Gerhard Iogann David von Scharnhorst ( Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst) ; November 12, 1755 , Bordenau - June 28, 1813 , Prague ) - Prussian general and military reformer. From July 1807 - Chief of the General Staff and Chairman of the Commission for the Reorganization of the Army, from 1808 to 1810 he headed the General Staff and the War Ministry. Together with General A. Gneisenau Scharnhorst conducted a military reform, which resulted in the introduction of military service. During the war of liberation with Napoleonic France in 1813, he was chief of staff of the Silesian Army, General G. Blucher .
Gerhard Johann David Von Scharnhorst | |||||
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him Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst | |||||
Date of Birth | November 12, 1755 | ||||
Place of Birth | Bordenau | ||||
Date of death | June 28, 1813 (57 years) | ||||
Place of death | Prague | ||||
Affiliation | Elector Hanover Kingdom of Prussia | ||||
Type of army | |||||
Years of service | 1778 - 1801 1801 - 1813 | ||||
Rank | Lieutenant general | ||||
Commanded | Chief of the General Staff and Minister of War of Prussia | ||||
Battles / Wars | War of the first coalition War of the fourth coalition War of the Sixth Coalition | ||||
Awards and prizes | |||||
Content
Biography
Born 11/12/755 in Bordenau (Hannover). The son of the sergeant. He entered military service first to Prince Wilhelm Schaumburg-Lippe , who had a small exemplary detachment, and attended his military school. Then he switched to Hannover service and became a teacher in a military school. In 1780 - 1790 he published many special military articles and published a magazine for the military.
When the war began with revolutionary France , Scharnhorst served in artillery in the Netherlands theater of operations and commanded a horse battery. In 1794, he was promoted to rescue the detachment in which he served from the entourage at Menin in Flanders .
In 1801, Scharnhorst switched to Prussian service; engaged in teaching military sciences and received the post of quartermaster general .
In 1804 he was raised to the nobility.
During the war of 1806–1807, Scharnhorst was chief of staff of the commander-in-chief . He took part in the battles of Auerstedt and Preussisch-Eylau . At this time he was well acquainted with the shortcomings of the old Prussian army , which was completely destroyed during the war.
After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit, Scharnhorst, convinced of the need for radical transformations, was appointed chairman of the “Commission for the Transformation of the Army,” where his closest collaborators were Boyen , Gneisenau , Grolman and Clausewitz . He had to lead the difficult task of creating a new military force, which was to liberate Prussia from French oppression.
Scharnhorst stood for giving people greater freedom, respecting them and developing respect for themselves in them. The army, according to Scharnhorst, should be an armed people. Scharnhorst was convinced that the moral connection of the army with the people is much more important than the high development of the technical side of military affairs.
The military reform carried out under the leadership of the Scharnhorst changed, above all, the way the army was replenished. Scharnhorst stood for universal military service, but it was impossible to carry out this reform right away: you had to reckon with old prejudices, and with French pressure — Napoleon ordered Prussia not to have an army of over 42 thousand people. Scharnhorst marked the beginning of the compulsory military service, reduced the number of exemptions, demanded that young people from noble families and with education should serve first as ordinary soldiers. He proposed to form a military reserve ( landver and landsturm ).
Since Napoleon resisted the creation of the Landwehr, he had to release the enlisted soldiers for the formation of a sufficient stock of trained soldiers as soon as they turned out to be trained at all.
The Schönhorst Act of Landwere appeared after the break with France, in 1813 . Then the bases of production for officers were changed, and special education was put in the first place, but not origin. The treatment of privates, among which nobles and rich burghers began to serve, was changed - humiliating corporal punishment was abolished. Changes were made to the form, weapons, organization of the economic part.
In 1808, Scharnhorst was appointed Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff , but in 1810 he had to leave this post, as he incurred Napoleon’s suspicions, but unofficially, after removal, he headed the Prussian army. When in 1811 there was a threat of war between Russia and France, Scharnhorst went to St. Petersburg and Vienna to negotiate an alliance. But neither Russia nor Austria had yet considered it a convenient time to start hostilities against Napoleon.
After the defeat of the Great Army , when Prussia decided to go to war , Scharnhorst joined the “Committee to strengthen the army” established by the Prussian king , again became quartermaster-general and received the rank of lieutenant general .
In the Battle of Lützen on 2 May 1813, Scharnhorst was wounded in the leg by a nucleus. With an unhealed wound, he went to Vienna to bother about Austria joining the coalition. His wound ached, and on June 28 of the same year, Scharnhorst died.
Scharnhorst is also known as a military theorist: his work “Handbuch für Offiziere in den angewandten Theilen der Krieges-Wissenschaften” (Hanovre, 1815) became very famous (Hanovre, 1815. In collaboration with I. F. Goyer ).
Scharnhorst was related to the first rector of the University of Berlin, Theodor Schmalz , who was his father [ clarify ] .
Memory
The Order of the Scharnhorst ( Scharnhorst-Orden ) was established in the GDR . A sculptural portrait of Scharnhorst is placed on the Rossgarten Gate of Königsberg .
In honor of Gerhard Scharnhorst named:
- German armored cruiser " Scharnhorst " of the First World War .
- German battleship " Scharnhorst " during the Second World War .
See also
- Stein, Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum
Literature
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerhard Scharnhorst
- Scharngorst, Gergard-Johann-David // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Scharnhorst, Scharnhorst Gerhard Johann David // The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 t.] / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia