Friedrich von Kleist

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Friedrich von Kleist, woodcut by Hermann Scherenberg 1863

Friedrich Emil Ferdinand Heinrich von Kleist , from 1814 Count Kleist von Nollendorf (born April 9, 1762 in Berlin ; † February 17, 1823 there ), was a Prussian field marshal . In 1806 he was an adjutant general of King Friedrich Wilhelm III at the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , while the adjutant general of the Commander-in-Chief Duke of Braunschweig was Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Kleist .

Life

origin

Friedrich was the son of the Privy Council and dean of the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation Friedrich Konrad Dietrich Adrian von Kleist (1726–1808) and his wife Luise Juliane Charlotte, born von Schwerin (1736–1779), daughter of the Prussian Lieutenant General Reimar Julius von Schwerin .

Military career

Count Kleist von Nollendorf at the base of the Cologne monument to King Friedrich Wilhelm III.
Bust of Friedrich Kleist von Nollendorff in the palace gardens of Merseburg

Kleist was 1774 Page at the court of Prince Henry of Prussia and on 2 July 1778 ensign in the Infantry Regiment "von Lettow" hired, with whom he at War of Bavarian Succession participated. Later Kleist was appointed adjutant to Field Marshal von Möllendorf and in 1790 as quartermaster lieutenant in the general staff , in which he fought as a captain in the 1793/95 campaign against France. Here he took part in battles near Oberursel , Ottange, Frankfurt am Main , Hochheim, Alsheim, Zweibrücken and Kaiserslautern. For his services, Kleist received the order Pour le Mérite on December 4, 1792 .

After commanding a grenadier battalion in the von Arnim infantry regiment for a few years , he was adjutant general of the king between 1803 and 1807 . At the end of 1808 he received the command of the Lower Silesian Brigade in Frankfurt (Oder) as a major general and in 1809 the command of Berlin.

In the war against Russia in 1812 Kleist commanded the infantry of the Prussian auxiliary corps under Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg , and at the beginning of the campaign against France in 1813 as a lieutenant general, a Prussian-Russian corps with which he attempted to defeat the French on the night of April 17th to surprise in Wittenberg , undertook a successful battle. When the army of coalition troops had crossed the Elbe near Dresden , Kleist occupied the Saale crossing near Halle . He maintained himself here until April 28, but withdrew via Schkeuditz the following day . At Bautzen he defended the Spree crossing at Burk with little strength on May 20 for so long that Miloradowitsch was able to evacuate Bautzen without losses. As Prussian plenipotentiary, he concluded the Pläswitz armistice on June 4th .

After this period, Kleist commanded the II. Prussian Army Corps , which joined the main coalition army in Bohemia . In the battle for Dresden he led the second attack column. In retreat he marched over the ridge of the mountains to Nollendorf in the back of Vandammes and decided the battle of Kulm on August 30th with his attack . For his services in the battle of Kulm and Nollendorf , he was raised on June 3, 1814 by the Prussian king to the hereditary count status with the nickname "von Nollendorf".

In the Battle of Nations near Leipzig , he fought successfully on the left wing of the large army near Markkleeberg , then blocked the city of Erfurt with its Petersberg citadel with the II. Prussian Army Corps and later followed the army to France, where he was near Étoges on February 14th Fought under Blücher in 1814 . The victory at Laon was achieved in particular by his and Yorck's decision to begin the attack in the evening. Before Paris , Kleist was involved in the Battle of Villette . The king appointed him general of the infantry in 1814 .

After the peace Kleist received the general command for the province of Saxony in Merseburg . As endowment the domain he was Stötterlingenburg in Halberstadt given. In 1821 he was appointed Field Marshal General when he left. Afterwards he withdrew to his estates, including Wülperode .

Honors

Kleist was a knight of the French Legion of Honor, Knight of Honor of the Order of St. John , holder of the Order of the Red Eagle First Class and the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (for Leipzig) and the Order of St. Vladimir II. Class. For the victorious outcome of the Battle of Kulm , Kleist became a Knight of the Black Eagle Order on September 30, 1813 .

The grenadier regiment "Graf Kleist von Nollendorf" (1st West Prussian) No. 6 carried his name as a permanent memory until its dissolution at the end of 1918. Nollendorfplatz and Kleiststrasse in Berlin remember him (see also General procession ).

On June 7, 1821, the city ​​of Merseburg made him its first honorary citizen .

family

Kleist married Hermine Caroline Charlotte von Retzow (1767–1838) in Berlin in 1787. She was the daughter of the Knighthood Councilor Wilhelm Leopold von Retzow (1729-1803) and his wife Henriette Christine Friederike, born von Thiele, and was the granddaughter of General Wolf Friedrich von Retzow . The couple had two sons and a daughter. One of the sons died young, the other son Hermann (1804-1870) was in Halberstadt district and was with Henriette of Gustedt married (* 1809). The daughter Hermine Henriette Helene Leopoldine (1785-1840) married the lieutenant colonel Timon Viktor Baron von Laviere.

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich von Kleist  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. Franz Kasimir von Kleist , military governor of the city of Magdeburg, is also connected with the battles of 1806, and he surrendered the fortress without a fight one month after the battle.