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Preußische Kuriositäten

Tag Archives: schlacht

Leuthen

05 Wednesday Dec 2018

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carlyle, fritz, geschichte, history, map, prussia, schlacht, schlesien

Today in 1757, Prussia won the Battle of Leuthen.

Man kann nicht immer gewinnen

18 Monday Jun 2018

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brandenburg, fritz, geschichte, heroes, history, hohenzollern, prussia, schlacht

Heute vor 343 Jahren, die (erste) Schlacht bei Fehrbellin. Ein großer Sieg des Großen Kurfürst und Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Derfflinger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wir sind Bauern von geringem Gut
Und schützen unsern Kurfürsten mit Leib und Blut.

 

Heute vor 261 Jahren, die Schlacht bei Kolin. Sie ist nicht so gut gegangen.

Die Schlacht bei Mollwitz

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

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fritz, geschichte, history, preußen, prussia, schlacht, schlesien

Heute vor 277 Jahren fand die Schlacht bei Mollwitz statt.

Die Schlacht war eine der denkwürdigsten des Jahrhunderts, weil hier zwei kleine Heere das Schicksal von Schlesien entschieden, und weil die Truppen des Königs sich dabei einen Ruhm erwarben, den weder Zeit noch Neid ihnen entreißen können.

— Ausgewählte Werke Friedrichs des Großen, Erster Band.

 

Gefecht bei Telschi

07 Wednesday Feb 2018

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brandenburg, german, geschichte, history, prussia, schlacht

Heute vor 339 Jahren.

Schweden, echt? Seems funny to think of Sweden as an aggressor nowadays.

Beschreibung des Treffens bei Hagelsberg

03 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by paulskin in Books, Events

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geschichte, history, marwitz, prussia, schlacht

I have to admit to struggling a little with the second volume of Marwiz’s Nachlasse, so far it’s mostly a list of people I haven’t heard of riding around places I’ve never heard of, although there are interesting vignettes as usual (Massenbach you Arschloch I’m looking at you). The battle at Hagelsberg in 1813 however is quite interesting, and unsurprisingly has sent me off on another book search.

According to a footnote on page 75 Marwitz produced a small book about the battle in 1817: Beschreibung des Treffens bei Hagelsberg unwet Belzig, obviously without a copy of this book my life is miserable and incomplete.

So far I’ve found a Google Books scan for download and a protected version in Weimar. Unfortunately Abe Books don’t have an original copy so against my better judgement I bought one of the cheap (£6.44 including postage) indian print on demand copies, however as it uses the same misspelling (Hagilsberg statt Hagelsberg) as Google Books I’m guessing the quality will be as poor as the Google copy.

Also, it’s on the wishlist, if any of my thousands of readers ever see a copy, please tell me!

 

Maps!

27 Friday Oct 2017

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carlyle, fritz, geschichte, history, prussia, schlacht

I’m now in the process of dismantling volume VII of Carlyle’s History of Frederick the Great ready for rebinding. Once again it seemed like a good idea to scan these three maps for posterity whilst I had the chance.

Pirna / Lobositz

Prag / Kolin

Rossbach / Leuthen

Mollwitz

31 Thursday Aug 2017

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Books, carlyle, fritz, prussia, schlacht

Purely by coincidence I just started reading about the Battle of Mollwitz in “Ausgewählte Werke Friedrichs des Großen“, Erster Band, on the same day that I was repairing one of my editions of Thomas Carlyle’s History of Frederick the Great ready for rebinding and came across the following map. So I scanned it before it all goes back together.

Die Schlacht von Kunersdorf

12 Saturday Aug 2017

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fritz, german, geschichte, heroes, history, hohenzollern, prussia, schlacht

Today is the 258th anniversary of the battle of Kunersdorf, not Frederick the Great’s greatest moment. The king himself lost 3 horses, 1 shot from under him, and was saved from a musket ball by the snuff box in his coat pocket, after the battle he said:

It is a cruel failure that I will not survive. The consequences of the battle will be worse than the battle itself. I do not have any more resources, and—frankly confessed—I believe that everything is lost. I will not survive the doom of my fatherland. Farewell forever!

The battle itself is covered in far more detail than I can manage here and here, amongst other places.

