Gottlob Curt Heinrich von Tottleben

Count of Tottleben

Gottlob Curt Heinrich von Tottleben , count of Tottleben since 1745 , (born December 21, 1715 in Tottleben , † March 20, 1773 in Warsaw ) was a Saxon adventurer and Russian general. He became famous by taking Berlin in 1760 during the Seven Years' War .

Life

His parents Curt Heinrich von Tottleben , co-owner of the manor in Tottleben, Saxon-Weißenfels resident marshal and councilor (born August 18, 1661 - July 30, 1724) and Johanna Sidonia Janus von Eberstädt. He had seven other siblings.

His career began at the court of the Polish King and Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong , first as a page , later as a chamberlain and finally as court and judicial councilor in the state government in Dresden . On September 14, 1745 Gottlob Curt Heinrich von Tottleben was raised to the rank of count by the Saxon-Polish regent Friedrich August II, while at the same time bypassing the baron , and married Elisabeth Christiane Freiin von Seifertitz , the landlady of Weistropp near Dresden. From this marriage came Tottleben's only son, later a Prussian lieutenant colonel, Count Carl Adolph Gottfried von Tottleben, Herr auf Weistropp. From his first marriage to Johannette Sophia von Kropff († 1743), Tottleben had three more children, two daughters and a son, of which only the eldest daughter, Countess Charlotte Wilhelmine Johanna (1738–1766), later Baroness von Mirbach in Kurland , that Reached adulthood. Tottleben was the master of Tottleben and Klettstedt and later also of Zeippau and Hansdorf near Sagan (Lower Silesia).

The corruption accused, he fled to be seen against them without the results of the investigation and was in the absence of the Electorate of Saxony banished .

In Holland

He came to Holland via Sachsen-Weißenfels and Bavaria , where he acquired the patent as a colonel to recruit a new infantry regiment with the power to assign all officer positions. During the Second Silesian War his regiment remained in the hinterland in the Breda area , after the war it was relocated as a garrison force to Steenbergen and abdicated shortly afterwards . However, Tottleben received a supreme pension . While the French were victorious on the battlefields, Count Tottleben went on amorous adventures in the Dutch hinterland. One of them ends in the seduction and kidnapping of fifteen-year-old Maria Petronella Gratienne Victor , sole heir to a million dollar fortune in Amsterdam . The fugitives cross the Rhine back and forth four times to distance themselves from the pursuers.

Cabal and change of front

On May 1, 1751, after applying to Kleve, he received a residence permit for Prussia from the Prussian king. He married Maria Victor after the death of his second wife and moved to Berlin , where, thanks to his title and the fortune of his wife, he was in the best of Prussian circles. In doing so, he neglected his wife to such an extent that she initiated a divorce in 1755. The War of the Roses became a public event in Berlin. As a receipt for the “indecent speeches” “against the court” , which took his wife's side, he received the order “not to appear at court anymore and to leave Berlin” . His access to your property was withdrawn even earlier.

"Dissatisfied with the Prussian court," he offered his services to the enemies of Prussia. His offer to set up a regiment for the Austrians met with a benevolent response in Vienna . But the company failed due to a chronic lack of money, it only managed to recruit 70 infantrymen. He returned to Holland, where he contacted the Russian envoy. With the beginning of the Seven Years' War he quit his service for Holland and signed up as a volunteer in the Russian army . As a result of this risky step, he not only lost his pension, but also some of his property in Thuringia and Lower Silesia . They were taken in Sequester by the Prussians during the war .

In Russian service

→ Main article : Russian occupation of Berlin (1760)

During the war, Tottleben proved himself as a capable commander of light cavalry , Cossacks and hussars . As early as 1758 he was not taken on as a brigadier , as usual, but immediately as a major general in the Russian service. Count Tottleben was wounded twice in this war, first in the battle of Zorndorf . He was awarded two orders ( St. Anna and Alexander Newski ) and proposed to a third order. In the skirmishes of the "small war" he earned the reputation of "the daring Saxon in Russian service" .

In October 1760 he was entrusted with leading the expedition against Berlin, which was planned based on the model of the Hadik Hussar ride . He and his detachment reached the Prussian capital at great speed (approx. 300 km in 7 days) on October 3, 1760. However, his attack was repulsed, he had to retreat to Köpenick and wait for reinforcements (a Russian corps under Lieutenant General Count Tschernyshev and an Austrian corps under Lacy ). After the reinforcements arrived, the defenders gave up in view of the superior strength of the enemy Berlin. On the night of October 9, Tottleben (formally as the general who had first called on Berlin, but in reality because more consideration was expected of him as a former Berliner) was offered to surrender the city. Without informing the senior Chernyshev, who, because of his higher rank, saw himself as the head of the expedition, Tottleben willingly signed the surrender in his name and occupied Berlin with his own people. This led to a deep rift between the ambitious generals, each of whom (Tottleben, Tschernyschew, Lacy) claimed the laurels of the Berlin conqueror.

