Karl Wilhelm von Willisen

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Karl Wilhelm Freiherr von Willisen (1790–1879), around 1870
Karl Wilhelm Freiherr von Willisen (1790–1879), 1847

Karl Wilhelm von Willisen , from April 29, 1866 Freiherr von Willisen, (born April 30, 1790 in Staßfurt , † February 25, 1879 in Dessau ) was a Prussian lieutenant general and military writer .

Life

origin

He was the third son of the mayor of Staßfurt Karl Wilhelm Hermann von Willisen (1751–1807) and his wife Friederike, born von Trotha (1768–1826).

Military career

Willisen came from the cadet corps in 1804 to the infantry regiment "Duke Braunschweig" of the Prussian Army and was appointed ensign on January 30, 1806 . During the campaign of 1806 he was seriously wounded in the Battle of Auerstedt and retired from military service as a second lieutenant after the Peace of Tilsit .

He studied for a few years in Halle with Professor Heinrich Steffens , with whom he became a lifelong friend. During this time he also made friends with Karl August Varnhagen von Ense , Alexander von der Marwitz and Adelbert von Chamisso . In 1809 he joined the Schill Freikorps and took part in the battle of Dodendorf . In the same year he switched again to Austrian services and fought as a lieutenant in the general staff in the battle of Wagram . After the Peace of Schönbrunn he lived as a private person with relatives in Teutschenthal near Halle (Saale) and was tracked down there as a subject of compulsory service, arrested and interned in Kassel . He succeeded in escaping and making his way to the Prussian troops in an adventurous way.

During the campaigns of 1813/14 he served as a general staff officer in the Silesian Army and took part in the battles near Leipzig , Laon , Paris , Ligny and Waterloo . His achievements were recognized by the award of both classes of the Iron Cross . As a captain he came to the general staff of Blucher . After the Wars of Liberation , in 1825 he accompanied the son of Field Marshal Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg on a trip through Switzerland, France, England and Italy. During his stay in Berlin he attended six lectures by Hegel between 1826 and 1829. Assigned to the General Staff in 1829 , he took over classes in the art of war and war history at the General War School in Berlin . Willisens used the lectures as the basis for his later work, The Theory of the Great War , which was directed against the views of Carl von Clausewitz and which earned him the reputation of an outstanding military strategist in parts of the Prussian army . Around 1830, Willisen published several articles in which, in retrospect, he not only criticized the Russian warfare of the liberation wars, but also expressed understanding for the independence-striving Poles in the Grand Duchy of Poznan and for the democratic movement in Prussia in the course of the July Revolution . At the instigation of the Conservatives, Willisen was removed from Berlin and initially assigned to the III. Army corps under the command of the Prince of Prussia in Breslau . When Willisen took up a political position there too, he was transferred to Posen as Chief of Staff in the 5th Army Corps under General Grolman in the spring of 1832 . Here he had the opportunity to get to know the situation in the Grand Duchy better. Due to his military achievements, he was appointed commander of the 11th Landwehr Brigade in 1842 . When, in the spring of 1848, the Poles' efforts for independence in Poznan reached their climax in the Wielkopolska Uprising , Willisen, at that time already a candidate of the Prussian Liberals for the office of Minister of War , accepted the appointment as civilian royal commissioner for the province of Poznan in order to be on behalf of the Königs to reorganize the situation in the Grand Duchy. On April 5, 1848, Willisen, despised by the nationally-minded Prussians, arrived in Posen as a “friend of Poland”. On April 6th, he gave a speech to the German residents of the Grand Duchy, in which he clearly spoke of concessions to the Poles and thereby caused considerable unrest among the German population. In the Jaroslawiec Convention signed on April 11, Willisen assured the leaders of the Polish rebels under Ludwik Mierosławski that the Polish voluntary corps would be recognized. Willisen believed that he was acting in the interests of his king, who also thought liberally on the “Poland question”, but he shied away from the conflict of interests with Russia and transferred all military powers to General Peter von Colomb, who was in command in Poznan . On April 23, 1848, he declared the convention to be broken and bloodily put down the Polish uprising. Willisen had to leave Posen at risk of his life and returned to Prussia, where he was exposed to the most violent hostility, including charges of treason. Willisen tried to counter the allegations in his treatise Files and Comments on my Mission to Posen .

