Walther Bronsart von Schellendorff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walther Bronsart von Schellendorff, General and Minister of War
The coat of arms of the Bronsart von Schellendorff family

Walther Franz Georg Bronsart von Schellendorff (born December 21, 1833 in Danzig ; † December 13, 1914 at Gut Marienhof , Amt Güstrow ) was a Prussian infantry general , adjutant general to Kaiser Wilhelm II and minister of state and war .

Life

origin

Walther Bronsart von Schellendorff, Lord of Marienhof and Greater Ticino, came from an old Prussian noble family and was the son of the Prussian Lieutenant General Heinrich Bronsart von Schellendorff (1803–1874) and his wife Antonia (Antoinette), née de Rège (1810–1873) . He was the younger brother of Paul Bronsart von Schellendorff , who also resigned as Minister of War in 1889.

Military career

Bronsart von Schellendorf joined the 1st Infantry Regiment from the cadet institute in 1851 and was promoted to secondary lieutenant in 1852 . After studying at the General War School 1855/58 he became in 1859 the General Command of the First Army Corps to aide named after the 8th hunters - battalion had been transferred. In 1860 he came to the topographical department of the General Staff and was finally in 1862 as captain of the General Staff added.

In the German-Danish War of 1864, Bronsart von Schellendorff took part in the siege of the Düppeler Schanzen . He experienced the German war against Austria in the headquarters of the King of Prussia.

Promoted to major , he became General Staff Officer of the 17th Division in Kiel . In 1869 he was appointed battalion commander of the 87th Infantry Regiment in Mainz . When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, he proved himself as Chief of Staff of the IX. Army Corps under General von Manstein , who was considered difficult , before becoming Chief of the General Staff of the XIII. (Württemb.) Army Corps . Here he was promoted to colonel in 1873 .

In 1875, Bronsart von Schellendorff was appointed commander of the 89th Infantry Regiment in Schwerin . With this he was placed à la suite in 1893 . Appointed commander of the 34th Infantry Brigade (Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische) in 1879 , he was promoted to major general in 1880 and transferred as chief of staff to the X Army Corps in Hanover the following year . In 1884 he became lieutenant general and returned to the 17th division as commander. 1888 to the commanding general of III. Appointed Army Corps , he was promoted to General of the Infantry in 1889.

In order to be able to take care of his ailing wife, he repeatedly sought to be removed from office. This request was granted in 1892 and he withdrew to the Marienhof estate near Krakow am See , which he had owned since 1876 . When he was put up for disposition , he was honored by a cabinet order stating that his services would continue to be counted on. As a result, he continued to be included in the list of active generals.

In the fall of 1893 he was reactivated by being appointed head of the War Ministry. In this function he defended the army against attacks by the Social Democrats and held out the prospect of a reform of the military penal process called for by the Reichstag . Due to differences with the military cabinet , he resigned on August 14, 1896. His departure in 1896 was regretted across all parties. This happened not least because with him the reform of the order of the military criminal procedure seemed to move into an unforeseeable distance at that time.

Bronsart von Schellendorff died in 1914 on his Marienhof estate in the Güstrow district. He was also the owner of the Güstrower Güter Groß- und Klein-Tessin.

family

Walther married Harriet Helene Donner on September 26, 1863 in Altona (born November 14, 1841 in Altona; † September 21, 1917 at Gut Marienhof, Amt Güstrow ), the daughter of the Hamburg merchant and banker Bernhard Donner , royal Danish budget advisor and landowner Bredeneek Castle , and Helene Schröder (from the baronial line ).

The marriage had nine children, including:

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Manor houses & manors / manor houses - M / Marienhof. Retrieved May 17, 2020 .
  2. From Lübeck's towers. Edition of November 11, 1893, article: Minister of War General Bronsart v. Schellendorf.
  3. From Lübeck's towers. Edition dated 11-22 August 1896.
  4. Lübeck General-Anzeiger. Issued December 16, 1914. Category: Local
  5. ^ Sophie Pataky : Lexicon of German women of the pen. Complete new edition, published by Karl Maria Guth (first edition Berlin 1898 in two volumes), Hofenberg Collection (BoD-Verlag der Contumax GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin), Berlin 2014, p. 287 f.
  6. ^ Gerd Hankel: The Leipzig trials. German war crimes and their prosecution after the First World War. Hamburg 2003, pp. 212-216.
  7. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 6.