Theodor von Wundt

This article deals with the general and politician Theodor von Wundt. For the officer, mountaineer and writer see Theodor Wundt .

Theodor von Wundt

Theodor von Wundt (born June 14, 1825 in Stuttgart , † July 22, 1883 in Schuls near Tarasp ) was a Württemberg Lieutenant General and Minister of War .

Life

origin

He was the son of the Wuerttemberg Major General Theodor Wundt (1778-1850). This came from a Protestant family who had been expelled from the Prince Archbishopric of Salzburg in 1733 and settled in Heidelberg . After participating in the Napoleonic Wars in the service of the King of Württemberg, the father founded a family in Stuttgart. Theodor Wundt's mother, née Hardegg, gave birth to four sons and two daughters, of whom Theodor was the second born in 1825.

Military career

Wundt's father was transferred from Stuttgart to the garrison in Ludwigsburg in 1833 . Theodor Wundt first attended the Lyceum in Ludwigsburg before entering the officers' training institute of the Württemberg Army in Ludwigsburg on August 31, 1840 . After his examination, he was appointed lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Regiment on September 30, 1844 . In 1846, Wundt was assigned a two-year course to the Quartermaster General, which was then under the direction of Major General Moriz von Miller . In 1848 Wundt was promoted to first lieutenant . In 1851, Wundt was given the function of a director of the officers' training institute, which was soon renamed the Royal War School and offered space for 88 war students. In 1854, Wundt was promoted to captain and in 1855 to commandant of the war school. In 1858 he gave up command of the war school, but was available there until the German War in 1866 as a teacher for tactics and mathematics in the upper classes. At the same time, Wundt was now employed in the tactical department of the Quartermaster General's Staff in Ludwigsburg. In 1859 he was assigned to the headquarters of the Württemberg field division of the VIII German Army Corps. He had to deal primarily with the accommodation and catering of the troops. In 1865, Wundt was promoted to major and was sub-chief of the general staff of the Württemberg field division in the 1866 campaign. Shortly after the war he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1868 received a transfer to the war ministry as a colonel . There he was a collegiate member and secretary of the Military Merit Order . In the same year he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown excellent and thus the personal nobility raised .

Wundt used his pronounced administrative and organizational talent immediately before, during and after the war against France to reorganize and integrate the Württemberg army into the German army .

Minister of War

In 1873 he was promoted to major general, on September 13, 1874, Wundt was entrusted with the management of the affairs of the Ministry of War in the rank of brigade commander , and on March 5, 1875, he was appointed head of the war department. On May 14, 1879 he was appointed war minister and promoted to lieutenant general. Because of a stomach ailment, Wundt was forced to seek help from doctors and spas abroad in the summer of 1883. During a spa stay in the Engadin , Wundt died of the consequences of his illness.

family

Theodor Wundt was Protestant and on June 20, 1854 married Christiane Auguste Franziska Huber (* July 18, 1825), the daughter of the finance councilor Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Huber (* January 26, 1790) and Christiane Frederike Auguste von Weckherlin. The marriage resulted in three sons and a daughter.

publication

In 1859, Wundt published an article on the military and strategic part of the natural catering of the armies in the manual of military catering in peace and war , edited by Karl von Martens.

Honors

• 1856 Knight's Cross of the Order of Frederick
• 1871 Order of Olga
• 1875 Commentary Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown
• Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stanislaus
• Knight of the Bavarian Order of Military Merit
• Order of the Red Eagle II class with star
• Prussian Crown Order II class

literature

• Swabian Kronik . No. 196 of August 19, 1883, p. 1389.
• Eberhard Emil von Georgii-Georgenau: Biographical-genealogical sheets from and about Swabia. Volume 2, page 1117

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1869. P. 52.
2. ^ E. von Georgii-Georgenau: Biographisch-genealogische Blätter. P. 401.
3. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1877. P. 99.