Leopold von Gerlach (General)

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Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach

Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach (born September 17, 1790 in Berlin , † January 10, 1861 in Sanssouci near Potsdam ) was a Prussian infantry general and conservative politician from the circle around the Kreuzzeitung .

Life

origin

He was the son of Carl Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach (1757–1813) and his wife Agnes, born von Raumer (1762–1831). His father was Lord Mayor of Berlin , then District President and President of the Kurmärkischen War and Domain Chamber.

Military career

Gerlach attended the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin and was employed in 1803 as a private corporal in the infantry regiment "von Arnim" of the Prussian army . After his appointment as ensign , he took part in the Battle of Auerstedt in 1806 during the Fourth Coalition War. Gerlach was captured, but was released on word of honor and made inactive. After the Peace of Tilsit he studied law in Göttingen and Heidelberg until Gerlach was appointed trainee lawyer with the Potsdam government in 1812.

After the call of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Gerlach was re-employed as a second lieutenant in the army and assigned to serve on General Blücher's staff . During the Wars of Liberation he took part in the battles near Großgörschen , Bautzen , the Katzbach , Leipzig , La Rothière , Paris , Ligny and Wavre . Gerlach was wounded several times and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross . In October 1815 he came to the General Staff as a captain and was from March 30, 1821 as a major in the General Staff of the III. Army Corps .

In 1826 he became an adjutant of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (later Emperor Wilhelm I ), whose pietistic and conservative views he shared. In 1838 Gerlach became colonel and chief of the general staff of III. Army Corps. For a short time Gerlach was the commander of the 1st Guards Landwehr Brigade from August to September 1842. In 1844 he became major general , in 1849 lieutenant general and adjutant general of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. In this position of trust he worked in the spirit of ecclesiastical and political reaction. Most recently he held the rank of general of the infantry from May 1859.

family

He married in Redel in 1819 Johanna von Küssow (1796-1857), daughter of Count Friedrich Bernd von Küssow (1746-1802) and Ulrike von Bardeleben (a daughter of General Georg Friedrich Christoph von Bardeleben ). The couple had two sons and two daughters, including:

  • Ulrike Agnes (October 18, 1820)
  • Berndt Georg Wilhelm (* February 15, 1828 - December 1, 1889), district administrator, co-owner of Rohrbeck, 1886–1889 member of the (Prussian) House of Representatives ∞ 1860 Countess Maria Adelaide Emilie von Kanitz (* October 21, 1839)

politics

The 4 Brothers von Gerlach (before 1815) by Friedrich Meier . V. l. right: Otto, Ernst Ludwig, Leopold and Wilhelm von Gerlach ( Gerlach archive )

With his brother Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach he was a member of the Christian-German table society , then of the follow-up movement, the so-called “Maikäferei”, and finally the Conservative Party . The brothers Gerlach were among 1,848 of the most influential founders of the party and the court party , the so-called cabal to Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Their goal was a Christian- sized order of Prussia and Germany. The radicalism with which the Gerlach brothers strived for this ideal led to the rapid split of the conservative movement, in the course of which Otto von Bismarck , among others, turned away from the Gerlachian line.

Leopold von Gerlach died of a cold that he caught at the funeral of Friedrich Wilhelm IV .

estate

A large part of Leopold von Gerlach's estate, which was in the Stettin State Archives , was lost in 1945 due to the war. Another part of the estate is kept in the Gerlach archive at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and is accessible for research.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the count's houses, 1873, p. 405
personal data
SURNAME Gerlach, Leopold von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerlach, Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian infantry general and conservative politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1861
Place of death Berlin