Johann Jacob Otto August Rühle von Lilienstern
(16.04.1780 - 01.07.1847)
place of birth:  Königsberg-Prignitz, Ostpreußen  (Kaliningrad, Rus)
Königreich Preußen:  Generalstabschef,  General-Lieutenant

                            


At age 15, this future Chief of General Staff had already attained the rank of Fähnrich (officer candidate) in a Guards regiment and had become life-long friends with Heinrich von Kleist. As a commissioned Prussian officer, he served in the Guard Infantry Regiment 15 in Potsdam and as Chief of General Staff of the Rhein Province. Rühle fought during the 1792-95 campaign against France and during the Polish revolt of 1794. He also achieved renown as a cartographer, historian, and military instructor.

After the Prussian military defeat of 1806, Rühle served for a few years in the Duke of Weimar's court, working with the likes of Scharnhorst and Clausewitz to reorganize the army.  He later succeeding von Grolman as Prussian Chief of General Staff from  1819 to 1821. During this period, he established the Imperial Lithographic Institute in Berlin which was tasked with printing maps and other graphical documents. Still serving at the rank of lieutenant general, Rühle also published several works dealing with general historical issues and military science. He also financed Kleist's Phoebus. In 1844, he became Prussia's general inspector in charge of military training and education. General Rühle von Lilienstern died in July 1847 in Salzburg, Austria.