Maximilian of verses

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Maximilian Felix Christoph Wilhelm Leopold Reinhold Albert Fürchtegott von Versen (born November 30, 1833 in Wurchow , † October 7, 1893 in Berlin ) was a Prussian general of the cavalry and commanding general of the III. Army Corps .

Life

origin

Maximilian was a son of the Prussian major Leopold von Versen (1792–1868) and his first wife Hulda, née von Glasenapp (1810–1843). His father was a legal knight of the Order of St. John , Lord of Klausdorf , Katz in the Neustadt district and of Mittel-Gerlachsheim . The later Prussian Lieutenant General Egmont von Versen (1849–1918) was his stepbrother from his father's second marriage to Friederike, née von Toll (1827–1897).

Military career

Versen attended the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium and the Kadetthaus in Berlin . He then joined the 1st Guard Uhlan Regiment of the Prussian Army on June 24, 1851, as a portepeefähnrich, and in mid-January 1853 was promoted to Second Lieutenant . From September 1855 to mid-June 1858 he served as a regimental adjutant, was then commanded as an adjutant of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Brigade and promoted to Prime Lieutenant on June 30, 1859 . On January 15, 1863 Versen returned to the troop service to his parent regiment, with whom he participated in the battle near Nübel the following year during the war against Denmark . After the war, at the end of June 1864, he was promoted to Rittmeister and squadron chief . On March 17, 1866 he became the General Staff ordered and on May 16, 1866, leaving the Great General Staff as Captain of the General Staff of the army aggregated . During the mobilization on the occasion of the war against Austria , Versen was assigned to the staff of the Cavalry Division of the 2nd Army on May 17, 1866 under Major General von Hartmann . He commissioned him several times with exploratory missions, in which verses particularly proved themselves through personal initiative at Tobitschau and Königgrätz . Thereupon he was awarded the order Pour le Mérite after the peace agreement .

On September 1, 1866, Versen was first reassigned to the Great General Staff and three days later to the General Staff of the 4th Division . Left with the General Staff of the 5th Division, he was assigned to the General Staff of the Army on October 10, 1866. At his own request he took his leave as a major on February 14, 1867, subject to a possible resignation in Prussian service in order to gain new war experience outside of Europe. He traveled to South America and wanted to take part in the war against Brazil ( Triple Alliance War ) on Paraguay's side . Arrived at the headquarters of President Lopez , he accused verse of espionage and imprisoned him for almost 18 months. He managed to escape to Argentina , with whose troops he fought in the siege of Humaita and the battle of Lomas Valentinas .

Versen then returned to Prussia and was re-employed as a major in the army on August 19, 1869 with a patent from June 18, 1869. At first he was aggregated to the General Staff before he was assigned on October 21, 1869. On December 30, 1869 he was transferred to the General Staff of the V Army Corps . In April 1870, Versen was sent to Spain to investigate a possible succession to the throne of Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern .

During the mobilization on the occasion of the war against France , Versen joined the General Staff of the 4th Cavalry Division under Prince Albrecht of Prussia on July 18, 1870 . In this position he first took part in the battles near Weißenburg and Wörth . At Sedan he was severely wounded in the foot by a shrapnel and had to return to Germany to recover. At the end of November 1870 he returned to his division and took part in the battles at Orleans and Cravant and the skirmishes at Stonne , Cravanche , Illiers and Yèvres . At the end of December 1870 he became seriously ill with smallpox , so that he could no longer participate in the further course of the war. In addition to both classes of the Iron Cross , Versen received the Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross, 2nd class.

After the preliminary peace at Versailles and his recovery, which he had spent on his brother's estate near Darmstadt , Versen was transferred to the Thuringian Hussar Regiment No. 12 as a regular staff officer on April 4, 1871 . The association was at this time in the army of occupation in France and then moved to the garrison of Merseburg . From April 14th to May 19th, 1872 he was in command of the IVth Army Corps for horse inspection . On May 28, 1874 he was appointed commander of the Thuringian Hussar Regiment No. 12 and in this capacity he rose to colonel until the end of March 1877 . In November 1878, Versen took part in the hunts of Grand Duke Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar and got to know the then Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and later German Emperor . Two years later, Versen fell so badly during a race near Eisenberg in the fall that he was lying under the horse and sustained serious injuries. His horse had broken his cross and had to be shot. In the spring of the following year he was restored and on November 21, 1881 he was initially assigned to command the 14th Cavalry Brigade in Düsseldorf under position à la suite of his regiment . On December 12, 1882 was appointed commander of this brigade and promoted to major general on August 3, 1883. Versen led the 2nd Guards Cavalry Brigade in the same capacity from March 13, 1884 , rose to Lieutenant General on January 27, 1888 and was transferred to Erfurt on April 17, 1888 as commander of the 8th Division . Left in this position, Emperor Wilhelm II appointed him his adjutant general on June 19, 1888.

On August 2, 1888, verse was added to the autumn exercises of the Guard Corps and III. Army corps commanded as the leader of the marked enemy. Then he was on March 22, 1889 as commander of the cavalry division of the XV. Army corps transferred to Metz. On June 8, 1889 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy and on August 23, 1889 the Crown Order I Class and on September 30, 1889 the Lippe House Order I Class. At the end of October, Versen took part in the funeral ceremonies of the late King Luís in Lisbon as the emperor's representative . There he met the French general and later Minister of War Gaston de Galliffet know. After his return on December 23, 1889 he was appointed commander of the Guard Cavalry Division . This was followed by his appointment as commanding general of the III on March 24, 1890. Army Corps in Berlin. Versen was also a permanent member of the National Defense Commission from mid-April 1890 . He received the Grand Cross of the Bavarian Military Merit Order on September 17, 1890, the Grand Cross of the Albrecht Order on September 23, 1890 and the Order of the Red Eagle 1st Class with Oak Leaves on January 1, 1892 . On January 27, 1892 he was promoted to general of the cavalry. In the spring of 1893 he showed the first signs of liver disease, which the doctors attributed to the serious fall he suffered near Eisenberg in 1880. Despite cures in Karlsbad and on Sylt , he died in Berlin on October 7, 1893 and was transferred to Crampe for burial on October 10, 1893 .

family

Versen married the American Alice Clemens (1850–1912) on March 18, 1872 in Merseburg. The couple had several children:

  • Hulda (1871–1945) ⚭ September 26, 1893 Georg von Arnim-Suckow (* 1870), Fideikommissherr auf Suckow, Retired Prussian lieutenant. D.
  • Friedrich (* 1873), Herr auf Burzlaff, Prussian first lieutenant
  • Maximilian (* 1877), Prussian lieutenant
  • William (* 1878), Prussian court clerk and lieutenant in the reserve
  • Elisabeth (* 1889)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alfred von Werthern: General von Versen. A military image of time and life. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1898, p. 66 ff.
  2. ↑ She was the daughter of James Clemens, Jr. and Elizabeth Frances Browne Mullanphy. James Clemens was the cousin of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain ) Alice Brown Clemens who also visited her on his European trip in Berlin. On the occasion of the visit he was also invited by the emperor.
  3. ^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Nobeligen houses. 1903. Fourth year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1902, p. 58 f.
personal data
SURNAME Versen, Maximilian von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Versen, Maximilian Felix Christoph Wilhelm Leopold Reinhold Albert Fürchtegott von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the cavalry and commanding general of III. Army Corps
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurchow
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1893
Place of death Berlin