Ernst Ludwig von Aster

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General of the Infantry Ernst Ludwig von Aster

Ernst Ludwig Aster , von Aster from 1844 (born October 5, 1778 in Dresden , †  February 10, 1855 in Berlin ) was a Prussian infantry general who played a major role in the construction of the Prussian fortifications in the Rhine Province .

Gravestone in the cemetery of the Schöneberg village church in Berlin

family

Ernst Ludwig was the son of the Saxon major general and head of the Corps of Engineers Friedrich Ludwig Aster († 16 December 1804 in Dresden) and his wife Susanne Ludowika Hennig († 27 July 1817 in Dresden).

His first marriage (∞ Dresden November 30, 1809) was with Jeannette Rudolfine von Raußendorf (* October 21, 1784 in Königstein; † May 20, 1817 in Ehrenbreitstein) and his second marriage since January 9, 1821 with Marie von Brandt (* 9 December 1795 in Leipzig; † 19 November 1874 in Berlin). Aster last lived in Berlin, Potsdamerstr. 19, where he died on February 10, 1855. He was buried in the Schöneberg Cemetery, Section 1, R. 7, No. 4. His tomb was preserved and was restored in 1996/97 on behalf of the Foundation for Historical Cemeteries and Cemeteries in Berlin-Brandenburg. The general had seven children including:

  • Marie ∞ Franz Commer (1813–1887), musicologist
  • Ernst Rudolph, Prussian Privy Councilor

Military career

Before studying at the Military Engineering Academy in Dresden, Aster received lessons from private teachers. On August 4, 1794, he joined the Saxon engineering corps as a non-commissioned officer . When he was promoted to sub-lieutenant (April 18, 1800), he was transferred to his father, the commander of the engineer corps, as adjutant. His appointment as prime lieutenant (November 16, 1804) was connected with the assignment to a surveying unit, with which 1806 took part in the campaign against France ( Battle of Jena ). After his promotion to captain in the General Staff (October 12, 1809) he was involved in the laying down of the Dresden fortifications and worked out a new fortification plan for Torgau , which he personally presented to Napoleon . This was followed by the appointment to major and director of the planning chamber (June 24 and November 10, 1811) and in 1812 the campaign against Russia , in which he participated as deputy chief of staff of the Reynier corps . As lieutenant colonel (January 26, 1813), Johann Adolf von Thielmann , governor of Torgau, appointed him to his chief of staff (February 26, 1813). As early as May 1813, after the Battle of Großgörschen , both asked to be released from Saxon services.

At the Allied headquarters in Bautzen , Aster got a job in the Russian general staff, briefly led a Cossack detachment and took part in the battles near Bautzen and Leipzig . At the beginning of December 1813 he was general quartermaster in the III. German Federal Army Corps under the command of Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar . After the Peace of Paris , Thielmann took over the corps and Aster was appointed chief of staff. A little later the corps received the subordinate order to the army of the Lower Rhine under the supreme command of the Prussian General von Kleist and was relocated to the Bonn-Koblenz area with headquarters in Koblenz on June 25, 1814 . There Aster, meanwhile (March 16, 1814) appointed Russian Colonel, wrote a memorandum in July 1814 on the future importance of Koblenz as a major fortress within a new system of fortifications against France. At the beginning of 1815 the corps moved to the Cologne area. In the subsequent division of the Saxon army into a Prussian and a remaining Saxon part, Colonel Aster transferred to Prussian services with the highest cabinet order of February 6, 1815.

Aster became Chief of Staff of the II. Prussian Corps under the command of General von Kleist (later General von Borstell or General von Pirch ) and took part in the battles of Ligny and Belle Alliance (Waterloo) as well as in the sieges of several French border fortresses. As major general (October 4, 1815) he took over the position of senior brigadier of the 3rd Engineer Brigade (renamed Engineer Inspection in 1821) in Ehrenbreitstein in early 1816 , where he headed it in cooperation with the Inspector General of the Prussian fortresses, General of the Infantry Gustav von Rauch , the construction of the large fortress Koblenz . On May 1, 1826, he was appointed commander of the fortress Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein and on March 30, 1827, lieutenant general. Aster left Koblenz in 1837 and went to Berlin, where he succeeded General of the Infantry Gustav von Rauch as Chief of Engineers and Pioneers , General Inspector of all Prussian fortresses (August 24, 1837) as well as curator of the artillery and engineering school and member of the Prussian State Council (October 2, 1837). Promoted to General of the Infantry on March 31, 1842, he received his requested retirement on January 30, 1849 .

