Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld

Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld

Tomb of Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld in the old cemetery in Ludwigsburg

Fidel Karl Friedrich von Baur-Breitenfeld (born April 8, 1805 in Rottweil , † March 20, 1882 in Ludwigsburg ) was a Württemberg lieutenant general and minister of war .

Life

Fidel (is) von Baur-Breitenfeld (in biographical works often also written in the form Baur von Breitenfeld ), although baptized Catholic, was raised Protestant by his uncle and mother and accordingly later changed his denomination. In 1813 he went to the grammar school in Stuttgart and studied from 1821 to 1825 at the officer training institute in Ludwigsburg the warfare. This began his career in the Württemberg Army . From 1825 to 1826 he was on leave from military service and attended the University of Tübingen for natural and political studies. From the autumn of 1828 he taught at the war school. Throughout his entire career, he promoted the officer training institute and put the qualities allegedly anchored in the Württemberg population through pietism and romantic idealism, such as thrift, diligence and a sense of duty, at the service of the military. From 1829 Baur-Breitenfeld was assigned to the Prussian Army for a long time . In 1835 he was promoted to captain . In 1839 he instructed Crown Prince Karl in warfare. Baur-Breitenfeld was promoted to major in 1842, to lieutenant colonel in 1845 and to colonel and quartermaster general in 1847. In 1849 he was appointed commissioner at Prince Wilhelm's Prussian headquarters near Rastatt. From October 28, 1849 to July 2, 1850, Baur-Breitenfeld headed the war department as a managing minister with the rank of major general . From August 1850 he was chief of the general staff and adjutant to the King of Württemberg. From October 1852 to August 1854 he participated as the Württemberg ambassador to the Federal Military Commission in Frankfurt. From May 1853 he commanded the Württemberg artillery and was governor of Ludwigsburg. From May 1859 he was Lieutenant General Commander in Chief of the Württemberg field division and from June 1866 Chief of Staff of the 8th Army Corps of the German Confederation , which was under the command of Prince Alexander of Hesse . After the end of the German War , in which Württemberg stood on the side of the defeated opponents of Prussia, he retired in October 1866. During the Franco-Prussian War he represented Minister of War Albert von Suckow .

In March 1851, Baur-Breitenfeld was appointed for life as a member of the First Chamber of the Württemberg Estates . He was a very committed member of the Chamber, attended almost all of the meetings personally, and focused primarily on finance, military and transport policy. From 1861 he was a member of the select committee. Baur-Breitenfeld was also a member of the regional synod of the Evangelical Church and the Gustav-Adolf-Verein . He was also a board member of the Ludwigsburg Mathildenstift and was one of the sponsors of the plans for Karlshöhe Ludwigsburg .

family

Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld was the son of the Württemberg officer Fidel Karl Joseph von Baur-Breitenfeld (1780–1813) and Luise von Alberti (1785–1863). His father died as a colonel and commander of Duke Wilhelm's 2nd Infantry Regiment in the battle of Dennewitz (sometimes referred to as the battle of Jüterbog). In 1834 Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld married Karoline (Lina) Friederike (1810–1897), daughter of General Karl Freiherr von Kerner . One of her father's brothers was the poet Justinus Kerner . Fidel's marriage with Lina resulted in seven children, including the diplomat Fidel von Baur-Breitenfeld (1835–1886) and the children's author Tony Schumacher .

Honors

• 1849 Baden Memorial Medal
• Grand Cross of the Order of Frederick
• Golden Officer's Cross of Honor
• Commentary cross of the Grand Ducal Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion
• Commander's Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Ludwig
• Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous
• Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelph Order
• Grand Cross of the Ducal Nassau Order of Adolph
• Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Oldenburg House and Merit Order
• Grand Cross of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle
• Prussian Crown Order, 1st class
• Commander's Cross of the French Legion of Honor
• 1881 Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown

Publications

• Manual for officers of the General Staff with special regard to the organization of the Royal Württemberg and 8th Army Corps. Stuttgart and Tübingen 1840.
• The operations of the eighth German Federal Army Corps in the campaign of 1866. Darmstadt and Leipzig 1868 ( online at the Bavarian State Library ).

literature

• Herman Niethammer:  Baur von Breitenfeld, Fidel Karl Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 672 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Frank Raberg : Biographical handbook of the Württemberg state parliament members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 34 .