navy's Inspector of Education . From September 22, 1903 he was made available to the chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea .

family

He married Rose von Spies on December 18, 1879 (born April 24, 1852). The couple had two daughters:

  • Marie-Luise Wilhelmine Gisela (born September 6, 1880) ⚭ Baron Ernst von Gagern (1878–1954), admiral
  • Charlotte Klara Adelheid (born October 19, 1881 - † August 3, 1975), painter ⚭ 1924 (divorce 1942) August Bohde

Conflict with Tirpitz

Like Bismarck and unlike Moltke , Maltzahn stood for political and against military leadership of the armed forces. In the German officer corps he became a protagonist of the opposition to Alfred von Tirpitz . Although he wanted to break Britain's supremacy at sea, as a tactical expert he considered the armament with a strong battle fleet propagated by his long-time friend Tirpitz to be wrong. He demanded the expansion of coastal protection and the establishment of a cruiser fleet that could have been accomplished more quickly and more cheaply. When his collected lectures were published Maltzahn was as at December 12, 1903 -characterized Vice Admiral with 54 years for. D. posed. The friendship with Tirpitz, who was born in the same year and also in Küstrin, broke up. In “retirement”, Maltzahn no longer allowed himself to be forbidden to write and published articles, including the historical outline of The Sea War and - on behalf of the Admiral's staff - the history of our tactical development . He transferred Carl von Clausewitz to maritime categories and compared him to Horatio Nelson .

Works

  • What does Clausewitz's book "Vom Kriege" teach the German naval officer? Marine Review, June 1905 (in: Royal Navy War College, Portsmouth, November 1906)
  • The naval war . Leipzig 1906 (English translation by John Combe Miller, Naval Warfare ; London, New York 1908)
  • The naval war between Russia and Japan 1904–1905 , vol. 1: The prehistory of the war and the events of the war up to the end of May 1904 . 1912
  • The naval war between Russia and Japan 1904–1905 , Vol. 2: The siege of Port Arthur and the departure of the 2nd Pacific Squadron to Madagascar . 1913
  • The naval war between Russia and Japan 1904–1905 , Vol. 3: Events of the two parties up to the Battle of Tsushima . 1914
  • Sea power and navy in: Philipp Zorn , Herbert von Berger (editor): Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Ed. By Siegfried Körte, Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell and others 3 volumes. R. Hobbing, Berlin 1914.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 425-426.
  • Maltza (h) nscher Familienverein (ed.): The Maltza (h) n 1194-1945, The life path of an East German noble family. Cologne 1979, p. 247 f.
  • Christian Rödel: Warriors, thinkers, amateurs: Alfred von Tirpitz and the naval war image before the First World War. Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08360-X .
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1916, p.506

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charlotte von Maltzahn in walchenseemuseum.de
  2. ↑ a b Bassford 1994
  3. ↑ Erika Stubenhöfer: Review by Rödel (H-Soz-u-Kult, 2004)
personal data
SURNAME Maltzahn, Curt von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maltzahn, Curt Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Vice Admiral
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Küstrin
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1930
Place of death Poecking