Eduard von Capelle

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Eduard von Capelle (1916)

Eduard Capelle , from 1912 von Capelle (born October 10, 1855 in Celle , † February 23, 1931 in Wiesbaden ) was a German admiral , confidante of Alfred von Tirpitz and implementer of Tirpitz's naval policy. From 1916 to 1918 State Secretary in the Reichsmarineamt .

Life

Eduard Capelle was the eldest son of the factory owner Eduard Capelle (1832-1897) and his wife Agnes Margarethe, née Meyer-Glimmann (1831-1903). His younger brother was Hans Capelle (1864–1948) who later became president of the Deutsche Seewarte , headquartered in Hamburg. Upbringing at home followed the values ​​of the Protestant faith. After attending primary school, Eduard joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 18, 1872 , completed his basic maritime training and was initially used on the brig SMS Rover . On October 6, 1872, he went to the naval school. From April 17, 1873 to December 31, 1876 he was subsequently on SMS Hertha and SMS Arcona . Capelle was then reassigned to the Naval School until October 13, 1876, after which he was transferred to the Second Sailors Division as a sub-lieutenant at sea (since February 15, 1876) and company officer. At the Naval Academy he studied from 1881 to 1882 in the 1st Coetus and then continued his studies in the 2nd Coetus from 1882 to 1883. In the years from 1890 to 1891 he was assigned to the German East Asia fleet.

Since 1891 Eduard Capelle worked in the Reichsmarineamt and from December 1st, 1895 he was employed as a department head in the military department of the Reichsmarineamt. Due to his extraordinary skills in dealing with funds, budgets and financing, he moved to the board of the budget department of the Reichsmarinamt on May 6, 1898. In these two areas of responsibility he became a direct associate and confidante of State Secretary Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930) and the board of the August von Heeringen news office (1855–1929). At Tirpitz's side he played a major role in the conception of German naval policy before the turn of the century, the basic lines of propaganda influencing politics and the public in this sense, as well as the establishment of the necessary institution in the Reichsmarineamt, the intelligence office located there. Here he proved to be a "budget virtuoso" in the procurement and provision of the financial resources required for this area. The main aim, in preparation for the naval laws and the establishment of the imperial navy, was to organize intensive propaganda work in order to direct the main line of vision from the imperial army to the navy. Since the founding of the news office in 1897, to which von Tirpitz was directly subordinate, intensive work was ensured to influence the daily press, to establish stable networks with publishers, press offices of other institutions and, last but not least, the Foreign Office. In a very short time the staff of the news office increased from originally 2 to 5 officers and a few auxiliary staff. In the run-up to the enforcement of the fleet laws, publicity campaigns were carried out, so the propaganda campaign in 1899/1900 alone cost around 220,000 marks in the run-up to the readings of the fleet law in the Reichstag. In addition there was the budget of the specially founded fleet association for 1900 with a total of 760,000 marks.

From October 8, 1900, Eduard Capelle was head of the budget department himself until January 8, 1904 and then moved to the post of director of the administrative department in the Reichsmarineamt, which he held until October 31, 1915. During this time he was on July 7, 1906. Rear Admiral promoted, on September 5, 1909. Vice Admiral and finally on April 12, 1913 Admiral. From May 30, 1914, he was Undersecretary of State in the Reichsmarineamt, as such still confidante and now direct assistant to Admiral von Tirpitz . After his forced resignation under pressure from Reich Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856–1921) in March 1916, von Capelle took over the office of Tirpitz as State Secretary in the Reichsmarineamt. He was also an authorized representative in the Federal Council. He held the office until shortly before the end of the First World War. For a long time he had managed to evade the stubborn demand for "unrestricted submarine warfare". After the inauguration of Admiral Reinhard Scheer (1863-1928) as chief of naval staff, however, and thus completed defacto "cold position" of the previous role of the Navy Office put Capelle on October 5, 1918 down from his position and became the disposition and à la suite of Seeoffizierskorps posed.

On June 21, 1912, Kaiser Wilhelm II elevated him to hereditary nobility for his services .

family

Eduard Capelle had married Agnes Margarethe Meyer-Glimmann (1864-1919) in Bielefeld in 1882. From this marriage a daughter and a son were born. After the death of his first wife, he remarried in 1923, this time in Baden-Baden. His second wife was Luise Kruge, née Minlos

Eduard von Capelle died on February 23, 1935 in Wiesbaden.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Hubatsch, biography about Eduard von Capelle, Neue Deutsche Biografie, Volume 3, 1957, p. 131 f.
  2. ↑ Marcus König, Agitation-Censorship-Propaganda. The submarine war and the German public in World War I, ibidem Verlag München, 2014, p. 46 ff. And cf. Wilhelm Deist, Flottenpolitik und Flottenpropaganda, Stuttgart 1976, SA. 81ff.
  3. ↑ Otto Renkhoff, Biographical Information about Eduard von Capelle, Hessische Biografien; in: https://www.lagis-hessen.de/pnd/116447265
  4. ↑ Sebastija Rojek, Sunken Hopes: The German Navy in Dealing with Expectations and Disappointments 1871.1930, De Grutyer Verlag Oldenburg, 2017, pp. 117f.
  5. ^ Walter Hubatsch, Eduard von Capelle, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Dand 3, 1957, pp. 131f; in: https: www.deutsche.biographie.de
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy for the year 1918. Ed .: Marine-Kabinett . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1918. p. 6.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Capelle, Eduard von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German admiral and State Secretary in the Reichsmarineamt
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Celle
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1931
Place of death Wiesbaden