Campaign in France

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Goethe (1814)

Campaign in France 1792 is an autobiographical prose writing by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . Written from 1819 to 1822, the war memoirs were first printed in 1822. In it, Goethe describes his participation in the campaign of German and Austrian monarchs against Jacobin France, which his father, the Duke of Weimar , who was already in the field as the Prussian regimental commander, had requested from his childhood friend Goethe. After the cannonade of Valmy , the French revolutionary army under Dumouriez and Kellermann forced the loss-making withdrawal of the Prussian-Austrian alliance under the Duke of Braunschweig and the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II. The first edition appeared under the title “From my life. Second section, fifth volume. Me too in Champagne! "

Approach

August 23, 1792
Louis XVI, King of France

Goethe, committed to his duke, the princely general, travels from Weimar with a coach and servant Paul Goetze via Mainz to Trier . On the way to Luxembourg, he admires the monument near Igel . At Grevenmacher , Goethe is directly confronted with the effects of the revolution . He sees a corps emigrated, that out of sheer noblemen, mostly Ludwig knights , there. They had neither servants nor grooms, but looked after themselves and their horse. On August 27, Goethe meets the Herzogl at Praucourt near Longwy . Weimar Regiment.

August 28th

On a lovely forest meadow near Pillon , Goethe listens to the cannonade near Thionville on his 43rd birthday and wishes them every success. The Prussians and Austrians have in the name of Louis XVI. Have receipts printed and forcibly borrow : French shepherds have to watch their woolly pupils being murdered at their feet by the impatient, meat-loving soldiers .

Advance

August 30th
Men with Jacobin hats

The regiment moved towards Verdun via Mangiennes, Damvillers , Wawrille and Ormont . A negotiator is sent against the fortress together with a trumpeter. Goethe tells how the Verduners, as sans-culottes , not knowing or disdaining international law , canonized him [the negotiator] , how he fastened a white handkerchief to the trumpet and ordered them to blow ever more violently. The subsequent bombardment soon set a district in Verdun ablaze. That is not for Goethe: I had stepped into a battery that was working violently, but the terrible booming sound of howitzers fired was unbearable to my peaceful ear, and I soon had to leave. In Prince Reuss the XI. he finds an experienced listener. The prince is a little surprised, because Goethe has nothing to report about tragedies and novels, but speaks with great vivacity of the refraction phenomenon , that is, of the theory of colors . Regardless of whether Goethe is in the study or in the field - the interest once aroused asserted its right, production went on without being disturbed in the least by cannon balls and fireballs. He confessed to the prince that he was the same with the theory of colors as with poems, he did not make it, but they made him.

Charles-François Dumouriez

The Verdun citizens urge the Republican commanders to surrender the city. He agrees, he pulled out a pistol and shot himself. After taking possession of Verdun , Goethe is treated to good beer and wine at lunchtime at the pub. A young French grenadier fired a shotgun that did n't hurt anyone. Although the Frenchman is guarded after the fact, he throws himself from the bridge into the Meuse ; then he turned backwards into the depths and was only brought out of the water dead.

François-Christophe Kellermann
September 4th

The invading forces leave the fortress Sedan are unconquered and launched in march on Paris against the mountain bars Forêt d'Argonne . The French revolutionary army under Dumouriez confronts the invaders. Kellermann rushes over and occupies heights that are difficult to reach.

September 11

Even the most terrible weather and empty cellars and kitchens without a host show that war, as a pre-death, makes all people equal , abolishes all possessions and threatens even the highest personality with pain and danger .

12th September

Goethe changes from his carriage to horse.

Valmy

September 19 at night

On the march to Valmy, Goethe finds a beautiful, well-ordered wine cellar. He takes two bottles between the outspread fingers of each hand and pulls them under his coat. The German hussars have taken bread carts from the French and Goethe receives white bread for a tip. The French are terrified of every black crumb. The cannon thunder continues. Ten thousand shots were wasted on each side that day, with only two hundred men being fired on our side, and these, too, were completely useless. Goethe captures many a wild sight - the scattered bundles of wheat, the fatally wounded here and there, and sometimes a cannonball in between. The sound of the balls is wondrous enough, as if it were composed of the humming of the top, the churning of the water and the whistling of a bird. It is noteworthy, however, that this terrible fear is brought to us only through the ears; for the thunder of cannons, the howling, whistling, and crashing of bullets through the air is actually the cause of these sensations. Stubborn, as Goethe is, he rides forward alone and overlooks the happy position of the French: they stood amphitheatrically in the greatest peace and security. Some of Goethe's acquaintances - General Staff officers come by, are amazed and want to take Goethe back with them. The death-defying poet cannot be persuaded. Then later, when he returned, before digging himself into the field, Goethe said his famous sentence: A new epoch in world history is starting here and today, and you can say that you were there. In view of the cannonade, the Duke of Weimar also digs himself into that windless spot. A colonel points out to the Weimaraner that their position is within reach for the French cannons. But you have settled in and you stay.

21st September

One holds the position. The Argonne forest mountains are occupied by the French. There is even a lack of drinking water. Servant Paul Goetze busily scoops the pooled rainwater from the leather of the touring car.

September 22

People killed by the cannonade lie unburied. Seriously wounded horses can not die.

