Ernst von Rüchel

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Ernst von Rüchel (1754–1823)

Ernst Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp von Rüchel (born July 21, 1754 in Ziezeneff , † January 14, 1823 in Haseleu in the Regenwalde district ) was a Prussian infantry general .

Life

Ernst was the son of the Prussian officer and gentleman on Ziezeneff Adam Georg von Rüchel (1692–1757) and his wife Agnes Auguste Hedwig, née von Schnell.

After visiting the cadet institute in Berlin, he joined the infantry regiment "von Stojentin" No. 27 in Stendal on March 1, 1770 as a private corporal , and was promoted to ensign on September 29, 1772 and second lieutenant on December 26, 1774 . As such, Lieutenant General Friedrich Christoph von Saldern appointed him in 1777 as a battalion adjutant and on March 30, 1778 he was promoted to general adjutant to the head of the regiment von Knobelsdorff. During the War of the Bavarian Succession from 1778 to 1779, he took part in the battle near Gabel and Grumbach.

As a protégé of General Friedrich Christoph von Saldern, Rüchel was transferred to the quartermaster staff in Potsdam in 1782 , where King Friedrich II personally instructed him in strategy and tactics . Rüchel was considered one of Frederick the Great's favorite pupils; he gave him his manuscript of the histoire de mon temps to study and received explanations and information. On behalf of the king, he toured the scenes of the Seven Years' War and created a memoire raisonné . This is one of the reasons why King Friedrich Wilhelm II entrusted him with the reform of the military education system in 1790, who had previously promoted him to major and the inspection of the military educational institutions. Influenced by philanthropic principles, Rüchel reorganized the military academy by, among other things, introducing new curricula and recruiting respected professionals (Erman, Ancillon ) for teaching. He transformed the cadet corps from a care institution into an educational institution, which despite Scharnhorst's reforms conveyed not only specialist knowledge but also aristocratic caste spirit. In addition, Rüchel introduced companies for invalids, an officer's widow's fund and education allowances for soldiers' children .

In 1790 the king commissioned him to put the Silesian army into a state of war in the shortest possible time, for which he was then granted the patent as quartermaster and was appointed wing adjutant to the king the following year .

In the First Coalition War , the king sent him as a military envoy to the Hessian troop corps. When the Hessians moved into their winter quarters, the king gave him the task of protecting Koblenz and the Ehrenbreitstein fortress, which were threatened by the French general Adam-Philippe de Custine . After fulfilling the order, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and received the Hessian order of the lion .

Later he secured the withdrawal of the main army from Champagne in 1792 , led the assault on Frankfurt am Main , commanded a mixed corps at the so-called Mainspitze during the siege of Mainz (as commander of the 3rd Bat. Guard superior to Friedrich Christian Laukhard and Heinrich von Kleist ), temporarily commanded the Landau blockade and won several skirmishes, for which he was promoted to colonel and he was given the authority over Reez and Marienwalde in Neumark .

But he became known as early as 1792 for the forced marches with which he beat the French under Adam-Philippe de Custine during the occupation of Koblenz during the Prussian retreat from France. After the conquest of Mainz, in which he played an essential part, he was promoted to major general. During a battle near Oggersheim on January 2, 1794, he was attacked by General François-Joseph Lefebvre , when a Prussian battalion withdrew with a false sign. After he noticed the mistake, he jumped from his horse, stood in front of the battalion and led it with such force that the French were thrown back to Oggersheim, for which he received the Order of the Red Eagle.

Together with his friend Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher from then on Rüchel was one of the most famous leaders of the Prussian army in public. He also took on diplomatic tasks at the courts in Mannheim , Darmstadt and Kassel , and later also with Tsar Paul I in Saint Petersburg . After the Peace of Basel , Rüchel developed the first fleet plan in Prussian history. In 1797 Friedrich Wilhelm III appointed him . as inspector of all military training institutions, head of the Potsdam inspection and commander of the Guard Regiment (superior of Heinrich von Kleist and Ernst von Pfuel , later Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of War).

Like many other Prussian officers, Rüchel also joined Freemasonry . The Stendal lodge Zur golden Krone , led by his regiment chief Alexander von Knobelsdorff , accepted him in 1782. After being transferred to the royal suite, Rüchel moved to the Potsdam Lodge Minerva , which in 1801 elected him to be its lodge master . He was an honorary member of several lodges, including the Berlin Royal York for Friendship .

Rüchel's instructions for the Financial Reform Commission and for the Military Organization Commission set the course for domestic and military policy until 1806. Together with the Military Society (founded primarily by its director Scharnhorst), he was president of an association of learned officers to which Scharnhorst , Boyen and Clausewitz belonged. Rüchel commanded the major Potsdam maneuvers and promoted Knesebeck , Müffling , Yorck and Gneisenau (appointment of Gneisenau as commander of Kolberg). In 1805 he became chief of Infantry Regiment No. 2 and joined the "war party" which, along with Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia , urged the fight against Napoleon . Prussia's mobilization in 1806 prevented Rüchel from setting up a land militia. To the east of Kapellendorf , on the area whose corner points today roughly form the milestones of the war memorial tower -Großromstedt-Kötschau, he lost the last partial battle of the Battle of Jena on October 14, 1806 . His late arrival on the battlefield was later publicly reproached by his enemies, in particular by the quartermaster general of Prince Hohenlohe's army , Colonel Christian von Massenbach , who himself had come under criticism . The "Generalleutnant-von-Rüchel-Weg" reminds us today of the last march of the Rüchels army from Webicht in Weimar to Kapellendorf.

