Rudolf von Valentini

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Bernhard von Bülow , Kaiser Wilhelm II and Rudolf von Valentini (from left to right) on board the Hohenzollern in Kiel , 1908

Rudolf von Valentini (born October 1, 1855 in Crussow near Angermünde , † December 18, 1925 in Hameln ) was a German politician .

Rudolf von Valentini was the son of a Prussian army officer. He studied law in Strasbourg and had been a trainee lawyer with the government in Köslin since 1879 . In 1882 he switched to administration and from 1886 he was a government assessor in Königsberg . From 1888 to 1899 he was district administrator for the Hameln district . As a Privy Councilor, he joined the Secret Civil Cabinet of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin in 1899 , where he was promoted to the Secret Upper Government Council in 1902. In 1906 he succeeded Kurt von Dewitz as district president in Frankfurt (Oder) and in 1908 head of the secret civil cabinet. In this function he supported Bethmann Hollweg's appointment as Reich Chancellor and became his closest collaborator. Both were opponents of the naval policy and the resulting policy of confrontation with Great Britain. In the fall of 1916, Valentini ensured General Erich von Falkenhayn's resignation as Chief of the Supreme Army Command and his replacement by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff . In August 1916, Valentini urged Kaiser Wilhelm II to continue the war. In May 1917 he tried unsuccessfully to avert Hollweg's fall and then worked towards a successor to Georg Michaelis .

His resignation on January 17, 1918 came under pressure from Ludendorff.

Valentini had been an honorary member of the Niederlausitz Society for Anthropology and Antiquity since 1908 , a member of the Paleontological Society from 1913 and an honorary member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences since 1914 .

literature

  • Holger H. Herwig (ed.): Biographical Dictionary of World War I . Greenwood Press, Westport 1982, ISBN 0-313-21356-9 .
  • Martin Kitchen: The Silent Dictatorship: The Politics of the German High Command Under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916-1918. Holmes & Meier Publishing, London 1976, ISBN 0-8419-0277-1 .
  • B. Schwertfeger: Emperor and Head of Cabinet. According to his own notes and the correspondence of the Real Privy Councilor Rudolf von Valentini . Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg OK 1931
  • Obituary in: Niederlausitzer Mitteilungen . Volume 17, 1925/26, p. 373

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Winzen : The Empire on the Abyss: The Daily Telegraph Affair , p. 131
  2. ↑ Holger H. Herwig (Ed.): Biographical dictionary of World War I. Westport 1982 page 344.
  3. ^ Palaeontological Journal 1, Issue 1, March 1914
  4. ^ Members of the previous academies. Rudolf von Valentini. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on June 24, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Valentini, Rudolf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian politician, head of the secret civil cabinet of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Crussow
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1925
Place of death Hamelin