Ferdinand Friedrich von Nicolai

Ferdinand Friedrich von Nicolai (born October 20, 1730 in Cannstatt , † May 14, 1814 in Ludwigsburg ) was a Württemberg major general and military writer.

Life

Ferdinand Friedrich was the third of four children of the Mayor of Cannstatt, Johann Christoph Nicolai (1683–1753) and his second wife Regina Rosina, born Spittler (1707–1745). Nicolai's grandfather Johann Michael Nicolai , who came from Thuringia, was musicus in the ducal court orchestra in Stuttgart for 30 years . Nicolai first attended the Latin school in Cannstatt and then switched to the grammar school in Stuttgart. From 1746 he studied law at the University of Tübingen . In 1751 he received his doctorate with a thesis on a current issue of martial law. During a trip to the Kingdom of Prussia and later to Vienna , Nicolai determined his inclination for military service and joined the Württemberg artillery as an ensign on January 31, 1756 .

Since March 27, 1757, Nicolai was a lieutenant in the body regiment on foot and participated in the Seven Years' War , mostly on the General Staff, to which he was transferred as a captain and wing adjutant on January 2, 1759 . The artillery and the general staff remained the focus of his official activities even after the war. On October 1, 1774, he became commander of the newly established artillery regiment. In his writings on military studies, he complained about the lack of maneuverability of the artillery of the time and the lack of permanent covering. After the artillery regiment had been disbanded in 1790, Nicolai, who had been general since 1786, was appointed President of the College of War Councils on February 3, 1794 and from 1801 to 1803 as envoy to the court in St. Petersburg . On May 7, 1803 he was appointed Minister of State and War Minister with the rank of General Feldzeugmeister. When Württemberg joined the Rhine Confederation and the Württemberg Army underwent a complete reorganization, Nicolai retired on February 12, 1806.

The extensive, 155-volume Nicolai collection of adhesive tape (so-called Nicolai Collection ) was acquired in 1786 by Duke Carl Eugen for the Royal Public Library, today's Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. The collection is still there today.

In 1764 he married Dorothea Christiane von Donop , a daughter of Clamor Johann Georg von Donop († 1752).

Publications

• De munere et immunitate metatorum militarium electa quaedam. Tuebingen 1751.
• Principles of the art of fastening. Leipzig 1753.
• Essay sur l'architecture militaire. Berlin 1755.
• News and reviews of old and new war books dealing with or explaining field and fortress wars. Stuttgart 1765.
• Attempt of a plan for the formation of the officer. Ulm 1775.
• Establishment of a general war school for all weapons. Stuttgart 1781.

literature

• Bernhard von Poten :  Nicolai, Ferdinand Friedrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 579 f.
• Daniel Hohrath : The education of the officer in the reconnaissance. Ferdinand Friedrich von Nicolai (1730–1814) and his encyclopedic collections . Catalog for the exhibition of the Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-88282-027-6
• Hans-Christian Pust: The "Nicolai Collection". An early acquisition from private ownership under Carl Eugen. In: Vera Trost, Hans-Christian Pust (Ed.): Carl Eugen's legacy. 250 years of the Württemberg State Library. Stuttgart: Württembergische Landesbibliothek 2015, pp. 70–77.