Kuno von Wiederhold

Kuno von Wiederhold as sixth from the left on the staff of the Württemberg field division during the battle near Tauberbischofsheim , 1866

Karl Friedrich Kuno Freiherr von Wiederhold , (born August 31, 1809 in Stuttgart , † December 14, 1885 in Ludwigsburg ) was a Württemberg Lieutenant General and Minister of War .

Life

origin

Wiederhold was the son of the Württemberg Chamberlain Friedrich von Wiederhold (1783-1809), who fell as a lieutenant colonel in 1809 in the Battle of Aspern , and his wife Karoline, born von Normann-Ehrenfels (1789-1863). She was the daughter of the Württemberg State Minister Philipp Christian von Normann-Ehrenfels , who remarried to Major General Eduard von Lützow († 1849) in 1814 .

Military career

Wiederhold grew up in Ehrenfels in the Oberamt Münsingen . He attended the Latin School in Esslingen am Neckar and the Obergymnasium in Stuttgart. In the spring of 1826, Wiederhold entered the war school in Ludwigsburg on the basis of an excellent exam . The director of the institution, General von Varnbuler , became his patron and in 1829 recommended that Wiederhold be promoted to lieutenant in the quartermaster's staff . In order to further prepare his work as a staff officer he attended the University of Tübingen from 1829 to 1830 and then went on trips to France, Belgium, Austria, Italy and the rest of Germany. After returning home, Wiederhold began his practical service in the Quartermaster General, which also included teaching at the war school. In 1834 he was promoted to first lieutenant .

In order to gain further military experience beyond the tight conditions of the Württemberg Army , he attended the autumn exercises of the 8th German Federal Army Corps held in 1840 . Even after that he took part in various military actions, for which the revolutionary events of 1848 and 1849 gave rise. Wiederhold, who was promoted to major in 1847 , was used both against the insurgents in the Black Forest and on the Upper Rhine, where he was Chief of Staff of General von Miller , as well as in Schleswig-Holstein. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1849, he was appointed Colonel and Adjutant to King Wilhelm I in 1849 , whom he accompanied to the Bregenz Conference and who used him several times for military-diplomatic missions. In addition, he gave lectures to a large audience in Stuttgart, which were published under the title "Tactical lectures". From this position he resigned in 1853 when he was appointed Quartermaster General. The next year he was promoted to major general .

His main focus was now on preparing the officer candidates for their profession, on training the officers of the Quartermaster General for their special purpose, and on arranging and carrying out major military exercises as warlike as possible. His own view was sharpened and expanded by visiting maneuvers by foreign armies and by participating in inspections of other federal contingents. During the mobilization in 1859 he was chief of the General Staff of the VIII Federal Army Corps. In 1864 he took the position of lieutenant general at the head of the Württemberg infantry division and thus had a tense relationship with Minister of War Moriz von Miller. Miller's conservative attitude towards military issues collided with Wiederhold's efforts to take greater account of the changed conditions in war technology. A drill regulations originating from Wiederhold were only implemented through a word of power from the new King Karl . In 1865, after Miller's retirement, Wiederhold was appointed Secretary of War. On September 1, 1865 he took over his new office. But it turned out that he had overestimated his own strength. Through his measures he created many opponents. Since the fruits of his labor were not immediately visible, he offered his adversaries many open spaces for criticism. Soon his position was badly shaken. As early as May 9, 1866, before the outbreak of the German War, the requested farewell was granted. After the war, Wiederhold campaigned for a rapid unification of the German states under Prussian leadership. In March 1870, to his satisfaction, he was asked again to take over the office of Minister of War, but he now refused. From 1868 to 1882 he was a member of the Württemberg Chamber of Deputies as a representative of the knighthood .

family

In 1836, Kuno von Wiederhold married Charlotte von Miller (1818–1838), a daughter of the later Minister of War Moriz von Miller. After Charlotte's early death, on September 30, 1843, he married her cousin Emilie von Miller (1824–1860), daughter of Carl von Miller. On October 5, 1861, Wiederhold entered into a third marriage with Marie Freiin von Lepel (1822-1908). Wiederhold had a total of five children, three of whom came from his second marriage.

Awards

• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Württemberg Crown
• Grand Cross of the Order of Frederick

literature

• Bernhard von Poten :  Wiederhold, Kuno Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 491 f., But with the wrong date and place of death
• Frank Raberg : Biographical handbook of the Württemberg state parliament members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 1015 .
• Jens Florian Ebert: Die Freiherren von Wiederhold zu Weidenhofen in Rietheim ( therein Karl Friedrich Kuno Freiherr von Wiederhold zu Weidenhofen p. 62-77 ), Tuttlinger Heimatblätter NF 76 (2013) p. 43-89.
• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1857. S. 850f.
• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1885. Fifth and thirtieth year, p. 1023f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the count's houses for the year 1863. Sixth and thirtieth year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1862, p. 597.
2. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1857. Seventh year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1856, p. 851.