September 27th

The Weimar Regiment solves the supply problem on its own. Two Austrian army wagons got stuck. You buy butter in kegs and ham. Goethe makes himself popular with the troupe by buying tobacco for the Weimaraner.

retreat

October 1

The withdrawal takes place in order and silence. Goethe, in the midst of misery, praised that when he was redeemed and saw himself at home again, no one should again hear a complaint from him about the neighboring gable , which restricted his clearer view of the room and which he now longed to see; furthermore, he never again wanted to complain about discomfort and boredom in the German theater. Despite adversity, things always go on somehow. Goethe is given a good piece of sausage and puts it in his holster. There is room in it. Goethe doesn't fire a single shot during the campaign.

October 3

Grandpré Castle has been converted into a hospital and has already been occupied by several hundred unfortunate people who cannot be helped or refreshed . One passes by with shyness and has to leave it to the humanity of the enemy. Fierce rain attacks the alliance and paralyzes all movement. Goethe, the survivor, travels with a reference book - distracts himself with Fischer's physical dictionary . It gives him the best diversion by leading him from one to another.

4th of October

Goethe captures cabbage, onions, roots and good vegetables in abundance. He accepts with humility and consideration.

October 7th

Goethe meets the Duke of Braunschweig and is greeted by the general as a desiderate war correspondent. Goethe is supposed to tell posterity that the alliance was conquered not by the enemy but by the elements. The troops have neither quarters nor a tent on the way to Verdun. Goethe reports: I stood on my feet until my knees collapsed, then I sat down on a field chair, where I stubbornly lingered until I thought I was sinking, since every place where one could stretch out horizontally was most welcome .

October 25

Goethe finally reaches Trier. He finds a letter from his mother. They want to elect him to the Frankfurt councilor . Goethe refuses. He would rather stay with Christiane and his son August in Weimar . In a tavern, a civilian said that the world could expect Goethe's skillful pen to explain the campaign. An old hussar officer has a different opinion: don't believe it, he's far too clever! what he is allowed to write he does not like to write and what he would like to write he will not write.

30th of October

Although the Duke of Weimar had a ship rented to Koblenz for his sick soldiers , the healthy ones had to hike down the Moselle . The remaining horses are used to transport the cannons home. Bringing the gun home - a matter of honor among warriors. Goethe takes vacation and travels home on his own. On the water trip to Koblenz he made chromatic studies.

from November on

Goethe rents a boat with a leak, drives down the Rhine to Düsseldorf and stays with Jacobi in Pempelfort. In the Gemäldegalerie Düsseldorf he met the “Pempelforter Zirkel”, whose sense of freedom and striving for democracy he was amazed at, and there he saw the brothers of the French king , Louis Stanislas Xavier and Charles Philippe , as exiles of the French Revolution. In Duisburg he visits Professor Plessing and in Münster the Princess von Gallitzin . Goethe arrives in Münster at night. As in the Rhineland, the inn is overcrowded with French emigrants. Goethe knows what is appropriate. Sitting on a chair in the tavern for hours, he waits until an acceptable time to visit the princess has come. Goethe is in no hurry to say goodbye to the German hosts. As a declared Protestant, he patiently listens to the Catholics in Münster. Back home in Weimar, Goethe was greeted by his own people. Heinrich Meyer had pushed ahead with the expansion of the new house in Goethe's absence .

reception

  • Friedenthal laconically and clearly describes the chaos of war within the framework of major European politics.
  • According to Wilpert , Goethe is not particularly interested in the war game. Rather, the author would like to offer his autobiography.
  • Conrady takes a critical view of Goethe's memories as a party document. Goethe, a civil servant at the Weimar court, simply leaves the opinions of German democrats about the Jacobins, which he did hear in the Rhineland, unmentioned in his text.

Letters

"When you saw the enemy a huge canonade went off, it was on the 20th, and since you finally had enough everything was quiet and has now been quiet for 7 days."

- Goethe's letter of September 27, 1792 to Karl Ludwig von Knebel

“Who would have thought that the French would block my retreat? You have Maynz and Franckfurt as you will already know. Not Coblenz, that's saved. I thought to be in Frankfurt at the end of the month and now have to wait here to see where things are going and how I can make my way back. "

- Goethe's letter of October 28, 1792 from Trier to Johann Heinrich Meyer

“My nice plan to see you again soon will eat crazy for a while. I arrived in Coblenz happy, it's a beautiful area and we have the best weather. "

- Goethe's letter of November 4, 1792 from Koblenz to Christiane Vulpius

literature

Secondary literature

Sorted by year of publication.

  • Willy Andreas, Carl August von Weimar in and after the campaign against France. In: Session reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class. Born 1954, issue 5. Verlag of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1955.
  • Richard Friedenthal: Goethe - his life and his time. R. Piper Verlag, Munich 1963, pp. 388-410.
  • Gero von Wilpert : Goethe-Lexikon (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 407). Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-40701-9 , pp. 160-161.
  • Karl Otto Conrady: Goethe - life and work. Düsseldorf / Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-538-06638-8 , pp. 559-573.

source

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Poetic Works, Volume 10. Phaidon, Essen 1999, ISBN 3-89350-448-6 , pp. 153-275.

Audio book

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The formulation is of course only coined between 1819 and 1822, in his letter to Karl Ludwig von Knebel of September 27, 1792 he formulated it even more modestly. (see: Weites Feld, Goethe's "Campaign in France" )
  2. ISBN assigned several times because it is an audio cassette