Gerhard
Johann David Graf von Scharnhorst
(12.11.1755 - 28.06.1813)
place of birth: Bordenau, Provinz Hannover
Königreich
Preußen: Kriegsminister,
Generalstabschef, General-Lieutenant
Prussian general and War Minister von Scharnhorst first
served in the Hannoverian Army as an artillery officer. He fought
alongside the Duke of York in the Netherlands at Hondshoote
and Menin (1793). Scharnhorst was commissioned in
1801 as a lieutenant colonel in the Prussian Army, he taught at the
Berlin War Academy (one of his students was Clausewitz). Scharnhorst
was wounded at Auerstadt (1806) where he was
serving as the Duke of Brunswick's chief of staff, and then he was
captured one month later alongside Field Marshal von Blücher
at Ratkau.
General von Scharnhorst was appointed Prussian
Minister of War and Chief of General Staff in 1808, and immediately he
began to rebuild the army with Gneisenau's help. Napoleon's edict
against foreigners serving in the Prussian Army (1810) forced him into
retirement, but he was recalled in 1812 as von Blücher's
chief of staff. He fought and was wounded at Lützen in 1813, succumbing
one month later to his wounds. Von Scharnhorst's writings and reforms
infused the Prussian Army with a sense of national pride, and his work
greatly influenced subsequent military development. He devised the Krümpersystem
under which resulted in a much larger number of Prussian recruits to be
trained as soldiers than was permitted under the law; citizens were
called to service for a short training period to be then replaced by
another group.
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Kriegsminister |
25.07.1807
- 17.06.1810 |
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Generalstabschef |
01.03.1808
- 17.06.1810 |
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General-Lieutenant |
11.03.1813 |
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Pour
le Mérite |
00.02.1807 |
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