The Ministry Auerswald sent Willisen now on diplomatic mission to Paris, Croatia and Italy, where he in the camp of Radetzky the campaign of the Austrians against Sardinia attended. His work The Italian Campaign of 1848. Represented and Judged (1849) is based on the experiences gathered here.

On July 25, 1848, Willisen was transferred to the officers of the army and subsequently entrusted with special assignments in foreign affairs. On May 19, 1849 he was put on the disposition as Lieutenant General with a pension and received his retirement the following year on April 4, 1850 with the previous pension. Appointed by the governorship to replace Adolf von Bonin in Schleswig-Holstein , he took over as Commander-in-Chief in April 1850 at the head of the Schleswig-Holstein army . However, his operations were unfortunate and ended with the defeat at Idstedt and the failed attack on Friedrichstadt . So he resigned, lived a few years in Paris, then in Silesia, and finally in Dessau, where he died on February 25, 1879.

In September 1853 he received the "Red Eagle Order" 2nd class with a star and oak leaves.

family

On November 28, 1829, he married Emilie von Brause (1804–1849) in Berlin , the eldest daughter of the cadet commander Johann Georg Emil von Brause . After her death, Willisen married Editha von Caprivi (1843–1873), the sister of the later Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, on November 28, 1867 . In 1866 he was raised to the baron class . Willisen had a son Albert (1825–1867) from his first marriage.

Memberships

Works

W. von Willisen: The campaigns of the years 1859 and 1866. Leipzig 1868
  • Great War theory applied to the Russian-Polish campaign of 1831 . 2 parts. Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1840.
  • F. Baucher : Method of riding according to new principles. From the French by a convinced man [W. by Willisen]. Alexander Duncker , Berlin 1843. Digitized by Humboldt University in Berlin
  • The army and military constitution. A treatise dedicated to the high national assemblies in Frankfurt and Berlin . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1848. -
  • Open letter to Major von Voigts-Rhetz as a reply to his presentation in the files. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1848.
  • The Italian campaign of 1848. Represented and judged . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1849. (MDZ Reader)
    • La campagna d'Italia del 1848 esposta e giudicata dal maggiore generale prussiano G. De Willisen. (= Documenti della guerra santa d'Italia ). G. Cassone, Torino 1851. Rara digitized version
  • Files and remarks on my shipment to the Grand Duchy of Posen in spring 1848. Printed as a manuscript. Julius Draeger, Berlin 1849 (digitized version)
    • Files and remarks about my broadcast to the Grand Duchy of Posen in the spring of 1848. Carl Schröder & Comp., Kiel 1850. (MDZ Reader)
  • The battle of Idstedt on July 24th and 25th, 1850, and the previous operations from the pushing of the armies of both sides into Schleswig until the battle . Mittler, Berlin 1851. (= supplement to the Militair weekly paper for July, August, September 1851 )
  • Charles Henry Louis d'Argy: Instruction for swimming lessons in the French army . Translated into German by v. Wins II. Introduced by the Gen. Lieut. by Willisen. Alexander Duncker, Berlin 1857.
  • About the great defense of the country or about the building of fortresses and army formation in Prussia. From the author of the Great War Theory. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1860.
  • About cavalry riding . Baumgarten, Dessau 1865. (3rd edition 1886)
  • Great War Theory. Second increased and richly improved edition. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1868.

