Friedrich Jakob Heller

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Friedrich Jakob Heller von Hellwald (born February 3, 1789 in Stuttgart , † January 16, 1866 in Vienna- Döbling) was an Austrian general staff officer and military historian .

Life

Heller came from a very simple background. Thanks to a scholarship from King Friedrich I of Württemberg , he nevertheless received extensive training in the mining department of the royal cadet institute. It was here that Lieutenant-General Graf von Diller soon became aware of him and gave Heller a position as a lieutenant in the Württemberg Infantry Regiment No. 8.

Heller took up this post on January 28, 1814. As a lieutenant he took part in the winter campaign to France at the end of 1814 and was a. a. involved in the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube . During campaign 1815 he was severely wounded. After his recovery he said goodbye in 1817, hoping to get an officer position in the Austrian army. When he found out in Vienna that this was not possible, he decided to join the sapper corps as a simple cadet . He succeeded in taking this step thanks to the intercession of Colonel Baron von Pley. On October 31, 1818, he reported for duty in Bruck an der Leitha . For more than eleven years he served in this unit in a very subordinate position. In the winter of 1821 his troops were involved in the campaign to Naples and the subsequent long-term occupation. His official duties gave Heller enough time during this stay to travel around the country and conduct archaeological studies; he even became a corresponding member of the Academy of Herculaneum .

In 1825 he returned to Bruck and was employed as an arithmetic and drawing teacher at the cadet institute and temporarily entrusted with surveying work in Hungary . This work also served Heller as a suitable exercise for his engineering exam. Only three years later, on March 30, 1828, was he promoted to sub-lieutenant and transferred to the corps of geniuses. During this time he repeatedly published articles in Streffleur's " Austrian Military Journal ". These essays caught the attention of the Chief of Staff, Major General Count Leopold von Rothkirch . With effect from May 27, 1831, Heller was transferred to the Quartermaster General's staff as Ober-Lieutenant . There he worked on new maneuvering instructions for the infantry and cavalry on behalf of Colonel Baron Heinrich von Hess . He was also entrusted with work on war history. On June 15, 1831 he was promoted to captain .

From December 1835, Heller was commissioned in the war history office to write a description of the campaigns of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years' War . This work occupied Heller in the archives of Vienna until March 1841 and the results were reflected in articles in the "Austrian Military Journal". In 1837 Heller was sent as an observer to the maneuver in Voznesensk, southern Russia, and in 1840 in the same function to the field exercises of the VIII German Federal Corps on the Neckar and Rhine. In 1841 he became Chief of Staff of the II Army Corps in Padua . In addition to his official duties, he dealt extensively with maps and communications. At that time he also published the military correspondence of Prince Eugene . On August 12, 1842, Heller was promoted to major .

In the revolutionary years of 1848/49 he was involved in the suppression of the uprising in Vienna under Windisch-Graetz and was later used in Hungary as a liaison officer to the Russian troops. On September 19, 1848, he was promoted to colonel in the general quartermaster staff.

With effect from April 20, 1850 Heller was promoted to major general and his assignment to the III. Army Corps in Prague as brigade commander. After moving his brigade to Carinthia , he became military commander in Klagenfurt .

On March 23, 1856, Heller retired as Lieutenant Field Marshal ad honores . On May 16 of the same year, Heller was raised to the hereditary nobility with the predicate of Hellwald . In the following years he wrote numerous essays and studies. At the age of 77 he died on January 16, 1866 in Vienna-Döbling.

The writer Friedrich von Hellwald was his son.

Works

  • Memories from the Wars of Freedom (1844)
  • Friedrich Freiherr Von Bianchi, Duca Di Casalanza, KK Austrian Field Marshal Lieutenant ,
  • The winter campaign of 1848 - 1849 in Hungary: under the command of Field Marshal Fürsten zu Windisch-Grätz , Vienna 1851, digitized
  • Military correspondence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. From original Austrian sources (year 1694 to 1702.) , Vienna 1848 Digitized at the Bavarian State Library
  • Military correspondence of Prince Eugene of Savoy. From original Austrian sources. (Year 1703 to the end of August 1705.) , Vienna 1848 Digitized at the Bayerischer Staatsbibliothek

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The newspaper appeared until 1906 under the title "Streffleur's Austrian Military Journal" see Biographical Entry Valentin von Streffleur in Austrian Biographical Lexicon
personal data
SURNAME Heller, Friedrich Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heller von Hellwald, Friedrich Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer, military historian
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1866
Place of death Vienna