Karl von Bülow

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Karl von Bülow (1916)

Karl Wilhelm Paul von Bülow (born March 24, 1846 in Berlin ; † August 31, 1921 there ) was a Prussian field marshal in the First World War .

Life

origin

He came from the Mecklenburg nobility of the von Bülow family and was the son of the Prussian lieutenant colonel a. D. Paul von Bülow (1807–74) and his wife Marie, née von Waldow (1817–1911).

Military career

On December 21, 1864, Bülow joined the 2nd Guards Regiment on foot in the Prussian Army as a flag junior . In 1866 he took part in the fighting at Thrush , Queen's Court and Königgrätz in the war against Austria . In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 he was a captain on the general staff . From 1872 at the latest and at least until 1881 he was a military attaché at the German embassy in Paris. On June 17, 1893 he was promoted to colonel and took over from January 27, 1894 to February 5, 1897 as commander of the 4th Guards Regiment on foot . Bülow was then transferred to the Prussian War Ministry and, after his promotion to major general on March 22, 1897, acted as director of the Central Department. As Lieutenant General (since May 22, 1900) he received command of the 2nd Guard Division on April 18, 1901 . A year later, he was transferred to the General Staff as Quartermaster General . Bülow was then commissioned on January 27, 1903 with the leadership of the III. Army Corps and appointed him commanding general on April 18, 1903 . As such, he became General of the Infantry on September 15, 1904 . This command should be Bülow until his appointment as general inspector of the III. Have Army Inspection October 1, 1912. Shortly afterwards he became Colonel General on October 1, 1912 .

First World War

In his military science publication Das Testament des Graf Schlieffen , published in 1927, General Wilhelm Groener was very critical of Bülow's performance as Army Commander-in-Chief in World War I. Groener denied Bülow any strategic and operational understanding: “The Commander-in-Chief of the Second Army was entrusted with the supreme command of the 1st and 2nd Army for the implementation of the operation on the Sambre, in whose abilities the Supreme Army Command had special confidence. The commander in chief had in peace as the commanding general of the III. Army Corps acquired the reputation of an outstanding soldier and was famous throughout the army for the excellent training of his corps on the Jüterbog military training area, where he practiced the so-called combat patrol tactics with all his energy. Little was known about his own leadership qualities, however, especially whether his operational understanding was at the height of his tactical skills, because what he had shown in peacetime was not strategy, but tactics. ”He also counts Bülow among those commanders in chief who, according to his military understanding, were responsible for the defeat on the Western Front because these officers had botched the so-called Schlieffen Plan . Groener continues: "In addition, because of the intensive preoccupation with the training of his corps on the military training area, he was so entangled in tactical theories, it may be said that he completely missed the operational flight of thoughts, the visionary ability of the general."

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Army , with which he pushed the French 5th Army across the Sambre near Charleroi between August 21 and 23, 1914 and at the same time conquered the Belgian fortress of Namur . In the further campaign he was able to repel a strong counterattack by the opposing General Lanrezac in the Battle of Saint-Quentin at the end of August .

Burial place of Karl and Molly von Bülow in the Invalidenfriedhof , Berlin

At the beginning of September 1914, the 2nd Army and the 1st Army under Alexander von Kluck approached Paris. In order to close an approximately 40 km wide gap between the armies, Bülow ordered that the 1st Army should support the 2nd Army on the right flank. This decision led to the Battle of the Marne . The 1st Army could not, as foreseen in the Schlieffen Plan , attack from the west, but had to attack Paris from the northeast. So the French 6th Army was able to attack the unprotected right wing of the 1st Army. The 2nd Army then withdrew the right wing to the north, which led to a widening of the gap between 1st and Bülow's 2nd Army to 50 km. The British expeditionary forces encountered this gap and prompted the 1st Army and later also Bülow to retreat to the Aisne .

On January 27, 1915, Bülow was promoted to field marshal ; he suffered a heart attack on April 4, 1915 . Then he was transferred to the officers of the army, on June 22, 1916 subject to negotiation and released from active duty.

family

Bülow had married Molly von Kracht (1864–1945) on June 12, 1883. This marriage resulted in three children: Alexandra (1884–1953, later married to Lutz von Hesse); Busso (1886–1915) and Vicco von Bülow-Schwante (1891–1970).

Awards

Bülow received numerous honors. Since February 18, 1908 he was walking à la suite of the 4th Guards Regiment , and since June 16, 1913 he was chief of the Grenadier Regiment "Prince Carl von Prussia" (2nd Brandenburg) No. 12 and Canon of Brandenburg an der Havel .

literature

  • Heinz Kraft:  Bülow, Karl von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 736 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Wilhelm Groener: The will of Count Schlieffen. Operational studies on the world war. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1927.
  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 221-223.
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of aristocratic houses: at the same time the nobility register of the German aristocratic association. Part A, 1919, 195

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914 , Ed .: War Ministry , Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 45
  2. ↑ Lübeck city archive in matters of Senate files: Directory of the owners of the Lübeck Hanseatic Cross , signature 1093
personal data
SURNAME Bülow, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bülow, Karl Wilhelm Paul von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian field marshal in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1921
Place of death Berlin