Johann Georg Graf von Sontheim
(26.04.1790 - 14.12.1860)
place of birth:  Mömpelgard, Württemberg
Königreich Württemberg:  Kriegsminister, Generalleutnant

                            


General Graf von Sontheim served as War Minister for the Kingdom of Württemberg from 1842 to 1848.  He was the illegitimate of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg and Anne Clementine Claremantrand, raised with the surname of Sontheim. In 1807, King Friedrich I. elevated his half-brother Johann Sontheim into Württemberg's nobility, bestowing upon him the title of Graf (count). Entering military service amid the Napoleonic Wars, Graf von Sontheim rapidly progressed in his career. By 1818, he had reached the rank of Oberst and was positioned as Director of Württemberg's Privy War Council.

King Friedrich's successor Wilhelm I. chose von Sontheim to serve as private military tutor to Crown Prince Karl. General von Sontheim thus followed his royal pupil throughout the Empire, with extended stopovers in Tübingen and Berlin. Upon returning to Stuttgart, Generalleutnant von Sontheim was appointed in September 1842 as Ernst Freiherr von Hügel's replacement to head up the War Ministry. He left office in March 1848 and later that year was named as Governor-General of Bundesfestung Ulm (Fortress Ulm).