Significance for fortress construction

Aster was one of the leading fortress construction engineers in the first half of the 19th century. The basic concept of the large fortress Koblenz, with the shift of the focus to the Karthauser ( Alexander plant ) and to the Petersberg ( Franz plant ), go back to him. He also influenced the design of the Cologne fortress . In 1838 he worked on behalf of Tsar Nicholas I a mounting plan for Modlin . With the highest cabinet order of December 9, 1841, he was appointed to a commission on fortress issues in East Prussia and, towards the end of his career, was able to work on drafts for the Königsberg fortress (here, for example, the two Montalembert towers , Dohna and Wrangel ), at the Kronprinz defense barracks and at of the Boyen Fortress .

The Asters construction office in the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, below Fort Helfenstein in a small casemate, was preserved and can be viewed from the outside by walking along the “General-Aster-Weg”. The general's desk formerly set up there is owned by the Bundeswehr ( Rhine barracks , exhibition room for Neuendorfer Flesche ).

Awards

Fort Asterstein
On January 18, 1844, Aster received the Order of the Black Eagle , which at the same time meant that he and his descendants were raised to the Prussian nobility. The family coat of arms shows a silver star in blue. On the crowned helmet with blue-silver covers (according to Janecki , according to Siebmacher , the covers are blue-gold and red-silver) a growing, right-turned, blue-clad archer between open black flight. The motto is: "God is great".

In 1847, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV approved the new name Fort Asterstein for the main works of the fortifications on the Pfaffendorfer Höhe in Koblenz . In the middle of the 20th century, the name Asterstein became more and more common for the surrounding residential areas, so that the city council officially named the district Asterstein in its session on October 22, 1981 . The apex of the arch on the field side at the moat gate of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress bears his name.

Works

  • From the series: Legacy writings :
Volume 1: The theory of war. Part 1: Thoughts on a reorganization of today's war theory Berlin 1856 (digitized version) .
Volume 2: On the theory of war. Part 2: Draft for a system of war theory . Berlin 1856.
Volume 3: Thoughts on a systematic military geography . Berlin 1857 (digitized) .
Volume 4: Outline of the history of the educational system with regard to the need for a reorganization of today's military teaching and educational institutions . Berlin 1857 (digitized) .
Volume 5: The engineering instruction and its today's requirements or: Thoughts on the scientific education of the engineer officer . Berlin 1861.
(Volume 1–5, 2nd edition, published in Berlin in 1878)
  • Gerd Eilers (ed.): Considerations and judgments of the General of the Infantry EL v. Aster on the political, ecclesiastical and educational party movements of our century . tape 1 and 2. Saarbrücken 1858 ( digitized, volume 1, digitized, volume 2 ).
  • Eduard von Aster (ed.): Brief life outline of because. Royal Prussian General Ernst Ludwig von Aster (based on essays, letters, notes etc. of the General, together with an appendix, consisting of 3 essays of political content recently written by EL v. Aster) . Berlin 1878.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marcelli Janecki : Handbook of the Prussian nobility . tape 1 , 1892, p. 29-31 .
  2. ^ Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Funck: Memories from the campaign of the Saxon Corps, under General Count Reynier in 1812 from the papers of the late Lieutenant General von Funck . 1829, p. 4 .
  3. ^ Alfred Freiherr von Wolzüge: Memoirs of the royal Prussian general of the infantry Ludwig Freiherrn von Wolhaben . 1851, p. 243 .
  4. ^ Udo von Bonin: History of the engineer corps and the pioneers in Prussia . tape 2 , 1878, p. 233 .
  5. ↑ Hartwig Neumann, Udo Liessem: The classicist large fortress Koblenz. 1989, p. 38 ff.
  6. ↑ Otto Titan von Hefner : The nobility of the Kingdom of Prussia (=  J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms . Volume 3 , 1st – 3rd Department). Nuremberg 1857, p. 76 .
personal data
SURNAME Aster, Ernst Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aster, Ernst Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1855
Place of death Berlin