Hans Karl von Winterfeldt
Hans Karl von Winterfeldt (born April 4, 1707 in Vanselow , † September 8, 1757 in Görlitz ), heir to several estates, was a Prussian lieutenant general and close friend of Frederick the Great .
Life
He was the son of Georg Friedrich von Winterfeld (1670-1720), heir to Woddow, Fahrenwalde, Vanselow and Schmarsow, and his wife Christine Elisabeth, née von Maltzahn (1682-1747). The Colonel of the Artillery Rudolph Heinrich von Winterfeldt was his brother.
Winterfeldt joined the Garrison Regiment No. 2 of his uncle Kaspar Dietlof von Winterfeld in the Prussian army in 1723 . In 1740 he was appointed as the closest confidante of Frederick the Great to the Prussian ambassador in Saint Petersburg . Here he was able to successfully thwart Austria's attempts to conclude a military alliance with Russia.
With the outbreak of the Silesian Wars he returned to Prussia and took part in the storming of Glogau (March 8th), the Battle of Mollwitz (April 10th) and the attack on Rothschloß (Białobrzezie, June 22nd) in Silesia . A short time later he was promoted to colonel .
Winterfeldt fought at Chotusitz (Chotusice) in 1742 and at Hohenfriedberg (June 4, 1745), Landeshut and Katholisch Hennersdorf (Henryków Lubański, November 23) in 1745 . During the peace that followed, Winterfeldt was always close to the king and became his general adjutant . The king sent him to London to negotiate the so-called Westminster Convention with England, which gave England its back to continue its colonial wars against France in North America. To a certain extent, Winterfeldt fulfilled the duties of a chief of staff for the king - thus it was the historical forerunner of a post of chief of the general staff that was only introduced later in the Prussian army.
In 1756 he was awarded the High Order of the Black Eagle by Friedrich II. Winterfeldt was also a knight of the order Pour le Mérite .
In 1756 Friedrich II. Appointed Winterfeldt to the commandant of the Kolberg Fortress as well as to the governor of Kolberg and promoted him to lieutenant general. He became chief of the former Hoe on foot regiment (1806: No.1). Winterfeldt was also canon of Havelberg and Halberstadt.
Winterfeldt fought in the Battle of Prague on May 6, 1757, where he commanded the left wing infantry . When the Austrians fought back in the Battle of Moys , he suffered such severe injuries (saber cut between his left shoulder and neck) that he died the next day in Obermarkt 8 in Görlitz. He was buried in the crypt of his Barschau castle in Silesia. On the hundredth anniversary of his death, he was reburied with great solemnity in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin . His grave is preserved.
Historical classification
When Friedrich II learned of Winterfeldt's death on September 17th, he said: "I will probably find remedies against the multitude of my enemies, but I will get a few Winterfeldt again". Winterfeldt had enjoyed great trust and respect from the König - despite often differing views - because of his absolute loyalty and strategic skills.
With other Prussian generals, including Zieten and Bevern , Winterfeldt was quite unpopular because of this elevated position, so that his death did not necessarily cause mourning. He was accused of intrigues and meddling in foreign competencies. For Prince Heinrich , Winterfeldt was a warmonger . The king's brother even regarded Winterfeldt's premature death as “a just judgment of God”. On the monument in Rheinsberg, which Heinrich had erected in memory of his brother August Wilhelm and the Prussian military leaders of the three Silesian Wars, Winterfeldt's name is missing - but also the name of the king himself.
One hundred years after his death, Winterfeldt's remains were transferred to the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. On the back of the tombstone, Friedrich II wrote: "He was a good person, a soul-person, he was my friend."
Honorable memory
Winterfeldt, a memorial was erected on Wilhelmplatz in Görlitz . A memorial stone commemorates him in Moys. Most of the monuments to him can be found in Berlin . So Winterfeldt received a monument at the Prussian generals on Berlin's Wilhelm Square in marble , which is now in the staircase of the museum Bode (Museum Island). As early as the 19th century, the original was replaced by the sculptor August Kiß with a completely new creation in bronze, which was stored after the Second World War . It was rebuilt in 2009 on Berlin's Zietenplatz . Around 1790, Duke Carl Christian Erdmann von Württemberg-Oels had a statue of "Frederick the Only" set up in the "Labyrinth" in the park of Bad Carlsruhe in Silesia. The monument is surrounded by the busts of his five generals Schwerin, Winterfeldt, Ziethen, Seydlitz and Keith. All the monuments were dismantled as early as 1825; In 1936 the empty wall niches in which the busts stood are still preserved.
You can also find his representation on the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great by Christian Daniel Rauch, unveiled in 1851 (today on the boulevard Unter den Linden ). In Berlin, Winterfeldtstrasse and Winterfeldtplatz are also named after him.
In 2009 a memorial was erected in his honor on Zietenplatz , formerly Wilhelmsplatz, named after General Hans Joachim von Zieten , in Berlin, where he stands next to Generals Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz , James Keith and Kurt Christoph von Schwerin .
The Winterfeldt Parade March of Infantry Regiment No. 1 (later also called Bornstedt March) is dedicated to him.
family
During his stay in Russia he stayed with the Russian field marshal and prime minister Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich , who in turn was married to an aunt of Winterfeldt. There he met Juliana Dorothea von Malzan (* May 7, 1710, † October 1763) know, the stepdaughter of the field marshal and lady-in-waiting of the Tsarina. The Tsarina was opposed to the wedding, but could not prevent it, and in 1732 the couple married. He had four children, two sons and two daughters who died early. Since he had no direct descendants, his inheritance fell to Moritz Adolf von Winterfeldt (1744–1819) from the Nieden family.
literature
- Joachim Engelmann, Günter Dorn: Friedrich the great and his generals. Friedberg 1988.
- Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. The dictionary of persons . Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-356-01301-6 , p. 10942 .
- FR Paulig: History of the Seven Years War. A contribution to German history from 1740–1763. Starnberg 1988 (reprint of the Frankfurt / Oder edition 1878).
- Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 1, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1937], DNB 367632764 , pp. 330–334, no. 352.
- Walther Rohdich: Friedrich fascination. 200 days from his life. Friedberg 1986 (Chapter: Hans Carl von Winterfeldt).
- Helmut Schnitter: Hans Karl von Winterfeldt - "Chief of Staff" of the King. In: Helmut Schnitter (Ed.): Gestalten around Frederick the Great. Biographical sketches. Volume 2, Reutlingen 1993, pp. 6-16.
- Bernhard von Poten : Winterfeldt, Hans Karl von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 485-490.
- Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Life of the general Hans Karl von Winterfeldt. Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1836, digitized
Web links
- Biography on the family page
- Karl August Varnhagen von Ense : biography at Brockhaus, Leipzig 1873
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article1012755/Generaele_zieren_im_Sommer_den_Zietenplatz.html
- ^ Varnhagen von Ense: From the life of General v. Winterfeldt.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Winterfeldt, Hans Karl von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian lieutenant general and intimate friend Friedrich II. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 4, 1707 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vanselow |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 8, 1757 |
| Place of death | Goerlitz |