Rüchel fled wounded via Stettin to Koenigsberg , took over the office of governor general , drafted plans for a popular uprising, promoted the Marwitz Free Corps , developed a close relationship with Queen Luise of Prussia and headed the Hartungsche Zeitung (dismissal of Fichte as censor). In the struggle for the responsibility of the ministers, he supported Hardenberg and Stein with verbal and written statements to the king. Released under pressure from Napoleon, Rüchel visited incognito in 1809 the elector Wilhelm I of Hessen-Kassel (formerly Landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hessen-Kassel), who had been deposed by Napoleon, in his exile in Prague to ask for financial support for a popular uprising. Although Rüchel had initially approved of Hardenberg's “Rigaer” and Stein's “Nassauer” memorandum, in 1810 he opposed the “Financial Edict”, which removed the tax privileges of the nobility.

When Prussia began the war of liberation in 1813 , the Prussian king refused to give him a command, probably out of suspicion because of Rüchel's connection to the rebel leader von Schill (a daughter of Rüchel's had been engaged to Schill in 1809), but mainly because he did not appreciate Rüchel's dominant personality General had been inactive since 1807 and therefore only knew the reorganized Prussian army and the new tactical system from hearsay. Since Rüchel was senior than Blücher, he should have been used in a higher position. A subordinate position, which Rüchel requested instead, was out of the question for the king, as this would not have corresponded to the status of a general of the infantry. Rüchel spent the last few years in seclusion at Gut Haseleu in Pomerania .

In addition to his family, only the young numismatist Heinrich Bolzenthal kept him company there, later co-founder of the Berlin State Museums and director of the coin and medal collection. Bolzenthal had accepted an invitation from the general in 1819, lived on Rüchels manor until 1821 and was able to continue his studies undisturbed during these years. Ernst Wilhelm Friedrich von Rüchel died on January 14, 1823 on Haseleu. After his death, Fouqué , personally acquainted with Rüchel, dedicated a biography to him.

Historical classification

Rüchel was considered a master student of Frederick the Great as well as a crown guardian of Frederician tradition. In fact, from 1797 to 1806 he was, alongside Möllendorff and Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig, the outstanding representative of the Prussian army. Some contemporaries admired him as "Prussia's Napoleon"; others, such as Clausewitz, characterized it as a “concentrated acid drawn from pure Prussia”. The majority rightly regarded him as a conservative, aristocratic citizen enemy, but too one-sidedly blamed Rüchel for the alleged “paralysis” of the army. Although he defended the privileges of the nobility and delayed important innovations (e.g. through the dispute with Scharnhorst in the “Military Society” over the introduction of the division into divisions), he also contributed to opening the Prussian army to the ideas of the Enlightenment . The most lasting effects came from Rüchel's social reforms (establishment of the disabled companies, establishment of the officer's widow's fund, introduction of child benefit for soldiers' wives) and, above all, the renewal of the Prussian military education system, which, despite the army reform initiated by Scharnhorst, turned into an island of old Prussian, mainly thanks to Rüchel's reorganization , conservative, class-based tradition. Rüchel's work as well as his personality vividly represent some weaknesses, but also the strengths of the old Prussian, late Frederician army.

coat of arms

Shield: Divided crosswise, a white lily on top of blue, nestled in blue and red below; Helmet: three green shamrocks on long stalks; Cover: white and red.

family

He was married twice. His first wife was Karoline Henriette von Arnstedt († 1786) in 1786. She was court lady, her father was Christian Heinrich Wilhelm von Arnstedt (1713–1785), Prussian colonel and court master of the prince and later King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Her mother was baron Albertine Henriette Karoline von Geuder called Rabensteiner (1725–1803). Rüchel's wife died just eight days after their wedding. After her untimely death he married Philippine Johanna Elisabeth von Ernsthausen (1768–1828) in 1788 . She was the daughter of the privy councilor and president of the senior medical school Viktor Tobias Ernst von Ernsthausen (1730-1807) and his wife Johanna Amalie Breitsprach (* 1749; † after 1817). Two daughters are known from this marriage:

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms, VI. Volume, 9th section: Extinct Prussian nobility: Province of Pomerania, Nuremberg 1894, plate 50, p. 81
  2. ↑ Family tree
personal data
SURNAME Rüchel, Ernst von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rüchel, Ernst Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer, most recently general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1754
PLACE OF BIRTH Ziezeneff
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1823
Place of death Hazeleu