Tottleben's displeasure grew after Tschernyshev was promoted to Russia after the occupation of Berlin and was awarded a medal, while Tottleben, although proposed for medal, came away empty-handed. Unauthorized he published the self-composed relation about the capture of Berlin, which was perceived as scandalous in Saint Petersburg . He responded to the request to take it back with a provocative bid to leave. His threat worked, the charges against him were dropped and he became the commander of all light troops in the Russian field army.

At the beginning of 1761, Count Tottleben was at the height of his fame. Ernst Gotzkowsky , who spent three days in his quarters, reported on his return: “Under these circumstances, since I spent three whole days in his tent and did not see much from his side, I noticed from the frequent letters he received from Petersburg himself , as well as from the main army that he is in great respect of both of them. I was present when an eighty-year-old old man, introducing such a patriarch, had just arrived from Petersburg, who had to greet and bless the count in the name of the Kayserin with the assurance that she would talk about him every day and that the rich dress, if he gave her, on all gala days ” .

Treason and Accusation

At the same time his correspondence with the King of Prussia, Friedrich the Elder, began. Size The initiative of the letter contact came in February 1761 from the Count himself. Denounced by one of his officers, Lieutenant Colonel von Asch, a German-Silesian, he was arrested on June 30, 1761 in the town of Bernstein ( Neumark ) and charged with high treason . His courier with an encrypted letter to Friedrich with information about the route of the Russian army was also arrested. Tottleben told the investigators about his plan to win the trust of the Prussian king in order to persuade him to come to a meeting and to take him prisoner. This story was not bought from him.

However, it seemed to be believable, because this was a very daring undertaking, which most closely matched the adventurous nature of the count. The research carried out by Eberhard Kessel in the Prussian archives confirms Tottleben's statements during interrogation, both with regard to the frequency and the content (outdated, “minor”, ​​incorrect communications) of his correspondence with the Prussians. He did not find any traces of any payments to or any monetary claims from Tottleben, which excludes greed as a motive for treason.

The investigation into Tottleben's case lasted unusually long because of the two changes of power in Russia during these years. It was not until 1763 that he was brought before a court martial and sentenced to death. However, the new ruler of Russia, Catherine II , pardoned him and replaced the death penalty with exile. On April 22, 1763, the imperial decree was made public in Moscow , which stated that Count Tottleben was convicted of harmful intentions against the Russian state and sentenced by a court martial to the loss of honor, property and life. However, because the evil intentions of Tottleben did no harm to the state and because he had already been in custody for almost two years, the Empress decided that as a criminal who could no longer be tolerated in Russia, he would be brought to the border under guard and there without Farewell should be left. His ranks and medals should be stripped from him, he should sign a written guarantee that he would never again set foot on Russian soil, otherwise anyone could take his life away. On May 24, 1763, Tottleben was brought to the Russian border in the company of an escort of soldiers ( Major Mesentsew, an ensign and 6 soldiers ) and left behind in the village of Schulzenkrug "without saying goodbye" .

But Tottleben returned to Russia again in 1769 (according to other sources in 1768), where a few years earlier he had only escaped execution with great luck and where he had been declared an outlaw by imperial decree . Empress Catherine II forgave him. He was installed in his original military rank and sent to the war against the Turks, the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, at the head of a corps . The unusual mildness of the treatment (only house arrest, no torture) and the punishment (payment of all salaries, also for the years of imprisonment) in the Tottleben case as well as the miraculous forgiveness of a notorious high traitor give cause for speculation to this day. It is interesting in this context that the lieutenant colonel von Asch denouncing him ended his life in the dungeon. After serving 19 years in the Dünamünde fortress , he died in a monastery prison for mentally ill state criminals.

Last successes and end

During the Turkish war, Tottleben fought vigorously and successfully in Georgia . He took a number of Turkish fortresses and occupied the capital of the Principality of Imereti , Kutaisi . After defeating an opposing corps of 12,000 men, Tottleben besieged the port city and fortress Poti . At the same time he got involved in disputes with Georgian rulers, Russia's allies. Eventually Catherine found herself compelled to replace him with Major General Sukhotin , as she had come to the conclusion that his hostilities with the Georgian princes were going too far and seriously jeopardizing Russia's influence in the region.

