Joseph von Schmerling

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Josef Ritter von Schmerling as Feldzeugmeister, 1868

Joseph Reichsritter and Edler von Schmerling (* December 8, 1806 in Hietzing , today 13th district of Vienna ; † September 8, 1884 in Bad Aussee , buried in the family crypt in Hietzing), was an Austrian officer ( Feldzeugmeister ), owner of the kk Linien Infantry Regiment No. 67, Commanding General and Deputy Minister of War .

Josef von Schmerling as Lieutenant Field Marshal, 1860

origin

The family comes from the Duchy of Kleve , from which a branch immigrated to Austria .

In 1707, the brothers Anton Albert, Joseph and Leopold von Schmerling were given the status of imperial knighthood because of their “old nobility” .

The future Feldzeugmeister was the son of the Imperial and Royal Lower Austrian Appellate Councilor Joseph Ritter von Schmerling and his wife, Elise, daughter of the famous legal scholar and long-term rector of the University of Vienna Franz von Zeiller . His older brother Anton (1805-1893) was an important politician, including President of the Supreme Court and Court of Cassation. His younger brother Moriz (1822–1882) was Senate President of the Imperial and Royal Administrative Court founded in 1867 .

A connection to the Dutch family of the same name cannot be determined.

biography

Battle of Novara 1849

After completing his law studies, the young Schmerling joined the 7th Line Infantry Regiment in 1828 as an ensign . He later became a captain in the quartermaster's staff. In 1848 he was promoted to major in the corps and in the same year to lieutenant colonel in Infantry Regiment No. 38. In 1849 he was promoted to Colonel , he was transferred to the Quartermaster General with simultaneous use in Infantry Regiment No. 1. He owed his rapid rise in the military hierarchy to the war events of 1848/49, which served to recapture the duchies of Parma , Modena and Tuscan - here during the denaturation and the attack against Livorno - but also to the war against the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont . They were an important part of his career. As Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army Corps at the side of Feldzeugmeister Freiherr d'Aspre , he proved himself in the battles of Santa Lucia on May 6th, 1848, Sommacampagna and Custozza on July 25th, 1848, and Mortara on March 21st, 1849. He particularly drew in the battle of Novara on March 23, 1849 and the battle at Croce Bianco , where the horse was shot from under his body.

On July 12, 1850, he advanced to major general and brigadier in the 3rd Army Corps in Prague , but in the same year was appointed representative of the Central Military Commission at the 19th German Federal Assembly in Frankfurt am Main . This happened because a military police note threatened to turn the constitutional conflict into a fundamental decision on Germany's policy. So supported Austria the Prussian ultimatum by sending the officer who Kurhessische constitutional conflict the Elector of Kurhessen delivered a personal letter from the Emperor, as a result, Frederick William I on 4 December 1850 accepted the new, much less liberal constitution by the German Confederation. During this time he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal on June 14, 1858 .

On January 1, 1860, Schmerling was appointed owner of the newly formed Hungarian Infantry Regiment No. 67 and on February 1 of that year head of the presidential office at the Army High Command. In the following year he was head of the Central File System in the War Ministry, where he was Deputy War Minister from 1861 to 1862, then was given command of the 7th Army Corps, which he had to give up in 1866 after a serious broken leg. In 1867 he became the commanding general in Timisoara and deputy to the commanding officer of the Imperial and Royal Landwehr Archduke Rainer . In the latter capacity he had in 1868. instrumental in the structure and organization of the organization as a counterpart to ku Honvéd , the Hungarian National Guard, which the Hungarians due to the balance of 1867 by Emperor Franz Joseph I. as a Territorial Force in addition to the common army was granted.

On March 20, 1868 he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister with simultaneous appointment to the Privy Council . He was also decorated with the Order of the Iron Crown 1st Class and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold, later also with the Grand Cross with KD of the Knight's Cross. The honored officer retired on October 19, 1878.

The real member of the kk geographical society also set up a foundation with the right to lend his regiment.

Awards

These were among others:

Coat of arms of the Imperial Knights von Schmerling 1707

coat of arms

1707: Squared shield: 1 in silver a gold-crowned, black double-headed eagle; 2 in red a silver bar covered with three red roses; 3 in red a silver cross that has taken root on the summit of a green mountain; 4 in silver a red, inward-facing, erect, double-tailed lion, holding a tree with a silver trunk and green leaves in its paws. Two golden, crowned helmets on the shield. In the right, on a green velvet cushion between two spread out black wings, is the cross from the shield. On the left the lion of 4 now growing, in his paws holding the tree all in green. The ceilings are red and silver in front, black and gold in the back. Shield-bearers are two erect, outward-looking, natural tigers.

literature

  • Peter Broucek :  Schmerling Joseph von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 10, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7001-2186-5 , p. 235.
  • Ernst Heinrich Kneschke, Prof. Dr .: "New general German Adels-Lexicon", 8th volume, Verlag Friedrich Voigt's Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1868
  • Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: The kk or kuk generals 1816–1918, Austrian State Archives, 1907
  • Constantin von Wurzbach: "Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich", 30th part, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1875

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke, Prof. Dr .: "New general German Adels-Lexicon", 8th volume, Verlag Friedrich Voigt's Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1868, page 233
  2. ↑ a b c d Militär-Zeitung, September 11, 1884, p. 572
  3. ^ A b Constantin von Wurzbach: "Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich", 30th part, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1875, pp. 186, 188
  4. ^ State calendar of the free Hanseatic city of Bremen for the year 1857, printed by Heinrich Strack, Bremen 1857, p. 103
  5. ↑ Christine Goebel: "The Federal and Germany Policy of the Electorate of Hesse in the Years 1859 to 1866", Tectumverlag, Marburg 1995, p. 177
  6. ^ A b Antonio Schmidt-Brentano: The kk or kuk Generalität 1816–1918, Austrian State Archives, 1907, p. 164
  7. ↑ Quays. royal Military schematism of the Austrian Empire for 1860-1861, part 1, kk Hof- und Staatsdruckerei Wien 1861, p. 861
  8. ↑ Imperial and Royal Military Schematism for 1864, Part 1, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, January 1864, p. 83
  9. ↑ Military Schematism of the Austrian Empire, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1878, p. 131
  10. ↑ Military schematic of the Austrian Empire for 1867, kk Hof- und Staatsdruckerei 1867, p. 773
  11. ↑ Quays. royal Military schematism for 1864, part 1, kk Hof- und Staatsdruckerei 1864, p. 83
  12. ↑ Military Schematism of the Austrian Empire, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1878, p. 131
  13. ^ State calendar of the free Hanseatic city of Bremen for the year 1857, printed by Heinrich Strack, Bremen 1857, p. 103
  14. ↑ Army News No. 2 of January 15, 1863, p. 11
  15. ↑ After Johann Siebmacher: "Johann Siebmacher's great Wappenbuch", Volume 27, Verlag Bauer & Raspe, Neustadt an der Aisch 1984, p. 341
personal data
SURNAME Schmerling, Joseph von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmerling, Joseph Reichsritter and Edler von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer and deputy minister of war
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Hietzing
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1884
Place of death Bad Aussee