Roland Beck

Roland Beck- von Büren (born August 22, 1949 in Zurich ) is a Swiss professional officer ( colonel in the general staff) and military historian . He was editor-in-chief of the General Swiss Military Magazine .

Life

Beck was born in 1949 to an engineer and his wife, he has three siblings. After graduating from the cantonal high school in Zürichberg in 1969 and completing his basic training with the tank grenadiers , most recently as a lieutenant , he studied history and philosophy at the University of Zurich . During a semester abroad in 1974/75 at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster, he dealt in detail with Carl von Clausewitz (instruction from Werner Hahlweg ). In 1981 he was at Walter Schaufelberger at the University of Zurich with a dissertation on the Neuchatel conflict for Dr. phil. PhD.

Beck was a career officer in the Swiss Army , he joined the Mechanized and Light Troops Instructional Corps (MLT) in 1981 . From 1982 he taught military science at the Swiss General Staff . In 1987 he became the commander of Panzer Battalion 11 and in 1989 he became a staff officer and lecturer in military history at the military academy at ETH Zurich . On the occasion of the 1989 anniversary of the mobilization of the Swiss army in World War II , he was entrusted with the drafting of a document that was produced during a conference. From 1994 to 1996 he was Chief of Staff of Mechanized Division 11 and the 11th Panzer Brigade and personal assistant to the Chief of Staff, Corps Commander Arthur Liener . From 1997 to 2001 he was in command of the officers' school and head of training at the MLT. From 2002 to 2007 he was then responsible for the instruction and training of the command staff of the army chief , corps commander Christophe Keckeis .

From 2008 to 2011 he was editor-in-chief of the General Swiss Military Magazine (ASMZ), the official body of the Swiss Officers' Association . He once described his job as “moderator of a platform for critical thinking”. Beck is considered a supporter of conscription and is quoted as saying: "Integration only works if a representative section of society does service". Until 2018 he was in charge of the National Fund project to research the history of the Swiss General Staff. Eleven volumes were published. In addition, he published numerous papers and articles a. a. on troop orders and the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the Historical Lexicon of Switzerland (HLS).

In 1988 he became President of the Swiss Society for Military History Study Tours (GMS). From 2003 to 2009 he was the founding president of the Switzerland section of the Clausewitz Society , which made him an honorary member in 2010. Beck is a member of the Security and Defense Technology Working Group (ASUW). Since 2019 he has been an honorary veteran of the Swiss Association of NCOs.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also active in the network of the diplomatic service of the Sovereign Order of Malta and worked as a representative to the Swiss government. Since 2017 he has been the holder of the Grand Cross with Swords Pro Merito Melitensi.

Beck is a member of the bourgeois-liberal student union Helvetia . From 2013 to 2016 he was editor-in-chief of the central body of Helvetia. Since 2013 he has been President of the Men’s Helvetia Solothurn and Board of Directors of Misteli AG. He is married, has three children and lives in Solothurn .

Fonts (selection)

Authors and editorship

• Roulez tambours. Politico-military aspects of the Neuchâtel conflict between Prussia and Switzerland 1856/57 (= ASMZ series ). Edited by ASMZ, Huber, Frauenfeld 1982, ISBN 3-274-00004-3 .
• (Ed.): War mobilization 1939. A scientific-critical analysis on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the mobilization day of 1939 . Commissioned by the Department of Military Sciences at ETH Zurich, Zurich 1989.
• with Roland Haudenschild, Pierre A. Krenger, Franco Valli: 175 years of the Swiss Officers' Society, 1833–2008. Festschrift for the 175th anniversary . Edited by the ASMZ on behalf of the Swiss Officers' Society, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-03-301821-1 .