Back in Saint Petersburg, Count Tottleben received the Alexander Nevsky Order (presented by the Empress personally on September 10, 1771) and was promoted to Lieutenant General. After the Georgia campaign, he first commanded the Russian irregular troops from Cossacks and Bashkirs in Lithuania . At the end of 1772 he was transferred to Poland as a division commander. He died of an illness in Warsaw and was buried with full military honors. He was buried in an Orthodox chapel in the residential area of ​​the Polish capital.

literature

• Tales of real life. In three volumes. Vol.I., Printed for Henry Colburn, London 1810
• The terrific register; or, Record of Crimes, Judgments, Providences, and Calamities.Vol. II, published by Sherwood, Jones, and Co. and Hunter, Edinburgh, London 1825
• Conversation in the realm of the dead between the famous Russian Lieutenant General Count von Tottleben and the no less famous conqueror of Egypt Ali Bey: where the strange story and strange fortunes and misfortunes of these two extraordinary men are told from reliable news / Christoph Heinrich Korn. - Frankfurt, 1774
• Remarques sur le militaire des Turcs et des Russes; sur la façon la plus convenable de combattre les premiers; sur la marine des deux empires belligerants; les peuples qui on joint leurs armes a celles de Russie, tels que sont les Georgia, Colchidois, Mainottes, Montenegrins, Albanois, Chretiens Grecs etc. etc. Avec various observations sur les grandes actions qui se sont passées dans la derniere guerre d'Hongrie , et dans la présente en Moldavie; comme aussi sur l'expedition de la flotte russe en Grece; et sur celle du comte de Tottleben: Avec des plans / Charles Emmanuel de Warnery. - Breslau: Korn, 1771
• The Oorlogszwerver of het Leven van de Graave van Tottleben. Derde Druk. - Amsterdam, 1764
• Life of the Count of Totleben, ...; containing its events and campaigns; together with a treatise ad T .: Waking up and rescuing the Count of Totleben Cölln: Marteau, 1763
• Mémoires de la vie du comte [Gottlob Heinrich] de Totleben: Conten. l'histoire de ses deux mariages & ses autres avantures En Saxe & en Hollande; Avec le précis de ses campagnes au service de SM Czarienne jusqu'à son Emprisonnement en 1761; Le tout suivi de son Apol. & de ses réflexions polit. & c / Gottlob Heinrich Totleben. - Zalt-Bommel: JG Kanneman, 1762
• La vie du Comte de Totleben, ci-devant colonel au service des Etats-Généraux des Provinces-Unies, et dernierement lieutenant-général des armées de Sa Majesté l'impératrice de toutes les Russies; contenant ses avantures et ses campagnes: Avec un traité intitulé: Le Comte de Totleben ressuscité et disculpé des calomnieuses imputations de l'historien de za vie; Trad. de Hollandois Cologne [fing.]; [Leipzig]: Marteau, 1762
• The oorlogszwerver of het leven van den Grave van Tottleben: Eertyds Kollonel in dienst van de Staten Generaal der Vereinigde Nederlanden; en laatst Lt. General van de Legers van Hau Rus. Keyr: Maj: ... Te Zalt-Bommel, 1761
• Kessel, Eberhard: Tottlebens Verrat, in: Military history and war theory in recent times: selected essays / Edited and introduced by Johannes Kunisch , Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1987 (series: Historische Forschungen; Vol. 33)
• Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon in association with several historians edited by Prof. Dr. Ernst Heinrich Kneschke, unchanged reprint of the work published by Friedrich Voigt in Leipzig 1859-1870, Volume IX, Verlag Degener & Co., Owner Oswald Spohr, Leipzig 1930
• Коробков, Николай Михайлович (ред.): Семилетняя война, Москва 1948
• Masslowski, Dmitrij: The Seven Years' War according to Russian representation / by Masslowski. Translated and annotated by A. von Drygalski with the authorization of the author; Part 3, Eisenschmidt, Berlin 1893
• Репинский, Г. К .: Граф Готтлоб-Курт-Генрих Тоттлебен в в 1715—1763 г.г. Материалы для биографии, в: "Русская старина" за октябрь 1888 г., июнь, сентябрь и октябрь 1889 г. (выпуски LX, LXII, LXIII, LXIV)
• Потто, Василий Алексеевич: Кавказская война, том 1, Центрполиграф, Москва 2006
• Прозоровский, А. А.: Записки генерал-фельдмаршала князя Александра Александровича Прозоровского, (1756–1776), РеадалкцикийМанах Реахалким РеаналакцикийМахах Реахалким Реахалкикийм Реаналки
• Горбовский, Александр, Семёнов, Юлиан: Без единого выстрела. Из истории российской военной разведки, Молодая гвардия, Москва 1983
• Martin Küster: The mayor, the general and the money . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 10, 2000, ISSN  0944-5560 , p. 14–26 ( luise-berlin.de ).

Web links

Commons : Gottlob Heinrich von Tottleben  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ He died on March 18, 1773 in Warsaw according to a written communication from his only son, Curt Adolph Graf von Tottleben, of April 6, 1774 to the Elector Friedrich August III. of Saxony.