Gustav Bogislav von Münchow

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Gustav Bogislav von Münchow (born September 10, 1686 in Kosemühl , Pomerania , † June 20, 1766 in Berlin ) was a royal Prussian general. Münchow was one of Frederick II's friendly advisers as early as the time of the Crown Prince . In the early years of Frederick's government he not only earned services as a troop leader and diplomatic confidante, but also in improving the Prussian hospital system .

Life

Origin and youth

Gustav von Münchow was the son of Bernhard Christian and Clara Erdmuthe von Münchow , born von Wobeser and widowed von Ramel . The father was the master of Kosemühl, at a young age a Kurbrandenburg cornet and, when Crown Prince Friedrich was imprisoned there from 1732 to 1733, President of the Chamber in Küstrin .

In 1701, Gustav came from Münchow as Junker in the Hesse-fund metallic Regiment of Crown Prince Friedrich one, the son of Prussian King Frederick I was. The following year the Hereditary Prince appointed him his chamberlain .

Officer in Prussia under Friedrich I and the soldier king

In 1703 Münchow moved to his Prussian infantry regiment, Hereditary Prince of Hesse . When he was promoted to secondary lieutenant in 1707, he was transferred to the Margrave Albrecht regiment . In the War of the Spanish Succession he fought in the Prussian contingent on the imperial side in the battles of Malplaquet and Ramillies . Staff captain since 1710 , he took part in the siege of Stralsund in 1715 in the Great Northern War . In September 1715 he was given a company as captain and became major in October 1717 . Since 1724 lieutenant colonel, he commanded the Kalckstein regiment from February 1728 . In May 1735, King Friedrich Wilhelm I promoted Münchow to colonel .

Confidante and General of Frederick II.

Since the Küstriner years, Friedrich II had included his family with his son Gustav in the friendly relationship with Bernhard von Münchow, his boss at the time , landlord and benefactor. Shortly after his accession to the throne, on June 1, 1740, he gave him the post of chief of the newly established Münchow regiment . On June 7, 1740, Friedrich sent Colonel Münchow with the news of the change of the throne to Emperor Karl VI. to Vienna. In view of the tense relationship with the Viennese court, no negotiations were pending and Münchow, unlike the ambassadors, probably traveled to London and Paris without special instructions. When the imperial court, which had become restless because of Prussia's diplomatic activity, wanted to conduct investigations in Berlin by the ambassador Count Batthyány in August 1740 , Münchow's mission gained importance insofar as it gave Friedrich the opportunity to receive Batthyány with the same cold condescension that she received from Münchow had experienced three weeks earlier in Vienna.

In the First Silesian War , which began a little later, in May 1741, Münchow took over the supervision of the Prussian hospitals established in neutral Breslau after the battle of Mollwitz . Until then they were in a neglected and disordered condition. Münchow's most significant improvement, by order of the king, was the separate treatment and care of the sick and wounded, which decisively reduced the risk of infection. Friedrich awarded Münchow the order Pour le Mérite for his successes in July 1742 and appointed him major general in September 1742 .

During the Second Silesian War , Münchow took part in the sieges of Prague in September 1744 and Cosel and in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg . There he held the position on the left wing of the first meeting with the Borcke , Blankensee and Bevern regiments against a superior force until the attack by the Bayreuth Dragoons decided the battle in favor of Prussia. In return, Friedrich promoted him to lieutenant general on July 15, 1745 . For his service in the battle of Kesselsdorf , the king awarded him the Order of the Black Eagle in December 1745 . In August 1747 he became governor of Spandau .

At the beginning of the Seven Years' War , Friedrich II appointed him ad interim as commander of the Glogau fortress in August 1756 . Münchow held the function until January 1758. He died in Berlin in 1766 and was buried in the garrison church.

Benefices and honors

Expected on April 20, 1720 , he became a Knight of the Order of St. John on April 7, 1728 . He was assigned to the Lagow Commandery , which he received as a real Commander in 1765, but ceded to Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Pannewitz because of his old age.

In the first year of his reign, Friedrich II gave him a position as canon at Magdeburg Cathedral in October 1740 and in February 1746, in thanks for “faithful and good service”, with the position of Drosten zu Cranenburg and Düffel . In 1752 he got the post of cathedral dean in the monastery of Sankt Sebastian in Magdeburg .

In addition to the names of other contemporaries who were connected to the king, the Münchow also stands on the base of the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin .

family

Gustav von Münchow was married twice. With Antoinette Philippine von Borstell (* February 20, 1701; † September 5, 1730 in Berlin) he had a son and two daughters. To the annoyance of Friedrich II, Münchow did not appoint his son Friedrich Wilhelm († 1741) as an officer. He became Chancellor of the Order of St. John. The daughter Antoinette Katharina (born August 24, 1730) married Ludwig Clamor de la Chevallerie, the son of General Ernst August de la Chevallerie von la Motte . The second daughter Wilhelmine Dorothea married Alexander Christoph von Münchow (* 1726; † 1806), Herr auf Zülchow.

His second wife was Sophie Elenore von Schwerin on June 14, 1732 (born April 13, 1706 in Rehberg ; † July 16, 1769 in Berlin), buried in the Berlin garrison church. She was the sister of General Philipp Bogislav von Schwerin . This marriage was without children.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On Friedrich's family relationship with Bernhard von Münchow see Eduard Vehse : Preussische Hofgeschichten. Newly published by Heinrich Conrad , Georg Müller, Munich 1913, Volume II, p. 248f. and Reinhold Koser : History of Frederick the Great. First volume , Cotta, Stuttgart and Berlin 1912, p. 68, on Gustav von Münchow there p. 209.
  2. ↑ In addition Koser: History of Frederick the Great. First volume , Cotta, Stuttgart and Berlin 1912, p. 231f.
  3. ↑ Friedrich's instruction letter of July 3, 1741 to Münchow in Breslau is reproduced in Priesdorff (see literature) p. 259.
  4. ↑ European genealogical manual 1754, p. 196.
  5. ↑ Friedrich's words to Münchow are reproduced in Priesdorff (see literature) p. 258.
  6. ↑ The corresponding excerpt from a letter from the king to Münchow of June 28, 1747 is printed in Priesdorff (see literature), p. 258.
personal data
SURNAME Münchow, Gustav Bogislav von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Münchow, Gustav Bogislaus from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general, confidante of Frederick II.
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1686
PLACE OF BIRTH Kosemühl , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1766
Place of death Berlin