Eduard von Haynau

Coat of arms of the barons of Haynau

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Eduard von Haynau (* December 5, 1804 in Munich ; † January 24, 1863 ) - first name: Eduard - was the Elector General of Hesse and Minister of War of the electoral state.

origin

Eduard von Haynau was a grandson of Elector Wilhelm I and his second mistress , Rosa Dorothea Ritter . His parents were Lieutenant General Wilhelm Carl von Haynau (* 1779, † 1856) and Karoline von Schack († 1807). Eduard was married to Natalie von Baumbach since 1831 and, after her death in 1841, to her sister, Thekla von Baumbach (* August 5, 1812; † October 24, 1882). Both were sisters of his ministerial colleague Alexander von Baumbach and daughters of the Hessian government president Ludwig von Baumbach-Ropperhausen .

Training and military service

In 1815 he attended high school in Hersfeld . In 1819 he joined the cadet corps in Kassel , became an ensign in 1821 , in 1822 a lieutenant in the artillery , in 1834 a wing adjutant to the electoral prince-co-regent Friedrich Wilhelm and returned to the artillery in 1836. As a major , he took part in the German-Danish War from March to July 1849 , including the battle on the Düppeler Schanzen .

Ministerial Office and the Crisis of 1850

Eduard von Haynau adopted a pietistic and absolutistic attitude. A first attempt to form a government with him and Ludwig Hassenpflug in 1849 initially failed. On February 22, 1850, however, he was appointed head of the War Ministry in the Ludwig Hassenpflug government and on February 28, 1853 as Minister of War. His brother-in-law, Alexander von Baumbach , was foreign minister in this government.

Eduard von Haynau took an active part in the elimination of the Hessian constitution of 1831 . The elector, who wanted to overturn the constitution, and the bourgeoisie , who wanted to prevent this, faced each other in a stalemate in 1850 . The administration and judiciary, which are dominated by the bourgeoisie, regarded the corresponding sovereign decrees as unconstitutional and did not implement them. The martial law was imposed. That was of little use either. Thereupon the elector tightened martial law with a sovereign ordinance of September 28, 1850, based on a resolution of the German Confederation , in particular denied the courts the competence to review sovereign decrees for their constitutionality. But they did not adhere to it: The Higher Appeal Court of Kassel also declared the sovereign ordinance of September 28, 1850 on October 3, 1850 to be unconstitutional.

Eduard von Haynau's father, Lieutenant General Carl von Haynau, Commander-in-Chief of the Hessian military since October 1, 1850, tried to at least keep the military engaged with a proclamation to the soldiers and a speech to the officers on October 4, 1850. This also failed. The officers had sworn their oath not only on the elector, but also on the constitution - a unique constellation in 19th century Germany. In order not to break the oath , almost 80% of the officers submitted applications for dismissal between October 9 and 12, 1850. This "general strike" by the officers' corps made the Hessian military incapable of acting. In order to save the counterrevolution, the elector appealed to the Federal Assembly for help, which in particular sent Bavarian occupation troops to Kurhessen, the so-called " penal Bavaria ". Eduard von Haynau was one of the few officers who did not submit a resignation letter.

On October 4, 1855, Eduard von Haynau resigned from office after years of quarrels with the Elector about his powers as Minister of War. Interim appointed the first commander of Kassel, he was in June 1857, Lieutenant General promoted and assumed command of Infantry - Division .

The End

In a brochure by Captain Jakob Dörr , who passed away in 1850, Haynau accused General Friedrich von Specht of cowardice because he had General Friedrich von Specht arrested at the Spangenberg fortress instead of surrendering to a duel . Haynau challenged Dörr to a duel, but he only wanted to face if von Haynau had previously dueled with Specht. There was a regular vote in the officer corps on the question of whether the duel demand was settled for von Haynau. Since Eduard von Haynau was unpopular with the majority of liberal- minded officers because of his stance in the constitutional struggle, he found no support there. Since the matter could no longer be amicably settled, the elector bid farewell to his commander-in-chief on January 3, 1863. Three weeks later, Haynau committed suicide because he saw no way of restoring his injured honor.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dörr: State servants and state weaknesses of the present. 1862.

literature

• Jakob Dörr: State servants and state weaknesses of the present, views and facts for all who are concerned and are interested in it . 2nd edition, Küchler, Frankfurt a. M. 1862.
• Rüdiger Ham: Federal intervention and constitutional revision. The German Confederation and the Hessian constitutional question 1850/52 = sources and research on Hessian history. Darmstadt and Marburg 2004.
• Harald Höffner: Kurhessens Ministerialvorstand the constitutional period 1831-1866 . Dissertation. Giessen 1981. p. 88 ff.
• Karl Wippermann:  Haynau, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Eduard Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, pp. 158-160.