Engineering corps

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a Corps of Engineers or genius Corps were designated constructional military units since the 18th century. Engineer corps originally developed in the fortress war in the republican Netherlands . They were decisively developed in the Kingdom of France and expanded in other European early modern states. Corps of Engineers were precursors of modern engineering corps .

Prussia

The Great Elector was the first to set up an engineer corps, which was responsible for the Prussian land survey. These were professionals ( craftsmen ) who provided the military with their knowledge. The engineering corps was part of the Quartermaster General Staff. The Quartermaster General must therefore be considered a senior engineer. The Quartermaster General Philip de Chiese is named as the first chief engineer . The Prussian Corps of Engineers but was officially only under Friedrich Wilhelm I . institutionalized militarily. A first ranking list dates back to 1728, it contains not only civil names but also immigrants from Italy, the Netherlands and French religious refugees ( Réfugiés ).

In the New Prussian army of the 19th century, the engineer corps formed those organizations that were subordinate to the chief of the engineer and engineer corps and inspector general of the fortresses : the engineer committee, the inspection of military telegraphy, the four engineer and two engineer inspections. Engineer inspectors directed the engineering service in the fortresses. They were responsible for the ten fortress inspections and for the fortification authorities in the fortresses, each headed by an engineer officer with a number of engineer officers. The engineer officers formed four officer corps after their inspections. The engineer officers belonged to their battalions and had their number. Engineer and engineer officers therefore formed two separate officer corps, which, however, complemented each other, as only the engineer battalions could train offspring, as in the field and foot artillery. Those outside the budget of these corps, e.g. The officers used in the engineering committee , for example , were led à la suite of an engineering inspection or an engineer battalion.

Senior Engineers

Chiefs of the engineering corps 1728–1916

The Royal Prussian Engineer Corps was founded in 1728. The official seat was in Potsdam. Frederick II hardly gave the engineering corps a free hand. It was not until the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm II. The importance of the chief of the engineering corps grew.

Saxony

Count Wackerbarth had been chief of the Saxon engineering officers since 1702 and released them from the artillery corps in 1712, thus forming the first independent engineering corps in Germany. The commanders of the engineering corps were at the same time at the head of the civil construction department until 1745. Engineer officers worked in peacetime in hydraulic engineering, including amelioration , in road and bridge construction. in geodesy and cartography . They were also involved in land surveying and in many areas of infrastructure and regional development. In December 1743, the Dresden Engineering Academy began teaching in the Neustädter Kaserne - with the subjects of mathematics, fortress construction, geodesy, geography, civil engineering, mechanics and engineering.

Well-known engineering officers from other countries

  • Henri-Gratien Bertrand (1773–1844), French division general and confidante of Napoleon on St. Helena
  • John Fox Burgoyne (1782–1871), British field marshal and in command of the tower
  • Johann Gabriel von Chasteler (1763–1825), Austrian field marshal lieutenant
  • Alfred Freiherr von Henikstein (1810–1882), Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal and the highest-ranking Jewish officer in Austrian history
  • Hermenegild von Francesconi (1795–1862), later Austrian railway engineer
  • Joachim Daniel von Jauch (1688–1754), Electoral Saxon Major General, Royal Polish Colonel, Director of the Saxon Building Department in Warsaw, Baroque architect and master builder August the Strong
  • Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916), British field marshal and politician
  • Jan Pawel Lelewel (1796–1847), lieutenant colonel, Polish freedom fighter, builder of the Zamość fortress, as an emigrant architect and chief engineer of the Bernese directorate for bridge and road construction
  • Johann Christoph von Naumann (1664–1742), electoral Saxon colonel, inspector general of the Saxon state fortresses, founder of the modern building police in Saxony, baroque architect, builder of Hubertusburg Palace near Oschatz
  • Adolphe Niel (1802–1869), Marshal of France, French Minister of War
  • Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Romanow (1831-1891), Russian engineer general, supreme commander of all guards and the St. Petersburg military district, and president of the highest committee for the organization and training of troops
  • Gustav Schleicher (1823–1879), German-American engineer, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician, captain in the engineer corps of the Confederate Army
  • Johann Gottfried Tulla (1770–1828), Baden engineer and officer who initiated the straightening of the Rhine
  • Simon François Gay de Vernon (1760–1822) French pioneer officer, Baron d'Empire, professor of fortress construction at the École Polytechnique

See also

literature

  • Hans Bleckwenn : The Frederician Uniforms 1753-1786 . In: The bibliophile paperbacks . No. 444. Hardenberg, Dortmund 1984, ISBN 3-88379-444-9 (license from Biblio-Verl. Osnabrück as: The Old Prussian Army; Part 3, Vol. 3, 4 and 5). Volume IV, pp. 37f.
  • Lars Ulrich Scholl: Engineers in early industrialization. 1978.
  • Thomas Wollschläger: The Military Revolution and the German Territorial State. Determinants of State Consolidation in the European Context 1670-1740. Norderstedt 2002-4.
  • Leopold von Zedlitz-Neukirch : The Prussian state in all its relationships. Volume 2, p. 77.
  • Julius Mebes, Contributions to the History of the Brandenburg-Prussian State , Volume 1, p.678ff

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Torge: History of Geodesy in Germany, Berlin 2007, p. 79.
  2. ↑ Eduard Lange : The soldiers of Frederick the Great. Leipzig 1853, p. 204 digitized
  3. ^ Leopold von Zedlitz-Neukirch : The state forces of the Prussian monarchy. Volume 3, Berlin 1828, p. 79ff, digitized
  4. ↑ Johann David Erdmann Preuss: Friedrich the Great - a life story (1832-1834). 1st volume, Berlin 1832, p. 203.