Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck

Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Bismarck (born July 28, 1783 in Windheim in Westphalia , † June 18, 1860 in Constance ) was a Württemberg lieutenant general , diplomat and military writer .

Life

Friedrich Wilhelm came from the Rhenish branch of the Schönhausen line of the Bismarck family . In 1796 he was already serving as a cornet in Hanover and in 1803 in Nassau. In 1804 he joined the King's German Legion , which he left in 1807 as a result of a duel . He then joined the Württemberg cavalry and on September 7, 1807, in a secret marriage in Frankfurt, he married the daughter of the Duke of Nassau-Usingen , Augusta Amalia (1778–1846), divorced Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg . Since the connection was viewed as improper by the Nassau family, the couple could not live together for the time being.

In the war of 1809 - the Württembergians fought on the side of Napoleon - Bismarck distinguished himself under Masséna , especially in the battle on May 1st near Riedau . In 1812 he took part in all combat missions of General Ney's corps . In the Battle of Bautzen he was commander of the 1st Chevauleger - Regiment , also in action at Seifersdorf on 26 May 1813 and in the Battle of Jüterbog on 6 September 1813th

Bismarck was finally captured in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig . After Württemberg joined the allies against Napoleon, he became chief of the general staff and, in 1815, quartermaster general of the cavalry in the then crown provinces . In 1816 he was raised to the rank of count , made colonel and adjutant wing . After Wilhelm I came to power , he was entrusted with the reorganization of the mounted armed forces. In 1819 Bismarck was promoted to major general and in the following year made a member of the Chamber of Class Lords and Ambassador Extraordinary at the court in Karlsruhe . In 1825 he came to the courts of Berlin , Dresden and Hanover in this capacity .

Since 1820, Bismarck was an appointed lifelong member of the Chamber of Notaries of the Württemberg Landtag . From 1830 on he lived in Karlsruhe in a common household with his wife. Aufgusta Amalia died in 1846. After Bismarck was promoted to lieutenant general in 1830 , he finally retired in 1848 and no longer appeared in the state parliament. He resigned his state parliament mandate in 1853 for health reasons and because he was moving to Constance. He wrote numerous writings on military policy and history. This showed, among other things, his ardent admiration for Napoleon, Emperor of the French.

In his second marriage (marriage: April 5, 1848) Bismarck was married to the former maid of his first wife, Amalie Julie Thibaut (born July 4, 1824 in Steinbach near Baden-Baden ; † September 6, 1918 in Mariafeld on Lake Zurich ). From this marriage two children were born, August Wilhelm Julius Graf von Bismarck (1849-1920) and Clara Countess von Bismarck (1851-1946), the later General of the Swiss Army , Ulrich Wille (1848-1925) married (the line will still lives in Switzerland). The young Count August later became a hussar officer , gentleman rider and horse breeder and ran “Gut Lilienhof” in Breisgau . He was the last descendant in the male line of this line of the Bismarcks.

The Gutensteiner writer Joseph Stöckle (1844-1893), who during his student days in Konstanz, from 1859 to 1860, as a classmate of the young Count Bismarck at the Grand Ducal Lyceum , frequented Bismarck's house and stayed with him until his death, wrote until at the end of his life on a biography of old Count Bismarck. Records and manuscripts about it have been lost to this day.

Awards

Napoleon personally presented him with the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1809 .

Grand Ducal Baden Order of Loyalty .

Grand Cross of the Zähringer Order of Lions .

Grand Cross of the Royal Württemberg Order of Frederick , 1830.

Royal Württemberg Military Merit Order , Commentary Cross

Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order .

Royal Prussian Order of St. John Knight.

Royal Bavarian Knight of St. Hubertus .

Royal Danish Dannebrog Order .

Imperial Russian Order of St. George .

Imperial Russian Order of St. Anna .

Austrian-Imperial Leopold Order .

Electoral Hessian Military Order of Merit .

Works

Field service in the Reyterei . Karlsruhe 1820.
Reuterei system . Berlin & Poznan 1822.
Reuterei rifle system . Stuttgart 1824.
Lectures on the tactics of Reuterei. Elements of the art of movement of a Reuter regiment . Karlsruhe 1819, 2nd edition, ibid. 1826.
Reuterbibliothek (6 vols.). Karlsruhe 1825-1831.
Idea tactics of the Reuterei . Karlsruhe 1829.
Records . Karlsruhe 1847.

literature

Maria Feodora von Dalberg: From the life of a German princess . Verlag Franz Nöldeke, Carlsruhe 1847. (Biography of Bismarck's first wife, Auguste Amalie Princess of Nassau-Usingen, with a description of her relationship with Bismarck)
Maximilian Jähns: Bismarck, Friedrich Wilhelm (Count) of . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 678-680.
Heinz Kraft: Bismarck, Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 267 f. ( Digitized version ).
Joseph Stöckle: Memories from the Donauthale . Karl Willi publishing house printing company, Meßkirch 1893.
Heinrich Schmidt-Pecht: The Bismarcks in Constance. A historical find , in: Velhagen & Klasingsmonthshefte . Berlin, Bielefeld, Leipzig, 54th year 1939/1940 (2nd volume, April 1940); Pp. 489-494.
Court and State Manual of the Grand Duchy of Baden - 1834 . Hofbuchhandlung von G. Braun, Carlsruhe 1834, pp. 100–101
Wolf-Heino Struck : Prince and people in the Duchy of Nassau . In: Nassauische Annalen 1980 , pp. 105-130.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Bismarck, Friedrich Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bismarck, Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Württemberg lieutenant general and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 28, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH	Windheim
DATE OF DEATH	June 18, 1860
Place of death	Constancy