Friedrich Adolf von Willisen

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Friedrich Adolf Freiherr von Willisen
Burial place in the Protestant cemetery in Rome
Inscription of the grave cross

Friedrich Adolf Freiherr von Willisen (born August 11, 1798 in Staßfurt , † August 24, 1864 in Genzano near Rome ) was a Prussian general of the cavalry , head stable master and diplomat .

Family (see also Willisen )

Friedrich Adolf Freiherr von Willisen was the youngest son of the mayor of Staßfurt Karl Wilhelm Hermann von Willisen (1751–1807) and Friederike von Trotha (1768–1826). Like his brother Karl Wilhelm , he married a daughter of Major General Johann Georg Emil von Brause , Pauline von Brause (1815–1880) in Berlin on November 11, 1834 . The marriage had three children: Johann Georg Emanuel (1837–1905), Friedrich Wilhelm (1839–1875), Elisabeth Ludovica Anna (1846–1894).

Life

After his school education at the Basedowschen Anstalten in Dessau , Willisen joined the 27th Infantry Regiment of the Prussian Army as a Junker in 1815 and fought in the battle of Ligny and Wavre .

After the Wars of Liberation , he attended the General War School in Berlin and was then transferred to the General Staff . In 1827 he moved to the General Staff of the II Army Corps . There he came into close contact with the then Prussian Crown Prince, later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV , who commanded this corps and who remained on friendly terms with Willisen ever since. In addition to this activity, Willisen was also employed as a teacher at the General War School and at the Artillery and Engineering School .

In 1837 he received permission to take part in the French campaign in Algiers . On his return he switched to the cavalry . After the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV took office, the latter appointed him his wing adjutant . Two years later, Willisen became colonel and commander of the 10th Hussar Regiment , while retaining his position as the king's wing adjutant .

In the revolutionary year of 1848 he was released from this command and appointed major general à la suite of the king. In the same year Willisen took part in the Austrian campaign in Italy on the staff of Field Marshal Radetzky , for which he was awarded the Order of Pour le Mérite . After the end of the campaign, Willisen briefly commanded the 13th Cavalry Brigade in Münster and then the 8th Cavalry Brigade in Erfurt .

In 1856 he was appointed commander of the 6th division , lieutenant general and adjutant general to the king, who greatly valued this witty, educated and sophisticated officer. Willisen had great influence on the monarch and tried, in his function as chairman of a commission to examine the armament and equipment of the infantry and cavalry, to implement various innovations for the Prussian army. Particularly on the question of the intended introduction of a riding system according to François Baucher and the replacement of the needle gun with the minié rifle , Willisen came into conflict with the commander-in-chief of the Prussian army, the brother of the king and later Kaiser Wilhelm I , who rejected these reforms.

A year before he became seriously ill, Friedrich Wilhelm IV pushed through Willisen's appointment as his head stable master against the fierce resistance of conservative forces at the Prussian court.

During the reign of the Prince of Prussia, Willisen was entrusted with various diplomatic missions. He visited the Saxon troops on behalf of the German Confederation , participated as a representative of Prussia at the funeral of Field Marshal Radetzky, was sent to diplomatic missions to Vienna and Constantinople and in 1861 to Paris to help Napoleon III. to report Wilhelm I's accession to the throne as King of Prussia.

When Prussia recognized the Kingdom of Italy on July 23, 1862, Willisen was appointed first envoy to the Italian royal court by the Prussian state government . He held this high diplomatic office until the beginning of 1863, in the same capacity as the successor to the sick Karl Friedrich von Canitz and Dallwitz at the Prussian embassy at the Vatican in the Palazzo Caffarelli on the Capitol . Willisen's fine and tactful demeanor was extremely appreciated in the Vatican, and there was an extremely benevolent relationship between Prussia and the Vatican during his tenure. "He loves art and science, has sensible political views, is humane in everything - but at the same time the genuinely witty Berlin adjutant general of the witty Friedrich Wilhelm IV."

In the second year of his activity at the Holy See, Willisen fell ill with a severe fever during his summer stay at Villa Cesarini in Genzano on Lake Nemisee. He died on August 24, 1864 and was buried in the Protestant cemetery at the Pyramid of Cestius in Rome. Willisen was the first and last general to the Prussian legation post in the Vatican. With him "the last peaceful ambassador of Prussia to the Vatican went", because among his successors there were "great tensions between Prussia and the Vatican on the agenda".

Military promotions

Orders and decorations

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurd von Schlözer: Roman letters 1864-1869. P. 100.
  2. ^ Franciscus Hanus: The Prussian Vatican Embassy 1747-1920. P. 288.
  3. ↑ Ibid.
personal data
SURNAME Willisen, Friedrich Adolf von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Willisen, Friedrich Adolf Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the cavalry, head stable master and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1798
PLACE OF BIRTH Staßfurt
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1864
Place of death Genzano near Rome