Georg Wilhelm von Valentini

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Georg Wilhelm von Valentini (born August 21, 1775 in Mittenwalde , † August 6, 1834 in Berlin ) was a Prussian lieutenant general , inspector general of military education and training, and a military writer.

Life

origin

The Valentini family comes from the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt and the Westerwald . His parents were the Prussian colonel and commander of the Invalidenhaus in Berlin Georg Heinrich von Valentini (1738-1807) and his wife Christiane, née Schoenermark (1732-1807). Several members of his family served in the military police regiment. Ferdinand Alexander Ludwig von Valentini († 1801) as major, Simon August von Valentini († 1834) was commander of the Feldjäger in 1812 and Christian Ludwig von Valentini († 1812) fell as captain and company commander of the East Prussian Jäger Battalion.

Military career

Valentini was hired on August 15, 1787 as a cadet in Berlin and on July 31, 1791 as a Junker in the Jägerregiment on foot of the Prussian Army . He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on May 22, 1792 and took part in the First Coalition War. During the siege of Landau on December 22, 1793, he was shot in the left arm and also wounded in the battle near Weißenburg.

On April 9, 1803, Valentini was promoted to prime lieutenant and on March 20, 1804 , he was transferred to the reorganized general staff as adjutant 1st class and surplus quartermaster lieutenant. He received a salary of 800 thalers. On May 2, 1805 he became quartermaster lieutenant and staff captain . In the Fourth Coalition War that followed , Valentini fought in the battle near Saalfeld and the Battle of Jena . He took part in the subsequent retreat to Lübeck and was one of the few who was able to escape capture. On March 12, 1807 he became captain and a little later on May 29, 1807 he joined the "Blücher" corps . There he became major on August 23, 1807 . On July 4, 1808, he was given indefinite leave with permission to take cures in Karlsbad . On December 26, 1808, he was transferred to the staff of Colonel Count Goetzen, but on February 17, 1809, he was already assigned to Lieutenant General von Grawert . On June 13, 1809 he took his leave to change to Austrian services.

During the Fifth Coalition War , he became adjutant to the Prince of Orange . He fought in the battles of Aspern , Wagram and Znaim . After the Austrian defeat, he received permission from the king to switch to Russian services. So he took part in their campaign against the Turks in 1810/11 and became a Russian lieutenant colonel in 1811.

On February 14, 1812 Valentini returned to Prussian service. He was hired as the youngest lieutenant colonel in the General Staff and received a salary of 1900 thalers and 5 rations and permission to continue to wear the Russian Order of St. Vladimir IV class. On June 15, 1812, he was seconded to accompany the Prince of Orange. On January 20, 1813 he was commissioned to accompany the king to Breslau and to give lessons to the crown prince. But already on March 10, 1813, in the run-up to the War of Liberation, he became chief quartermaster in the Yorck corps . In the following war he was able to distinguish himself several times. He fought at Großgörschen , Bautzen , Katzbach , Leipzig and Belle Alliance . In the battle near Mery he was shot through the left arm. For Bautzen he received the Russian Order of St. Anna II. Class and for Katzbach the Order of St. Vladimir III. Class. Already on May 19, 1813 Valentini had received the Iron Cross II. Class for Großgörschen and on May 19, 1813 the First Class Cross for Katzbach. At that time he was promoted to colonel on July 3, 1813 and on August 14, 1813 chief of the general staff of the III. Army Corps . On December 8, 1813, Valentini was awarded the order Pour le Mérite with oak leaves. At the request of the Duke of Coburg , he joined the general staff of his corps on December 22, 1813. But already on December 27, 1813 "Yorck" was transferred back to the Corps. On March 30, 1814 he was promoted to major general with a patent from April 2, 1814 and on October 5, 1814 he was chief of the General Staff of the III. Army now under Bülow . On March 23, 1815 he was transferred to the IV Army Corps as Chief of the General Staff and on October 2, 1815 he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle III for Belle Alliance . Class.

After the war Valentini was on October 3, 1815 Commander in the fortress Glogau added and blessed on October 27, 1815 2000 Taler. On December 10, 1816 he was officially allowed to the Russian Order of St. George III. Class to wear. On December 15, 1821 he was also given permission to wear the Commander's Cross of the Dutch Military Wilhelms Order and on January 18, 1823 the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class, with oak leaves. On March 30, 1824 he was promoted to lieutenant general and on August 9, 1825, the service cross. He gave up the command and on October 5, 1828, he became inspector general of military education and training in the army, succeeding the late Lieutenant General von Holtzendorff , and on December 1, 1828, a member of the examination committee for military science and technical subjects. He also received other medals. First, on January 24, 1830, the star for the Order of the Red Eagle II. Class and on January 18, 1833, the Order of the Red Eagle, I. Class with oak leaves. He died in Berlin on August 6, 1834 and was buried in the garrison cemetery on August 9, 1834.

plant

He wrote down his experiences from the First Coalition War in the book Vom Kleines Kriege , which was reprinted several times. He also got to know the writer Berenhorst . After 1809 he wrote an attempt at a history of the 1809 campaign . After the War of Liberation, he had 13 years to work on the book The Lessons of War (1820). In 1830 he published the work on the Turkish War of 1810/11. In 1832 he anonymously published the work Memories of an Old Prussian Officer from the Campaigns of 1792, 1793 and 1794 .

The works were repeatedly reprinted and translated into numerous other languages.

family

Valentini married on May 6, 1816 on Gut Tamm near Polkwitz (Silesia) Dorothea Philippine von Sydow (1783–1841), divorced von Berge and Herrendorff. She was the daughter of District Administrator Wilhelm Ludwig von Sydow (1748–1826) and Frederike von Waldmann (1760–1821). Their daughter Anna (1822–1842) emerged from the marriage.

After the death of her husband, the widow also received a pension of 500 thalers from the king.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New necrology of the Germans. Volume 12, Part 2, pp. 1132f. Simon August by Valentini
  2. ↑ Theodor von Troschke : The military literature since the wars of liberation. P. 107. Contemporary book review.
  3. ^ Yearbook of the German Nobility . Volume 3, 1899, p. 515.
personal data
SURNAME Valentini, Georg Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant general, military writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Mittenwalde
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1834
Place of death Berlin