Contributions to edited volumes

• Count Raymond of St. Gilles as the leader of the First Crusade (1096–99) . In: Jürg Stüssi-Lauterburg , Martin Pestalozzi-Schäfer, Hans Eberhart-Rogenmoser, Anton Künzi (eds.): Festschrift Walter Schaufelberger (= studies on military history and military science ). Sauerländer, Aarau 1986, ISBN 3-7941-2728-5 , p. 157 ff.
• Mountain warfare with General Dufour . In: Louis-Edouard Roulet (ed.): La guerre et la montagne: actes (= Congress of the International Commission for Military History . 17). Part 1, Bern 1993, ISBN 2-9700034-0-6 , p. 193 ff.
• Change in neutrality . In: Ferenc I. Majoros, Armin Steinkamm , Bernhard W. Krack (Ed.): Politics. History, Law and Security. Festschrift for Gerhard Ritter . Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 1996, ISBN 3-928034-87-1 , p. 137 ff.
• Clausewitz and the world of Madame de Staël . In: Yearbook of the Clausewitz Society . Volume 4 (2008), ISBN 978-3-9810794-3-2 , pp. 216 ff. (PDF; 5.4 MB).
• Clausewitz in Switzerland . In: Reiner Pommerin (Ed.): Clausewitz goes global. Carl von Clausewitz in the 21st Century. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Clausewitz Society . Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-937885-41-4 . P. 328 ff.
• General conscription in the old Confederation (1291–1798) . In: Yearbook of the Clausewitz Society . Volume 9 (2013), ISBN 978-3-9810794-9-4 , p. 111 ff. (PDF; 3.66 MB).

items

• Dufour as a military leader and thinker. An appreciation of his achievements and merits on the occasion of his 200th birthday. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 12./13. September 1987. No. 211, p. 23
• "Roulez tambours, pour couvrir la frontière". Royalist coup in Neuchâtel 150 years ago . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 29, 2006, No. 199, p. 13.
• Historically anchored militia idea. This is not the first time that there has been heated debate about compulsory military service in Switzerland . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 2, 2013, No. 176, p. 12.
• Highly deserved officer. On the passing of division general Frank Seethaler. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 13, 2016, No. 110, p. 21
• The land war revolution. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 15, 2016, No. 215, pp. 8, 9
• The tank of the future. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 15, 2016, No. 215, p. 9

literature

• Andreas Toggweiler: “Platform for critical thinking” . In: Aargauer Zeitung , September 11, 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Roland Beck: Roulez tambours. Politico-military aspects of the Neuchâtel conflict between Prussia and Switzerland 1856/57 (= ASMZ series ). Edited by the ASMZ, Huber, Frauenfeld 1982, ISBN 3-274-00004-3 , p. 167.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Andreas Toggweiler: “Platform for critical thinking” . In: Aargauer Zeitung , September 11, 2011.
3. ↑ Roland Beck: Roulez tambours. Politico-military aspects of the Neuchâtel conflict between Prussia and Switzerland 1856/57 (= ASMZ series ). Published by the ASMZ, Huber, Frauenfeld 1982, ISBN 3-274-00004-3 , p. 8.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dr. Roland Beck - new President of GMS . In: GMS-Information 3/1988, p. 1 f.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} see Authors: Reiner Pommerin (Hrsg.): Clausewitz goes global. Carl von Clausewitz in the 21st Century. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Clausewitz Society . Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-937885-41-4 . P. 365 f.
6. ↑ Georg Kreis , Bertrand Müller (Ed.): Switzerland and the Second World War (= Swiss Journal for History , Vol. 47, No. 4, special edition). Schwabe, Basel 1997, ISBN 3-7965-1075-2 , p. 654.
7. ^ ^{A b} Bruno Lezzi : New editor-in-chief of the «ASMZ» . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 6, 2007, No. 206, p. 16.
8. ↑ Andreas Toggweiler: ASMZ remains in Solothurn hand . In: Aargauer Zeitung , January 1, 2012.
9. ^ Matthias Daum: Soldier Secondo . In: Die Zeit , No. 12, March 17, 2011, p. H15.
10. ↑ Roland Beck-von-Büren , SNSF, accessed on February 6, 2015.
11. ^ Igor Perrig : 10 years Clausewitz Society, Section Switzerland . In: Yearbook of the Clausewitz Society . Volume 9 (2013), ISBN 978-3-9810794-9-4 , p. 105.
12. ↑ Members , Working Group on Security and Defense Technology, accessed on February 6, 2015.
13. ↑ Sovereign Order of Malta (ed.): Activity report 2010 . Rome 2010, p. 113.
14. ↑ Mentoring ( Memento of the original dated February 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Helvetia student union in Zurich.