As the date happens to fall on my birthday I treated myself to a small book: Die Schlacht von Kunersdorf by von Eberhardt from 1903, which contains some good sketches and a map of the battle.

Kamenskoi (Kamensky) – Russian or Prussian?

29 Thursday Jun 2017

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Books, geschichte, heroes, history, marwitz, prussia, schlacht

Russian or Prussian? Hero or Villain?

Marwitz states in his memoirs (Seite 210), apparently relating what he had heard from Major (later Field Marshall) von Knesebeck regarding Kamenskoi, commander of the Russian troops in Prussia in 1806:

Kamenskoi war ein preußischer Offizier, im 7jährigen Kriege von den Russen gefangen, und in ihre Dienste übergtreten, also eigentlich ein Deserteur, der sich durch seine Tapferkeit, vorzüglich unter Suvarow, emporgeschwungen hatte.

So, a Prussian officer, captured in the 7 Years War who went over to the Russians and rose through the ranks due to his bravery.

Wikipedia however, clearly states that he was a Russian, with Russian forenames, born in St. Petersburg. Strange that Marwitz got it so wrong, particularly since Marwitz assures us that he got the story from Knesebeck who had had private meetings with Kamenskoi, couldn’t he tell a Russian from a Prussian?

The standard account surrounding the Battle of Pultusk seems to be that Kamenskoi lost his grip, possibly his mind, left the army, General Bennigsen particularly, in the lurch, and was removed from his command.

The account from Knesebeck and Marwitz is that Kamenskoi went out to reconnoitre the left flank of his troops, got separated and lost in the dark and the terrible weather and, getting on in years, became ill. However he managed to retain enough of his wits to order a regrouping of the army near Novograd, in order to prepare for a large scale offensive against the French.

This order was obeyed by General Buxhöwden but ignored by Bennigsen, who saw an opportunity to attack a weak French force, and thereby increase his own prestige, furthermore, by writing a scathíng report about both Kamenskoi and Buxhöwen he hoped to take command of the army. As indeed happened.

If Helen Mirren (a descendant apparently?) is reading this, which I doubt, then if it’s any consolation Marwitz seemed to think Kamenskoi was a decent man and that the confusion around the battle of Pultusk was not down to him, but to the “greedy” and “arrogant” Bennigsen.

Even more curiously Marwitz says that Kamenskoi died shortly after this event (Seite 216), not murdered by one of his mistreated serfs as stated by Wikipedia:

Wo dieser in dem Augenblick gewesen? weiß man nicht, wahrscheinlich todtkrank, denn er starb bald darauf, vermuthlich aus Aerger über seinen Fehlgriff.

Marwitz’s account differs wildly from the received one, personally I trust him more than Wikipedia, but I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the complete truth.

So to partially put the record straight, or confuse it even more, here’s Marwitz’s conclusion (Seite 217/218):

So war also zuerst Kamenskoi, der noch ein Preußisches Herz hatte, und den Zweck des Krieges erkannte, dann der tapfere Buxhöwden beseitigt, der Kaiser war betrogen, und der hochmüthige, geldgierige Intriguant (Bennigsen) führte die Armee nach seinen, nicht nach des Krieges Zwecken.

Die Schlacht bei Zorndorf – Schluß

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by paulskin in Books, Events, Writing

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fritz, prussia, schlacht, zorndorf

Ich habe letzte Nacht “Die Schlacht bei Zorndorf” ausgelesen. Es hat mir sehr gut gefallen.

Ein Paar anschließende Anmerkungen:

sack-rede-kleinIn dieser Rede des Hof- und Dompredigers Friedrich Wilhelm Sack über den Sieg sind die Wörter HErr und GOtt doppelkapitalisiert, vermutlich aus Pietät (?). Das habe ich niemals vorher gesehen.

 

Schließlich, für den heutigen Geschmack ein bißchen übertrieben, aber was für ein Ende:

 

Wendet, Preußen, den Blick! o, wende zurück ihn auf Zorndorf!

Seht, wie mit Geistes Tritt Friedrich dem Osten sich stellt!

Furchtbar naht sich der Schwarm als dräunde rohe Naturmacht;

Aber mit Donnerton ruft ihm der König das: “Halt!”

 

Am Ende ist die Sache nicht so gut gegangen…

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