literature

  • Major v. Voigts-Rhetz: Record-based representation of the Polish insurrection in 1848 and illuminating the political and military questions arising from it. With the permission of Sr. Excellency of the commanding general . W. Decker & Comp., Posen 1848. (digitized version)
  • Reply to the open letter from Major General von Willisen to Major von Voigts-Rhetz . Printed as manuscript. Schade, Berlin 1848.
  • Polish National Committee: Memorandum from the National Committee to General von Willisen on the current state of the Grand Duchy of Poznan . Kamieński. Poznan 1848.
  • Answer of the German National Committee to the memorandum of the Polish National Committee to General von Willisen in No 16 u. 17 of Gazeta polska . W. Decker & Co., Poznan 1848.
  • Memorandum of the National Committee to General von Willisen on the current state of the Grand Duchy of Poznan. To the news of the glorious events in Berlin . The Polish National Committee. Potvorovsky. Posen 1848. (Extra supplement to: Ober-Postamts-Zeitung ) Digital copy of leaflets 1848
  • German chronicle for the year 1848 . AW Hayn, Berlin 1849, pp. 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 40, 40, 50. Digitized
  • Ms. Bernhard: Seydlitz and Schill, Wrangel, Willisen and von der Tann. (= The German soldier. 6). J. Scheible, Stuttgart 1850.
  • (Theodor Lüders): Lieutenant General von Willisen and his time. Eight months of war in Schleswig-Holstein. From a Schleswig-Holstein officer d. D. JB Metzler'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1851. (digitized version)
  • General Willisen, his warfare and his resignation in view of the present state of the duchies . Creteur, Cologne 1851.
  • JHL Wiebke: New Doctrine of Defense War; at the same time as proof of the possibility of eliminating the war. With remarks about the works of the most famous new war teachers, especially Willisen`s theory of the great war and his campaign in Schleswig-Holstein. With 2 large plans and a terrain map of the Idstedter battlefield . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1851. (MDZ Reader)
  • Supplementary conversation lexicon. Supplementary sheets for all conversation lexicons . Edited under the editorship of Fr. Steger , Volume 6. Leipzig and Meißen 1854, pp. 113–119. (Digitized version)
  • Wilhelm von Willisen. In: Men of Time. Biographical lexicon of the present. First series. Lorck, Leipzig 1860, column 463–466. (Digitized version)
  • Bernhard von Poten:  Willisen, Wilhelm von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 292-296.
  • Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 6, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1938], DNB 367632810 , pp. 82-87, no. 1715.
  • Willisen, Karl Wilhelm von: Military and Historian. Born April 30, 1790 Staßfurt; died February 25, 1879 Dessau. In: Jürgen Dietrich Kurt Kiefer: Bio-bibliographical manual of the Academy of Charitable Sciences in Erfurt: 1754–2004. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary. Bio-bibliographical manual of the protectors and special protectors, the holders of honorary titles and holders of honorary posts, the award winners as well as the honorary, full and foreign members, including a chronological overview of all recordings, the members of the educational society at the academy (opened in 1927) and a selection of lecturers who were not members of the academy . Akad. Non-Profit Scientific. zu Erfurt, Erfurt 2004, ISBN 3-932295-61-7 , p. 633.

Web links

Commons : Karl Wilhelm von Willisen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1868
  2. ↑ The handwritten estate of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the Hegel holdings of the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1995. Appendix 41 No. 115.
  3. ↑ "If the higher idea has a special, mystical touch that goes beyond ordinary understanding, if it is of a Hegelian nature, as General Willisen tried to teach the Prussian army to do, then it is all the better." ( Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels : Die great men of exile. In: Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe . Department I. Volume 11. Berlin 1985, p. 299.)
  4. ↑ Preussische Wehr-Zeitung. No. 534 of September 29, 1853. Volume 6, No. 26, p. 3392.
  5. ↑ Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch 1878, p. 956.
  6. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1868, p. 998.
  7. ^ Draft of a German army constitution by the Prussian general and former authorized representative for Posen Wilhelm von Willisen.
  8. ↑ "From the Schleswig-Holstein garrison auditor Lüders, an opponent of the general" (ADB)
personal data
SURNAME Willisen, Karl Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Willisen, Karl Wilhelm Freiherr von (full name); Willisen, Carl Wilhelm Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant general and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Staßfurt
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1879
Place of death Dessau