Ludwig von Wolzog

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Ludwig Freiherr von Wolzog

Justus Philipp Adolf Wilhelm Ludwig Freiherr von Woliehen (born February 4, 1773 in Meiningen ; † July 4, 1845 in Halle an der Saale ) was a Württemberg officer who later served in Russian and Prussian services. Most recently he was general of the infantry in the Prussian army and diplomat .

origin

Ludwig was the son of the Saxon - Hildburghaus secret legation councilor Ernst Ludwig Freiherr von Wolhaben (1723–1774) and his wife Wilhelmine Henriette, née Marschalk von Ostheim (1745–1788).

family

He married Dorothea Therese Emilie, née von Lilienberg (1797–1872) , in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart in 1820. The marriage had two daughters and three sons.

⚭ 1847 Eleonore Susanne Elisabeth Schinkel (June 26, 1851)
⚭ 1853 Harriet Anna Du Boulay (born July 7, 1830)
  • Therese Auguste Pauline (born March 6, 1822)
  • Caroline Auguste Emilie Helene Anna (born August 10, 1824) ⚭ 1844 Marcus von Niebuhr
  • Bernhard Gustav Hermann (born February 22, 1826)
  • Friedrich Karl Ernst Eduard (born May 9, 1827)
(* 27. Mai 1823 in Frankfurt am Main;  Remo)

Life

Due to the early death of his parents, Woliehen was first educated by a preacher and in 1781 came to the Hohe Karlsschule in Stuttgart , where he completed the rigorous training with great success. In 1792 he joined the 1st  Battalion of the Württemberg Guard on foot and in 1794 switched to the von Hügel infantry regiment as a lieutenant . Since that time he was friends with Friedrich von Schiller, who, through his marriage to Charlotte von Lengefeld, was also the brother-in-law of his older brother Wilhelm von Wolzüge .

At the mediation of Prince Hohenlohe , Wolehmen entered Prussian service in autumn 1794. During this time he published scientific papers and made the acquaintance of Goethe , Wieland and Herder during a stay in Weimar . In 1802 he became a member of the Military Society through his friendship with Scharnhorst and took on the task of educating the young Prince Eugene of Württemberg . In 1804 he resigned in the Württemberg service.

In 1806 the King of Württemberg sent Woliehen to Napoleon in Mainz to bring about the wedding of Princess Katharina of Württemberg to Jérôme Bonaparte .

At the instigation of his former pupil, Prince Eugene of Württemberg, Wolzo joined the Russian Army in 1807 and found a position as a major on the staff of the Russian Quartermaster General . Through clever military work, including the memorandum Napoleon published in 1810 and the way of waging war against him , in which the idea was first expressed that Bonaparte could not be defeated with an offensive plan of operation , but rather by luring into the great distance Minor skirmishes and hindrances to the supply of food had to be made ready for storm, the Tsar noticed him, who appointed him his wing adjutant and in 1811 lieutenant colonel . In the campaign of 1812 Wolzog was a colonel in the general staff of General Barclay de Tolly and later also with Kutuzov, where he distinguished himself in the battles at Smolensk and Borodino .

In the 1813 campaign he served in the Tsar's general staff and once again demonstrated his military skills when he noticed during the Battle of Leipzig that Prince Schwarzenberg had set up his reserve troops so unfavorably that they could easily be cut off from the enemy and completely wiped out . At Wolzogen's initiative, the troops were set up in a different form at the last hour, which meant that Schwarzenberg's defeat was avoided and the victory of the allies secured. Tsar Alexander then appointed Woliehen major general and Friedrich Wilhelm III. awarded him the order Pour le Mérite .

In spring 1814 he was appointed chief of the general staff of Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar . In this position he took part in the campaign of 1814 in the Netherlands and later accompanied the duke to the Congress of Vienna .

At Wolzogen's request, the Prussian king took him back into Prussian service as major general in 1815 . With Colonel von Brause , he devoted himself both to the education of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and to work in the reorganization commission for the renewal of the cadet institutions . During this time he also joined the Lawless Society in Berlin .

In 1818 Friedrich Wilhelm III appointed him. permanent authorized representative at the Military Commission of the German Confederation . He worked in this often difficult position for nineteen years with great care and prudence. In 1825 he took on behalf of the Federal , the federal fortress Mainz, just 1826 Luxembourg .

On March 12, 1836, Woliehen was retired as a general of the infantry . He lived alternately in Halle (Saale), Berlin and on his Kalbsrieth estate , which he had acquired from Charlotte von Kalb , who was related to him . Wolzog died in Halle (Saale) in 1845 and was buried in the Berlin Invalidenfriedhof .

Military promotions

Orders and decorations

literature

  • Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 4, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1937], DNB 367632799 , pp. 180-184, no. 1281.
  • Alfred Freiherr von Wolhaben: Memoirs of the royal. prussia. General of the Infantry Ludwig Freiherr von Wolhaben, from his estate with the addition of official military memoranda. Otto Wiegand, Leipzig 1851 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • Adalbert Wahl (Ed.): From the correspondence Ludwig v. Wolzogens, with a foreword by Baron Otto Stockhorner von Starein. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1911, OCLC 257658639 .
  • Meinrad Freiherr von Ow: Duke Eugen von Württemberg, Imperial Russian General of the Infantry. Kurt Vowinkel, Berg am Starnberger See / Potsdam 2000, ISBN 3-934531-03-2 [p. 60 ff. On Wolzogen's influence on the “Russian war plan of 1812”].
  • Jürgen W. Schmidt: Ludwig von Wolzüge, Duke Eugen von Württemberg and the memorandum on the defense against a Russian sea landing in East Prussia. In: Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv Vol. 31 (2008), ZDB -ID 544145-6 , pp. 289–303.
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1855. Fifth year. Perthes, Gotha 1855, p. 702 ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Wolzog, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolzog, Justus Philipp Adolf Wilhelm Ludwig von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Meiningen
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1845
Place of death Halle (Saale)