Marie von Clausewitz

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Marie von Clausewitz, née Countess von Brühl (1779–1836) after a contemporary lithograph

Marie Sophie von Clausewitz , (born June 3, 1779 as Countess Marie Sophie von Brühl in Warsaw , † January 28, 1836 ) was the wife of the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz .

Life

Marie von Brühl was born on June 3, 1779 in Warsaw as the daughter of the Saxon general Carl Adolph Graf von Brühl and his wife Sophie, nee Gomm, the civil daughter of an English diplomat in St. Petersburg. The probably Protestant von Brühl family was one of the most important noble families in Saxony. Marie's grandfather Heinrich Graf von Brühl was the Saxon Chancellor during the Seven Years' War and one of the bitterest opponents of Frederick II. Her father, in turn, was initially a tutor and later, after his accession to the throne, chief steward of Friedrich Wilhelm III. As a result, he was called to Berlin in 1786, where the Brühls soon belonged to the inner circle of the Berlin court and the society around Queen Luise . The house of the Brühls became a meeting point for important personalities from politics, the military and court society. After the father's death in 1802, the family lost most of its income but not its importance. Since then, Marie had to submit to her strict mother, while her younger sister Franziska escaped this dictation by marrying Friedrich August Ludwig von der Marwitz (1777-1837).

Marie herself was the lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. (She lost this position in 1805 after the Queen Mother's death.) In December 1803, Marie met her future husband Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) at a supper for Prince Louis Ferdinand in Bellevue Palace in Berlin . From the beginning, certain difficulties stood in the way of a relationship between the two. Not only was Marie a year older than the ordinary lieutenant , the Brühl family also belonged to the Saxon nobility, while Clausewitz could not even prove his nobility. To make matters worse, Clausewitz was often on the road through the Napoleonic Wars , which led to several long phases of separation. Despite all these obstacles, the engagement could be celebrated in August 1810. The wedding followed on December 17th. In the years following the marriage, Marie held the position of chief stewardess to Her Royal Highness the Princess Wilhelm at court. During the 21 years of their marriage, the two were often separated for long periods. The couple's correspondence, which arose during these separation phases and is largely still preserved, allows us today a valuable insight into Clausewitz's private life, thoughts and actions.

Marie von Clausewitz herself is of inestimable importance mainly because of her ongoing support for her husband in his life's work. Your constant encouragement may have contributed greatly to the making of On War . After her husband's death in November 1831, she was also the editor (1832–1834) of the works he left behind, including the main work Vom Kriege , for which she also wrote the foreword, and she was the chief stewardess of the young Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, who would later become Empress Augusta, taken over.

On January 28, 1836, Marie von Clausewitz died in Dresden as a result of a nervous fever. Her cousin Carl Graf von Brühl had her temporarily buried in the cemetery in Seifersdorf near Radeberg. She was later buried next to her husband in the military cemetery on the Stadtgraben in Wroclaw . In 1971 the remains were reburied with those of her husband in the east cemetery in Burg . The inscription on her tombstone read: Amara Mors Amorem non separat (bitter death does not separate love).

literature

  • Vanya Eftimova Bellinger: Marie von Clausewitz: The Woman Behind the Making of On War . Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-022543-8 .
  • Otto Heuschele (ed.): Carl and Marie von Clausewitz. Letters . Verlag für Kulturpolitik, Berlin 1935.
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the count's houses, 1831, p.46

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Doepner, The family of the war philosopher Carl von Clausewitz. In: Der Herold, quarterly journal for heraldry, genealogy and allied sciences, Vol. 12 (1987), pp. 53-68.
  2. ^ Book "Karl von Brühl and his parents" by Hans von Krosigk, ES Mittler & Sohn, royal bookstore Berlin 1910, page 375
  3. ^ Book "Karl von Brühl and his parents", by Hans von Krosigk, ES Mittler & Sohn, royal bookstore Berlin 1910, page 375
  4. ↑ Carl von Clausewitz. In: Personalities. City of Burg, accessed on November 16, 2011 : "In 1971 his bones and those of his wife, Countess Marie Sophie von Brühl, were transferred from Breslau to Burg and laid to rest in the Burger Ostfriedhof."

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clausewitz, Marie von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brühl, Marie Sophie Countess von (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1836
Place of death Dresden

http://clausewitz-burg.de/