Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau

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Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau
Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau

Moritz Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (born October 31, 1712 in Dessau ; † April 11, 1760 ibid) was a Prussian field marshal from the Askanians .

Life

As one of the five sons of the "old Dessauer" Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau (1676–1747) and his childhood sweetheart , Anna Luise Föhse , a pharmacist's daughter who was raised to the nobility against the will of the Anhalt aristocracy , he traditionally started a military career Prussian services and led the regiment on foot "Prince Moritz" (1806: No. 22 ) as a personal unit . It is known about his youth that his unsophisticated, not exactly intellectual, but sincerely religious and open-hearted father made an “experiment” on him by “naturally”, ie. H. I grew up without any special academic or courtly training and with an emphasis on rural ties to the earth. The extent to which this description belongs to the realm of legend can only be guessed in retrospect - the fact is that Moritz as a military leader did not make any more unreasonable decisions than other generals and showed no signs of intellectual retardation.

Moritz joined the Prussian army in 1725 and took part in the War of the Polish Succession as a volunteer . After taking part in the First Silesian War , he had the opportunity to distinguish himself in the Second Silesian War at Hohenfriedberg , but especially at Kesselsdorf , where he made a significant contribution to the victory as the leader of the left wing. For this he was accepted as a knight in the Order of the Black Eagle just two days later, on December 17, 1745 . After the peace treaty, Frederick the Great entrusted him with the reclamation and colonization of deserted areas on the Oder and in Pomerania , among other things he founded the Moritzfelde named after him on the Madüsee in 1751 . In 1752 Moritz was appointed governor of Küstrin .

For the ambitious prince, his engagement in the Seven Years' War was a practical test , where he excelled in particular at Kolin , Leuthen , Zorndorf and Hochkirch .

Despite occasional violent controversies with the at least equally headstrong and haughty monarch, there was a thoroughly collegial relationship between the two princes, who had known each other since their youth. Nevertheless, the defeat of Kolin became a key experience for King Friedrich and Prince Moritz, when the general twice refused to carry out the king's order to turn to the right; only at the words of the angry monarch: “ By all the devils, Prince Moritz, stand in front if I order it! ”(With Friedrich riding towards the prince with a drawn sword), Moritz passed on the instruction “ in a sad voice ”, which should finally initiate the defeat. The unilateral encirclement of the enemy planned by the king ended in chaos, the Austro-Saxon cavalry, taking advantage of a wide gap in the Prussian front, carried out a bloodbath among the infantry regiments assembled there and inflicted its first heavy defeat on the royal army. Nevertheless, Moritz also bears a certain degree of complicity, insofar as he did not prevent the fatal rash attack of his subordinate General von Manstein on the Croatian positions halfway to the Austrian right wing.

The general was happier at Leuthen, where his excellent maneuvering earned him the promotion to field marshal (his brothers Leopold II. Maximilian and Dietrich also held this rank ). In 1758 he took part in both great battles, whereby the retreat of the left Prussian wing near Zorndorf had to be credited at least in part.

At Hochkirch he hit his last battle. He and Field Marshal Keith had advised the king in vain not to set up a camp in the very tactically endangered place. During the nightly raid, he was wounded in the hand by an enemy grape pouch and was taken prisoner. As a result of the wounding, the prince suffered blood poisoning, to the consequences of which he succumbed in his hometown Dessau after his release from prisoner-of-war in 1760.

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Regimental history: Günter Dorn, Joachim Engelmann: The infantry regiments of Frederick the Great. 1756-1763 . Edition Dörfler, Utting 2000, p. 60.
  2. ↑ Christopher Duffy: Frederick the Great. The biography . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2001, p. 58 f.
  3. ↑ a b Christopher Duffy: Frederick the Great. The biography . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2001, p. 183 f.
  4. ^ Franz Kugler: History of Frederick the Great . Weber, Leipzig 1840, p. 321.
  5. ^ Franz Kugler: History of Frederick the Great . Weber, Leipzig 1840, p. 362.
  6. ↑ Joachim Engelmann: Frederick the Great and his Generals . Edition Dörfler, Utting 2000, p. 156.
  7. ↑ a b Christopher Duffy: Frederick the Great. The biography . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2001, p. 252 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moritz Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian military leader
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1712
PLACE OF BIRTH Dessau
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1760
Place of death Dessau